This is the true story of a little piece of music called ‘Ave Verum Corpus’.
If you are a fan of choral music, you’ll probably be familiar with the text ‘Ave Verum Corpus’. If you sing in a choir, you might have performed settings by Mozart, William Byrd, or Elgar. ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ was the first piece that I wrote for the Gallery Choir of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene back in March 2007, and it’s a classic tale of ‘a cloud with a silver lining’.
On a dark Thursday night, one of those monstrous March snowstorms descended on Toronto. Driving around the city was treacherous and I just wasn’t able to get from my job at York University in the north of the city to conduct choir rehearsal at SMM downtown. I never wanted to surrender to the elements and outright ‘cancel’ a choir rehearsal, so the singers who could get to SMM braved the storm and rehearsed on their own.
I felt terrible for missing rehearsal since we had a ton of music to learn for upcoming Holy Week services. So, I sat down and wrote ‘Ave Verum Corpus’ as penance. Like Healey Willan’s ‘Snow Storm Mass’, (Missa Brevis III, 1928) I composed a straight-forward SATB setting – no divisi- so only 4 singers were required to perform it. When I brought my piece to its first read-through at SMM I was nervous, hoping that the humble piece I had composed as an apology would go over well with a skilled and discriminating choir.
Two years later, I presented my piece at a conference at Conrad Grebel College where Alice Parker (b.1925-d.Dec. 24, 2023) was the keynote speaker. Fortunately, representatives from Cypress Choral Music were also in attendance. They offered to publish ‘Ave Verum’ and I can happily say it is now sung by choirs in North America, England, Australia, and Asia, and has been broadcast on BBC Evensong.
So, you see, that snowstorm which flummoxed my best-laid plans seemed like a disaster at the time, but it turned out to be a great blessing, since this little motet launched me on my path as a published composer. I subsequently wrote three more short, sacred pieces to flesh out a collection of ‘Four Motets’ inspired by Healey Willan, Duruflé, and Poulenc who published motets in groups of four, or seven.
‘Ave Verum’ will be sung at St. Mary Magdalene’s (Toronto) this Sunday morning (Jan. 28, 2024). If you’d like to listen to this music and see the scores, please visit the Cypress Choral Music website and enjoy!
https://cypresschoral.com/composers/stephanie-martin/ave-verum-corpus/
Lovely.
Fellow musicians and listeners, do you have a weather-related story from your own experience of music?
That is the most beautiful act of penance that I have ever witnessed.
None of my scores resulted from inclement weather. However, to keep musicians occupied as they waited out the Covid pandemic, I composed unaccompanied solo variations on ‘La Folia’ for all of the principal orchestral instruments. All were eventually recorded.
Lovely story, and beautiful score. Thanks!
A beautiful setting, Stephanie. I had not noticed it before. Thanks for the background.
You’re welcome Leonard! And thanks for your kind words.
I am introducing this gem to my choir tonight and am happy to have this story to share. Thank you!