The Glagolitic Mass, written between 1926 and 1927, is not only one of Janacek's most important works: it is also a masterpiece of the twentieth-century choral repertoire. In this fascinating account of the work and its history, Paul Wingfield brings together material from early articles and reviews, letters and manuscripts which form a comprehensive account of the work's genesis and performance history. The author also provides a thorough revision of the Old Church Slavonic text along with English translation, and reconstructs Janacek's 'ideal' version of the work - far more exciting than the less adventurous rearrangement currently performed. Chapters on the music itself offer a full synopsis of the Glagolitic Mass, an in-depth discussion of its musical organisation and a selection of key interpretations of the piece by Janacek and others.

for SATB accompanied (piano or organ) and unaccompanied The Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers is a landmark collection of non-idiomatic compositions from the sixteenth century to the present day, providing a comprehensive introduction to an area of choral music that has been historically under-represented. This unique anthology seeks both to improve representation in the historical canon and to showcase the music of some of the best names in choral music today.

for SATB and piano or orchestra Jonathan Wikeley's choral arrangement of Vaughan Williams's Four Last Songs offers a new way to engage with these beautiful late works. The texts are by Ursula Vaughan Williams, and the set begins and ends with two poems that were inspired by Greek mythology. The opening song, 'Procris', and the closing song, 'Menelaus', have flowing piano accompaniments that remain unchanged from the original solo voice versions. The two songs in the middle, 'Tired' and 'Hands, Eyes, and Heart', are unaccompanied in this arrangement, with a double-choir texture that incorporates the original chordal piano line in a way that is consistent with Vaughan Williams's own double-choir writing. The songs are available in their original form, for solo voice and piano accompaniment, in the first volume of Collected Songs by Vaughan Williams.

This is a substantial setting of the canticles of Mary and Simeon, suitable for performance in both concert and liturgical settings. The choral writing features fugal counterpoint and a chromatic soundworld rooted around the octatonic scale. The text is in English throughout, with occasional Latin interjections in the Magnificat. Bringing a fresh voice to an established genre, this setting presents a rewarding challenge for singers and the opportunity for congregations or audiences to appreciate familiar words in a new way. A version for SATB with piano and organ (ISBN 978-0-19-356329-2) is also available.

for soprano solo, opt. alto solo, SATB double choir and piano or orchestra This is a chorus from a one-act opera, which tells a melodramatic story of love, betrayal, and death. This setting is stirring and colorful. Orchestral materials are available on rental.

Most choirs spend their rehearsal time focusing on notes, rhythms, and precision. They rarely, if ever, discuss a song s meaning and feeling, even though those elements are precisely what draws people to the music in the first place. Thousands of books have been written about choral technique, teaching people how to sing technically well. What sets The Heart of Vocal Harmony apart is its focus on honest unified expression and the process of delivering an emotionally compelling performance. It delves into an underdeveloped vocal topic the heart of the music and the process involved with expressing it. The Heart of Vocal Harmony is not just for a cappella groups it is also for vocal harmony groups, ensembles, and choirs at all levels, with or without instruments. In addition to the process, the book features discussions with some of the biggest luminaries in vocal harmony: composers, arrangers, directors, singers, and groups including Eric Whitacre, Pentatonix, the Manhattan Transfer, and more!

World Music Pedagogy, Volume V: Choral Music Education explores specific applications of the World Music Pedagogy process to choral music education in elementary, middle, and high school contexts, as well as within community settings. The text provides clear and accessible information to help choral music educators select, rehearse, and perform a diverse global repertoire. It also guides directors in creating a rich cultural context for learners, emphasizing listening, moving, and playing activities as meaningful music-making experiences. Commentary on quality, commercially available world music repertoire bridges the gap between the philosophy of World Music Pedagogy and the realities of the performance-based choral classroom. All chapters open with a series of vignettes that illuminate the variety of possibilities within multiple K-12 contexts, providing the reader with a sense of how the ideas presented might look "on the ground." Ready-to-integrate activities serve as concrete and pedagogically sound examples to guide directors as they develop their own instructional materials according to the needs of their choir. Content features choral and vocal music-making traditions from South and West Africa; Latin America; Southeast, East, and South Asia; the Pacific Islands; Australia; New Zealand; Scandinavia; and the Baltics.

This major new collection is the perfect resource for small choirs, young choirs, and all choirs whose numbers fluctuate week by week. Each piece is scored flexibly with optional parts or parts for equal voices, so that it can be performed by more than one combination of performers; many pieces can also be sung in unison. The music is accessible - ideal for choirs with limited rehearsal time - and keyboard parts are playable on organ (with or without pedals) or piano. The repertoire spans the sixteenth century to the present day and includes new, flexibly scored arrangements of traditional pieces, as well as newly commissioned anthems. There are also pieces in lighter styles, to cater for a broad range of tastes. With complete coverage of the church year, this is an essential resource for those looking for fresh and accessible options for church services.

