Ave verum corpus

(L)

Choral level of difficulty: 3 (5 greatest)

This beautiful motet for treble (soprano) voices and organ was composed to mark the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie at Glasgow Cross in 1615 and premiered by pupils from six Jesuit Junior Schools in St Aloysius Church in Glasgow. Ogilvie served a dwindling Catholic community in Scotland in the time of the Reformation when services had to be held in secret. He was discovered in Glasgow and hanged.

This straightforward piece is made more powerful by its very simplicity and especially when remembering the anniversary it commemorates. The lines in the text ‘Hail, true body…truly suffering and slain on a cross for man…’ easily refer to the depth of faith which led to Ogilvie’s own death at the end of a rope. There are optional divisions into two parts at various points but this piece speaks clearly and beautifully with or without these divisions.

This is another example of a familiar text (Byrd and Mozart are prime examples) being set, but if its background were explained to a congregation or audience it could serve numerous situations, both liturgical and secular.

Repertoire Note by Paul Spicer