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cred song, swinging the melodic material back and forth Verdi Requiem at this moment. Both works are similarly
between the soloist and the choir. The piano accompa- scored and have to do with liberation from earthly bond-
niment also employs the gently rocking syncopations of age. Of all the movements in Credo, this is perhaps the
African American spirituals; in a charming touch, the most approachable.
piano often responds with “improvised” countermelo-
dies after each phrase, as in the gospel tradition (Fig-
ure 2). Given this, requesting the collaborative pianist Third Movement
to play these interludes with an improvisatory, gospel Like the related fifth movement, the third movement
sense of rubato is entirely appropriate. features clefed voices of the chorus—in this case, tenors
In the movement’s closing passage, the choir hums and basses in four parts. The gentle lyricism of the sec-
under the soprano solo, evoking textures often found in ond movement gives way to stern declamatory writing,
spiritual arrangements. The movement concludes with appropriate for the text’s attack on contemporary laws
a touch of nineteenth-century Romantic virtuosity, forbidding interracial marriage. Its focus on the strict
featuring an exultant high C in the solo soprano that laws of the time is represented through the unbending,
#
soars over a hushed chorus, extolling the beauty and stern harmony throughout. The movement provides a
majesty of blackness in a truly soul-stirring moment, as significant challenge for choruses lacking strong tenor
illustrated in Figure 3 on the next page. It is hard not and bass sections; both its tessitura and four-part har-
to think of the final passages of the “Libera me” in the monic structure require large, experienced sections.

CHORAL JOURNAL November/December 2025 Volume 66 Number 4 13