Ave Maria No. 19 – SATB choir, unaccompanied

Durata: ca. 8 minutes

Premiere:  Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson, cond., December 9-10 2023.

Commissioned by: Holy Rosary Church

Hear a clip of Ave Maria No. 19 below, performed by Houston Chamber Choir:

Program notes:

Ave Maria No. 19 – Causa Nostra Lætitia is the 19th Ave Maria in my 50-year Ave Maria Project (composing a new Ave Maria annually from 2005-2054).

This year’s Ave Maria bears the title for Mary translated as Cause of Our Joy. Itis unique in that it was conceived as a companion to last year’s more sorrowful Ave Maria No. 18 – Queen of Peace (set in Ukrainian). Together, Ave Maria Nos. 18 and 19 reflect the interplay between sorrow and joy, a key theme explored in my new choral symphony The Joyful Mysteries (2023). As such, both of these Ave Marias will appear on the forthcoming CD recording of The Joyful Mysteries.

The text of this composition fuses together the Latin Ave Maria with special lines from the ancient Akathist Hymn to the Theotokos. These selected lines highlight imagery of both joy and mystery.

A major question for me was: how to end the second decade of this Ave Maria Project? In my search for a bridge to the next decade, it seemed the music wanted to conclude in an open-ended moment, looking with joyful expectation to the future…

-DK