An attractive and accessible setting of the Rite Two Holy Communion Liturgy from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. Intended primarily for use in churches where congregation and choir sing the service together, it could be used by congregation alone, as the melody line does not rise high. Ideally, though, an […]
ROC-010 Confitemini Domino The Latin text “Confitemini Domino” – “Give thanks to the Lord” — appears in several Psalms and has been set to music across centuries – from early composers like Giovanni Gabrieli, Heinrich Schütz, and Jean-Baptiste Lully to modern masters like Knut Nystedt. This setting for SATB chorus (with brief soprano/bass divisi) is […]
When I Am Dead, My Dearest was conceived as a partner piece to Dido’s Lament from Henry Purcell’s opera, Dido and Aeneas. Purcell’s aria begins, “When I am laid in earth”; Rossetti’s poem begins, “When I am dead.” Purcell ends with “Remember me, but ah, forget my fate”; Rossetti’s poem ends, “Haply I may remember […]
This composition is dedicated to my grandmother Dorothy Jane Farrar. Memory, my fickle friend I’ve never known you well The faded scenes you recommend They ring a distant bell The blemishes the blooms The laughter and perfume My children’s children have children of their own Memory, my weathered friend Don’t leave me here alone Apples […]
These simple folksong arrangements were made for two community choirs based in Selly Oak, Birmingham, but they would be equally suitable for school choirs or other groups. Included are well known songs from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, which are woven into a continuous piece lasting about six and a half minutes. The medley starts […]
This lively arrangement in 7/4 meter re-fashions Lowry’s familiar hymn into a rhythmically-charged spiritual, using an unequal four beats per measure to carry the listener along on a joyous spiritual journey along the celestial river.
The Vocális Chamber Choir commissioned Songs of Crystal for their 15th anniversary. The traditional gift for a fifteenth anniversary is crystal, so for this commission Mallonee linked four poems by Sara Teasdale and created a set that explores each of the four seasons.
From an Oregon Bach Festival concert review by Tom Manoff, in the (Eugene, Oregon) Register-Guard , July 11, 2002: “Rebecca Oswald is not a showy composer, but she’s an honorable one. ‘The Soul Contemplates the Creator In the Creation’ is splendid choral writing. This unpretentious style isn’t calculated to impress the trendy set, but in […]
Inspired by the imagery of my home Island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands, this is an evocative piece which celebrates the sea, using driving rhythms, a soaring high soprano solo, and an iconic ‘fog-horn’ motif. After it’s premiere by the Guernsey Glee Singers in 2007, this piece has been routinely performed by various choirs […]
Christus Factus Est was commissioned by Marion Jacob to be premiered at her senior recital on May 15th, 2010. Although the musical content of the piece does not come straight from the original Christus Factus Est chant, several of the original motives can be heard quoted in places such as the opening soprano line and […]
“Thou God” is the title of a text by Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-general of the United Nations from 1953 to 1961. A deeply moving and personal faith statement, it is set here as an anthem for mixed choir and organ. Hammarskjöld’s book Markings, from which this text comes, is an enduring spiritual classic still widely read […]
This setting of the Gloria text in English is excerpted from a longer Anglican communion/mass service — Communion Service in D — also published on Swirly (including settings of the Hosanna, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei). The Gloria is a simple, tuneful arrangement that can be performed as a general-purpose anthem or during the Christmas season. […]
The round is the first tool of any music teacher wishing to develop in children an ability to listen to others while holding an independent line. Rounds also build cohesion among singers, providing opportunities to improve ensemble, sight-reading, articulation and breathing. Here are thirteen original rounds of varying difficulty for Youth Choir: while intended for […]
This energetic setting of Gloria in excelsis Deo, from the Latin Mass, opens with rhythmic patterns that enhance the text. Midway through, the chorus softly occults between two simple chords under an alto then baritone soloists. The opening patterns return before a fugal section at the text “cum santo spiritu.” The final Amen is another […]
This is an a cappella setting of William Blake’s poem ‘The Tyger’ for mixed choir (SATB) with some divisions. It may be performed on its own, or preferably as a companion piece to ‘Little Lamb, who made thee?’, also obtainable through Swirly Music. It is suggested that ‘Little Lamb’ be performed first, as there is […]
This setting of the traditional Harvest hymn, “We plough the fields and scatter”, is written in popular style, a little syncopated. The choir parts are mainly in Unison, with short passages in harmony (SATB). There is also a simple Unison part for the audience/congregation to join in (“All good gifts around us”), and simple percussion […]
A setting of words by Eric Gosney, When Love came to the world is an original carol suitable for use in either services or concerts. Its four verses talk of the response to Christ’s Nativity of the sleeping, unprepared world, the shepherds, the Magi and ourselves today. It is set for SATB choir with Tenor […]
“The Day of Light” was commissioned by Mark Ludwig, Director of the Terezin Music Foundation in 2014 as part of a larger project to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps and the end of World War II in 1945. The text is a setting of the poem “The Day of […]
This delightful piece sets a whimsical poem by the American poet, Susan Kinsolving, about steps taken internationally to make the world a better place. Sanford Dole’s Dance Steps has artistic merit…no one can doubt the artistic merit of Dole’s entertaining piece. I was not looking forward to enduring Susan Kinsolving’s absurdist text, printed in the […]
