The St Machar Songbook

Flexible voicing, c. 20’ (2021)

This piece was written in honor of heraldic ceiling in St Machar’s Cathedral, one of very few such architectural landmarks to survive the Reformation. The ceiling contains 48 heraldic shields in three rows of sixteen. Various nobles are represented in the south row, the bishops of the dioceses of Scotland at the time are represented in the centre row, and the various rulers of Europe are represented in the north row. To embody the architectural, modular nature of the ceiling, this piece contains sixteen short movements which are all canons or rounds in some way.

The texts are taken from the solemnization of St Machar, which can be found in the Aberdeen Breviary. Many of the movements are verses from psalms; these are a selection of the responsorial psalms found in the services here. I have freely adapted the hymns, lessons, and opening and closing prayer from the original liturgy, which was in Latin (and indeed quite lengthy). They tell of St Machar’s life and the miracles he performed – for instance, saving his new-born brother from stillbirth and turning a rampaging bull to stone. The only text which does not come from the solemnization of St Machar is Aurora rutilat, which is from the Inchcolm Antiphoner. I included it in honor of the Celtic musical heritage of Scotland, as this is one of the few surviving examples of Celtic chant practices, and of Machar’s mentor Saint Columba. I also included some of the psalms in this liturgy – for example, the above setting of Psalm 113.

I wanted to provide a piece for the St Machar Cathedral Choir that could serve many purposes for different occasions. Taken as a whole, the piece is a celebration of St Machar’s story and of the building and can be performed as such for special occasions. Many of the movements may also be performed independently, or in smaller groups. The canons allow for very flexible voicing of the music and allows ensembles to make many of their own voicing decisions. I hope that the resulting music feels architectural, but still expressive and accessible for of the singers.

The Psalm 113 setting from this movement is available for purchase and performance. The rest of the work will be available once the premiere has taken place.