Commissioned by the Indianapolis Youth Chorale for their performance in the Meyerson Symphony Hall in Dallas for the 2013 ACDA convention, this thrilling sacred work showcases mixed voices with piano and organ. Featuring sonorities that move from rhythmically vibrant to expressive and lyrical to a contrasting chorale section, this selection is excellent for festival occasions in worship and concert. Video above is informal rehearsal in Meyerson Symphony Hall.
NOTE: The piece may be performed with piano or organ alone; keyboardist should simply play which ever part (piano or organ) has the eighth notes at any given moment. In places where both organ and piano have eighth notes, choose the part with more interest or more idiomatic writing for that instrument. The goal is simply to preserve the eighth note energy.
TEXT:
Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the kingdom, and the majesty. For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head over all. – I Chronicles 29:11
PROGRAM NOTE:
My collaborations with Henry Leck and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir over the last few years have included wonderful performances of many of my pieces as well as a visit to Indianapolis. So when the Indianapolis Youth Chorale (the senior high, and most advanced, choir within the Indianapolis Children’s Choirs) was invited to sing at the national ACDA convention in Dallas in 2013, I was thrilled to be asked to write a new piece to close their program. Since one performance would be in the famed Meyerson Symphony Center, with its world-renowned organ, we agreed that the piece should include that instrument.
The resulting piece, a setting of David’s words from I Chronicles, draws from baroque influence in several ways, while still fitting in a modern idiom. The piece is essentially a chorale and passacaglia. The passacaglia ground bass, itself, intentionally bears a strong resemblance to the line “And He shall reign forever and ever” from Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” (which expresses a textual theme very similar to this Chronicles text.) Just as the Hallelujah Chorus repeatedly states its short text, so, too, this piece repeatedly chants its short text; and just as the Hallelujah Chorus eventually combines its themes in counterpoint, so, too, this piece eventually combines its three themes (a chorale melody, a rhythmic chant, and a lyric countermelody) in triple counterpoint. The use of ostinato figures, some of the harmonic language, and the furious 11/8 meter, however, all pull these baroque traits into a modern context, resulting in… Dance of Exultation.
-Dan Forrest
Tags: Ascension, Dedication, Worship
Instrumentation: Piano, Organ