Reliques / Aria

The organ piece 'Reliques' has two major climaxes, possibly eruptions that refer to Catherine's fiery (perhaps somewhat wisecracking) argument about the true incarnation of Christ before the 'wise men' of Alexandria. The ensuing scene of the martyrdom of the virgin can be heard again in the wry organ chords that occasionally resound. God's Spirit, which according to the various legends must have been speaking in the wise girl, resounds in the Gregorian 'Veni creator spiritus', just before the 2nd climax is worked up. For the short 'Aria', a sung prayer to Catherine, I have taken two verses from the text of a motet from 1501 by the Franco-Flemish composer Loyset Compère (ca. 1445 – 1518). He wrote this motet on the occasion of Philip the Fair's arrival in Paris on 25 November – the anniversary of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In the ninth verse of the hymn is mentioned the beauty, purity and faithfulness of the king's daughter Catherine — the heavenly happiness. The thirteenth verse (perhaps the unlucky number?) warns the Blessed Virgin not to fall prey to temptation and sin – the diabolical evil. The grand climax to which they are working acts like a catharsis: an ecstasy in which Catherine is glorified in the evil that has been done to her. The soloist almost falls short of breath – where Catharina can be called upon. After that, we don't do much more than pray, or at least get quiet… Perhaps to make sure that evil can (possibly) be conquered.