The Mystery of Light​

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Instrumentation: 

chamber choir (12 singers), and percussion quartet

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Text: 

Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet, "On Death"

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Language:

English

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Duration: 

11.5 minutes

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Date:

2020

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Program:

“The Mystery of Light” is the first movement of a yet to be completed larger work for chamber choir and percussion quartet. The text of the work is an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet. 

 

This book tells the story of a prophet-like man, Almustafa, who, before embarking on the journey back to his native land, stops in the city of Orphalese, where the townspeople, having known him for many years, entreat him to share his wisdom before he departs. The seeress, Almitra, urges him, “speak to us and give us of your truth.” Almustafa proceeds to philosophize on a range of topics including love, laws, pain, friendship, time, beauty, and self-knowledge. Just before his farewell to the people of Orphalese, he speaks of death, saying that it is not something to be feared, but rather, embraced as a necessary and beautiful part of life. 

 

This interconnectedness of the life and death process is the subject of “The Mystery of Light.” With this music, I hope to share the comforting words which Gibran has spoken through this text so that they may provide comfort to those who stand trembling in the presence of life’s most inevitable consequence.

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Then Almitra spoke, saying, We would ask now of Death.

 

And he said:

You would know the secret of death. 

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.