I Never Saw a Moor for SSMMAA Chorus

Jansson I Never Saw a Moor for SSMMAA Chorus

I Never Saw a Moor (after Emily Dickinson).  This piece expresses a steadfast faith in God, and thus the central message of Dickinson’s poem.  The music describes feelings of trust and wonder, joy and gratitude.

The piece was commissioned for the German women’s choir Cant’Ella, who premiered it in Mönchengladbach (Germany) on 25 October 2014 in a concert celebrating the choir’s 20th anniversary.

“My music is my own and I have never tried to be original.  That has always been my motto and I have only tried to use music to express all the feelings which life has to offer.  This has led people to describe my music as ‘so sad that it sounds like birds who have lost their wings‘ but also as ‘the happiest classical music that we have ever heard’.  My compositions are almost all sacred. They express not only my own faith but also my appreciation and respect for the timeless texts that have been used for centuries and centuries.”

Mårten Jansson (b. 1965), elected member of the Föreningen svenska tonsättare (the Society of Swedish Composers), graduated from the Royal College of Music, Stockholm (KHM) with an MFA degree in Music Education, Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Voice.  For more than ten years he was the music director and conductor of “Carmen”, one of the most prominent womens’ vocal ensembles in Sweden.  He currently teaches choral conducting and music theory as well as giving vocal tuition at the Bolandgymnasiet and Musikskolan in his home town of Uppsala.