Green Music - Kirke Mechem SSAA a cappella
- SSAA a cappella
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The "green movement" seems so contemporary, it comes as a shock to find that these words were written by Hildegard von Bingen as long ago as the 12th century. When I was asked to write a piece on the theme of eternity, I found Hildegard's "Die Ewigkeit gleicht einem Rad, das weder Anfang noch Ende hat." My translation is not so elegant as the original, nor does it rhyme, but it fit the round I wanted to compose. After all, a round (like "Three Blind Mice") goes round and round without any definite stopping point, as does the circle-of-fifths progression I used for the harmony.
While looking through quotations by Hildegard I came across another that linked the eternity theme to her conviction that green is the living spirit of the earth. This is the kind of serendipity that inspires composers to do their best work, which I particularly hoped to do in this case, because my association with the Peninsula Women's Chorus began some forty years ago when my good friend Patricia Hennings took over its artistic direction. I have been fortunate, indeed, to be connected to a chorus with such high musical and humanitarian achievements.
~ Kirke Mechem, program notes