Emerald Gates

Ananias Davisson was a prolific compiler and composer of American sacred music in the early nineteenth century. This setting of a powerful English text, suitable for SATB choir, describes a profound spiritual yearning for divine revelation and heavenly bliss. The words express a desire to break through earthly limitations and behold the divine, culminating in an invocation for the "Sun of righteousness" to arise and open the gates of Paradise. Davisson's music would have served the needs of congregations in a rapidly expanding nation, providing stirring anthems for devotional occasions.