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This arrangement of the original was created at the start of the pandemic to serve the needs of school ensembles. This version is for an adaptable ensemble of 5 or more winds and/or strings,
with optional piano and percussion
Based on the hymn from PACEM for Band in
Boosey & Hawkes Co.’s Windependence Series.
A simple yet musically effective option for directors, this adaptable setting is
also more accessible to less-experienced student-musicians.
Pacem is a musical expression of humankind’s desire for universal peace among all people, as well as the personal peace that comes from within. “Pacem” is the Latin word for “peace.” The choice of Latin is significant for two reasons: 1) as a kind of tribute to the Franco-Flemish Renaissance composers, whose music strongly influenced this work, and 2) as a symbol of the universality of humankind’s desire for peace –- a collective desire that cuts across geographic, religious, ethnic, historical, or other boundaries. The reflective, more peaceful moments in the work represent our hope for personal peace. The stronger, maestoso statements of the main theme convey a hopeful optimism for the realization of peace among all people. Other statements are more conflicted and ambiguous and remind us that achieving universal peace requires persistence and struggle, and that it remains an unrealized challenge in the world.
