Creator of the stars of night

Vocal score

Forces or Category: SATB & organ

New Horizons

Part of the New Horizons series
Advent setting
Beautiful and expressive music

Creator of the stars of night

Vocal score

Description

for SATB and organ
This mellifluous Advent setting opens in a still and contemplative mood reminiscent of plainsong before a thrilling section heralded by the first entry of the organ. The piece finishes as it began - a perfect Advent blend of meditation and drama.

Programme Notes:

Creator of the stars of night is a setting of J. M. Neale's translation (with amendments by the editors of The English Hymnal) of the great Mediaeval hymn Conditor alme siderum. The piece uses a version of one of my favourite Mediaeval techniques - isorhythm, in that the melismatic (and monodic) verses one and three are rhythmically identical, as are the chordal, homophonic verses two and four. There's also a surprise . . .

Creator of the stars of night was commissioned by Matthew Owens for the choir of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh, who gave the first performance at their Advent Carol Service on 3 December 2000.
Copyright Gabriel Jackson

Creator of the stars of night

Vocal score

Gabriel Jackson

New Horizons

Composer Information

Gabriel Jackson (b.1962)

One of Britain's foremost composers, after three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, Gabriel Jackson went on to study composition with Richard Blackford and John Lambert at the Royal College of Music. Particularly acclaimed for his choral works, his liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of most of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs and he is a frequent collaborator with the leading professional groups of the world. From 2010-2013 he was Associate Composer to the BBC Singers. In 2014 his hour-long The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, commissioned for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford, was premiered in its chapel. May 2015 saw the premiere at the Latvian National Opera of Spring Rounds for soprano, choir and orchestra, commissioned by the Riga-based youth choir Kamer for their 25th anniversary. He was recently commissioned by The Marian Consort to write Stabat Mater to mark their 10th anniversary.

Gabriel Jackson's website

Creator of the stars of night

Vocal score

Gabriel Jackson

New Horizons

Reviews and Awards

"Gabriel Jackson's Creator of the Stars of Night sets an anonymous 7th-century poem and, like Cecilia Virgo, inhabits an approachable yet cliché-free harmonic world . . . the organist will need well-oiled fingers - although for the choir this pieces is easier than its predecessor." - Armin Zanner, Music Teacher May 2005