As we look forward to the BBC Singers’ performance at the 76th Aldeburgh Festival, we dive deeper into the ‘hidden gem’ that is Britten’s choral piece, A.M.D.G.
When was it written?
5–30 August 1939.
What are the words?
The poems are by the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899).
What does it sound like?
A.M.D.G. is an unaccompanied choral piece in seven movements for ‘SATB’ (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) voices. Each movement has a slightly different mood or atmosphere, from the marching rhythms of ‘The Soldier’, to the tongue-twisting rapidity of ‘God’s Grandeur’ to the almost jazzy style of ‘O Deus ego amo te’ and the more contemplative ‘Heaven-Haven’. It is a complex work to sing, but is compellingly beautiful to listen to.
Dr Lucy Walker, writer and musicologist introduces us to this hidden gem.
Listen to a recording of A.M.D.G. in full on Spotify.
- Britten was staying in Woodstock, New York State when he composed this piece, not far from fellow composer and friend Aaron Copland. He had arrived in Canada a few months earlier in May, accompanied by Peter Pears, then travelled down into New York. They had planned to stay only a short while, but remained in New York until 1942.
- WH Auden, poet and friend of Britten’s, was already living in the US when Britten and Pears arrived. It is quite possible that Auden introduced Britten to Hopkins’ poetry, as he had long admired his work, and several times acknowledged him as an influence on his own writing.
- Although Britten completed A.M.D.G. in August 1939, it was never performed in full in his lifetime, and Britten did not even decide on the running order of the seven numbers. It was premiered and published some years after Britten’s death.
- Britten originally gave A.M.D.G. the opus number of 17 (he normally gave opus numbers to substantial pieces that were to be published). However, he later transferred the number 17 to another piece he composed while living in the US, the operetta Paul Bunyan.
- A.M.D.G. stands for ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’, translated as ‘to the greater glory of God’, and is the Latin motto of the Jesuits. Hopkins would sometimes add this motto to the end of his poems.
Britten’s A.M.D.G will be performed by the BBC Singers during the 76th Aldeburgh Festival.
Thursday 26 June | 7.30pm
Snape Maltings Concert Hall
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