'A Hymn to the Mother of God'

As we prepare for the beginning of choir season, I wanted to share a special choral setting I’ve known since early college days. The text is the “Hymn to the Mother of God” which appears in the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, a lengthy and beautiful service that is sung only ten times a year in the Orthodox cycle.

”In you, O Woman full of Grace, the angelic choirs, and the human race, all creation rejoices…”

The late British composer, Sir John Tavener (1944-2013) wrote this setting for double choir, and he achieved a particularly static, all-encompassing effect by writing the same music for each choir, and instructing each group to begin singing at different moments.This canon-like device, together with slow moving, parallel harmonies, creates an expansive, suspended wash of sound that envelopes the listener. Clearly, Tavener’s music depicts the Theotokos (Mother of God) in warmly cosmic terms. We can “hear” the hymn's word-picture, that Mary’s womb became “wider than the heavens” in order to carry the incarnate Son of God.

Here are three recordings for your listening enjoyment:

• Tenebrae Choir, Nigel Short at Sainte Chappelle, Paris; https://youtu.be/7E_rKYkjSC4

• The Gesualdo Six & Truro Cathedral Choristers, Virtual Recording; and,

• Ely Cathedral Choir, Paul Trepte at Ely, UK.

Justin Appel

Music Director