Failed Saints

SATB, 12' (2018)

I. Interrogations at Noon / II. The Angel with the Broken Wing / III. Rough Country 

Failed Saints is a choral cycle on poems by renowned poet and recent California poet laureate Dana Gioia. Gioia's poetry unites contemporary imagery with more traditional forms, and his lyricism often captures the beauty and immensity of the natural world alongside a sense of internal contemplation and struggle.

These three pieces explore, celebrate, and grapple with human and worldly imperfection. “Interrogations at Noon” is a sometimes-poignant, sometimes-tongue-in-cheek meditation on the feelings of inadequacy that many of us experience. “The Angel with the Broken Wing” is a stunning narrative poem told from the perspective of an angel statue built for a Spanish country church, vandalized in the Revolution and now relegated to the back room of an art gallery. “Rough Country” gives a sense of release from the conflicted voices of the previous two settings in its celebration of the stark natural landscapes of a Western wilderness.

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