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SSAA
and piano
Text: Christina Rossetti
(1830-1894)
Moderately difficult
Duration: 3’30”
Can be combined with Mirage and Echo
for an extended work (For a Dream's Sake)
Composed: 2000
Published: 2002 |
Canada:
Cypress
Choral Music
CP 1090
USA:
Musical Resources Inc.
J.W. Pepper |
AN
END
Love, strong
as Death, is dead.
Come, let us make his bed
Among the dying flowers:
A green turf at his head;
And a stone at his feet,
Whereon we may sit
In the quiet evening hours.
He was born in the Spring,
And died before the harvesting:
On the last warm summer day
He left us; he would not stay
For Autumn twilight cold and grey.
Sit we by his grave, and sing
He is gone away.
To few chords and
sad and low
Sing we so:
Be our eyes fixed on the grass
Shadow-veiled as the years pass,
While we think of all that was
In the long ago.
-
Christina Rossetti
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Performance
Options
I
have written a string quartet accompaniment for
Ave Maria which can be used in lieu of the piano, and is
available through the Canadian Music
Centre.
As
Mr. Smith suggests in his review the piece can be sung as a duet instead
- AB
Recorded
on:
Parlez-moi
Concerto
Della Donna
Iwan Edwards, conductor
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2 Soprano soloists, SA and piano
Text: Trad.
Level of Difficulty: moderate
Duration: 3’10” |
Canada:
Cypress
Choral Music CP1049
USA:
Musical Resources
Inc.
J.W. Pepper
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"If
your choir can't sing it you should hire two good sopranos to perform
it just so your congregation can hear something as beautiful as this...This
is beyond recommended."
-Rollin
Smith,
The American Organist,
Jan., 2005.
Recorded on:
Garden of Delights
Amabile Youth Singers
John Barron and Brenda Zadorsky, conductors
 listen
Recorded
on:
Joy
shall be yours
Ariose women's choir
Dr. Marilyn Kerley, conductor
listen
Ave
Maria
was a first prize winner in the first Biennial Composition Competition
sponsored by the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors and their
Associated Publisher, Cypress Choral Music.
Premiered by the National Youth Choir, Leonard Ratzlaff,
conductor, at Podium 2000 in Edmonton, Alberta, Ave Maria has
also received performances by such groups as Cantaré
Children's Choir, Concerto della Donna, and Elektra.
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 .PDF
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SSAA
a cappella
Text: anonymous antiphon, ca. 12th century
Moderately difficult
Duration: 3'50" |
Classica Music Publishers |
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Ave
Regina Caelorum |
| Ave
Regina caelorum,
Ave Domina Angelorum:
Salve radix, salve porta,
Ex qua mundo lux est orta:
Gaude Virgo gloriosa,
Super omnes speciosa,
Vale, o valde decora,
Et pro nobis Christum exora. |
Hail,
Queen of the heavens,
Hail, ruler of the angels:
Hail, root: hail, portal,
From whom light has shone to the world.
Hail, Virgin most glorious,
Beautiful above all,
Farewell, O most comely,
And pray to Christ for us. |
Ave
Regina Caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven) is one of the four
ancient prayers collectively known as the Marian Antiphons. Together
with the Alma Redemptoris Mater, Regina Coeli, and Salve Regina the
four antiphons are assigned to a portion of the church year and sung
folloing the evening Offices of Vespers or Compline. Ave Regina Caelorum
is used from the Feast of the Purification of Mary (The Presentation
of the Lord) on February 2, through the Wednesday of Holy Week. The
origin of the Ave Regina Caelorum prayer is unknown but it appears in
the Saint Alban's Book of the twelfth century.
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SA
and piano
Text: Trad.
Level: easy
Duration: 2’ |
USA:
Colla Voce #20-96560
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"If this were
by Gabriel Faure, it would be a classic. Fortunately, it probably will
be. Talk about easy and effective!"
---Rollin Smith,
The American Organist,
JAN 2005.
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SSA
and piano, (also SATB and TTBB)
Text: Frederick Wetherley
Moderately easy
Duration: 3’
Unpublished - contact composer |
Listen
to the SSA arrangement from Concerto Della Donna's beautiful
CD (parlez-moi 2011).
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"A
simple setting of this famous spiritual, some nice counterpoint and lyrical
phrases add to the piece's effectiveness."
--The Choral Room
(Spring 2003)
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SA
and piano
Text: Trad.
Easy
Duration: 2’ |
Colla
Voce 20-96570
J.W.
