Hallelujah (2017)

Written for SATB choir and organ, commissioned and premiered by the Willamette Master Chorus under the direction of Paul Klemme in Salem, Oregon.

Hallelujah was commissioned in 2017 by Paul Klemme, my organ professor in college, for the choir he directs called the Willamette Master Chorus.  He asked for a piece that would be the finale of their concert at the Mt. Angel Abbey in St. Benedict, Oregon.  The sanctuary at the abbey has a very long reverb, meaning when a sound is made, it takes many seconds for it to dissipate.  To highlight this feature of the space, I wrote small, exploding melodies that are followed by long silences.  I came up with this main motif while sitting in the choir room of my church trying to ignore the screaming of the kids on the playground just outside the window.  I wanted this word, “hallelujah” to be expressed in the same jubilant, unabashed, unselfconscious manner as these kids in their pure excitement.

In providing me examples of what he was looking for in the commission, Paul told me to check out Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle. This work calls for two organs, a Great and a Choir, played by two separate organists. At Mt. Angel Abbey, where my work would be premiered, they had a similar setup of two organs, an enormous organ in the back and a smaller one in the front meant for accompanying the choir. Because the Great organ could very easily drown out the choir, but he wanted to showcase this amazing instrument, the piece would have to be a conversation between these entities.

I was immediately taken by the opening movement of the work, Kyrie Eleison, with its pounding, almost apocalyptic organ part and dramatic choir arrangement. I sought to write a piece with a similar punch.