Splendor, from Illuminare

Splendor opens Illuminare, Elaine Hagenberg's first extended work, a five-movement setting for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra. Across the complete work, Hagenberg uses sacred texts from different historical periods to trace a journey from beauty and goodness, through darkness and confusion, towards the restoration of light, hope and peace.

The opening movement takes its text from a hymn attributed to Saint Ambrose, the fourth-century Bishop of Milan. Its central image is light: “Splendor of God's glory, brings forth light from light, light of light's living spring.” Hagenberg responds to these words with music that is deliberately radiant, immediate and full of movement.

The piece begins in a brilliant D major, with a rapid flurry of sixteenth notes. Hagenberg has explained that the soaring flight of bald eagles she observed from her studio window inspired both these rushing orchestral figures and the ascending vocal lines. The effect is one of light rising and expanding, as though the music itself is suddenly illuminated.

The chorus then enters with powerful unison writing before the music develops into a joyful and strongly accented “Gloriae” section. The contrasting middle passage becomes more lyrical and sustained, allowing the music to momentarily move away from its opening brilliance. Here, Hagenberg introduces material associated with the theme of peace that recurs later in Illuminare.

The opening energy eventually returns, building towards a thrilling conclusion. As the sixteenth-note figures race forward once more, the movement culminates in an emphatic final “Gloriae!”.

Although Splendor lasts only a few minutes, it establishes much of the musical language and emotional world of Illuminare: light, movement, ascent, celebration and the possibility of hope. It is both a powerful concert opener in its own right and the beginning of the larger musical journey that unfolds across the five movements.

• The opening rush of sixteenth notes

  – listen for the sense of light and energy created before the voices even enter.

• The ascending vocal lines

  – Hagenberg uses rising melodic gestures to suggest the upward movement of light.

• The powerful choral unison

  – after the orchestral opening, the voices arrive with striking clarity and strength.

• The joyful “Gloriae” passages

  – notice the energetic rhythmic punctuation and interplay between the voices.

• The contrasting lyrical section

  – the music briefly becomes more spacious and reflective, offering a glimpse of the peace that becomes important later in Illuminare.

• The return of the opening momentum

  – listen for the semiquaver figures gathering energy again before the triumphant final “Gloriae!”