De Conversione Sancti Pauli

Christian Hollander’s motet for SSATTB voices sets a dramatic Latin text recounting the conversion of Saint Paul. The music begins with the sudden, blinding light and the celestial voice that struck Paul on the road to Damascus. The composer employs the rich eight-part texture to depict the overwhelming power of the divine encounter, with dissonances and driving rhythms underscoring the spiritual upheaval. The text then moves to Paul’s questioning and Jesus’s direct response, before concluding with the plea for Saint Paul’s intercession. This is powerful, polyphonic sacred music, perfect for a resonant space.