The Music of Longing

he song suite Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, AMDG, is a setting of seven poems by the 19th-century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, whose deep religiosity is expressed in the poems’ longing for a home with God. The poems were set to music by Britten in August 1939, when he was in voluntary exile in the USA with his partner, tenor Peter Pears. Rasmus Krigström’s Sonnet 99 is a setting of Shakespeare’s sonnet, where the longing for the beloved has become so strong and all-consuming that even the scent and color of flowers can only be experienced as a crude echo of the real beauty found in the beloved’s features. Martin Åsander’s And the people stayed home is about the COVID pandemic and the lockdown of parts of society, not least concerts and choral activities. The text is taken from a viral social media post written during the pandemic itself, describing the hardships but also the hope that something new will arise from the sacrifices.

Is it the sun or mother? Have three hours or centuries passed? Does the longing return to the memories of childhood or to the timeless, the eternity? Pēteris Vasks’ dreamy Māte Saule is about waking up half-dreaming one morning, hearing the sound of mother’s wooden clogs, smelling freshly baked bread, and seeing the sunlight breaking through.

“Wait” Fantasy merges Emily Dickinson’s poem Waiting with a fantasy of the electro duo M83’s song Wait. In waiting, there is longing. Longing, dreams, hope, and time itself are all part of waiting.

Program
Benjamin Britten Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Rasmus Krigström Sonnet 99
Martin Åsander And People Stayed Home
Peteris Vasks Māte Saule
Steve Hackman Wait Fantasy

S:t Jacob’s Vocal Ensemble
Mikael Wedar conductor

6 years age limit
Ticket price: 160 SEK, discounts available for pensioners, children/youth/students

The tickets will have the Swedish name: Längtans musik

Please note that no large bags, backpacks or suitcases are allowed inside the church!