Shows how Charles V used music and ritual to reinforce his image and status as the most important and powerful sovereign in Europe. The presentation of Charles V as universal monarch, defender of the faith, magnanimous peacemaker, and reborn Roman Emperor became the mission of artists, poets, and chroniclers, who shaped contemporary perceptions of him and engaged in his political promotion. Music was equally essential to the making of his image, as this book shows. It reconstructs musical life at his court, by examining the compositions which emanated from it, the ordinances prescribing its rituals and ceremonies, and his prestigious chapel, which reflected his power and influence. A major contribution, offering new documentary material and bringing together the widely dispersed information on the music composed to mark the major events of Charles's life. It offers.a very useful insight into music as one of many elements that served to convey the notion of the emperor-monarch in the Renaissance. TESS KNIGHTON Mary Ferer is Associate Professor at the College of Creative Arts, West Virginia University.

Choral Sight Reading provides a practical and organic approach to teaching choral singing and sight-reading. The text is grounded in current research from the fields of choral pedagogy, music theory, music perception and cognition. Topics include framing a choral curriculum based on the Kodaly concept; launching the academic year for beginning, intermediate, and advanced choirs; building partwork skills; sight-reading; progressive music theory sequences for middle to college level choirs; teaching strategies; choral rehearsal plans as well as samples of how to teach specific repertoire from medieval to contemporary choral composers. This volume includes basic and advanced music theory concepts to develop fluent sight-reading skills for reading standard choral repertoire, providing examples for the process outlined in Chapters 6-8 of Volume 1 (Choral Artistry). This guide provides choral directors with a choral curriculum and choral rehearsal models that place performance, audiation, partwork, music theory, and sight-signing skills at the heart of the choral experience, through a 'sound thinking' approach to teaching that results in greater efficiency in creating independent choral singers with a well-rounded repertoire.

French Vocal Literature: Repertoire in Context introduces singers to the history and performance concerns of a vast body of French songs from the twelfth century to the present, focusing on works for solo voice or small vocal ensembles with piano or organ accompaniment, suitable for recitals, concerts, and church performances. Georgine Resick presents vocal repertoire within the context of trends and movements of other artistic disciplines, such as poetry, literature, dance, painting, and decorative arts, as well as political and social currents pertinent to musical evolution. Developments in French style and genre-and comparisons among individual composers and national styles-are traced through a network of musical influence. French Vocal Literature is ideally suited for voice teachers and coaches as well as student and professional performers. The companion website, frenchvocalliterature.com, provides publication information, a discography, links to online recordings and scores, a chronology of events pertinent to music, a genealogy of royal dynasties, and a list of governmental regimes.

This book presents a comprehensive view of children's musical artistry and how to develop it in both the music classroom and children's chorus. Presenting the musical mind as the gateway to children's artistry, and addressing the power of movement in its embodiment and advancement, author Mary Ellen Pinzino shows how song-rhythm, melody, and text, independently and together-influence children's developing artistry musically, expressively, and vocally at every level. Accordingly, she also offers a multitude of specific songs that inspire children's artistry, all in various tonalities and meters and on a continuum of increasing difficulty. Keeping the need for practical application in mind, Pinzino offers materials for implementation with children from kindergarten through seventh grade, as well as guidance for professional development. Content can be applied alongside any pedagogical methodology, as well as with older singers in the process of developing their own artistry. In short, this book makes the intangibles of children's artistry more tangible. It enables music teachers and choral conductors to draw artistry out of every child and draw every child into the choral art. It summons music teachers and choral conductors to bring artistry to the forefront of every music class and choral rehearsal-and to the forefront of the field of music education as a whole.

for SATB and organ This superb Latin mass setting for choir and organ demonstrates the composer's strong melodic sense and innate feeling for the sound of choral worship. The atmospheric Kyrie leads to a Gloria that contrasts vibrantly rhythmic passages with smoother, expressive sections. The mysterious harmonies of the Sanctus pave the way for a tender Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei is a haunting and powerful prayer for peace.

for TTBB and piano or organ, or unaccompanied This collection of nine of John Rutter's most popular choral works, arranged by the composer for tenors and basses, has been carefully compiled to reflect a wide variety of texts and styles. Encompassing both sacred and secular pieces, the collection provides a valuable and attractive body of repertoire for TTBB choirs.

for SATB chorus and orchestra This joyous arrangement of a traditional spiritual for choir and orchestra is propelled by a light swing tempo. The mood grows more and more euphoric with each succeeding stanza of text, and the uplifting music surges towards an opulent conclusion.

for SATB chorus and orchestra This joyous arrangement of a traditional spiritual for choir and orchestra is propelled by a light swing tempo. The mood grows more and more euphoric with each succeeding stanza of text, and the uplifting music surges towards an opulent conclusion.