Pepper
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Recorded
on:
Let
the Music Begin
Cantaré
Children's Choir
Catherine
Glaser-Clime, Founder/ Artistic Director
Deep
River
Recorded on:
I
am a Star
Hamilton Children's Choir
David Davis,
conductor
Deep
River
America
Sings!
The Cincinnati Boychoir
Randall N. Wolfe,
conductor
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Echo
is the final movement of the choral song cycle entitled For a Dream's
Sake. This 12 minute cycle features three love poems by Christina
Rossetti (An End, Mirage, and Echo). Each are published separately by
Cypress Choral Music.
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SSAA
and piano
Text: Christina Rossetti
Moderately difficult
Duration: 4’
Can be combined with Mirage
and Echo for an extended work
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Canada:
Cypress
Choral Music
CCM 1083
USA:
Musical Resources
Inc. |
ECHO
Come
to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet
come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!
-
Christina Rossetti
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Composed
2001, published 2002. Echo was first-prize winner in the second biennial
ACCC Composition Competition. The work was premiered in Toronto at Podium
2002, by the National Youth Choir, under the direction of Lydia Adams.
Recorded
on:
Parlez-moi
Concerto
Della Donna
Iwan Edwards, conductor |
Listen
to:
Allan
Bevan's
Echo
from
THE MANITOU SINGERS OF
ST. OLAF COLLEGE VOL. 7
The
Manitou Singers
Sigrid
Johnson, Conductor
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GENTLE
MARY LAID HER CHILD
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In 2005, Gentle Mary was translated into both Dutch and German
and is available through the European Choral Club.
view
SATB-SSA-TTBB-SAB |
1)
SATB and piano
2) SSA and pno.
3) SAB and pno.
4) TTBB and pno.
Text: Joseph Simpson Cook
Level of Difficulty: easy
Duration: 3’ |
Canada:
Canadian
International
USA:
J.W. Pepper
Europe:
Unisong
Music Publishers |
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This
is one of Allan Bevan's more accessible choral works. The optional solo
in all of the versions is very ‘mid-range', and suitable for all
types of voices. In each of the four versions the second verse is harmonized
and intended to be sung unaccompanied. The last verse is for unison choir
and descant. The four published arrangements appear in three different
keys and can be interchanged if desired. The first version was the SATB
piece which was composed in 1994, followed by the SSA in 1995. Both of
these were part of the very first group of publications released by Canadian
International Music in 1996 (and Lorenz Corporation in the U.S.A.) The
SAB and TTBB versions of the work were completed in 2000 and published
in 2001. A complete recording (SATB) is available at J.W. Pepper, and
any of the four versions are obtainable through Sheetmusic.com and Music
44, among other well-known retailers. |
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View
Recorded
on:
Elektra's
Garden
Elektra Women's Choir
Morna Edmundson and Diane Loomer, Co-Conductors
Harp
of Wild |
SSA
and piano
Text: Emily Bronte (1818-1848)
Moderately difficult
Duration: 4'30' |
Classica Music Publishers |
Harp of Wild
Harp of
wild and dream-like strain,
When I touch thy strings,
Why dost thou repeat again
Long-forgotten things?
Harp, in other, earlier days,
I could sing to thee;
And not one of all my lays
Vexed my memory.
But now, if I awake a note
That gave me joy before,
Sounds of sorrow from thee float,
Changing evermore.
Yet, still steeped in memory’s dyes,
They come sailing on,
Darkening all my summer skies,
Shutting out my sun.
--Emily Bronté
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of Wild
won the first prize in the SSA category of the ACCC Choral Composition
Competition 2003-2004. The work was premiered by the National
Youth Choir, Kathryn Laurin, conductor, Tim Shantz, associate conductor,
on May 20th, at Podium 2004 in Winnipeg. This sets a text by Emily Bronte
(1818-1848) concerning love and memory.
Review
"The
text for this tender, endearing work is Emily Bronte's beautiful poem
“Harp of Wild”. Written for SSAA and Piano accompaniment,
Bevan sets the text above an imaginative piano accompaniment that allows
the pianist to play well into the keys while at the same time convincingly
evoking the sounds of a harp. This type of accompaniment gives the choir
a secure and encouraging base from which to sing and yet never gets in
the way of the music or the text. The harmonic language is adventurous
but not dissonant. Bevan is explicit in his dynamics and precise in tempi.
This provides the conductor, pianist and singers with an excellent road
map from which to work, thereby allowing them to bring the primary emphasis
to the text and its meaning. Excellent compositional craft is at work
here with phrases, dynamics, and choices of keys all supporting and highlighting
the glorious, poignant lines of Bronte's text. This piece won the 2004
Association of Canadian Choral Conductors Composition Competition. Once
you sing it, you'll understand why."
