The title derives from “anchoress,” an archaic word meaning “a woman who lives in religious seclusion; a nun.”

 

“Ancren Chronicles” was commissioned by the Shenandoah Conservatory women’s choir, Cantus Singers, at the request of its director James Laster. A song cycle, the piece consists of thirteen poems written by Susan Purinton, whose daughter was enrolled in an all-girls Catholic school located near a small Virginia town on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The texts deal with the girls, the nuns, and their relationships, over the course of a year, from fall arrival to spring graduation. The recurring refrain, “love is the essence of life,” binds the texts into a narrative of love, hope, mystery, exploration, and pain.