Prelude on Veni Creator Spiritus

Commissioned by and written for organist Daly Thomson, this piece is a short prelude for solo organ based on the chant Veni Creator Spiritus. The only instruction I was given was to “fragment the theme, but state it fully by the end”, which I really decided to lean into, dragging the theme through rhythmic, harmonic, and timbral variations throughout. Having never written for organ before, I worked extensively with Daly to both learn about the instrument while also expanding my knowledge of organ repertoire. One fateful moment was the introduction to the music of Maurice Duruflé, and his own Prelude, Adagio, and Choral Variations based on the same chant. Being exposed and inspired to both the wonderful ways he varies the theme as well as the textures he explores, I felt it only right to embrace his influence on the piece and include nods to various elements of his score.

Opening the piece is a statement of the first phrase of the chant, but broken up and with an uneven rhythm. A key rhythmic motif of four sixteenth notes is also introduced in the left hand, before a sweeping arpeggio transitions to a chorale and then back into the opening texture. The piece continues to develop and vary the chant along with the rhythmic motif, and then finally explodes into a toccata where the pedals state a rhythmically augmented version of the full theme. An ecstatic chorale accompanies the final phrase, which dies down to a single voice climbing upwards landing on a high E, followed by an unexpected statement of the first phrase of the chant in C, where the piece is laid to rest.