Oh, what a beautiful hymn. From the ages of 5-9, I attended Catholic school, and for longer than that I was a practicing member of the church, attending service even during my college years. What that religion, and the accompanying rituals meant to me is worthy of an entire new post. But, suffice to say that the influences and trappings of the Roman Catholic Church had a profound and lasting effect on me.
My favorite hymn was “Sing of Mary, Pure And Lowly“. A graceful, easy, almost waltz in a very singable pentatonic mode. Fast forward to 1984. I am now teaching at an Episcopal Boys’ School. Each Friday morning we came together in the Cathedral to sing (with the great organ) our favorite hymns. And guess what? Someone chooses a hymn that sounds so familiar, except in this church, it is titled “Jesus, Thou Divine Companion” The version I knew was about the angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that she was to have a child. This new version was about Jesus as an advocate for the value of work! For a while I could not reconcile the two. Until I met the woman I was to marry. Her knowledge and respect for work provided me with a totally new perspective on the hymn.
The tune is pentatonic. The form is AABA, the same as the “Ode to Joy”.
I decided to combine the two hymns. The “Mary” version is reflected in the unbelievably painful knowledge that her son would die. The “Worker” version played out in praise of labor, the same labor that Jesus embraced as a carpenter. “Thou has taught us toil is good.”
There is no live recording. That year we had only 6 members in the Chamber Choir, including myself and the Director. The venue was a chapel at Holy Names University, in Oakland. In the chapel there was a fountain that ran constantly, drowning out the voices. 1 Tenor, 1 Bass, 2 Altos, 2 Sopranos. The original piece contained the hymn and 5 variations. We could only present the tune, and the final variation, which points to the pain of Mary, as a mortal woman, losing her mortal son. I have never been prouder of my work than I was (and am) of this recording.
The parts of the piece are presented though computer sequencing, using the sounds of EastWest Sounds.
AVE MARIS STELLA CHANT The Chant presented as a monophonic chant. This is the basis of the entire piece.
AVE MARIS STELLA WALTZ: Oh! How happy (or terrified was Mary) to find out she would carry the Son of God? Why not waltz? The angels are chanting “Ave!”
AVE MARIS STELLA (Duruflé) Maurice Duruflé composed some of the most gorgeous choral music ever. In this variation I borrow several of his composing techniques. Surprisingly, the choir could not sing the piece so it was dropped from the program.
AVE MARIS STELLA FUGUE This variation was never intended to be presented with the others. It exists simply as a composing exercise. However, the synthesized version came out so nice I decided to include it here.
JESUS THOU DIVINE COMPANION (4 PART) Live
The basic tune arranged in a traditional 4-part setting.
I wrote the Finale before I wrote “MARY”. I am not sure why I did it that way. However, having these two in this order gives something very comforting to the last part of the piece. The Finale brings back a number of elements from the previous variations.
AVE MARIS STELLA (FINALE)
AVE MARIS STELLA (MARY) By far the simplest variation, MARY contrasts two sections: one, Mary’s grief with the loss of her son (male voices), the other the joy of her knowledge of her part in this sacred story (female voices).
AVE MARIS STELLA (MARY) Live
Sean Breen 