Annunciation
SATB choral score
PEL2069-Choir Unaccompanied
A WORK FOR SATB CHOIR UNACCOMPANIED.
"Annunciation" is a setting of a poem by Marie Howe from her collection "The Kingdom of Ordinary Time", copyright 2008 Marie Howe. The musical setting was composed by Paul Halley in honor of the 40th anniversary of the ordination to Holy Orders of The Reverend Dr. Gary Thorne for whom this particular poem is a favorite. With music that is richly textured yet ethereal, the mood of timelessness and transcendence perfectly reflects the internal reflections of the Virgin Mary at the moment she understands that she has been chosen by God.
Commissioned by The Reverend Jordan Draper to honour The Reverend Dr. Gary Thorne on the 40th anniversary of his ordination to Holy Orders, March 25th, 2021.
Premiered at Evensong for The Eve of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, March 24, 2021, by The Chapel Choir of The University of King's College, Halifax, NS, directed by Paul Halley.
Video
Texts
Annunciation
Words: Marie Howe (1950 - ) from “The Kingdom of Ordinary Time”
Music: Paul Halley (1952 - )
Even if I don’t see it again—nor ever feel it
I know it is—and that if once it hailed me
it ever does—
And so it is myself I want to turn in that direction
not as towards a place, but it was a tilting
within myself,
as one turns a mirror to flash the light to where
it isn’t—I was blinded like that—and swam
in what shone at me
only able to endure it by being no one and so
specifically myself I thought I’d die
from being loved like that.
Publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
