The Joyful Mysteries explores the rosary’s five mysteries of joy, events that notwithstanding all take place in a context of fear, sorrow, or suffering. This intermingling of joy with sorrow can seem paradoxical at first glance. After all, doesn’t joy imply an absence of sorrow? Calling each of these five events a mystery approaches the heart of the matter: the joy they offer is somehow deeper than and unthreatened by the presence of negative emotions or circumstances. Such joy is itself a mystery to ponder.

In assembling the libretto, my aim was to bring the stories to life, so to speak, through the dramatic unfolding of active (sung) dialogue in real time, rather than past-tense narration. Similarly, my predominant use of first and second person (rather than third person) is meant to draw everyone into the stories, lending an immediacy to the words being communicated. The orchestra aids in the storytelling and action, both by evoking external scenery and by conveying the interior and nonverbal underpinnings of a spiritual and emotional nature.

I fashioned the libretto from dialogue and canticles found in the gospels along with texts by two individuals from roughly the same time period: St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) and St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090- 1153). Hildegard’s writings glow with a mystical and ethereal aura, corresponding directly to the mysteriousness of the divine subject matter. Somewhat by contrast, the humanness of Bernard’s writings are a tender appeal from heart to heart, fittingly so, for the human audience he invites into contemplation. Hildegard and Bernard thus complement one another-the former like a soul ablaze, the latter like warm flesh surrounding that soul. Still, both are alive and both elucidate essential facets of the same mysteries. My musical treatment of these writers’ texts reflects their respective voices.

This first joyful mystery examines the Angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary. The laws of nature will be defied: as a virgin, Mary will conceive and bear a child ... and not just any child, but the Son of God. This news is troubling and difficult for Mary to understand. And at this critical moment, the future course of history hangs in the balance (acknowledged by the world’s inhabitants, symbolized by the chorus). But Mary freely gives her whole consent, saying “yes.” This fiat will be a “yes” for good times and bad, for all circumstances, not just the joyful ones. The resulting joy does not cancel out all possible fear, sorrow, or suffering now or in the future. But it is this joy that will outlast and outweigh all adversity, a joy that, although mysterious, is yet real and offered to all people.

Mary travels “with haste” to the hill country where she greets her cousin Elizabeth who is also drawn into a miracle and mystery of joy. After a lifetime of sorrowful barrenness, Elizabeth has passed beyond the age of childbearing. Yet she is suddenly with child. The two cousins are left to marvel at what is happening to both of them. Mary is overcome with joy and a song wells up in her, the Magnificat. The chorus participates in this wonderment, especially to words of Hildegard that describe the joy held in Mary’s womb “as the celestial symphony sounded out from” her.

At the apparition of the angel, the shepherds are filled with great fear. The angel must first tell them not to be afraid and explains good news of a great joy: Christ the Savior is born in the City of David. The sorrow and suffering surrounding this joyful moment is great also because the fearful Herod is prepared to kill every child under two years old in hopes to rid himself of the Child Jesus. In her aria (text by Bernard of Clairvaux), Mary appeals to all people to not be afraid but to rejoice: this infant born comes not to destroy, but to save.

In this mystery, the Child Jesus is presented in the temple wherein are found Simeon and Anna, two figures who prophesy about Him. The gospel of Luke recounts Simeon’s words, in particular warning Mary of her impending sorrow: “a sword shall pierce your heart.” Since the gospels do not quote the Prophetess Anna directly (as in Simeon’s canticle), I chose to let her sing about the Child Jesus with words from St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Anna’s aria captures the seemingly paradoxical relationship between sorrow and joy, weakness and strength, death and life, as manifest in this wondrous Child.

From the outset of this mystery, a shadow of sorrow hangs over Mary since she has lost her Son, the Child Jesus. This Mother’s sorrow is contrasted by the Child Jesus’s comforting words. He addresses the weeping and grief of Mary and of all people. His is an invitation to joy that no one can take away, a joy Mary herself discovers after finding Him again. To the mystical words of Hildegard, the chorus sings of “the elements” sharing in this joy with Mary, in the reddening sky’(an image for dawn but also suggestive of coming bloodshed) and in resounding praises.

I. THE ANNUNCIATION

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Angel:

Hail, full of grace,

the Lord is with you!

Do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive

and bear a son,

and you shall call his name Jesus.

Mary:

How can this be,

since I have no husband?

Angel:

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the

child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God!

And behold, your cousin Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

For nothing is impossible with God ... (Luke 1:28-37)

Choir:

You have heard announced, O Virgin,

the great mystery;

Wondrous ... replete with joy!

Since you have been given joy,

let us hear from your lips

the answer which we desire,

The angel awaits your reply,

We too are waiting, O Lady,

for a word of mercy

See, the price of our salvation is offered to you;

if you consent, we shall be delivered.

