Eleanor Daley’s music education began at the age of four in Parry Sound, Ontario. A keen interest in choral music flourished while an organ major at Queen’s University and Daley was particularly drawn to the works of Healey Willan. The impetus to compose came later, and largely out of necessity, when Daley became Director of Music at Fairlawn Avenue United Church in Toronto. The lack of suitable Introits (and limited budget) ultimately led to Daley setting herself the challenge of writing new introits each week. The discipline of writing succinctly is evident in all Daley’s church music—as the composer says, “When writing church pieces, you try to say what you have to say in the shortest time possible because, at least in most churches, you can’t do a 10-minute anthem.” The desire to write music borne out of necessity, and for whatever forces were in abundance at the time, has resulted in choral music that is easily accessible and, with well-judged voice-leading, enjoyable to sing. The gift for melody is immediately apparent, but it is the expressive handling of text that gives the music such sincerity, even with the simplest of melodies. Daley now holds a prominent place among North American composers, and her music is performed globally by singers of all ages, amateur and professional, with over 150 sacred and secular works published. In 2022 she was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian music and choral culture.

The Requiem stands out as a distillation of melodic gift, poignant and rich harmony, and a gentle weaving of textures that provides unexpected twists and turns. It is no wonder that this major work was awarded the National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition of the Year by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors in 1994. The piece was commissioned by Jake Neely, a member of the Elmer Iseler Singers, who gave Daley complete freedom over the composition. Her decision to compose a requiem came after hearing a performance of Herbert Howells’ Requiem and learning that Neeley was nursing a terminally ill loved one at the time of the commission. Her working title for the piece was therefore Requiem for a Friend, and the decision to combine texts traditionally associated with requiem masses with other poetry to provide commentary gives the work a more personable nature, creating a work of solace and comfort. Drawing on the poetry of Carolyn Smart is therefore particularly apt. Smart, born in England but settled in Kingston, Ontario, wrote The Sound of the Birds as a “moving re-creation of the painful last phase of Bronwen Wallace’s life from the perspective of one who suffered through it with her.”

The opening movement Requiem aeternam establishes a funerial refrain as a backdrop to Smart’s narrative which is sung by a solo soprano. Daley returns to the same music towards the conclusion of the Requiem before transitioning into In paradisum which overlays the traditional text from the Missa pro defunctis with an extract from the Russian Benediction. For the movements in between, Daley draws on Biblical texts from the Psalms and Book of Revelations, The Burial Service, and one other line from the Missa pro defunctis. The central movement In Remembrance is often performed as a stand-alone piece and sets the familiar and heartening text “Do not stand by my grave and weep”—an anonymous poem sometimes attributed to Elizabeth Frye. The Requiem received its premiere at the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Ontario on July 17th, 1993.

Grandmother moon is a poem by Mary Louise Martin, a Mi’kmaq poet living on a small island in British Columbia. The Mi’kmaq people are the First Nations People of Nova Scotia, and the term Mi’kmaq comes from their aboriginal word nikmak, meaning “my kin-friends”. This mystical poem evokes the “translucent beauty and light” and reflects on how that potent light “looks into and beyond my soul”. The piece, composed in 2006, makes a powerful and haunting epilogue to Daley’s Requiem. In the final phrases we hear the Mi’kmaq word “We’lalin” which means “thank you”.

Upon your heart is one of two settings of the text “Set me as a seal upon your heart” featured on this album. This version (the second to be composed) was written to mark a 45th wedding anniversary in 1999 and additionally inserts a verse from John 15: “If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, Love one another as I have loved you.” There is a beguilling effect at this point where four solo voices come together as one for “ Then shall your joy be complete”.

Come, renew us sets words by the British Anglican priest David Adam, one-time Vicar of Lindisfarne. Daley’s motet was composed to mark the 250th anniversary of the dedication of Christ Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2011. The relatively simple homophonic writing, often beginning phrases from a single note, creates a sense of growth and renewal with some dramatic harmonic flourishes transforming darkness to light.

For Open thou mine eyes Daley creates a simple hymn-like melody for this intimate prayer taken from Preces Privatae by one of the founders of Anglicanism, Lancelot Andrewes. After a unison first verse, the melody is then harmonised before giving way to a couple of solos which accentuate the element of personal prayer in this motet. This piece was written for the Choir of the Church of St Barnabas, Ottawa in 2006.

Os iusti is the only Latin motet on this album. It is an upper voice piece which was written in 1990 for the four female section leaders of Daley’s choir (known affectionately as El’s Angels). There is a timelessness to this short motet due to the modality as well as the starkness of the texture; for example, the open fifths in the middle section “Lex Dei” (the law of God). More recently Os iusti has been published in an SATB arrangement.

My soul is exceeding sorrowful sets one of the Responsories for the Lenten Office of Tenebrae and speaks of keeping watch in a vigil. There is a hint of plainchant in some of the melodies, particularly the setting of “Behold the hour is at hand”. This sense of liturgical chant then breaks into tortuous harmony for “betrayed into the hands of sinners” before resolving into the bareness of an open fifth chord.

The earlier setting of Set me as a seal dates from 1994. As with many of the other smaller motets, it is impressive to find such rich expression from true economy of means—only one note stepping beyond the four vocal parts. The unflinching confidence of “love is strong as death”, heard at the beginning and end, are contrasted with the more fluid central section of “Many waters cannot quench love”.

Christ hath a garden (like Open thou mine eyes), establishes a clear hymn-like structure for the setting of words by Robert Bridges (after Isaac Watts). Commissioned by Eden United Church Senior Choir, the piece appropriately references the Garden of Eden. The charming melody has all the characteristics of a carol—indeed, this motet would not be liturgically out of place in an Advent carol service. Each verse embellishes the melody in different and imaginative ways. A dramatic moment for “stir up, O south the boughs that bloom” gives way to a final verse with a dreamy repetition of “walk among the springing green”. The piece was first performed in 2000 at the choir festival With a Voice of Singing.

Laurence Binyon was moved to write the now-famous poem For the fallen at the outbreak of World War One in 1914 following the early losses of the British Expeditionary Force. The words are now often recited at Remembrance Day events around the world. Daley composed this Anthem for a Remembrance Day service at her own church in 1998. Having a trumpeter available for that service anyway, Daley decided to incorporate the instrument into the anthem and so we hear echoes of the Last Post linking Binyon’s verses together. The subtle shift from minor to major for the words “There is music” really emphasise this sense of seeking light out of darkness and desolation. This all builds towards an outpouring of bright D major for ”a glory that shines upon our tears” leaving us with a calm and comforting resolution.

Rupert Gough © 2025