Gaude, Virgo

"Gaude, Virgo is a relatively simple yet highly effective setting of a fifteenth-century anonymous Latin text, a salutation to the Virgin Mary As such it is suitable to sing during Advent, at Marian Feasts, and for (limited) general use.The quality of the music makes it suitable for concert use during Christmas and at other times of the year The publishers have included the text and an excellent translation at the end of the octavo.

The musical material is based upon the harmonization of a two-phrase chant melody. This melody appears in different voices through the piece, but is always present. It is harmonized in increasingly complex ways as the piece progresses, moving from an opening unison statement of the chant by the sopranos to a sonorous seven-part choral texture in the penultimate phrase. The final phrase returns to a unison texture.

Despite the rather extensive divisi, this composition is written to be accessible to the choir and the audience. The harmony is always modal/diatonic, not chromatic. The harmonized passages are homophonic. The vocal lines are well written and always fall within a reasonable range, and as new voices are added, the continuing parts often to repeat previous material.The vocal writing tends to be stepwise with an occasional leap. The only potentially difficult passage occurs in the soprano section, which at one point has some wider leaps and a series of parallel seconds.

The dynamic shape follows the choral texture. It begins pianissimo, grows to fortissimo, and returns to pianissimo. This grand climax gives it a more joyful character, although I would list the general mood of this piece as meditative....

...A professional church choir would have no difficulty in learning this piece. It would be a suitable choice for a good high school choir, college, or university choir. It is a well-written composition and worth performing."

—L. Brett Scott, Choral Journal