Three Prophecies (after Lassus)

ensemble: saxophone quartet
duration: 7 minutes
written: summer 2023
premiered: March 15, 2024; Tarleton State University Saxophone Ensemble; Oklahoma City, OK

PROGRAM Note:

1. Sibylla Persica
2. Sibylla Agrippa
3. Sibylla Cimmeria

Orlando de Lassus’s Prophetiae Sibyllarum (or Sibyilline Prophecies) is a collection of twelve harmonically slippery motets composed around 1550. The title refers to a series of quasi apocalyptic prophecies by the sibyls about the second coming of Christ. I arranged these three motets as a kind of study for a planned, large scale saxophone quartet.