House of Jatamansi
Lynn Job
About this work:
Publisher: Buckthorn Music Press
NOTES: House of Jatamansi (I. Twilight, II. Moonsong, III. Reverie) by American woman composer Lynn Job was
commissioned for "Due Solisti" and premiered September 30, 2008 (Rosh Hashanah,
“The Feast of Trumpets”) in Prague, Czech Republic (Church of St. Jakob’s Ladder). This
piece tells a story found in The Gospel of John 12:1-8, The Holy Bible: The six days before
Yeshua’s (Jesus’s) last Passover Festival and subsequent Passion, His friend Mary unseals a
new alabaster vessel and pours 16 ounces of precious spikenard fragrance oil (a Himalayan
herb – Nardostachys Jatamansi) on His feet at the special evening supper gathering held in
His honor in her home (the home shared with her sister Martha and her brother Lazarus) in
Bethany, Judea. Bethany – now called Lazariyeh – was Jesus’s last rest stop before arriving in
Jerusalem. He accepts this gift (worth a year’s wages) as a prophetic funerary gesture, and the
scent fills the house. From the imagination of the composer, the three short musical
movements in House of Jatamansi express sequential impressions of this tender and sanctified
Spring evening spent within the safe courtyard of this dear and trusted household. The
composer presents new music along with thematic self-quotes from other works: Kidrish
Fields, and, Systole: Book I (3 songs): No. 3 “Mosaic Flame (Crescent Moon) [Israel]”
Version: (3-part fanatasy for flute and organ)
Year composed: 2008
Duration: 00:09:30
Ensemble type: Keyboard:Organ
Instrumentation: ,1 Flute soloist(s)