QUAERITE PRIMUM REGNUM DEI. (“Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God”). Twenty-two-measure antiphon for a cappella chorus composed by the 14-year-old Mozart as an academic exercise for entry to the Academia Filarmonica in Bologna (K. 86/73v., 1770). See also SEEK YE FIRST.
QUAM PULCRA ES. (“How Beautiful Thou Art”). Motet for three voices by John Dunstable. One of the most popular works of the 15th century, inspired by verses from the Song of Songs (Cant. 7:4–7, 11–12), it is renowned for the sonorous inclusion of thirds and sixths, known as the la contenance angloise (“English countenance”), over bare intervals of a fourth, a fifth, and an octave and graceful melismas on deliciis (“delight”), turris eburnea (“ivory tower”), dilecte (“beloved”), and in agrum (“into the fields”). It concludes with an Alleluia.
QUATRE MOTETS POUR LE TEMPS DE NOEL. (“Four Motets for the Christmas Season”). A choral work by François Poulenc (1950–1952) comprising O Magnum mysterium (“O great mystery,” 1952), Quem vidistis pastores (“Whom did you see, shepherds?,” 1951), Videntes stellam (“At the sight of the star,” 1951), and Hodie Christus natus est (“Today Christ is born”) and borrowing the jubilant text of the antiphon for the Magnificat of the Christmas evening vespers.
QUATUOR POUR LA FIN DU TEMPS. (“Quartet for the End of Time”). Chamber work by Olivier Messiaen for violin, clarinet, cello, and piano premiered on 15 January 1941 in Görlitz, Germany, where the composer was a prisoner of war. Inspired by the vision of the Angel of the Apocalypse announcing the end of time (Rev. 10:5–6), the eight movements are linked musically and thematically. Movements 1 and 3 represent the silence and timelessness of heaven through a theme symbolizing birdcalls played by the clarinet (blackbird) and violin (nightingale). Movements 2 and 7 portray the powerfulness of the angel (Rev. 10:6), with one foot on the earth and the other on the sea and crowned with a rainbow, illustrated musically by a cascade of colorful chords played on the piano (Rev. 10:1). Movements 5 and 8, in praise of the eternity and immortality of Jesus as the eternal word of God (Jn. 1:1), are scored in the tonality of E and portray the eternity of Christ in long solo passages on the cello and the soul’s ascent toward God in a violin melody rising to the higher register of the instrument. Movement 6, in F-sharp, the most rhythmic of the eight, is characterized by use of extended note values, augmented and diminished rhythmic patterns, nonretrogradable rhythms, and instruments playing in octaves to represent the seven trumpets that announce six catastrophes (Rev. 8:6–11:14) and the final consummation of the mystery of God (Rev. 10:7, 11:15–19). See also COULEURS DE LA CITÉ CÉLESTE.
QUEEN OF SHEBA, THE. (Die Königin von Saba). Opera by Karl Goldmark, first performed in Vienna in 1875 and in New York in 1885. It is a romantic retelling of the biblical story (1 Kgs. 10:1–13) with the additional complication of a love affair between the Queen of Sheba (Mez) and Assad, one of Solomon’s ambassadors (T), who is betrothed to Sulamit (S). Solomon (Bar) banishes Assad to the desert, where the queen tries to persuade him to return with her to her kingdom. When he refuses, he is caught up in a violent sandstorm from which he barely survives, then dies, pleading for forgiveness, in the arms of Sulamit. Written in the style of grand opera, the work contains some memorable moments, such as the bacchanal celebrating the arrival of the queen at the beginning of act 3 and the final duet. Goldmark achieves an oriental atmosphere in places, and the singing of the high priest (B) is reminiscent of traditional Jewish liturgical music.
QUO VADIS: DRAMATIC SCENES. (“Where Are You Going?”). Oratorio in one act for soloists, chorus, orchestra, and organ by Feliks Nowowiejski (op. 30, 1907) to a libretto by Antonie Jüngst (1843–1918) based on Henryk Sienkiewicz’s historical novel (1895) and translated into English by Grace Hall. It was inspired by the story told in the apocryphal Acts of Peter of the encounter of Peter (Bar) with the risen Christ (B) outside the city of Rome and Christ’s command to Peter to return to Rome to die as a martyr. The final scene features Peter’s heartfelt solo, recalling his denial of Christ (Lk. 22:54–62), and the work concludes with the chorus “Glory crown thee, O Mighty One”; a double fugue, “Hail, Bless and Laud him, the Anointed”; and the lesser doxology.