Brontë Antiphons was commissioned by Late Music York for the Elysian Singers. It is a setting of Emily Brontë’s poem No Coward Soul is Mine and is designed, as specified by the commission, to be paired with David Power’s setting of the same text. I have responded to this request in two ways: David’s striking setting of the first line has been incorporated into my piece and I have set the same stanzas as David in addition to the remaining three that he

omits. The nature of the ‘missing’ stanzas determined the materials used in my setting; they express an exalted religious quality with references to ‘God’, ‘spirit’, ‘his might’, ‘Being and Breath’.To reflect this I have drawn on antiphons (musical prefaces to the reciting of psalms) from the Whit Sunday second Vespers service that occurs at the start of the season of Pentecost; music associated with the entry of the Holy Spirit into the disciples seemed of a

piece with Brontë’s fervent language in her second, fifth and final stanzas. I have used the six antiphons very directly, interfering as little as possible with their melodic designs and keeping to the original modes as printed in the Liber usualis (the book of chants and texts used in Catholic church services). The antiphons are presented variously as single lines, superimposed on one another, or in self-harmonised versions where notes are sustained so

that they overlap to form chords. My setting begins with double versions of stanzas one, three, four and six, alternating music based on David’s setting with antiphon-based melodies. I then move on to the remaining stanzas using purely antiphon-based material. Although I am not a Christian it has been a moving experience engaging with these millennia old melodies; I have sensed some of their power and newly appreciated the significance they hold

for many.