I’m pleased to share the official video for “Memento Verbi Tui,” a new motet by Mark Emerson Donnelly and Offertorium.
All through the production process, this particular composition has established itself as the crowning jewel of our 2020 recording project.
When we shot this video on February 1, 2020, we had no idea that the footage we got of an empty church would take on a whole different meaning in just a few short weeks. Nor could we have foreseen that what the text says - “Remember Your word to Your servant, O Lord” - aptly summarizes the sense of waiting and uncertainty that most of us have had to live with for the last several months. What was supposed to be a meditation on the interplay of music and architecture became loaded with a much heavier and more immediate meaning.
Editing this video was one of the hardest challenges of my professional life, but I believe we found its necessary shape. My hope is that Mark’s exquisite music, the voices of Offertorium, and the beauty of the locale will lift you up into a hope of your own.
This video is dedicated to the memory of Marie Donnelly, the composer’s mother. It was filmed, as it turns out, on her 94th birthday at St. Augustine’s Vancouver - the same church she was married in 65 years ago. Mrs. Donnelly passed away on July 27, 2020. I urge you to read Mark’s reflection on her life and influence here.
“Memento Verbi Tui”
Music composed and conducted by Mark Emerson Donnelly
Performed by Offertorium
Directed by Nathan Douglas
Produced by Motet Films
Camera operation by Devan Scott
Focus pulling by Paige Smith
Colour by MIA