O Salutaris Hostia (Miškinis)
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(O saving victim) is a composition for choir
a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...
by
Vytautas Miškinis Vytautas Miškinis (born 5 June 1954) is a Lithuanian composer, choral conductor and academic teacher. He is the artistic director of Ąžuoliukas, a boys' and youth choir and music school, and of other ensembles, performing internationally. He ...
, a setting of the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
prayer . Written in 1991, it was published by
Carus Marcus Aurelius Carus ( – July or August 283) was Roman emperor from 282 to 283. During his short reign, Carus fought the Germanic tribes and Sarmatians along the Danube frontier with success. He died while campaigning against the Sassanid ...
in 2001. It has been performed in concerts internationally, and was recorded.


History

Vytautas Miškinis Vytautas Miškinis (born 5 June 1954) is a Lithuanian composer, choral conductor and academic teacher. He is the artistic director of Ąžuoliukas, a boys' and youth choir and music school, and of other ensembles, performing internationally. He ...
composed O salutaris hostia in 1991 as a
choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
conductor and professor at the
Vilnius Academy of Arts The Vilnius Academy of Arts (, previously ''State Art Institute of Lithuania'') in Vilnius, Lithuania, grants a variety of degrees in the arts. History The Academy traces its roots back to the creation of the Architecture Department at Viln ...
. He has composed more than 700 works of sacred vocal music, including masses, cantatas and motets. The Baltic states are an area of a long tradition of choral music, which culminates in annual singing festivals. The composition was published by
Carus-Verlag Carus-Verlag is a German music publisher founded in 1972 and based in Stuttgart. Carus was founded by choral conductor Günter Graulich and his wife Waltraud with an emphasis on choral repertoire. the catalogue includes more than 26,000 works ...
in 2001.


Text

The text is the first stanza of the
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
prayer , written by
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
for Eucharistic adoration.


Music

The music is set for seven voices, SAATTBB. It begins in E-flat major, in 3/4 time, marked ''Tranquillo e rubato'' (quiet and ''
rubato ; , , ;) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rubato is an expressive shaping of music that is a p ...
''). The duration is given as 3 minutes. The text is structured in three sections. The beginning, covering the first two lines, is set for a mostly homophonic four-part choir, with the altos and basses at times
divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. What is being divided is called the ''dividend'', which is divided by the ''divisor'', and the result is called the ...
. The third line, "Bella premunt hostilia" (Hostile armies press), is rendered in a Segment 1, with the upper voices, sopranos and divided altos, set against the lower voices, a four-part
men's chorus A men's chorus or male voice choir (MVC) (German: ''Männerchor''), is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose music is typically arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low bas ...
. The upper voices begin. Each of them has a phrase assigned, which they repeat again and again. The sopranos' phrase takes 5 beats, the two different phrases of the two alto parts take 7 beats. The sopranos enter first, then the first altos, then second altos. While they keep the pattern, the men's chorus sings the text three times in growing intensity, which the upper voices match. The segment has been described as of "striking incantation effect". The fourth line appears in Segment 2, in a similar pattern but with different material. The conclusion, named Tempo I, is a slightly shortened repetition of the beginning.


Performances and recordings

was featured in benefit concerts commemorating the victims of the Riga catastrophe, performed by the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Choir at two churches in Tallinn and the
Helsinki Cathedral Helsinki Cathedral (, ; , ) is the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, at the Senate Square. The church was originally built from 1 ...
in December 2013. The work opened a concert by the composer's Ažuoliukas Boys and Youth Choir on the occasion of Lithuania's
presidency of the Council of the European Union The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...
, at
Le Flagey The Flagey Building (; ), also known as the Radio House (; ), is a building located in Ixelles, a municipality of Brussels, Belgium, housing the Flagey cultural centre. It is located on the south-western corner of the Place Eugène Flagey/Eug ...
in Brussels on 15 December 2013. It has been selected for choral workshops. It was recorded as part of a collection ''Miskinis: Thoughts of psalms. Contemporary choral music from Lithuania'' by Carus. A 2013 recording, ''Mysterious Nativity'', performed by Les Métaboles conducted by Léo Warynski, combines the work with Pärt's
Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...
and
Salve regina The "Salve Regina" ( , ; meaning "Hail Queen"), also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina ...
, and works by Dimitri Tchesnokov,
Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...
and
Georgy Sviridov Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov (; 16 December 1915 – 6 January 1998) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He is most widely known for his choral music, strongly influenced by the traditional chant of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as his orch ...
. In 2017, it was recorded in the collection ''Aurora: polifonia del XX secolo'' by the Calycanthus choir, conducted by Pietro Ferrario.


References


External links

*
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Les Métaboles, Léo Warynski – Mysterious Nativity: Music for choir by G. Sviridov, A. Schnittke, D. Tchesnokov
de.brilliantclassics.com 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:O salutaris hostia (Miskinis) 1991 compositions Choral compositions Contemporary classical compositions