for SATB, upper voices, and organ This compelling work tells the story of creation through a tapestry of biblical passages, spiritual writings, poems, and hymns by writers such as Thomas Traherne. The piece is structured around a recurring refrain, composed for upper voices, but also suitable for performance by any group from within the SATB choir, if an upper-voice choir is unavailable. Chilcott's great sensitivity to text brings this wondrous story to life, evoking images of 'the earth, the seas, the light, the day, the skies' being fashioned before our eyes. To access the Upper Voices Part, visit oxford.ly/CreationSongUpperVoicesPart To access the Lyric Sheet, visit oxford.ly/CreationSongLyricSheet

for SATB and organ. A work of thanksgiving, The Song of Harvest is an artfully crafted celebration of the earth and its riches. The piece is structured around five well-known hymns of praise, for which Chilcott has composed striking original melodies that may be easily learnt by an audience or congregation, who are invited to join in with the choir. In keeping with tradition, the hymns feature soprano descants for the final verses, and the organ is used to great effect throughout the work in providing characterful introductions and interludes, as well as supporting the choir. The choral movements explore words from the psalms and poems by writers such as Henry van Dyke and Christina Rossetti, whose famous poem 'Consider' provides a moment of solemn reflection before the rousing closing hymn 'Now thank we all our God'.

for T. solo, SATB (with divisions), and orchestra The World Imagined explores themes around the smallness of man, the apprehension of the divine in everything around us, and our ecstatic communion within that vastness. The powerfully evocative texts invite deep spiritual contemplation, and are drawn from diverse sources ranging from an early Latin hymn by St Ambrose to contemporary poems by Doris Kareva and Kenneth White. The work is structured in five continuous movements, with a tenor soloist joining the choir in the second, fourth (where they have a melismatic extended solo passage), and fifth. Profound words by Wallace Stevens-'How high that highest candle lights the dark. Out of this same light, out of the central mind, We make a dwelling in the evening air, In which being there together is enough.'-draw this monumental work to a close, with wind and strings leading us to a final chord that resounds with quiet, hopeful optimism at the end of this transformative musical experience.

The Sarah Quartel Songbook brings together a selection of the composer's best-loved pieces for mixed voices, including favourites such as Sing, my Child, Voice on the Wind, and Swept Away. This is an invaluable resource both for choirs looking to explore the work of this fine choral composer for the first time and for admirers of Quartel's style hoping to find staple repertoire conveniently gathered together in one volume.

The two lead choir mentors from BBC's The Naked Choir. which airs autumn 2015, provide a practical dip-in book of tips and techniques to get choirs to excel. Perfect for all choral leaders, enthusiasts and singers, Dominic and Mark explain how to raise your game and take your choir to the next level, with advice on technical excellence, creating a good working environment, and managing people. The two lead choir mentors from BBC's The Naked Choir. which airs autumn 2015, provide a practical dip-in book of tips and techniques to get choirs to excel. Perfect for all choral leaders, enthusiasts and singers, Dominic and Mark explain how to raise your game and take your choir to the next level, with advice on technical excellence, creating a good working environment, and managing people. With over 25,000 choirs in the UK and the numbers growing, Mark De-Lisser (vocal coach on BBC's 'The Voice' and mentor on 'The Naked Choir') and Dominic Peckham (leading choral director & ambassador and mentor on 'The Naked Choir') provide 100 ideas on how to take choirs to the next level. Sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience, Dominic and Mark's advice will get great groups started, keep choirs moving forward and encourage the best from individual singers, keeping it fun along the way. With advice on how to start a choir from scratch, develop your own musicianship, rehearse effectively, and excel in performance, this pocket-sized guide is an essential resource and its practical guidance will get all choirs on the right track!

for SATB and piano In this passionate four-movement work, composer Bob Chilcott and lyricist Delphine Chalmers explore themes of inclusivity, identity, and unity. The middle movements, 'Harmony' and 'Rhythm', have strong grooves and rhythmic drive, while the outer movements, 'Unison' and 'Resolution', are steadfast and uplifting. Songs my Heart has Taught Me brings singers and audience together in a celebration of all that unites us.

Breath of Song brings together ten exquisite works by contemporary women composers. Compiled and edited by Sarah Quartel, the collection features an eclectic mix of styles and colours, specially selected with modern concert programming in mind - from settings of hymn-like simplicity and a rich choral sound to works featuring theatrical body percussion and a fresh close-harmony style. Secular and sacred texts from across the centuries are given fresh life, and new words and sounds are introduced to the repertoire, including the onomatopoeic echoes of Hindustani classical instruments in Esmail's 'TaReKiTa' and the whistling of the wind and birds in Hawley's 'The Arrow and the Song'. Scored for unaccompanied mixed voices, this collection of ten compelling works is fresh, dynamic, and exciting - a long-awaited celebration of some of today's most inspirational voices in choral composition.

The Power of Song shows how the people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania confronted a military superpower and achieved independence in the Baltic "Singing Revolution." When attacked by Soviet soldiers in public displays of violent force, singing Balts maintained faith in nonviolent political action. More than 110 choral, rock, and folk songs are translated and interpreted in poetic, cultural, and historical context. Watch the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh7vFFjK0rc

for SATB and organ, and optional brass ensemble and timpani Make We Merry is an eight-movement piece which sets texts from the 15th to 19th centuries to a variety of choral textures with a highly characterful accompaniment. A vast array of sentiments is depicted, from quiet expectance and gentle wonder to boisterous jubilation, and the different movements provide a wonderfully paced journey through these moods. The final movement brings back motifs from the opening and grows to a thrillingly climactic ending to this exciting Christmas concert work. This piece was originally commissioned in a version for upper voices by Benenden School.