Solomon and His Bride (2014)
for SATB (divisi) choir and piano
Text: Song of Solomon 1:9-17 (Latin Vulgate)
Duration: 5 minutes
Difficulty: 4/4
First performed by the Choral Arts Initiative (Brandon Elliott, dir.) in February 2015.
As I have always been attracted to Latin texts (especially sacred ones), setting an excerpt from the Song of Solomon seems like an obvious choice. The Song of Solomon is itself a deeply passionate work celebrating love, and the concluding verses of the first chapter specifically drew me in with its sensuous and fragrant language. In the opening to Solomon and His Bride, I used pitch collections in the voice and piano to create curtains of sound, which drape lusciously over the male harmonies. In the second section, ecstatic syncopated rhythms and mixed metres gradually build to a passionate chorale on the words, "Behold! You are beautiful, my love!"
Click here to see the complete score.
Live recording currently unavailable. MIDI available on request.
Full Text
Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.
We will make for you ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.
While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi.
Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
Behold, you are beautiful,
my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
Pulchrae sunt genae tuae sicut turturis;
collum tuum sicut monilia.
Murenulas aureas faciemus tibi,
vermiculatas argento.
Dum esset rex in accubitu suo,
nardus mea dedit odorem suum.
Fasciculus myrrhae dilectus meus mihi;
inter ubera mea commorabitur.
Botrus cypri dilectus meus
mihi in vineis Engaddi.
Ecce tu pulchra es, amica mea!
ecce tu pulchra es!
Oculi tui columbarum.
Ecce tu pulcher es,
dilecte mi, et decorus!
Lectulus noster floridus.
Tigna domorum nostrarum cedrina,
laquearia nostra cypressina.