little match girl passion

Chorus pro Musica is proud to present David Lang’s the little match girl passion. With repeated phrases, unpredictable rhythms, and percussive vocals and accompaniment, Lang’s own Pulitzer Prize winner (2007) tells a poignant story.
the little match girl passion retells Hans Christian Andersen’s tale about an impoverished child selling matches on the street one cold winter night who is brought to heaven by her beloved grandmother. Its form mirrors that of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, setting a simplistic storyline and text in a complex choral work. These components, under the influence of Lang’s eclectic and spooky music, are transformed into something completely new and riveting.
To complement the wintry atmospherics of the little match girl passion, our other pieces allude to the sky and the elements. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s eerie Sea Drift takes place in the “night and wind and thunder”; with autumn rains Caroline Shaw’s and the swallow, Psalm 84, intones the yearning of the homeless and refugees; and, in a sunny reprise from our June 2021 Driveway Choir concert, Shawn Kirchner’s incomparable Unclouded Day sees “far beyond the skies.” These works all center on a common theme of home. As Chorus pro Musica sings of “dwelling places”—whether occupied, dispossessed, or longed for–we hold in our hearts everyone whose home is not available or safe, all those who face dark skies and storms.