O Magnum Mysterium (Charles H. Giffen) - score video
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,150
    Here is a YouTube score video of my 12-voice (SSAT-SATB-ATBB) O magnum mysterium. The modern 12-tone, whole tone, polyharmonic, and other compositional devices make this a rather difficult work, perhaps too "modern" for some tastes here, although there are several moments of reassuring, resonant harmony. For some reason this composition seems even more relevant in these tumultuous times.

    The score video is best viewed by clicking on YouTube once the video starts and then selecting full screen (type "f") or theater mode (type "t"). I hope this work engages your soul & spirit.
    In this work, I have tried to capture the awe and reflect an aura of the calm, deep-night mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus in Bethlehem, where stable animals witnessed, with Mary and Joseph, a cosmic event that changed the course of history for ever - occurring in that “fullness of time, fixed by the unsearchable counsel of God, when the Son of God took upon him the nature of man, that he might reconcile it to its Maker.”

    The music includes mainly twelve tone thematic but also whole tone harmonic material, which lend a sense of mystery and reverence as the music unfolds. The given markings for tempo are approximate and may be adjusted to suit the performance acoustics. The three 4-part groups may be separated by some distance if there is adequate space in the
    performance venue.

    There is an 8-voice adaptation for SSAT-ATBB voices as well as the 12-voice original, and I've posted the PDF scores here previously.

    O Magnum Mysterium - Charles H. Giffen
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    Direct YouTube link: https://youtu.be/u_VHO__6iSA
    Thanked by 3m_r_taylor sdtalley3 Andrew_Malton
  • m_r_taylor
    Posts: 316
    I like it very much!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Another coup for you, Chuck!
    This one is, as I'm sure that you intended - intensely other worldly, which is fitting for the text.
    God the Son becoming incarnate almost demands a treatment of such ethereal and strange beauty.
    I could almost hear shades of Lauridsen in it.
    Other than that, on this one I am not competent to make compositional criticism!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,464
    Thank you, I enjoyed it very much, I like how you branched out of some tonal box.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,464
    Especially the ending!
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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