Da pacem

When Karen Thomas, Artistic Director of Seattle Pro Musica, asked me to compose a work for their Women’s Schola, she stipulated that the work should be based on musical ideas from one or more of the three Bach motets on the same concert and that the text focus on the theme of peace. From the Bach motets I used several fragments of the familiar "Jesu, meine Freude" chorale from the motet of the same name. In addition, while searching for texts for the work, I found the simple liturgical text of the Da pacem, and I was immediately struck by its quality of timelessness, as well as its particular relevance for our own time.

As it happens, I also decided to use the corresponding "Da pacem" chant in addition to Bach’s chorale tune. In the beginning of the work, the chant and chorale tune are divided between the women’s chorus and soprano soloist, respectively. Following the chorale-like passage in the middle, the women’s chorus takes up Bach’s chorale tune while the soloist sings variations of the "Da pacem" chant. The plea for peace becomes increasingly more insistent until it reaches a climax with a series of desperate cries for peace, which resolve into a poignant, fragmented echo of the climax, finally ending unresolved, yet with the hope of peace that lies deep within all human hearts. The work is dedicated “to those who yearn for peace and those who have died to preserve it.”