Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's Jubilate Deo is a sacred choral setting of Psalm 100 in English, written in 1961 for

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gar ...

, "at the request of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh". Britten scored the joyful music in

C major C major (or the key of C) is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and i ...

for four-part choir and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

. A late companion piece to his 1934 ''

Te Deum in C The ''Te Deum in C'' is a sacred choral composition by Benjamin Britten, a setting of the Te Deum on the English text from the Book of Common Prayer. Britten wrote it in 1934 between 11 July and 17 September, scored for treble solo, four-part ch ...

'', it is also known as his ''Jubilate in C''. It has been performed and recorded often, including on Prince Philip's 80th and 90th birthdays, and for his funeral service on 17 April 2021.

History

In 1953,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

and her husband

Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

, attended the premiere of Britten's ''

Gloriana ''Gloriana'', Op. 53, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Lytton Strachey's 1928 ''Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History''. The first performance was presented at the Royal Opera Hous ...

'', an opera about the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, composed for the festivities surrounding the

coronation of Elizabeth II The coronation of Elizabeth II took place on 2 June 1953 at Westminster Abbey in London. She acceded to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, being proclaimed queen by her privy and executive ...

that year. The royal couple dined with the composer after the performance. Later, perhaps in 1958, Philip requested that Britten compose a setting of

Psalm 100 Psalm 100 is the 100th psalm in the Book of Psalms in the Hebrew Bible. In English, it is translated as "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands" in the King James Version (KJV), and as "O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands" in the Book ...

() for

St George's Chapel, Windsor St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gart ...

. The psalm is a regular part of Anglican morning prayer. Britten completed the music in

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the English county, county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the int ...

in February 1961, using the version of Psalm 100 found in the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

''. He set it in

for four-part choir (

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

) and

. It was written as a companion piece to his earlier 1934 ''

'', and was published in 1961 by

Chester Music Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

. Although commissioned for St George's Chapel, Windsor, The Jubilate was first performed in Leeds Parish Church (subsequently

Leeds Minster Leeds Minster, or the Minster and Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds (formerly Leeds Parish Church) is the minster (church), minster church of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It stands on the site of the oldest church in the city and is of ar ...

) in 1961. It has since been performed and recorded often, and was performed for Philip's 80th and 90th birthdays. At his request, the piece was included in his funeral service in the chapel on 17 April 2021, where it was performed by a small choir of four singers, with

Luke Bond Luke Bond (born 2 February 1980) is a British organist and is currently Assistant Organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he played prominently for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke ...

as the organist.

Music

The music is in one movement, and takes about three minutes to perform. It is in C major, in time, and marked "Lively". The work begins with the

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

voices taking turns with the

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

voices in singing alternate phrases, while other words are sung by all four voices together. The organ accompaniment is lively and rhythmic, largely comprising runs of

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

. Jeremy Grimshaw observed that "the work features a distinctively intuitive harmonic language that nonetheless serves to illuminate rather than overshadow". Noting Britten's sensibility for clear expression of the text, sometimes by accentuating words, sometimes by emphasis by a

melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...

, he summarised the work as having "an ardent energy, deploying the words in long unbroken melodies", but sometimes pausing for reflection, and composing words such as "everlasting" with "rich, resonant harmonies".

References

External links

Jubilate Deo in C
Britten Thematic Catalogue {{authority control Compositions by Benjamin Britten

Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

1961 compositions Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh