Below is my composition on the text Ecce Virgo Concipiet, crafted as a motet for SATB choir. A freely downloadable PDF (Creative Commons BY-NC-ND) is available at the bottom of this post.
Ecce Virgo Concipiet
The text for this motet comes from the Introit for the Feast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is also the Communion for the 4th Sunday of Advent.
Ecce Virgo concipiet,
et pariet Filium,
et vocabitur nomen ejus
Emmanuel.
Behold a Virgin shall conceive,
and shall bear a Son,
and his name shall be called
Emmanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
Interpretation
I composed this motet setting of the text this year, mostly in August and September. As usual, I included few expressive markings to allow for a variety of musical interpretations. Several important notations did make their way into the score.
First, on concipiet I added the expression misterioso, the point being that in this word/phrase is a remarkable sign, that a virgin should conceive. The shift in sound is correspondingly unexpected. Here, there is a D-major suspension that resolves to E minor and B major. There are a few things one could do to bring out the mystery of this passage. For example, concipiet could grow in volume before tapering back. Or, concipiet could intentionally be softer than the ecce Virgo preceding it.
A second marking, maestoso, appears half way through measure 35, pointing et pariet Filium back to concipiet.
The third marking is segue on measure 39 into 40. I like the idea of keeping et vocabitur connected to et pariet Filium before it as opposed to beginning a new thought. While giving measure 39 its full count of 4 beats, there is neither fermata nor lift, but a continuation of the sound, moving directly from the open fifth of measure 39 to the D major chord of measure 40.
Finally, I’ve indicated a number of lifts with breath marks. The most important of these are the mid-syllable repercussion in the Tenor in measure 47 and the Tenor’s final Emmanuel in measure 79.
About the Featured Image
The featured image is Virgin Annunciate from the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck. It is in the public domain in the United States.
