Alea Choral single edition SATB

“Alea iacta est” (= The die is cast) Julius Caesar said after he crossed the Rubicon with his army, thus triggering a war. Today, the phrase is used to express that a decision has been made and its consequences are irreversible. The word Alea comes from Latin and means dice, gambling, but also uncertainty, risk and coincidence. In Alea, the idea of chance, unpredictability and decisions is to be expressed and experienced. The text passages are inspired, among other things, by Caesar’s words when he was faced with the decision to cross the Rubicon.
In order to musically incorporate coincidence in the composition by David Massong, the singers will be provided with ordinary dice, which will be used to randomly distribute individual voices in the middle of the piece. With each roll of the dice, a new variation of the music is created, reminding us that we often have no control over the direction our path takes.