Albert Glinsky

High Voice and Piano

Composer's Note:

Jubilate Deo was written for and dedicated to the composer’s son, Luka Glinsky, who premiered it with Bruce Gingrich, piano, on April 1, 2004 at the Thursday Noon Together concert series of the First United Methodist Church of Erie, in Erie, Pennsylvania. 

As an active boy soprano, Luka had sung the role of Amahl in Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with two opera companies, performed such works as the treble solo from the second movement of Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and sang the role of Jimmy in Seymour Barab’s two-character opera, Passion in the Principal’s Office.  His recital repertoire included such works as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Pie Jesu,” and John Rutter’s “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”

This setting of Jubilate Deo was created to capture Luka’s fleeting boy soprano range—through the compositional voice of his father—with the intention of a recording that would honor, preserve, and remember his angelic pipes for posterity.  A year after premiering and recording the work, Luka’s agile treble tones would begin to ripen into a deep, rich baritone.  The final chord, and the suspended “D” in the piano that ends and frames the piece were intended to ring off into a blue sky eternity, holding and recalling forever the echoes of one boy’s voice, ephemeral and quickly lost to the passage of time.

Jubilate Deo, however, was also intended for performance by a cross-section of high voice types.  The work offers a simple vehicle for boy and girl trebles, for trained adult sopranos, and for the type of musical theatre voice occasionally showcased in concert or event performances through songs like Webber’s “Pie Jesu.” With its simple message of praise, Jubilate Deo is appropriate for church services, concerts of sacred music, or recital programs.  Because it was conceived for a straight-tone voice, and the affect is one of innocent awe, vibrato, if used at all, should be kept to a minimum.