Ubi Caritas

SSAA A Cappella
Lyrics: Anon.
Language: Latin
Duration: 3:00
Publisher: Walton Music

 
The first time I sung in a choir was in high school; I went to a music high school in Norway and choir was obligatory. I loved it from the start, and the first piece we read through was Maurice Duruflé’s Ubi Caritas, which to me is the perfect a cappella piece. ​

So when I set the same text myself a few years later, it was inevitably influenced by his incomparable setting – though while Duruflé used an existing, traditional chant in his incomparable work, I used chant more as a general inspiration.

 
Also available in versions for SATB and TTBB.

 
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
 
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.