Mortals & Angels: A Bluegrass Te Deum

Librettist’s note
Commissioned by the Distinguished Concerts International New York Premiere Project and premiered at Carnegie Hall in January 2016 with the Distinguished Concerts Singers International and award-winning Nashville bluegrass band Dailey & Vincent, Mortals & Angels: A Bluegrass Te Deum is now available in this revised version. The Te Deum is a Latin prayer that many composers have set to music. But never before has there been a Te Deum for chorus and Bluegrass band. In Latin, Te Deum means ‘to God’, praise to God, and in the first words of the prayer, all creation praises God. Mortals and Angels praise God. There’s something about angels; the ancient idea of winged messengers occurs in almost every religion. Representations of angels in art tend to be human shapes with wings added, and in many traditions, angels willingly guide us. We mortals, however, have problems with guidance. How on earth would angels know better what we should or should not do, given their immortality and their ability to hover, appear and disappear? We will eventually die, while they fly on and on. In this setting, the Angels are represented by the choir, the Mortals by the band. And there are the Kids – sometimes Angels, sometimes very mortal. And out in the audience: Mortals? or Angels?