Hodie is a double-choir (SSAATTBB) setting of the Christmas antiphon Hodie Christus natus est, sung a cappella. The text proclaims the nativity in successive bursts: Christ is born, the angels sing, the righteous exult. My vision was that each burst represents the singing of a new company of angels appearing in the sky to announce the birth. The music answers with a rising tonal scheme, with each proclamation arriving in a higher key than the last, and the brightness mounting verse by verse.

The work opens in D major, an ostinato in the men beneath the women’s verse, the roles then reversing. At Hodie in terra canunt angeli (“today on earth the angels sing”), the texture turns to the men alone, legato ed espressivo, in E major; the women take up the repeat and lift the music to F-sharp major. Laetantur archangeli (“the archangels rejoice”) sets men and women antiphonally, cadencing as the righteous exult (exsultant justi). At dicentes (“saying”), the music turns to B major, and every appearance of Gloria blazes in bright chords. The in excelsis rings with the quality of church bells, marked come campane della chiesa, building to a shimmering overtone cluster.

The tintinnabulation gradually resolves on excelsis to an A major, the dominant of the home key, marked piano and dolcissimo, before the music finally cadences in D, rallentando and pianissimo. My mental image is that of the heavenly host withdrawing, with the last light overtones still ringing in the ears. Hodie is a radiant, large-scale Christmas work for an accomplished a cappella double choir. The audio sample begins at measure 27.

Here are the Latin and English texts: