Although Benjamin Britten composed his choral work Jubilate Deo relatively late in his career in 1961—well after he had become internationally famous for his brooding, angst-ridden operas—the work recalls a much earlier, brighter style. In fact, this is no accident; Britten composed the work as a kind of companion piece or addendum to one of his earliest choral compositions, the Te Deum from 1934. Both works are scored in the key of C. Additionally, like the earlier work, Jubilate Deo calls for an SATB choir with organ accompaniment (though without the optional trumpet given in the Te Deum score). Also, Jubilate Deo assumes an overall dramatic contour similar in shape to (but substantially shortened in length compared to) that of Te Deum. As a devotional work meant for church performance (it was premiered in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in Edinburgh, England), the work features a distinctively intuitive harmonic language that nonetheless serves to illuminate rather than overshadow. It also exhibits Britten's characteristically acute sensibility toward the clarity of the sung text, which in this case comes from Psalm 100 rendered in English translation. In Jubilate Deo takes somewhat greater license in shaping his phrases according to the accentuation of the words, sometimes emphasizing a particularly ardent melismatic flourish by playing it on a short or weak syllable. The intended attitude of the text—one of religious joy—also lends the work an ardent energy, deploying the words in long unbroken melodies rather than the languorous polyphonies that draw out Te Deum's middle section. This is not to say, however, the Jubilate Deo is found lacking in contrasts. The bright opening section, as well as the brilliant "amen" with which the work closes, bookends a generally energetic piece with articulate declamation that nonetheless pauses at certain points for reflection—as in the rich, resonant harmonies that stretch out words like "everlasting" and "endureth." The two works considered together, then, though separated by some three decades, nonetheless offer a poignant complementarity: as described in its first line, the longer and more pensive Te Deum offers a song of praise, while the shorter and more streamlined Jubilate Deo, a song of joy.

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