Opus 1368
What Is Holy? (2020)
for SATB Chorus and Organ
King’s Chapel Choir; Heinrich Christensen, director and organ
Duration: 6 min.
Dedication: for Heinrich Christensen’s 20th anniversary as Organist and Music Director, King’s Chapel, Boston
Commission: Commissioned by King’s Chapel, Boston, Massachusetts in celebration of Heinrich Christensen’s 20th anniversary as Organist and Music Director (2000–2020)
Publisher: Zimbel Press/Subito Music Corp.
Performance materials available from the publisher.
What Is Holy? (2020) for chorus and organ was commissioned by King’s Chapel (Boston, Massachusetts) in celebration of Heinrich Christensen’s 20th anniversary as Organist and Music Director (2000–2020). The text, an English adaptation of words by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, asks and answers two questions that speak to the virtues of united community. The music is unified through a series of rising figurations at different speeds that underpin the text’s increasing fervency.
What is holy?
It is what binds many souls together,
even if only lightly,
as the rush binds the wreath.
What is the holiest?
That which, today and forever,
felt more and more deeply,
makes spirits more and more united.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
adapted into English