|
Ave Maris Stella (2003) |
For SATB choir and organ - c.15'
The melody and the text of the Gregorian hymn Ave maris stella give the essence of this suite in seven verses, that pays a homage to the Blissful Virgin Mary. The composition proceeds by alternation of verses for accompanied choir and for organ solo, after the alternatim tradition that flourised in 16th and 17th century France . The initial verse, Ave maris stella, presents the melody in its original aspect with female voices; the organ part suggests in a figuralistic way the expressions maris stella and felix caeli porta. The angelic greeting evoked in the second verse, Sumens Ave illud, for organ solo, is expressed by an ornamental variation of the melody, registered on the cornet, with oriental modality and rhythms. Solve vincla reis is developed by the choir, in canon between the outer parts; the organ draws an accompaniment in ostinato on the beginning of the theme. Monstra te esse matrem is an instrumental paraphrase of sumat per te preces; fast ascending arpeggios articulate the joyous and voluble developments raising more and more to the treble before the energetic conclusion. Arpeggios on the beginning of the theme introduce the following verse, Virgo singularis; this one offers an arrangement for choir that underlines the sweetness; it links itself to an instrumental counterpoint on initial and final periods of the plainsong before the coda. Vitam praesta puram is a joyous toccata whose central part comments on the second period of the hymn. The last verse, Sit laus Deo, is developed in a fugal exposition with a canonic coda. The instrumental accompaniment underlines counterpoints by its broken arpeggios in perpetuum mobile.
© Naji Hakim 2003