Jay Schwartz
In Paradisum
Duration: 20'
Dedication: for my father Howard Leonard Schwartz (1933 – 2016)
Choir: SATB
Instrumentation details:
1st violoncello
2nd violoncello
1st double bass
2nd double bass
organ
Schwartz - In Paradisum mixed choir, 2 violoncellos, 2 double basses and organ
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Jay Schwartz
In paradisumOrchestration: gemischten Chor, 2 Violoncellos, 2 Kontrabässe und Orgel
Type: Studienpartitur
Print-On-Demand
Jay Schwartz
In paradisumOrchestration: gemischten Chor, 2 Violoncellos, 2 Kontrabässe und Orgel
Type: Dirigierpartitur
Sample pages
Work introduction
My composition In paradisum for choir, 2 cellos, 2 double basses and organ, takes its reference and inspiration from the Gregorian chant of the same name. During my stay in Rome I was once again fascinated by the acoustics of the churches of this city, which had brought forth the Gregorian chants. I undertook small studies, made recordings of chants and liturgical acts in the churches of Rome, and experimented with the collected material on the computer in my studio.
The giant, richly resonant acoustics of these sacred buildings and their extreme reverberations act as an amplifier and multiplier of the sound, so that relatively simple chants are clothed in a shimmering, lush robe of acoustics […] I perceive the subject of my composition as a rite of passage: life as a transition. The musical means of the glissandi, the tones always moving between fixed steps – a musical language that has long since become a fixed vocabulary of my musical aesthetic – embodies this state of permanent transition in the composition.
Jay Schwartz