Thursday, August 15, 2013

Introit

This is more a general impression than a setting of a specific text, following the overall form of an Introit in the Tridentine Mass (hence the absence of guitars, tambourines, slide whistles, etc.). The instrumentation is string orchestra plus solo violin, viola and cello (the solo viola part could be played by a violin, but I prefer the darker tone of the viola for it). It came together fairly quickly -- about two weeks, with much more time spent listening than writing. I thought it was going to take a good bit longer to complete, but once the final structural decision was made, it pretty much finished itself. It's in F Major, with no tricky rhythms, and as with Bells, I made a conscious effort to avoid excessive complexity.