Alba (SATB choir)

Words and music by John Oliver

composed October, 1980 – minor revisions 2003"

duration: 5:30

I wrote the text in Spanish first, then translated it into English. In the repertoire of the troubadours and trovères, the alba is a song that deals with the lover#s departure in the early morning. In the later German minnesinger tradition, these often became devotional prayers. I have combined the two in my piece, transforming the ecstasy of love that creates intense electricity between lovers in the first verse into the destructive $electricity% unleashed by the nuclear bomb in the second.

I was twenty-one years old when I wrote this work. The world hasn't changed much since then. I recopied it from the original and made a few adjustments to better shape the piece, but otherwise it is the same work I wrote in 1980 during my second month singing with Cortland Hultberg#s University of British Columbia Chamber Singers. Today I rededicate this work to Cortland Hultberg#s memory.

JOHN OLIVER, 2003

ALBA

Abra la ventana de la alma. 

Vea la luz brillante del amor. 

Humanidad es electricidad.

Abra la ventana de la alma. 

Vea la negrura de la alba. 

Electricidad. Aniquilacion.

Abra.

DAWN

Open the window of the soul. 

See the brilliant light of love. 

Humanity is electricity.

Open the window of the soul. 

See the darkness of the dawn. 

Electricity. Annihilation.

Open.