Name: Psalm 84 (Chant: Jacob Gruss) by Jacob Gruss
Duration: 3 min 45 s
Description: The Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine (NYC)

Recorded live at St. Bernard Church (Pittsburgh, PA) March 2021
Lucky Rattan, baritone
Aaron Sproul, organ

I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light (Thomerson)

O Sons and Daughters (arr. Chaz Bowers)

Emmanuel Music, Ryan Turner, Conductor
Commissioned by Emmanuel Music (Boston) for their Fiftieth Anniversary
World Premiere: 27 March, 2022, Emmanuel Church, followed by J.S. Bach BWV #1: Wie Schoen Leuchtet Der  Morgenstern 

Archival Recording, not to be shared or broadcast
Live Recording & Mastering Engineer: Seth Torres
Mixing Engineer: Eric Engler

PROGRAM NOTE

Morning Star is a three-minute motet for SATB chorus designed as a prelude to Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (How beautifully the morning star shines), BWV 1. The piece was commissioned by Emmanuel Music in celebration of their Fiftieth Anniversary season and written in the Spring of 2020.  I chose as my text the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) prayer set in Latin, with an added interpolation in Latin - “fear not” - that is not in the original prayer. There is an Eastern orthodox feel to the harmony and rhetoric, with a modal inflection embodying a kind of heightened archaism and sensuality, suggesting that it could perhaps proceed the Bach piece in time. A mordant figure (decoration) runs throughout the piece, appearing first in the male voices and later becoming omnipresent. The motet anticipates the structural harmony of the cantata, the final alleluia and cadence more pointedly so. In preparing the cantata’s atmosphere of cosmic anticipation and brightness, I am underscoring what the new Mother-to-be might experience upon hearing the news of the Annunciation.

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

 
Morning Star


Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia.
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia.
Resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia,
Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.
Ne timeas, alleluia.
Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Amen!


Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia.
He has risen as He said, alleluia. 
Pray for us to God, alleluia, 
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
Fear not, alleluia.
Because the Lord is truly risen, alleluia.

Amen!

Morning Star (SATB Chorus)

Commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church of Greensburg, PA in memory of Dr. John Salveson, Minister of Music. Sung by the Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church; Dr. Jeff Jones, Conductor; Chaz Bowers, Composer and Organist. December 3, 2022.

Christmas Has A Darkness (Chaz Bowers)

The Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine (NYC)

Psalm 84 (Chant: Jacob Gruss)

The Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine

Psalm 145 (Chant by: Jacob Gruss)

Easter 2017 - St. Bernard Parish Choir and Orchestra

Holy Week 2017 

Glory to God (Chaz Bowers)

Praise to the Lord, The Almighty

Jacob Gruss is an organist studying at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

Psalm 84 (Chant: Jacob Gruss)

Jacob Gruss

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