Daniel Elder

Adoro Te Devote

A quietly meditative setting of gregorian chant, this work creates a shifting, groundless set of harmonies that effectively treat the source melody with the organic flow it naturally exhibits. Limited vocal divisi in the middle section works to paint a spacial effect that joins the same chant line between multiple voices which are otherwise staid. The text features three stanzas selected from the original seven; stanzas which concisely hone on the penitant theme of the original Latin poem. The tempo of this work should reflect the natural inclinations of Gregorian chant, and so a numerical value is purposefully omitted. Performing slowly and sensitively but with an emphasis on the half note rather than the quarter should give these lines the capriciously free flow it demands.