Caritas (2021)
(for soprano, harp, and string quartet)

Composer note
Caritas began life as a song for mezzo-soprano, string quartet, and harp, commissioned by Deutsche Gramophon for mezzo Emily D'Angelo's debut album, Enargeia. Emily knew I was writing an opera about 12th-century composer/visionary/polymath Hildegard von Bingen, and asked me to write a piece inspired by her texts. I created a poem of sorts based on various Hildegard texts about the Biblical virtue Caritas, or Charity, to whom she often prayed. For Hildegard, Caritas embodied the Female Divine; along with Sapientiae (or Wisdom), she was God's partner in creating the Universe. In this song, Caritas sings in the first person about being the life force behind the sun, moon, stars, and sea; the greenness in nature; and the vibrance in all living things.

— Sarah Kirkland Snider