Théodore Dubois - Pie Jesu (Double Bass Ensemble)

$5.00

Théodore Dubois Pie Jesu has been a special project for me for the past year or so.  I randomly heard a recording one evening and it stuck with me for good. This piece was extremely hard to track down, seeing as there were only 2 recordings ever made, and no publicly available scores. I was able to reconstruct the short motet through contacting the great grandson of Théodore Dubois, as well as a very kind French conductor who produced a recording in 2019. 

As revealed by the great grandson of the composer, the top of the original manuscript for Pie Jesu read: "To be sung quietly, but with great penitent power".  I believe there is no better instrumentation to portray that quality than a double bass ensemble.

Théodore Dubois Pie Jesu has been a special project for me for the past year or so.  I randomly heard a recording one evening and it stuck with me for good. This piece was extremely hard to track down, seeing as there were only 2 recordings ever made, and no publicly available scores. I was able to reconstruct the short motet through contacting the great grandson of Théodore Dubois, as well as a very kind French conductor who produced a recording in 2019. 

As revealed by the great grandson of the composer, the top of the original manuscript for Pie Jesu read: "To be sung quietly, but with great penitent power".  I believe there is no better instrumentation to portray that quality than a double bass ensemble.

Pie Jesu - Théodore Dubois (Double Bass Ensemble)


Description:

This arrangement of Pie Jesu is based on a little-known motet by the French composer Théodore Dubois, originally a movement from a requiem written around 1900. The movement takes the form of a provocative, rich chorale.


As revealed by the great grandson of the composer, the top of the original manuscript for Pie Jesu read: "To be sung quietly, but with great penitent power". I believe there is no better instrumentation to portray that quality than a double bass ensemble.


This piece was challenging to track down, as there were only two recordings ever made, and no publicly available scores. I was able to reconstruct the short motet with help from the great grandson of Théodore Dubois, as well as a very kind French conductor who produced a recording in 2019.


Being a student of the Oklahoma State University bass studio, I had the pleasure of bringing this arrangement to life with my studio colleagues, along with our teacher, Professor Glenn Dewey, in the spring of 2025.


Instrumentation:

  • Double Bass (4)


What you get:

  • Full score

  • Midi audio rendering

  • Editable musescore and musicXML files


Credits:

Théodore Dubois

Arr. Gabriel Houts

© 2025 HorizonHarmonies.com