Mille regretz

Mille regretz, Composition for double choir with four mixed voices SATB by Rémy Saint-Jacques. Laureat of the composition contest organized by À Cœur Joie Hauts-de-France, 2nd prize category A.

The slow and regular procession at the beginning of the work is meant to evoke a funeral march. This march is marked by the large choir singing the word "mille", repeated several times, while the small choir exchanges a rising line, slow and plaintive, from the lowest to the highest pitches, as if looking up to heaven with sorrow and regret, before falling back. The whole section is then repeated, but this time the small choir sings the procession, and the large choir sings the rising, plaintive line to conclude further on, leading us to the next section. The central section becomes rhythmically more active on the phrase "j'ai si grand dueil", giving us a more urgent and tense impression, with the intertwining of dissonances between the sopranos and altos of the small choir, evoking this rise of grief of the dueil. The whole is immediately taken again by the big chorus to arrive at the top of the piece, on the phrase "et paine douloureuse", marking the height of the sorrow. The whole will gradually calm down to lead us to the last section which will be calmer. The short final section is characterized by a brief echo between the small and large choir on the phrase "that I will be seen brief my days", to finally conclude on the word "definer" with a slow descent in all voices with final tensions that resolve, ending on a chord that is neither joyful nor sad, as if expressing a sense of emptiness after a great sadness.

Performing time : 4’45’’