SKU: MN.CH-1294

Be Joyful started life as the third movement of a larger piece for Chorus and Orchestra calledFlowers. This movement has such a delightful use of 7/8 that it gives the singers a charge to work on it. It became ome of thosealways humming it themes of the work. I have kept it cast for 4 voices, albeit SSAA now instead of the original SATB and I have adapted the orchestral accompaniment for piano. Probably the most important aspect of performing this piece is to keep the tempo going, and emphasize the thematic entrances as they shift from voice to voice. The poetry is by the Mesoamerican poet Nezahualcoyotl (1402-1472), one of the most prominent poets of the period who seems to have been keenly aware of time and change, cabuitl in Nahuatl, orthat which leaves us. Everything in tlalticpac,on the earth, is transitory. It appears here for a while but then withdraws and vanishes forever.