Hasten, then, O Lady,

speak the word so longed for by all ... (Bernard)

Mary:

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord;

Be it done unto me according to thy word. (Luke 1:28-38)

May the Word

which was in the beginning with God

be made flesh of my flesh

according to Thy Word.

May He be not only heard by my ears,

but seen by my eyes,

borne in my arms ...

Let Him be not a mute written Word

traced on lifeless parchments,

But Incarnate.

Be it done unto me

not painted in poetic dreams

but breathed upon me in silence,

reposing within me.

Be it done unto me according to thy Word (Bernard)

Choir:

This infusion from above

Flooded into you

That the Word from on high

Should put on flesh in you,

In you, the white lily

On whom God gazed

Before all creation ... (Hildegard)

II. THE VISITATION

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

Elizabeth:

Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

And why is this granted to me,

that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For behold,

when the voice of your greeting reached my ears,

the babe in my womb leaped for joy! (Luke 1:42-45)

Mary:

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, all generations will call me blessed. (Luke 1:46-48)

Choir:

Your womb held joy

As the celestial symphony sounded out from you,

For as a virgin, you bore the Son of God,

When in God, your purity shined forth. (Hildegard)

III. THE NATIVITY

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.

Angel:

Be not afraid; for behold,

I bring you good news of a great joy

which will come to all people;

for to you is born this day

in the city of David a Savior,

who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be n sign for you:

you will find a babe

wrapped in swaddling cloth

and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:10-12)

Choir:

The Child Who is born is God,

the Mother who bears Him is a Virgin,

To celebrate these new wonders

a new light from heaven shines forth! (Bernard)

Multitude of Angels:

Gloria in excelsis Deo,

et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

(Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.) (Luke 2:14)

Mary:

Take courage, you who were lost:

Jesus comes to seek and to save.

Ye sick, return to health:

Christ comes to heal the contrite of heart with the ointment of His mercy.

Rejoice, all you who desire great things:

the Son of God comes down to you

to make you co-heirs of His kingdom.

Not to judge the earth does He come,

but to save it. Fear not;

Jesus comes not in anger,

He comes not to punish:

behold, He comes as an Infant,

I swath His tender limbs with cloths,

By this weakness you may know

that He comes not to destroy, but to save; (Bernard)

Choir:

Alleluia! O Virga Mediatrix,

your holy body has conquered death,

your womb has illuminated all creatures,

in the beautiful flower that blooms

from the tender wholeness

of your sealed purity. (Hildegard)

IV. THE PRESENTATION

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

Chorus:

Behold, He descends like rain upon the fleece,

and as showers falling gently upon the earth. (Psalm 72:6, Bernard)

Drop down dew from above, you heavens,

and let the clouds rain down the Just One;

Now let the earth be opened

and bring forth a Savior. (Isaiah 45:8, Bernard)

Simeon:

O Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word;

for mine eyes have seen thy salvation

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to thy people Israel.

Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of

many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against

(to Mary:) :and a sword will pierce your heart,

that thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:29-35)

Prophetess Anna:

Behold light withholding its rays,

the Word an infant,

the Living Water athirst,

Him Who is the Bread of Heaven

suffering hunger.

Attend and see how joy is made sorrowful,

how strength becomes weakness,

life, death;

but-equally wonderful–

that sorrow gives joy,

that weakness imparts strength,

that death restores life. (Bernard)

Choir:

O Mary, Your inmost being held joy

like grass upon which dew falls,

suffusing it with greenness,

O mother of all joy! (Hildegard)

V. THE FINDING IN THE TEMPLE

When Jesus was a child, they went up to Jerusalem, according to custom; and when the Passover feast was ended, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, and when they did not find him they returned to Jerusalem seeking him.

Mary:

Son, my son ...

Child Jesus:

... you will weep ...

but your grief will turn to joy.

Mary:

Son, my son ...

Child Jesus:

You have grief now;

but I will see you again,

and your heart will rejoice,

and no one will take your joy away.

Mary:

Son ...

Child Jesus:

Let not your heart be troubled ...

In my Father’s house are many rooms ...

I will not leave you desolate;

But you will see me ...

Mary:

Son, why have you treated us so?

Behold, Your father and I

Have been searching for you anxiously.

Child Jesus:

Why did you seek me?

Did you not know that I must be

in my Father’s house? (Luke 2:48-49)

In my Father’s house are many rooms ...

... These things I speak to you

That my joy may be in you

And that your joy may be full... (John 14, 16)

Choir:

When the work of God’s finger came forth

Formed in His image

Proceeding from mixed blood

through the wandering of Adam’s fall

Then the elements found joy in you,

O praiseworthy Mary,

ln the reddening sky

And in resounding praises. (Hildegard)

Rejoice, O daughter of Sion,

and exult exceedingly,

O virgin daughter of Jerusalem. (Zechariah 9:9, Bernard)

Mary:

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior ...