…. the Music Maker, David W. Thornton

In 1927, at the age of sixteen, David was given the opportunity to become the organist and the choir director at Hope Congregational Church in St. Louis, then located at the intersection of Semple & Cote Brilliante Ave’s. The stimulus provided by these responsibilities launched him on his first serious efforts in the realm of composition. It was several years later, at his father’s suggestion and through his father’s encouragement in selecting the Scriptural passages, that David undertook to write his first major work. Thus, “My Heart Is Glad” was completed and first presented from manuscript at Hope Church on Easter Sunday, 1940.

Since it’s publication in 1944 by the C. Albert Scholin Music Co., St. Louis, Missouri, this Easter cantata has been widely used by churches and colleges of various denominations throughout our country. In 1950 it was featured at the annual Easter Convocation of Purdue University, LaFayette, Indiana, by the Purdue University Chorus under the direction of Albert P. Stewart. Subsequently, the composer undertook to orchestrate the entire work, and it was presented, in this new setting, at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri, on April 8, 1962, by a mass chorus of 300 voices with full orchestral accompaniment.