De civitatibus (2007) for SATB choir

De civitatibus (2007) 4 min.
for SATB
Premiere: June 13, 2009. St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco
2009 San Francisco Choral Artists New Voices Competition winner

Performed by San Francisco Choral Artists at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church San Francisco June 13, 2009

Directed by Magen Solomon

PROGRAM NOTES
I didn’t hear the name Carlo Gesualdo until my last year as an undergraduate music major. Upon my first hearing I felt a strange affinity and familiarity with his music. After studying several of his motets and madrigals, I composed this piece over the course of a single weekend just in time to honor CSU East Bay’s Professor Emeritus David Stein (who introduced me to Gesualdo) for his retirement ceremony. [JOB 24:12 De civitatibus fecerunt viros gemere, et anima vulneratorum clamavit: et Deus inultum abire non patitur. “The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.”].