Holy

In November of 2016, inspired by this group’s outstanding fall concert cycle, as well as a hybrid poetry-songwriting project I had assigned one of my music theory classes at Chaffey College, I sent the following message to the C3LA listserv: “I've got the urge to write something for the group... but don't have any particular ideas at the moment. If any of you have any texts that you think might be good for choral setting (original or otherwise) that you don't want to reserve for yourself, please send them my way—Id' be happy to outsource that element of inspiration...”
A number of my colleagues replied with thoughtful, unexpected, and outright hilarious suggestions. Some sent their own work, and I found myself drawn to Alexandra Grabarchuk’s untitled poem, which she had recently written as a gift for her husband. Its flares of vivid imagery, its subtle playfulness, and the musicality and rhythm of the words themselves seemed to cry out for setting. A conversation with Alex about the poem and her broader artistic passions and influences suggested a connection to the Sanctus from the Messe de Nostre Dame of Machaut; that work is quoted at the end of Holy, and also supplied its title.