The immortal spirit
“The immortal spirit” was created at the beginning of 2020 for the choir Amici Canendi. Unfortunately, the choir was unable to perform the piece due to the corona pandemic that began shortly afterwards, so the piece was first performed by the Mörth Singers under my direction at the beginning of 2023.
The piece is based on the poem "Dawn" by Frederick George Scott. It begins with whispers, from which the main motif of the piece slowly develops. This motif travels through all the voices in various variations, reversals and augmentations, forming a wave-like movement that drives the piece forward. Only in the middle section is this movement briefly interrupted by a pedal chord, over which floats a soprano solo.
Then the movement picks up speed again and leads to the climax of the piece, before the motif is picked up again at the end and the piece finally disappears in the whisper of the choir.
"Dawn", by Frederick George Scott (1861-1944):
The immortal spirit hath no bars
To circumscribe its dwelling place;
My soul hath pastured with the stars
Upon the meadow-lands of space.
My mind and ear at times have caught,
From realms beyond our mortal reach,
The utterance of Eternal Thought
Of which all nature is the speech.
And high above the seas and lands,
On peaks just tipped with morning light,
My dauntless spirit mutely stands
With eagle wings outspread for flight.
Choir: SSAATTBB
Length: 5.5 min
Mörth Singers, Conductor: Julian Mörth, 2023