Duration: 4 minutes
Program note:
This work was commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Concert Choir, Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, conductor
After weeks of laboring over a more complicated new piece for the UW-Eau Claire concert choir, I composed this simple setting in a matter of hours. Based on St. John 15: 12-13: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." I have always found this passage of text both direct and poignant. This little work represents my best answer, in the moment, to violence in the world: violents between countries, governments, and families.
The score is available from Colla Voce Music