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Writing the piece over two weeks last spring, right after Easter, David had the sense that it was the best piece he had written to date, after decades of composing. “Everything that's in here, I thought, I'm in control of this and it's going exactly where I want," he shared in an interview about the creative process behind his prize-winning anthem.
“I thought it would be successful. I was very happy about it,” he said. And he was right. “Pentecost” won first prize in the 2023 Peter & Lois Fyfe Choral Composition, a contest sponsored by the Sewanee Church Music Conference (SCMC) to encourage creation of new choral anthems for Christian worship.
“The 2023 competition had a total of 131 compositions accepted from Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the UK, and the majority of the states here in the US,” said E.L. Dubose, a SCMC board member and coordinator of the Fyfe prize.
A conversation with Rector Jon Strand and discovery of a sonnet by poet Malcolm Guite were key steps toward creation of the piece. David asked Jon what he wanted the anthem to be like, since Holy Comforter had commissioned it. Their exchange was very helpful, David said. “He talked about how it should be joyful, and yet with an abiding hope in the power of the spirit. It definitely shaped how I set certain parts of the text.”
He discovered the sonnet “Pentecost” through a Google search. “It's such a moving text. It's so surprising in its imagery. It's so deeply rooted in the faith,” David said, adding that Guite’s work moved him to tears with its metaphors and turns of phrase. For example, "the church draws breath at last and sings” is a really good metaphor for the church on its birthday, and a perfect text to set for singers. And the subsequent line, “as every flame becomes a tongue of praise,” packs in multiple meanings related to Pentecost. The couplet appears twice in the anthem, and forms its last choral line, right before a triumphant organ fanfare. David added, “I wanted to get the tongues of fire in there, and give it a big, joyful, triumphant kind of thing, which is one of the things Jon mentioned.”
David said he was pleased with the pacing of the piece, its contrasting moods—from excitement to lyricism to triumph—and some "wacky" chords that give the anthem harmonic novelty and a sense of "lofting upward." Writing weekly psalm settings at Holy Comforter has helped define his musical language. “If you want to practice something, even writing a little miniature, doing one every single week, is a great way to do it,” he said. “I came up with some good ideas and I got a lot of support from folks and started to hear some of the things that I thought might work. And so I've written more pieces here.” Then, when he was “feeling miserable” because of the pandemic, “I found reasons to write music.” And for the first time, he tried entering contests. Asked how many, he said “Lots. Lots! Ten or 12.” He has won twice—first place for the Fyfe, and second in the Notre Dame Magnificat Choir Competition in 2021.
As part of the Fyfe prize, “Pentecost” will be performed on July 16 at the closing Eucharist of the Sewanee Church Music Conference, a week-long summer program for liturgical musicians at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. David and the choir will be in England that day, about to begin a week-long residency at Lincoln Cathedral. Jack Burnam—recently retired choirmaster and organist of Immanuel on the Green in New Castle, Delaware, and winner of the last Fyfe Prize—described its impact. Commenting on the work of Episcopal church musicians, he said, “The positive response we work to elicit from our choirs, congregation, and parish leadership is its own substantial reward, of course. But winning a competition such as the Fyfe brings affirmation of a different order. “It’s a blind competition… Entries are anonymous, and are evaluated solely on musical merit by judges noted for their experience and expertise in the field of sacred choral music.”
To hear “Pentecost,” visit the YouTube recording of the service. The anthem begins around 1:08:25.
– Kate Beddall
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