–
Diane Loomer |
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LOVE
COME DOWN AT CHRISTMAS |
View
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SATB
and piano
Text: Christina Rossetti
Easy
Duration: 5’ |
Cantate
Music Press CAN1060 |
This
work has been beautifully sung by Da Camera Singers (a 1999 commission),
Pro Coro Canada, and The University of Calgary Chamber Choir. |
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View
Recorded
on:
Parlez-moi
Concerto
Della Donna
Iwan Edwards, conductor
listen
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SSAA,
SA soloists, and piano
Text: Christina Rossetti
Challenging with a deep and mature text
Duration: ca. 3’ |
Cypress
Choral Music CP 1089 |
Mirage
The
hope I dreamed of was a dream,
Was but a dream; and now I wake,
Exceeding comfortless, and worn, and old,
For a dream's sake.
I hang
my harp upon a tree,
A weeping willow in a lake;
I hang my silent harp there, wrung and snapped
For a dream's sake.
Lie
still, lie still, my breaking heart;
My silent heart, lie still and break:
Life, and the world, and mine own self, are changed
For a dream's sake.
-Christina
Rossetti |
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THERE,
IN THAT OTHER WORLD
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Recorded
on:
Listen to
There in That Other World
Ariose women's choir,
Marilyn Kerley, conductor
Recorded
on:
Parlez-moi
Concerto
Della Donna
Iwan Edwards, conductor |
SSAA
and piano
Text: Mary Coleridge
Moderately difficult
Duration: 5’ |
classica
Music Publishers |
This
commission from Ariose
Women's Choir of Edmonton, Dr. Marilyn Kerley, conductor, was premiered
on April 17, 2005.
In November 2005, the choir released a recording of the work. It sets
a haunting poem by Mary Coleridge.
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listen
to
The University of Alberta Madrigal Singers
singing pages 4 and 5
The
Music in Me
Cantaré
Children's Choir
Catherine
Glaser-Clime, Founder/ Artistic Director
To
Morning
Recorded
on:
Elektra's
Garden
Elektra Women's Choir
Morna Edmundson and Diane Loomer, Conductors
Recorded
on:
Parlez-moi
Concerto
Della Donna
Iwan Edwards, conductor
Arrangement
for String Orchestra:
listen
to
Chamber Orchestra Kremlin (Moscow)
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SSA and piano
Text:
William Blake (1770-1827)
Moderate piano, Easy choir
Duration: 3’
Also
arranged for
String Orchestra |
Canada:
Cypress Choral
Music
CCM 1076
USA: Musical
Resources Toledo OH |
To
Morning
O holy virgin!
Clad in purest white,
Unlock heav'n's golden gates, and issue forth:
Awake the
dawn that sleeps in heav'n: let light
Rise from the chambers of the east, and bring
The honied dew that cometh on waking day.
O radiant
morning, salute the sun,
Rouz'd like a huntsman to the chase, and with
Thy buskin'd feet, appear upon our hills.
-William
Blake
from Poetical Sketches (1783)
Review
Notes
from Elektra's "Thirty
Top Picks" by Morna Edmundson.
"After
a somber and mysterious introduction by the piano, the opening vocal line
of this setting of William Blake's poem sounds and feels like a sacred
work, but the line “O holy virgin” refers not to the Virgin
Mary but to “morning” herself, “clad in purest white”.
Scored for piano and voices in three parts, the emphasis is definitely
on the text, creating lots of opportunity for your choir to sing expressively
and with good diction. In spite of a harmonic language that is quite adventurous,
this piece sings beautifully and the lines are well crafted for voices.
Clear dynamic contrasts and frequent unisons in a fairly low range contribute
to this piece's beautiful unfolding, mirroring the sunrise it describes.
The climax comes in the last chords by the choir, at which point you need
a few first sopranos who can sing one high Bb with poise. We never hesitate
to use just a few voices in spots like this."
–
ME |
I
began work on the choral composition as early as 1981, when I was an undergraduate
studying composition with Paul McIntyre at The University of Windsor.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time in the term and I didn’t finish
it. I promptly forgot about it, until I found the original
sketch again fourteen years later! I went on to finish the piece in 1995,
and it remains one of my own personal favourites. It was published by
Cypress Choral Music in 2002 and was chosen as one of Elektra
Women's Choir "Top Thirty" picks for treble voices (see
below). In 2006 the work was scored for string orchestra to enter into
the "Mozart 250 Composition Competition" sponsored by Chamber
Orchestra Kremlin. It was selected as the winner of the
orchestra's member choice award, and has been performed by them numerous
times in Europe and the U.S.
-Allan
Bevan, composer |
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