There are two main inspirations for this 12-minute piece for string orchestra. One is a picture of a group of angels in heaven singing in praise of God without end. Another is the music of Hildegard von Bingen, the Medieval Abbess and mystic. In contrast to a considerable amount of his music, which is active and rhythmic, Kernis here uses a slow, meditative tempo and texture.

A long-lined, slow, and calm melody stretches its way across the opening of the movement, richly scored on the strings. Themes are developed from this melody. There is some increase in tempo and a rise in the general register of the music until it reaches a point of intensity. The lovely, shifting harmonies of the opening section recur, leading the music back down into the depths whence it came.

Musica celestis is a setting for full string orchestra, made in 1991, of Kernis's First String Quartet.

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