Morten Lauridsen - Lux Æterna [Score]

Paul Salamunovich, conductor
Performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Sinfonia Orchestra
0:00 - I. Introitus
6:31 - II. In Te, Domine, Speravi
10:20 - III. O Nata Lux
15:09 - IV. Veni, Sancte Spiritus
17:28 - V. Agnus Dei - Lux Æterna
Each of the five connected movements in this choral cycle contains references to “Light,” assembled from various sacred Latin texts. I composed Lux Aeterna in response to my mother’s final illness and found great personal comfort and solace in setting to music these timeless and wondrous words about Light, a universal symbol of illumination at all levels - spiritual, artistic, and intellectual.
The work opens and closes with the beginning and ending of the Requiem Mass, with the central three movements drawn respectively from the Te Deum, O Nata Lux, and Veni, Sancte Spiritus. The instrumental introduction to the Introitus softly recalls motivic fragments from two pieces especially close to my heart (my settings of Rilke’s Contre Qui, Rose and O Magnum Mysterium) which recur throughout the work in various forms. Several new themes in the lntroitus are then introduced by the chorus, including an extended canon on et lux perpetua.
In Te, Domine, Speravi contains, among other musical elements, the cantus firmus “Herzliebster Jesu” (from the Nuremburg Songbook, 1677) and a lengthy inverted canon on “fiat misericordia.” O Nata Lux and Veni, Sancte Spiritus are paired songs, the former an a cappella motet at the center of the work and the latter a spirited, jubilant canticle. A quiet setting of the Agnus Dei precedes the final Lux Aeterna, which reprises the opening section of the Introitus and concludes with a joyful celebratory Alleluia. - Morten Lauridsen

[@judielterman5677]

This music is glorious. And this recorded performance by the LA Master Chorale under the direction of the brilliant Paul Salamunovich is the consummate version of this heavenly work by the master composer Morten Lauridsen.

[@edwinschirp3536]

Thank you very much Morten. Truly an excellent work, your orchestration is sublime and very balanced, the a cappella harmonies are heavenly, it is a work that with sweet subtlety opens my soul without pain and with divine breath ignites the radiance of the holy spirit that inhabits every heart. It is inevitable that He also dwells in you. Thank you so much for sharing your genius, and quenching my thirst. This work, more than light, is hope, my hope in the divine gift, which is life itself. god bless you.