|
Books > Music > Other types of music > Vocal music > Choral music
for SATBarB unaccompanied The shades of Finzi and Vaughan Williams
are strongly present in these three delightful unaccompanied choral
settings, and yet the style and execution are wholly Rutter's own.
O mistress mine is a jaunty jazz waltz, Be not afeard casts a
dreamy spell with dusky sonorities and magical harmonies, and Sigh
no more, ladies brings the set to a cheerfully melodious and
high-spirited conclusion.
In this unaccompanied motet Vaughan Williams sets a text by the
English poet John Skelton (c.1463-1529). The music captures the
spirituality of the text with floating choral lines and a
sophisticated harmonic language, employing eerie dissonances to
create a sense of otherworldliness. The work carries the following
dedication: 'To the memory of my master Hubert Parry not as an
attempt palely to reflect his incomparable art, but in the hope
that he would have found in this motet (to use his own words)
'something characteristic'.'.
These four splendid anthems were composed for the coronation of
George II in October 1727 and have since retained a position at the
heart of the English choral tradition. The popular anthem Zadok the
Priest has been performed at all subsequent coronations, and
Handel's other contributions to the royal occasion - Let thy hand
be strengthened, The King shall rejoice, and My heart is inditing -
have the same majestic grandeur, with affecting contrasts between
different sections of the sacred texts. The editor, Clifford
Bartlett, has corrected various inconsistencies in Handel's score,
and complete details of sources and editorial method, additional
performance notes, and a critical commentary are included.
Andrew Gant's compelling account traces English church music from
Anglo-Saxon origins to the present. It is a history of the music
and of the people who made, sang and listened to it. It shows the
role church music has played in ordinary lives and how it reflects
those lives back to us. The author considers why church music
remains so popular and frequently tops the classical charts and why
the BBC's Choral Evensong remains the longest-running radio series
ever. He shows how England's church music follows the contours of
its history and is the soundtrack of its changing politics and
culture, from the mysteries of the Mass to the elegant decorum of
the Restoration anthem, from stern Puritanism to Victorian bombast,
and thence to the fractured worlds of the twentieth century as
heard in the music of Vaughan Williams and Britten. This is a book
for everyone interested in the history of English music, culture
and society.
50 carols for sopranos and altos (suitable for boys', girls', or
women's choirs). It contains mostly simple arrangements of the
best-loved carols, some less well-known ones, and four original
pieces by Britten (2), Rutter, and Hadley. Most of the Christmas
hymns are presented in two versions; for choirs only,
unaccompanied, and for choir and audience/congregation, with
accompaniment.
Orchestral accompaniments for many of the carols are available on
hire.
for SATB, optional baritone solo, cello, and string orchestra This
is a tuneful epiphany carol, setting a text by the composer.
Underpinned by a beautiful cello solo, the vocal lines are rich and
flowing, and the organ supports the choir with warm harmonies. The
carol was written at the invitation of Red Balloon, a
Cambridge-based UK-wide organization dedicated to the recovery of
bullied children. The cello part is published separately and an
accompaniment for strings is available on sale and on hire.
In Choral Masterpieces: Major and Minor, historian Nicholas Tarling
surveys the landscape of choral works, some standard masterpieces
that are commonly performed by choruses around the world, others
deserving a second, closer look. As noted in the foreword by Uwe
Grodd , music director of the Auckland Choral Society, this work
"is a collection of essays about a number of outstanding works,
including Beethoven's Miss Solemnis and Britten's War Requiem, but
he also invites attention to lesser masterpieces. If the choral
movement, which includes both singers and listeners, is to survive,
new works must be created and repertory expanded. The book is an
easy and captivating read even if you are not a chorister." Choral
Masterpieces: Major and Minor features short essays on over 28
works, from major masterpieces such as Handel's Messiah and Bach's
St. Matthew's Passion to off-the-beaten path choral works such as
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha and Frederick Delius' A Mass of
Life. Throughout, Tarling offers assessments that sparkle with
unique insights and at the same time ground listener's in the
historical contexts of the work's production and performance. Each
work is transformed in Tarling's able hands from musical work into
a window into the mind and milieu of the composer. Choral
Masterpieces: Major and Minor mixes choral mainstays with works
that demand revisiting. Choral singers and their audiences, as well
as choral societies and their directions and promoters, will find
ample food for thoughts in these meditations on the choral
tradition.
for SATB & piano/orchestra Here John Rutter uses oriental
musical influences to create a highly original arrangement of the
popular Christmas carol. The verses are dark and mysterious in
character, with warmth and joy radiating from the choruses. This
setting can also be found in Rutter's Christmas collection Joy to
the World. Scores and parts for the orchestral accompaniment are
available on sale.
