Composer

Richard Rice

Program Notes

Among my first substantial choral pieces, these six Easter anthems were especially gratifying to write. They came quickly, gave me few structural problems, and required surprisingly little rewriting 16 years later. The texts are from the Introits for the Sundays of Easter (which probably makes them motets, though I have some vague idea that works in English should be called anthems). The representative piece for the Seventh Sunday of Easter never did work, and is not included here. The first and second use the alternative texts given in the modern Roman Missal, a choice which I regret, after a dozen years singing the traditional chants. I also regret the translation, which, with minimal adjustments, comes straight out of the 1985 Sacramentary (the English equivalent of the Missal) by way of the International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. (ICEL). In the early ‘90s, I was still hopeful that substantial choral settings of modern liturgical texts could find a happy place in Catholic liturgical life. By the time I finished the pieces, I knew better. I certainly did not design the music for the average church choir. But more importantly, the idea of a choral Introit being used liturgically was a thoroughly foreign concept to more than a handful within the Church. Despite recent efforts to increase awareness and use of the Mass Propers, the situation remains pretty much the same today.

I like the variety and individual character of these six pieces. I also like the cyclical nature of the set, once I adjusted the original keys of a couple. The harmonic language is tonal, but rich, using more chords of fourths than of thirds. I take advantage of a broad choral divisi frequently, which would seem to require a good sized choir, but one adept at thinking independently and with great accuracy in each of its part. English prose texts especially require mixed meters for proper declamation, which I use with abandon throughout. My tempos are ambitious, but the drama of the pieces demand a high level of rhythmic facility, especially in the second, third, fifth, and sixth. Each Introit ends with a Gloria Patri (for which I eschewed ICEL in favor of a more traditional English rendering), and an expanded da capo return to the opening text. This gives the effect, but is not quite the traditional Introit–Verse–Gloria Patri–Introit structure.