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      • The Choir Loft >
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      • Repertoire Exploration Projects
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  • Who we are and What we do
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Jubilate Deo by Giovanni Gabrieli
Dear People,
Yesterday I worked on our motet for today: The great eight-part 'Jubilate Deo' of Giovanni Gabrieli. And then overnight, in a dream or a vision or I don't know what, a somehow connected (but very different) song rose from the depths of wherever we keep associations and correspondences: 'Simple Song', from Leonard Bernstein's 'Mass'.

The obvious connection is psalms: Both pieces are based upon a selection of readings from psalms. Otherwise they share very little, separated by style, by ensemble, by texture, by harmony, and on and on. But the more I think about it, the more connected they seem.

I've been pondering this over my morning mug of lemon-ginger tea, and I've decided that the connection is the urge to sing, to lift our voices, to be heard, to be counted, to render thanks and praise for the goodness we know exists,
even in the face of setbacks and adversity. Call them two sides of the same coin--
​two very different ways of expressing much the same impulse.

I am attaching materials for the Gabrieli, one of the most magnificent motets I know. We've done it many times in the past, including in Italy in 2001, and we'll surely do it again when we can sing together. The piece seems to actually reach out to unite heaven and earth and the occupants thereof in song and celebration.


But in case you're interested, I'm also attaching a recording of 'Simple Song', performed by soprano Roberta Alexander and pianist Tan Crone. I listened to many recordings before finding this one, which I just love. A number of you were onboard in 1991 when we sang this piece in an all-Bernstein concert to honor him soon after his passing.

Keep the faith--love you--
Click here to download learning materials
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