Righteousness and Peace: A Cantata of Reconciliation

Abstract

Righteousness and Peace, a new cantata, uses the composer’s own assemblage of Christian biblical texts to illustrate the meeting and reconciliation between moral law and mutual love. It is scored for mixed chorus with soprano and tenor soloist, accompanied by chamber orchestra; a version with piano accompaniment is also provided to facilitate rehearsal and expand the possibilities of performance. Its performance duration of 40-45 minutes makes it suitable for a special concert or community event. A system of key relationships is used to delineate the core concepts of righteousness (moral law) and peace (mutual love and cooperation), and to create shadings of meaning both to distinguish these core topical areas and to delineate connections and deeper unities between them as articulated in the source texts. Motivic links between all movements are also used to emphasize the continuity between apparently opposite ideas.