Krycho Sanctus - Epiphany 2024

We have a brand new piece of music written for our congregation by Chris Krycho, a composer who is a member of Holy Trinity along with his wife Jaimie and daughters Elayne and Katherine. We are so grateful to him for his creative contribution to our worship, and want to share this with you so you can listen to it and learn to sing it enthusiastically during our services.

Chris Krycho’s notes about his new Sanctus for Epiphany:

As I was composing the new Sanctus for Epiphany, I was thinking about three things. The first two were the normal “tools” in a composer’s toolbox that one uses for setting a text like this well: making sure that any mentions of God are musically prominent, and making sure that texts like “Hosanna in the highest” don’t go “downward” tonally. The second was keeping the lines singable for a congregation. The final consideration was how to fit those things together with Epiphany! God has appeared! During Epiphany we remember events from Jesus’ life such as His circumcision, the visit of the Magi, and His baptism. Epiphany reminds us that He has appeared, and is truly with us, among us, was truly one of us—and this was not only for Jews, but for Gentiles like me. This is a cause for rejoicing: the holiness of God drawn near, for all of us. Soli deo gloria!

What is the Sanctus?

The title literally means “holy” in Latin, and it is a prayer that is sung or said during the final words leading up to the celebration of the Eucharist, or Holy Communion. The words remind us that as we worship together we are joining with the angels and all the company of heaven to sing praises to God. The text of the Sanctus passed from Jewish use to the early Christian Church and has been part of our worship ever since. The greatest composers of history have set the text to music, and it is really meaningful to have this offering from someone in our own congregation.