motet for four voices (2017)
Duration ca. 5'
SATB (1 singer per voice or for full choir)
Text by Waleska Cabrera
Text
Autor de Canto W
Waleska Cabrera, poet
what if i don't hear your whisper because of my words? words that say they have precedence over you? for what kind of you would be subservient to my tongue? where could i go without you? it must be the sycophantic heart in me, the one that impales what you want for my world, and what is the world without the original writer of cantos? for aren't we your thoughts in flesh, the paper of your next day lived in love?/shouldn't i hunger your love even in my sleep?/what if i don't hear your whisper because of my words?/"what if" must become nunca mas porque tu eres mi autor, asi escribame otra vez.
Program Note
I was struck by the personal intimacy of this poem, the raw honesty, and the submission to the ultimate love that one yearns for day and night. These sentiments have been felt, spoken about, and written about by mystics through the ages, from the psalmist of scripture, Rumi, St. Francis of Assisi, and countless others. It is this deeply personal, but also universal experience of love for love's sake that I most identify with from my own spiritual experience. I felt compelled to set it to music, drawing from Gregorian chant melodic gestures, Renaissance textures, and contemporary harmonies. This motet is one of my first forays into sacred vocal music.
- Gilbert Galindo