A definitive collection of 100 anthems from Tudor times to the
present, this book includes favorites as well as lesser-known
pieces. The anthems were selected for their practical usefulness
for church choirs today, bearing in mind the needs of smaller
choirs: the anthems are mostly for SATB with or without keyboard
accompaniments.
for SATB unaccompanied This gentle, lilting anthem sets verses from
the psalms that speak of devotion to and delight in the Lord.
Bednall's sophisticated and appealing musical language gives colour
and expression to the text and creates a devotional atmosphere
perfectly suited to the psalmists' words.
The Choral-Orchestral Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams: Autographs,
Context, Discourse combines contextual knowledge, a musical
commentary, an inventory of the holograph manuscripts, and a
critical assessment of the opus to create substantial and
meticulous examinations of Ralph Vaughan Williams'
choral-orchestral works. The contents include an equitable choice
of pieces from the various stages in the life of the composer and
an analysis of pieces from the various stages of Williams' life.
The earliest are taken from the pre-World War I years, when Vaughan
Williams was constructing his identity as an academic and
musician-Vexilla Regis (1894), Mass (1899), and A Sea Symphony
(1910). The middle group are chosen from the interwar period-Sancta
Civitas (1925), Benedicite (1929), Magnificat (1932), Five Tudor
Portraits (1935), Dona nobis pacem (1936)-written after Vaughan
Williams had found his mature voice. The last cluster-Thanksgiving
for Victory (1944), Fantasia (Quasi Variazione) on the 'Old 104'
Psalm Tune (1949), Sons of Light (1950), Hodie (1954), The Bridal
Day/Epithalamion (1938/1957)-typify the works finished or revisited
during the final years of the composer's life, near the end of the
Second World War and immediately before or after his second
marriage (1953).
A cycle of traditional carols for SSA voices with harp or piano
accompaniment
Vocal scores are also available on hire.
Choral Music: A Research and Information Guide, Third Edition,
offers a comprehensive guide to the literature on choral music in
the Western tradition. Clearly annotated bibliographic entries
guide readers to resources on key topics within choral music,
individual choral composers, regional and sacred choral traditions,
choral techniques, choral music education, genre studies, and more,
providing an essential reference for researchers and practitioners.
Covering monographs, bibliographies, selected dissertations,
reference works, journals, electronic databases, and websites, this
research guide makes it easy to locate relevant sources.
Comprehensive indices of authors, titles, and subjects keep the
volume user-friendly. The new edition has been brought up to date
with entries encompassing the latest scholarship, and updated
references and annotations throughout, capturing the continued
growth of literature on choral music since the publication of the
second edition.
24 anthems for sopranos and altos (unison and two-part)
In Singing in Greek: A Guide to Greek Lyric Diction and Vocal
Repertoire, Lydia Zervanos reveals to singers the vast riches of
Greek vocal music. Dating back to 1770, Greek art music-following
the Western European styles, often drawing on themes from folk
music and motifs-long awaits its rightful place in a truly
international vocal repertoire. Modern singers in search of new
musical opportunities will find in Singing in Greek the necessary
tools to locate and perform art songs and arias from this extensive
national vocal repertoire. Concisely written and full of practical
advice, the book opens with an introduction to the Greek alphabet
and pronunciation, navigating the assignment of International
Phonetic Alphabet symbols. Zervanos covers such topics as Greek
vowels, digraphs, consonants, binary consonants, consonant
combinations, palatalization, basic Greek grammatical concepts and
their role in stress and length, syllabification, and
punctuation-all separated into easily referenced chapters and
supported by online recordings of native Greek opera singers. In
the second half of Singing in Greek, Zervanos offers a short
history of Greek art music, biographies of prominent Greek
composers, texts of their most representative works with IPA
transcriptions, and word-for-word and poetic translations, with
arias and art songs chosen for all voice types and levels. This
book also includes indexes of direct vowel-to-IPA and
consonant-to-IPA transcriptions, as well as useful appendixes on
publications, organizations, and famous Greek poets. Singing in
Greek is a must-have resource for every singer, voice teacher,
vocal coach, collaborative pianist, and opera and choral conductor
seeking to perform and teach in this unique language, explore the
wealth of music available, and expand their knowledge of Greek
repertoire.
|
|