Welcome to Anthem 48 in my attempt to write a new choir anthem every week for a year. I’m Kevin Mulryne and I hope you will enjoy listening to my progress throughout 2024. Please do visit the website Anthem52.com, follow along on x.com – @realanthem52 or Instagram – @realanthem52 and send me a message to show@anthem52.com.
It was lovely to sing in Holy Trinity Church’s Advent Carol Service last Sunday – my first service back with the choir. Charlotte was also able to come along and the singing was good.
It’s been a difficult week for composition. Everything seems to have gone very slowly and I basically a week behind where I should be. I’m sure I’ll catch up with only 4 anthems to go.
I found the words in another Advent Carol Service booklet – this time from Belfast Cathedral – where my family are from, incidentally. I used the whole of the first long verse and part of the last.
Here are the words I chose:
Words for Anthem 48:
Rorate coeli desuper!
Heavens, distil your balmy show’rs;
For now is ris’n the bright Daystar,
From the rose Mary, flower of flowers:
The clear Sun, whom no cloud devours, Surmounting Phoebus in the east,
Is comen of His heav’nly tow’rs,
Et nobis puer natus est.All Gloria in excelsis cry,
Heaven, earth, sea, man, bird and beast;
He that is crowned above the sky
Pro nobis puer natus est.
I threw away the first ideas I came up with because they didn’t seem to be flowing at all. It was hard work to make each line fit. My second set of ideas seemed a little bit better but, again, I did discard several passages.
Somehow it ended up being in 5/4 with lots of other time signatures thrown in as well. It doesn’t sound too unusual, to my ears anyway.
The opening is a layered one with parts coming in one after another. I like the key change on ‘desuper!’ and some of the moving parts, particularly in the alto line are pleasing.
At bar 16 a different tonality comes in and I rather like the effect. Then, from bar 20, we settle into 3/4 with a soprano and alto duet section, followed by tenor and bass.
Surprisingly quickly, the final verse appears with the words ‘All Gloria in excelsis cry’. While I like the overall shape of the anthem, I think it probably does betray the difficult composition process and I would certainly re-work it quite a bit given the opportunity.
Anyway, see what you think:
Well, what do you think? Let me know on X.com @realanthem52, Instagram @realanthem52, as a comment below or via email show@anthem52.com
I hope you will join me next week for a new episode – and a new anthem – only 4 to go – but until then the question remains – will I make it to Anthem 52?
