Gaudete
This piece was created in 2013 for the CroPatria choir festival in Croatia and won the silver medal in the associated composition competition in 2014.
The piece is characterized by many opposing rhythms in all voices, which give the piece an impression of greater polyphony, even though only four voices are involved. It should sound like a crowd shouting wildly and rejoicing over the birth of Jesus.
There is one main motif that runs through the piece and recurs, but towards the end the original Gaudete motif from the 15th century gains the upper hand: after it has passed through all the voices once, all the voices come together at the climax of the piece and sing together a homophonic choral movement to the main melody, before the choir breaks up again and each voice follows its own rhythm. In the coda, all the voices finally come together again and drive each other more and more to ecstasy until the piece ends with a brilliant final chord.
Choir: SATB
Length: 3 min
Mörth Singers, 2023