Christe Qui | music

Christe Qui Lux Es Et Dies

for String Quartet (2011)

Christe qui lux es et dies,

Noctis tenebras detegis,

Lucisque lumen crederis,

Lumen beatum praedicans.

Christ, who art the light and day,

You drive away the darkness of night,

You are called the light of light,

For you proclaim the blessed light.

When faced with the task of applying a found object and transforming it into a work for String Quartet, I found myself turning to the Gregorian chant Christe qui lux es et dies. I found the chant whilst performing Byrd’s setting with the Bristol University Singers and was intrigued to find that the chant had also been set by other great English composers of that age including Thomas Tallis and numerous settings by Robert Whyte.

Also whilst thinking of the use of ‘found objects’ in music, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis came to mind, a work that I am very fond of and one I hold in high regard. From this I decided to then explore the chant with more contemporary harmonies and techniques, whilst also exploring techniques that would have been employed by Byrd including false relations, moving the chant through the voices and representing the drama found in the Latin text.