The Falcon, Rutter’s first large scale choral and orchestral work, was written in 1969 while the composer was a post-graduate student at Clare College, Cambridge. The work is cast in three movements, and is scored for chorus, semi-chorus, boys choir, and orchestra. The premiere performance of The Falcon was given in December, 1969, in the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, by the Cambridge University Musical Society under the direction of Sir David Willcocks.
The text of The Falcon is comprised of biblical quotations, two medieval English poems, and four Latin hymns. These Latin hymns appear in movements two and three, and are intended as a meditation or commentary on the English lyric that precedes them. Rutter arranged these texts in temporal succession, beginning with Psalm 98, which speaks of the day when the Lord, as Ruler and King, would come to judge the earth. In Movement II, the “Corpus Christi Carol” describes, in allegorical language, the crucifixion of Christ. Rutter concludes The Falcon with selections from The Revelation of St. John the Divine, which speaks of the new order after Christ has been raised from the dead.
The text of The Falcon parallels, in some ways, the libretto of Handel’s Messiah. The textual theme of both works is the salvation that has been offered to the world through the life of Christ. Both works are divided into three sections, and each begins with text from the Old Testament.The second part of each work focuses on the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, and both works then conclude with text from The Revelation of St. John the Divine. However, a major difference between The Falcon and Messiah is that the latter is comprised entirely of biblical quotations.
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