A couple years ago, I created my own setting of the In Paradisum, partly in response to deaths in the families of some of my students. It was also my first attempt to write in an imitative counterpoint style, while still retaining some of the modern harmonies that I like to use in my solo songs and instrumental works.
This Agnus Dei comes from a similar situation: The KC Chiefs Shooting in 2024. Unlike my previous choral pieces, it is not a cappella, but neither is the piano merely an accompaniment. Instead, the piano serves as a percussive instrument of sorts, marking the various shots at mathematically demarcated points (which, at the time of writing, were one dead, twenty wounded). The eight parts imitate each other at various successions (also mathematically calculated), attempting to emulate not only Renaissance imitation, but also echoes, reverb, and fade-outs (all elements that I use in my fixed media and instrumental works). Consequently, someone could use only one of each Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Ba
