written for the choir of Clare College, Cambridge and first performed by them under their conductor Tim Brown with Daniel Pailthorpe (solo flute) at St. John’s, Smith Square, London on 16th December, 2009
Text
O mysteria quae rerum natura creavit!
Mutat enim mundi naturam totius aetas.
Materies opus est ut crescant postera saecla,
Vitaque mancipio nulli datur, omnibus usu.
Omnia commutat rerum natura creatrix;
O mysteria quae rerum natura creavit!
from Books II and V of De rerum natura
by Titus Lucretius Carus (95-55 BCE)
[lines 1 and 5 are by Giles Swayne, after Lucretius]
