Reflections on Come, Come, Ye Saints

Dr Lansing McLosky

Born Aug. 21st, 1964. Mountain View, California (USA).
Musical training:
Formal:

• Undergraduate degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
• Masters degree at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, CA.
• Ph.D. in composition from Harvard University (2001).
• Also studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Informal (but just as important! :-)

• Studied piano as a kid, then played in numerous punk-rock, surf, and experimental-rock bands!

Program note from his composition:

The text of "Come, Come, Ye Saints" is doubtless one of the most well known The text of "Come, Come, Ye Saints" is doubtless one of the most well known and beloved in Latter-Day Saints culture. As such, it is imbued with distinctly LDS associations — both cultural and historical. I decided, however, to approach the text not as a "Mormon" icon, but rather as a text with a more universal message; one of hope, faith, and even optimism during times of fierce struggle and tribulation that transcends time, place, culture, and even creed.

The first decision I made was to set the text in Latin; the lingua franca for centuries. Thus the choir singing in Latin symbolizes the universality of the message; their voices are our voices.

I wanted to acknowledge that the text is from a hymn, but without resorting to the traditional repeated hymn form, where the music repeats for each verse. There is actually one SATB musical setting which repeats three times; however, it isn't until the final verse that it is presented in full four-voice texture. In the first and second verses various lines are extracted as solos, duets, and trios.

As a final ecumenical gesture I set the third verse as chant. Though perhaps quite "non-Mormon" in character, the chant tune is actually comprised of the notes from the opening phrase of the hymn melody.

In some ways my resulting piece is distinctly catholic. Not catholic as in Roman Catholic (although the chant section certainly is a nod to that Catholic musical tradition, which for more than a thousand years was how the majority of Christians conducted their worship), but catholic in the dictionary definition: "Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive: Including or concerning all humankind; universal."

I want to thank Glenn Gordon for organizing the Reflections Project, and the Melbourne Chamber Choir for bringing the music to life.

Read the Latin text used in his composition: PDF Learn more about this composer through his website.