Briggs, Kerensa - Seeking You

for mixed voices (SATB) a cappella
Text: English (Charles Anthony Silvestri)
Duration: c4'30"
Difficulty: 4/5

Composer's note
Seeking You was commissioned by the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, where I held a three year tenure as composer-in-residence. The text by Charles Anthony Silvestri tells of a weary traveller who journeys to meet the Christ Child in the manger, but also features an alternative secular version which could refer to the traveller at the deathbed of their long-beloved.

Text
My weary feet know only toil,
My sandals gilt with dust and soil;
A threadbare cloak against the chill,
My brittle bones do ache, and still
I journey on into the night,
Following the slender light.

Seeking you.

Before the manger?1 now I stand,
And offer up my outstretched hand.
I touch your brow, I feel you sigh,
And humbly I’m reminded why
I journey on into the night,
Following the slender light.

Seeking you.

My heart is full, my little rose,
That I could be the first?2 you chose;
3?That such as I could come adore
And see your gentle face before
I journey on into the night,
Following the slender light.

Seeking you,
Ever seeking you.

© Copyright 2024 by Charles Anthony Silvestri

Kerensa Briggs
Kerensa Briggs is an award-winning composer specialising in choral music. Described as “poignant, ambivalent, quietly devastating music” in the New York Times, her works have been performed internationally at venues including St Paul’s Cathedral, London and the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City and are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and BBC Radio Scotland. Her portrait disc Requiem (2023) on Delphian Records placed in the top 30 classical charts and was described as “alluring and heartfelt music” by BBC music magazine. Kerensa was winner of the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2014 and is a member of the TheoArtistry Composers scheme at St Andrews’ Institute for Theology and the Arts, as well as the Illuminate Women’s Music project. She is currently Composer in Residence for St Louis Chamber Chorus. Her love of choral music emanates from her background, singing in choirs including Gloucester Cathedral Youth and the choir of King’s College London, where she held a Choral Scholarship and undertook an MMus in Composition.