Composed in May 1987, The coming of Saskia Hawkins, which is dedicated to my friends Ben and Susanna Hawkins, was a welcome to the world for their daughter Saskia, who was born that month. Saskia has just given birth herself, to a daughter, Ottoline. Perhaps I ought to compose a Welcome-song for young Miss Ottoline . . .

The piece is built on and around the plainchant melody Veni creator spiritus, which is heard on full organ (all stops blaring) in a short opening Prelude, and is divided into two equal halves - the second half of the melody running backwards against the first and functioning as its bass line. For some reason I have never quite grasped, this is called cancrizans (after the Latin word for a crab) in musical jargon. After a gradual build-up in activity and flashy counterpoint, the piece culminates in a climax of welcome in modal C (white notes), setting out the plainchant melody again - this time in five-part canon. The little coda consists of a staccato seven-note chord which opened the piece, repeated nineteen times in varied registrations, and fading to inaudibility.

Giles Swayne 2025