Panis Angelicus (2014)
for SATB choir (or SSAA/TTBB), a cappella
Text: Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Duration: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Difficulty: 1/4
SATB version first performed by the All Saints Anglican Cathedral Choir (Jeremy Spurgeon, dir.) in March 2015. First European performance by the King's College London Chapel Choir (Joe Fort, dir.) in May 2017.
This setting of Panis Angelicus, the beautiful Latin text by Thomas Aquinas, is adapted from the final movement of my Requiem for the Fallen. This chorale is as pure and simple an ending as I could have possibly written for that piece, but I wanted desperately to repurpose these beautiful harmonies as a standalone work. As a setting of Aquinas' words, the gentle voiceleading and occasionally pained dissonances turn away from their original context (the idea of community in the face of human suffering) and towards a sacred optimism in the glory of heaven.
Click here to see the SATB score.
Click here to see the SSAA score.
Click here to see the TTBB score.
The audio below is a multitrack rendition of the TTBB version by Noah Wright (Edmonton, AB), recorded in March 2020.
Full Text
The bread of angels
becomes the bread of mortals;
the bread of heaven
puts an end to all symbols.
O wondrous thing!
The Lord becomes our food:
the poor, the servant, and the humble.
Of you, threefold and
one God, we ask:
Come to visit us
as we worship you;
lead us on your paths
where we want to go:
to the light in which you dwell.
Amen.
Panis angelicus
fit panis hominum;
Dat panis cœlicus
figuris terminum:
O res mirabilis!
Manducat Dominum
pauper, servus et humilis.
Te trina Deitas
unaque poscimus:
Sic nos tu visita,
sicut te colimus;
Per tuas semitas
duc nos quo tendimus,
Ad lucem quam inhabitas.
Amen.