The University of Iowa

O Clavis David

Composer: 
Publisher: 
Oxford University Press (ISBN 978-0-19-338834-5)
Year Written: 
2012
Year Published: 
2014
Commissioned/Written for
From score: "Commissioned by the Revd Dr Simon Jones for the Choir of Merton College, Oxford"
Text: 
Length: 
00:03:00
Scoring: Voices: 
S(div.)A(div.)T(div.)B(div.)
Difficulty: 
3
Commentary

From score: "First performed by the Choir of Merton College, Oxford, directed by Benjamin Nicholas, on 4 May 2012"

This composition is a setting of one of the seven "O Antiphons" sung at the end of Advent in the Christian liturgical year.  "O Clavis David" is a Magnificat Antiphon at Vespers, 20 December.  The translation from the score is as follows: "O Key of David, and sceptre of the house of Israel; who opens, and no-one shuts: who shuts and no-one opens: come, and lead the prisoner from the prison house, who dwells in darkness and the shadow of death."