Pride Motets (2023)

for SATB voices (divisi) and piano

approx. duration: 15 minutes

composed for Somerville Choir

texts by Richard Barnfield, Jay Hulme & E. E. Cummings

i - my love

ii - this heart

iii - for him

My Pride Motets are a collection of choral works that explore queer love and life, offering a poignant, often autobiographical, meditation on the joys and hardships of queerness. The project began with a commission from Somerville Choir, resulting in 'for him', the third movement, a heartfelt setting of E. E. Cummings' 'i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart).' The second movement, 'this heart' commissioned for a pride Compline service by York Minster, is a reflection on identity crafted from a passage by Jay Hulme. The set opens with 'my love,' a setting of a sonnet by the queer sixteenth-century poet Richard Barnfield.