Back in 2014, I planned a concert on the theme “Da pacem, Domine” for Chorale’s 2014-2015 season, to be repeated on our concert tour of the Baltic countries during the succeeding summer. The original proposal for a concert on this subject, came from Father Peter Funk, prior of Monastery of the Holy Cross, in Bridgeport. Chorale has had a warm relationship with the Monastery since we started up, twenty years ago; Father peter, then called Ed Funk, was an undergraduate student of mine at the University of Chicago, had sung in all of my choirs and been my conducting assistant. We love singing in the Monastery’s incredible acoustic, and had jumped at the chance to prepare repertoire for a performance there.
Monastery of the Holy Cross, Chicago
The Da pacem text, and its German equivalent (Verleih uns Frieden)is set frequently by choral composers, and expresses a common, fervent wish:
Give peace, oh Lord
To our days
Because no one else
Can fight for us
But only you, our God.
Rather than plan a program consisting purely of settings of this text, I wanted to structure a contemplative, prayerful mood, reinforced by a variety of texts. Having begun with a setting of the Da pacem text by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, I wanted to feature another setting of the same words, to echo his text and theme. The Pärt piece is a major event— it requires a lot of time and listener involvement in an a cappella program; and I had already chosen several other big pieces, by such composers as Bruckner, Lauridsen, Persichetti, and Paulus. I needed a smaller, simpler, more intimate setting of the Da pacem text, to sustain the mood I was after.
I searched my personal files and Youtube, and made a list of settings I found, in Latin, German, and English. I was particularly drawn to a Youtube posting by a Spanish choir, of a setting by Javier Centèno, which featured only the incipit, the opening three words of the chant— Da pacem Domine: Give peace, O Lord.
The incantatory mood of his setting immediately grabbed me, with its simple harmonic language and its gentle but incessant repetition of these three words— the composer had captured the essence of the text, but without weighing it down, creating a mood which hung in the air long after the singers were done.
The Youtube posting included the composer’s name, and I found his contact information through a Google search. He immediately responded to my request for a copy of his piece, and I tried it— on paper, in my head— at several different points in the concert program, and finally decided to open with it— using it to establish the theme and mood for the performance.
I find Centeno’s piece to be almost Schubertian in its simplicity, and in its unerring sense of doing the right thing at the right time, just exactly the right amount. Centeno accomplishes so much in this very brief 41 measure piece. And Chorale found, over the course of repeated performances on our tour, that it wore well— we were happy to sing it, and audiences responded positively. We have performed other pieces by Javier since that time, and have a commission in works, in honor of our twentieth anniversary. We have always been gratified by his artistic voice. His is a name— Javier Centeno— with which you should become familiar.
Javier Centeno, composer