Ideal for middle school, high school, or adult chorus, High Clouds, Low Clouds is an fun and accurate description of the most common cloud formations while evoking the 1970s in an entertainingly retro-pop style. High Clouds, Low Clouds, drifting, floating – Cumulus clouds of sunny summer days look like puffs of cotton candy in the […]
Composer’s Note: “The Red Wheelbarrow,” an innovative environmental/imagist poem I first read as a teenager, struck me as an alluring and joyful means to immerse in a commission by Austin’s Inversion Ensemble for their Planet Home project. The score blossomed during a fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a pastoral setting that […]
This carol was first published in 1833 in a collection entitled “Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern”. William Sandys, a solicitor by day and music & manuscript collector by night, purportedly came across the tune in Devonshire, England. In this gentle setting from 1991 many colors of choral writing appear with sections for SATB, 3-part men, […]
The Soul Considers Its Nearness to God is the second in a choral set entitled Three Songs of the Soul. Jan Luyken (1649-1712), a native of Amsterdam, lived a secluded life as a poet, artist, and engraver. In this choral setting, the melodies and harmonies aspire to express the meaning and beauty of the poet’s […]
“Snow Globe Upon a Sill” is a New Year’s piece. Using the childlike metaphor of a snow globe, the work is a tender and moving reflection on transition and the possibility of renewal that comes at the close of one year and the start of another. Perfect for a winter concert! Also available from Swirly […]
“Entrance” is a new choral composition for SATB choir w/piano accompaniment. The inspiring, secular text is by Dana Gioia, former US poet laureate. It invites the listener to find new discoveries, new creations: “step out…. of the room that lets you feel secure. / Infinity is open to your sight.” With a jazz-influenced, uptempo piano […]
A theatrical setting of Di Balade Funem Farloyrenem Shefel, a colorful allegory by Yiddish poet Itzik Manger telling the story of a shepherd boy searching high and low for his lost lamb, only to discover that he has found something more important that he didn’t know he was looking for. Follow the score with English subtitles in […]
Short choral blessing (text from the Old Testament) written as part of 2001-2003 Composer Residency at San Francisco’s National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi. Premiered by resident ensemble, Schola Cantorum SF
This setting of Charles Baudelaire’s iconic poem captures the “luxury” and “voluptuousness” of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s radiant translation. The six-part texture allows for thick, evocative chords in Dole’s jazz-influenced harmonic world. Slowly evolving chord progressions paint a picture of a person truly in love with another, asking that they go on a long journey […]
If music be the food of love . . . then you’ll simply love this collection of rounds that has Food as its theme. Expect some heartburn as you sing of pumpkins, peas, eels, gammon steak and applesauce—all washed down with ale and black coffee. The twelve rounds encompass many moods and offer more than […]
The sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Britain form a golden age of round-singing; even the nineteenth provided some fine examples. These twelve rounds, set to texts by Shakespeare, Skelton, Swift, Dryden, Johnson, Carroll and Synge, are of varying difficulty and may require rehearsal. Keeping as they do to the style of the period, they […]
This beloved lullaby is presented with an evocative piano accompaniment and vocal solo, bringing out a melancholy beauty that will entrance your audience.
This Spiritual has one of the most beautiful melodies in the entire canon, and is appropriate for inclusion in a worship service, or concert setting. The yearning and exalted words and simple melody, are as timely today as when this song was first composed.
This gorgeously heartfelt Spiritual gently asks the listener, exactly “where they were”, on the dark day when Jesus Christ was brutally crucified… and points an unflinching finger at themselves; a witness to the degrading torture and death that He endured, to expiate the world’s sins. In the entire canon of liturgical hymnody, very few pieces […]
A setting of the brief yet powerful poem by Walt Whitman (from “Leaves of Grass”). The score takes its cue from the meditative nature of the text. There is a contemplative tone throughout, laced with subtle harmonies and perhaps inspired by the works of Randall Thompson. The score quietly expresses the expansive feeling one gets […]
Saguaro (pronounced sa-Wah-ro) was written in response to the Tucson shootings on January 8, 2011 – now known as the Tucson Tragedy. It is a song of compassion and tenderness.
The text comprises a solitary verse, St. John 3:8, taken from Nicodemus’ well-known nocturnal conversation with Jesus. The anthem is intended for use in a generous acoustic, such as a Cathedral, where during the many bar rests, the fragmented and overlapping phrases can be given opportunity to resound and reflect until the reverberation dissipates. The […]
Deep peace of the running wave to you.Deep peace of the flowing air to you.Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.Deep peace of the shining stars to you.Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you. (Words adapted from an ancient Gaelic blessing)
‘Long live music – long live life!’ This little song, originally composed for a children’s choir in the USA, was adapted for a small community choir in Birmingham, UK. The words and music are simple and straightforward, about the joy of music and singing, and the song can be quickly learnt by choirs of all […]
A Teasdale Triptych is a set of three miniatures. Each aims to crystallize the meaning of Sara Teasdale’s exquisite words and trace the journey on which the poems take the reader. The piece was commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Artists. It is dedicated to the singers of the group, and to their director, Magen Solomon. […]
The Children’s Hour is a setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem of the same name (first published in 1860) composed by Alberto Roque Santana for the Bowdoin Chamber Choir during the summer of 2011. The work is written for an actor, soprano solo, mixed choir and piano, and the composer writes that “the weight of the […]
