Gaudete in Domino after Giaches de Wert: SATB choir, unaccompanied

Durata: ca. 3:30

Premiere:  The Cor Mundi Chamber Choir, Daniel Knaggs, cond., January 31, 2026

Commissioned by: Yvette Perreira, in loving memory of her husband Dr. Tuyen Tran

Watch the premiere of Gaudete in Domino below, performed by the Cor Mundi Chamber Choir:

Program Notes:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.” These words from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians form the text of Gaudete in Domino, the eighth motet in my After Motets Project—a series of works composed in dialogue with Renaissance masters. This fanfarish motet is written in response to Giaches de Wert’s setting of the same text.

Much like de Wert’s motet, my Gaudete in Domino is not overly jubilant. If being always joyful were easy, St. Paul might not have felt the need to repeat his exhortation. The music acknowledges that joy often requires
perseverance—that it can emerge even amid struggle, suffering, or fear.

Fragments of de Wert’s melodic ideas appear throughout, refracted through changing and sometimes conflicting meters that symbolize the tension between the call to rejoice and the inevitable trials of human life. In the end, the motet seeks a joy that is deeper and more enduring than mere happiness—a joy that does not depend on circumstance, but is found, as St. Paul says, “in the Lord”.