Ubi Caritas (now with Verse 2)

I'm starting off the first verse and was wondering if this is an 'acceptable' idea. It's mostly an idea right now, but I didn't want to stray to far and not be able to save myself. 

What do you like? What don't you like? Did I do the words justice (properly set the music to the words)?

Here are the Translated Words 

Ubi cáritas et amor, Deus ibi est. = Where charity and love are, there is God.

Very nice harmonies. I think the intro is too short, and it starts the "cut time" abruptly. Perhaps you can stretch that part a bit more? 

Sounding good!  Were you intentionally playing with word stresses?  You frequently have a rhythmic stress on the second syllable of "Ubi," for instance.  (If you made the word half-note, followed by quarter, instead of quarter-note followed by half, it would fit with the natural way we speak more seamlessly).  Nothing wrong with playing with that to add some complexity to a piece, but I just wanted to be sure you were doing it on purpose, since your treatment of the text is generally aiming for simplicity.  With a text that so many people will recognize from the chanted prayer, that's the sort of small detail that will stand out as a strong musical statement.  You might consider putting an additional marking under the "u" of "ubi" to suggest the stress to help people sight-read it correctly on the first run through if you like this the way it is.  An accent, a tenuto, some dynamic marking... whatever is in line with the feel you envision for the piece, but reminds readers not to give any extra weight to the second syllable of the word.  I like that you are treating the text homophonically.  Because it's such a lovely verse, it's a good to let the audience really hear the words, and it forces the choir to really treat the text as special and take it tenderly.  

On 4/20/2018 at 9:08 PM, Sepharite said:

Very nice harmonies. I think the intro is too short, and it starts the "cut time" abruptly. Perhaps you can stretch that part a bit more? 

 

LOL that might have been because I forgot "Deus Ibi Est". I’ll fix that some point this week.

The worst thing about choral music mockups is that, unlike instrumental music, the digital rendering makes no attempt to even sound natural. That makes following the score a must. Fortunately, you did - thus making possible a detailed review by an experienced choral composer such as Pate.

The experience of listening to your work - or rather, to imagine it sung as it should - is pretty cool. You strived towards simplicity, and audiences will thank you for that in a choral environment. Granted, I love polyphony very much, but sometimes I just want to understand whatever is being sung, and it's already tough enough when the lyrics are in a language I'm not fluent at, such as German, Russian or Latin. So I must say I'm really satisfied that you went out to polish your music without disregarding your audience.

Thanks for your work!