JOY IN THE MORNING (1991)
DETAILS
(1991) 30 min.
Joy in the Morning (1991)
I. In My Distress (orchestra)
II. Fugue based on Psalm 120 (chorus)
III. I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes (orchestra)
IV. Chorale: Psalm 121 (chorus)
V. Dance for Joy (orchestra)
VI. Chorus: Psalm 30 (chorus)
INSTRUMENTATION
Joy in the Morning may be performed
1) in its entirety with SATB chorus and orchestra
2) as a three-movement orchestral suite
3) as a three-movement SATB choral suite with orchestra or piano, or
4) as individual SATB choral pieces with piano accompaniment.
Choral movements are published individually by Alfred Music: Psalm 120 (28911), Psalm 121 (LG53058), and Psalm 30 (28912).
The orchestral suite has been recorded by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conducting, on Into the Light: Symphonic Expressions of the Spirit. (Telarc CD 80462).
MUSIC
Dave Brubeck
TEXT
Texts from Job 38:7, Psalm 30:1-12, Psalm 120:1
COMMISSION
Commissioned by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Dedicated to the University of Connecticut Health Center with special thanks and gratitude to Dr. Lawrence Cohen.
PREMIERE
June 1, 1991, in Hartford, CT, by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Hartford Chorale; Michael Lankester, conductor.
PURCHASE & LICENSING
For more information contact Derry@BrubeckMusic.com
WATCH & LISTEN NOW
A NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER
BY DAVE BRUBECK
Composing music has often acted as a form of meditation of prayer for me. It centers the mind, blocks distractions, and focuses energy. As I lay in my hospital bed the evening before my first angiogram in 1987, I began composing music based on the text of Psalm 30. Eventually I underwent a triple by-pass operation and experienced the mixed emotions of anxiety, fear, relief, and the joy of returning strength that are reflected in the settings of Psalms 120, 121, and 30. When I was in the hospital the significant thought in Psalm 30 was “What profit is there in my death, will the dust praise Thee, tell of Thy faithfulness?”
A few years later when the Hartford Symphony commissioned me to write a piece for chorus and orchestra to celebrate an anniversary of the Connecticut Health Center, I remembered Psalm 30, the piece I had started in anxious hours in the hospital. This was my opportunity to “tell of His faithfulness and to praise Him.” I titled the three-movement composition for chorus and orchestra Joy in the Morning quoting from Psalm 30, “Weeping may tarry for a night, but Joy comes in the morning.” I opened with the fugue “In my sorrow, O Lord, I cry to Thee” (Psalm 120), followed by Psalm 121, “I lift up mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my help.” In the final movement, I expanded my original setting of Psalm 30, keeping my promise to extol Him. Because of my personal experience of both travail and triumph, in setting to music those three psalms, I gave thanks in the most natural way I knew.
(July 2007).
© Dave Brubeck Music