Rising – Thorvaldsdóttir, Ad Genua
Anna Thorvaldsdóttir – Ad Genua
Sunrise, Tuesday March 31
Góðan daginn!
The most ironic result of our massive Seven Responses project – with its eight composers from five countries, 45 musicians, and nearly four hours of music – was the discovery of humility lying at the root of the whole thing. And no work captures that more directly than Anna Thorvaldsdóttir's Ad genua, a response to Dieterich Buxtehude's 1680 cantata of the same name, based on a Medieval poem and Isaiah:
You will be brought to nurse and dandled on the knees.
Anna teamed up in her response with fellow Icelander, poet Guðrún Eva Minervudottir:
I fall
to my knees and ask
forgiveness for
lazy thoughts,
unseemly hunger
and
the beautiful, wild stampede of my fear
What we love about singing this?
First, the simplicity of the solo (so elegantly offered from Maren) which Anna describes:
The music envelopes the solo voice in a dreamlike state,
both terrifying and calm at the same time.
She is surrounded by elements that occupy the same space, but she is alone...
it is easy not to see the pain that does not belong to you.
And then, it's the falling, falling, falling... The feeling that the choir is perpetually descending into a deeper place.
I fall
to my knees and worship
the eternal music
Long, cool landscapes of desire from Iceland for Sunrise on Tuesday, as we say goodbye to a challenging March.
- The Whole Team @ The Crossing
We want to let you know about another Rising w/ The Crossing update. We've made a place where you can easily find old entries, revisit recordings, or share with a friend:
Come. Rise. Now.
(updated to projects.crossingchoir.org/rising February 2023)
Ad genua/To the knees
music by Anna Thorvaldsdóttir
words by Guðrún Eva Minervudottir
recorded June 24, 2016 at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral
as part our 2-day presentation of Seven Responses
with the strings of the International Contemporary Ensemble
audio by Paul Vazquez of Digital Mission Audio Services
video art by Dan Cole
* * *
I fall to my knees
I fall
I fall
I fall
to my knees and ask
forgiveness for
lazy thoughts,
unseemly hunger
and
the beautiful, wild stampede of my fear
I fall to my knees
I fall
I fall
I fall
to my knees and into
the dark haze
of the purple, innocent sky
I fall deep into the sky and beg
for clarity,
true satisfaction
and union of the soul
I give myself up
I give
I give up
I fall to my knees
I fall
I fall
I fall
to my knees and worship
the eternal music