Seek Him, an Introit for SATB Chorus, a cappella, is from The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service (2022) for SATB and TTBB Choruses and Two Organs. Composed during the spring and summer of 2022, The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service, along with this SATB introit, Seek Him, and a TTBB motet, Salve Regina, were parts of a commission from the Harvard Glee Club and the Harvard Glee Club Alumni.* In addition to the Harvard Glee Club, the commission also involved the Choir of Men and Boys of the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont, in Dorchester, MA. The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service (2022) is dedicated to both the Harvard Glee Club and its conductor, Dr. Andrew Clark, and to the Choir of Men and Boys of the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont and its Organist and Master of Choristers, Mr. Andrew Sheranian.
Seek Him sets a text from Amos 5:8 that has become traditional opening sentences for the service of evensong. I thought it most appropriate that these words become the basis of my motet, Seek Him, to serve as an introit to The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service (2022).
Dan Locklair
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Seek him that made the Pleiades and Orion,
that turneth deep darkness into the morning,
and darkeneth the day into night;
that calleth for the waters of the sea,
and poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
The Lord is his Name.
Amos 5:8
Duration: ca. 1’00”
*The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service (2022) was commissioned to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Archibald T. Davison (1883–1961). Dr. Davison, after previously serving as organist at the Parish of All Saints Church, Ashmont, was the conductor of both the Harvard University Choir and Harvard Glee Club. Through his work with these institutions, and as a faculty member of Harvard’s Department of Music, Davison championed music education at all levels. His powerful legacy includes books, articles, collections of scores, and a tradition of collaboration extending up to today through the Harvard Glee Club’s Archibald T. Davison Fellowship program, numerous joint musical projects, and new commissions. Owing to Dr. Davison’s vision and work, the rich and ongoing musical partnership between Harvard and the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont, continues.