At the cry of the first bird
As is often the case with my work, this music seemed to naturally grow out of the text—a haunting medieval poem about the death of Jesus Christ. The poem’s enigmatic symbolism and otherworldly affect resulted in what was for me an unusually mysterious and ethereal composition. Some of the inspiration for the work came from Renaissance sources, such as Tudor composers William Byrd and Thomas Tallis. Some of their work, though certainly “ethereal,” contains dissonances that are almost as brash as some of those that I have used here. Another source of inspiration was the prospect of a performance by The Kinge’s Quire, a small ensemble that focuses on Renaissance music and therefore sings with great clarity and minimal vibrato. With that type of choral sound in mind as I composed, I felt unusually free to concoct unusual sonorities and dissonant combinations of notes that I knew such an ensemble could bring to life in a special way.
| Duration: | 1-5 Minutes |
| Voicing: | SATB |
| Language: | English |
$2.00
This title is available in print or for immediate download. For both options, there is a minimum required quantity of 8 copies for choral titles. Please support self-publishing composers by ordering the quantity according to the number of singers in the ensemble that will perform the work.
Print orders are printed on demand and shipped by our printing partner, and can be expected to be processed within a few days of the order. Please do not hesitate to contact [email protected] to follow up.
Explore More Music…
Title | View | Voicing | Duration | Language | Composer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SATB+SATB | 1' 45" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “Are Friends Delight or Pain?” is a brief a cappella double-choir movement (SATB + SATB, ~1’45”) excerpted from Cycle of Friends, setting Emily Dickinson’s epigram with concentrated intensity. The entire piece rests on a single sustained E—a pedal point whose meaning keeps shifting as the harmony moves through changing modes and colors. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Equal Voices | 3' | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| An original song the lovingly evokes images of the Golden State. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 5' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This composition won first prize in the Longfellow Choral Composition Competition in 2011. I have enjoyed Longfellow’s poetry for many years–“Excelsior” in particular. However, I’ve never managed to develop a huge amount of sympathy for the poem’s protagonist. Here we have a youth who ignores the advice of everyone around him that his journey was […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 1'30" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In this fresh, sparkling take on a beloved hymn tune, a perpetual motion accompaniment drives a whirlwind celebration of beauty in the world around us and our ability to perceive it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 7'30" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Three short poems by Sara Teasdale – 1) Grey Eyes, 2) Did You Never, 3) Nightfall – from her collection Flame and Shadow, are the basis of this set of choral songs, all bearing on a relationship, including tender, poignant, and playful emotions. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SAB | 3:30 | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 3'30" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| This is a straightforward setting for choir and organ/keyboard of an Appalachian carol found by John Jacob Niles (1892-1980). Niles was an American composer, singer, and collector of traditional ballads. He discovered this carol in Mayfield, Kentucky in 1933. Niles was an important influence on the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SA | 3'10" | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “The Wind” was commissioned by the Organization of American Kodály Educators as a result of Rich Campbell winning the Ruth Boshkoff Composition Prize. The text is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1885 A Child’s Garden of Verses. The choir begins by emulating the sound of the wind, and then sings directly to the wind, describing the […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SATB | 4' | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “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 […] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||