for mixed voices (SATB with divisi) & piano
Text: English (Euan Tait)
Duration: c5 minutes
Difficulty: 3/5

His light in us was commissioned by the St Olaf Choir and Dr Anton Armstrong for the 2016 St Olaf Christmas Festival.

Composer’s note
Christmas is a permanently new, permanently fresh and refreshing gift: the human heart is renewed through the gift not of riches, but of a tiny, fragile child. His light in us is a thanksgiving, and its key word is “renewed,” reflecting the glory of what goes on in our spirits at the Christmas. Although written for Christmas, the piece can be performed any time of the year as a thanksgiving of new hope and how light now shines also in dark times.

Text
God’s distant call flares in the night,
so long expected, so longed for;
and all my life, Christ called my name,
and now at last, I’ll answer Him.

Renewed, his hope, his light in us,
incarnate, fragile, our Lord appears,
Alleluia, alleluia!
Eternal, so perfect,
his cry of changeless love.

Alive, awake, His call is here:
it is the crying of the Child;
I know Christ’s call, its hidden flame,
it makes my spirit flare with hope!

Renewed, his hope...

This root, this stem, this flowering Love,
this mustard seed, it grows to the greatest tree,
the birds of souls have nested there.
The light of the night
Now blazes at dawn!

You’ve lead me here, O little child,
your being singing with God’s life.
The kingdom sings, it choirs with earth,
all creation lives Christ’s peace.

Renewed, his hope...

Euan Tait

Kim André Arnesen
Arnesen is one of the most frequently performed composers from Norway today. He grew up in Trondheim where he was a chorister in Nidaros Cathedral, later being educated at the Music Conservatory in Trondheim. With an interest in baroque music, contemporary classical music, and popular music, Kim could have taken many roads, but choral music became his greatest passion. His works have been performed in more than 30 countries around the world. His albums Magnificat (2014) and Infinity (2018) received excellent reviews and reached the top of the iTunes classical charts. He continues to enjoy a busy international schedule of commissions as well as guest appearances at festivals and other choral events. Arnesen has been a house composer at Boosey & Hawkes since 2017.