Music and recording © Alexander Massey 12 Sept 2020 – All Rights Reserved
Download the free sheet music (voice & piano or guitar)
“Let the heavens rejoice and the earth exult; let the sea and all within it thunder.”
Psalm 96:11 is such a joyous text, it needs music that will get people clapping, stamping and raising the roof. This tune rolls around a lot. To get a feel for what the music is doing with the words, here is a literal translation: “Let there be rejoicing by the heavens, and exultation by the earth; let there be thundering by the sea, and everything in it.”
I’ve been told that my setting of it is something of an earworm. Is that a good thing? I hope so.
I wrote this setting on 2020 for our Musaf service at Yom Kippur in Oxford. Explore the rest of the High Holy Days collection here.
This text also occurs as part of Psalm 96, used on Shabbat – click here to find more music for Kabbalat Shabbat and here for music for Shabbat morning.