Ave Verum Corpus

03:10 duration|Composed in 2023|Difficulty: Intermediate|First performed: October 2023

Ave Verum Corpus won the New Music for St Paul’s 2023 Composition Competition out of ~90 entries. It is written in the Dorian ‘Flat 2’ Mode, which is a more dissonant alternative to the Dorian Mode. I love tone clusters and jazz-infused harmony, which comes across in this piece.

Text

Ave verum corpus, natum
De Maria Virgine:
Vere passum immolatum
In cruce pro homine.

Cuius latus perforatum
Unda fluxit sanguine:
Esto nobis praegustatum
In mortis examine.

O dulcis, o pie, o Jesu, Fili Mariae,
miserere mei. Amen.

Hail, true body, born
of the Virgin Mary:
truly you suffer, offered in sacrifice
on the cross for man.

From whose pierced side
flowed the blood:
may we have tasted of you
when we come to the trial of death.

O gentle, loving Jesus, Son of Mary,
have mercy on me. Amen.

Attributed to Pope Innocent VI (1282-1362)