Recently I finished a piece for Men’s Chorus titled Tu Qui Consortem. As you may have guessed from the title, it’s on a Latin text by the Roman poet Propertius (c. 60 – 15 BCE).
The text is quite touching – it’s a war poem in which a mortally wounded soldier (Gallus) addresses another soldier from his company, urging him to save himself, “so that your parents may rejoice, but let my sister know of my fate through your tears. And whoever comes upon my scattered bones on the Etruscan hillside, let him know that these bones are MINE!”
There’s a lot of substance in that poem, and I strove to capture the essence of it. I got to know the poem intimately before I wrote a note (I translated it from the Latin), and I let it simmer for a few months before committing anything to paper.
Now, it’s finished, and I’m pleased to announce that it went into rehearsal about three days after completion! The KU Men’s Chorus is rehearsing it now for performances later in the semester. Better yet, they have been selected to perform the premier concert at KMEA (Kansas Music Educator’s Association) next year, and guess who’s piece will be on the program? :-)
The KMEA concert will be in February 2008 in Wichita, KS. I’m definitely looking forward to it.