St. Norbert Abbey commissions ‘Cantata for the Divine Hours’

In celebration of St. Norbert Abbey’s 100th anniversary of Abbey status this year (1925-2025), the Norbertine Community commissioned composer John Hennecken to create a musical work spotlighting the unique stained-glass windows in St. Norbert Abbey Church.

The six-movement piece, titled “Cantata for the Divine Hours,” will be performed at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28, in the St. Norbert Abbey Church.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Renowned soprano Yi-Lan Niu will be the featured singer, supported by talented choir members and instrumentalists from St. Norbert College (SNC) and the greater community.

SNC music faculty, including Sarah Parks (choir director), Taylor Giorgio (violin), Jamie Waroff (trumpet) and Phil Klickman (horn) will all play important roles in the performance.

In addition, the Abbey’s Casavant organ, installed in the late 1950s at the same time as the stained-glass windows, will be played by Abbey organist Devin Atteln.

“After hearing a musical piece like the one I’m putting together for this cantata, I’d like to know that the audience came away with a new sense of the religious texts… one that emphasizes the mystery and immensity of what they describe,” Hennecken said. “I’d like people to come away thinking about something greater than themselves — contemplating the glory of God.”

“What it boils down to is, I want to write what is the best piece I’ve ever heard, in whatever medium I am writing for,” he added. “If at least I think that, then there’s a chance someone else might also find value in it and enjoy it.”

Hennecken, a native of Augusta, Georgia, serves as the Music Program Director and Associate Professor of Theory and Composition at St. Norbert College, where he has worked since 2016. His interest in music began as an 11-year-old playing trumpet and piano, and today his compositions have been performed all around the country.

“Cantata for the Divine Hours” is especially meaningful to Hennecken.

Hennecken was given a blank slate with this concert, and in studying the stained-glass windows he honed in on six — Matins (Te Deum), Lauds (Benedictus), Vespers (Magnificat), Compline (Nunc Dimittis) and Antiphons of Mary, among the Liturgy of the Hours in the North Clerestory; and the Great West Window, the final movement of the concert.

“There is so much meaning in the windows,” Hennecken said. “You’re supposed to see a lot of different things to think about, to meditate on… When I’m thinking about writing a piece like this, there’s the text, there’s other works in this tradition I’ve studied as well, and there’s the windows themselves. So there are multiple layers to bring together into music.”

“It’s all a good challenge, in that there’s more to think about to inspire the music,” he added. “You want to thoughtfully collect these ideas. So in a way it’s easier, and in a way it’s harder. There’s just so much to work with.”

With “Cantata for the Divine Hours,” Hennecken said he was inspired by composers both living and deceased, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

“The process usually goes from me at the piano with the text and the ideas, the visuals, and then I’m basically working out the melody and harmony,” he said. “It goes from a sketch usually on paper to a more fully formed idea that’s orchestrated in a computer program. It goes through several iterations. Every idea is revised many times.”

Hennecken compared composing to architecture, noting, “You start with the pieces and build something. It’s a continuous process of combining and recombining.”

The audience will hear amazing performers at this concert, Hennecken added.
“Yi-Lan Niu is an incredible singer, so you’re going to hear a beautiful operatic voice in an immersive musical environment in the Abbey Church,” he said. “A dynamic group of voices in our choir. A world-class instrument with the Abbey organ. And elite string players and brass players, the best in the region. … When I write music, whether for an individual or a group, I want to make sure it enables them to sound as amazing and impressive as they are.”

Hennecken said the “Cantata for the Divine Hours” also helps raise the national musical profile of St. Norbert College, which was founded by the Norbertine Community of St. Norbert Abbey in 1898.

“St. Norbert College is the center of Catholic sacred music in the state of Wisconsin,” he said. “Sacred music has been such an important part in the tradition and history of music, and we are continuing that tradition. I look forward to seeing a flowering of great sacred music here… That is really important for us going forward.”