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Secular major work...Date: July 28, 2010 by Adam Stich
Looking for a secular major work that will be about 45-60 minutes long, uses SATB choir and soloists and piano/organ or small ensemble accomp. It would also be great if it was available via CPDL (this is not a necessity, but it never hurts to save the budget a bit). I've got some ideas, but I know you all can help!
There are not that many secular works of that length. Of course if you include all of the sacred works then there are a plethera of masses, services, requiems and short oratorios. However, I can only think of a very few works of that length for the forces that I mentioned that are secular in nature. There is of course the RVW: Dona Nobis Pacem (with some liturgical latin sprinkled here and there...)
The Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex (but if I remember correctly from grad school that is only a male choir) The Menotti: The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore (but that is supposed to have dancers) The Jenkins: Armed Man: a mass for peace (but it is quite expensive from Boosey and Hawkes) I know I'm missing several and that is why I was turning to the Forum to ask the question.
Adam
Leonard Ratzlaff on July 29, 2010 3:32am
Orff's "Carmina Burana" is arranged for two pianos and percussion, and works well in that arrangement.
LR
on July 29, 2010 4:52am
Adam,
You may have some response from the American Composers Forum (http://www.composersforum.org) with new works.
I have a large work for mixed chorus/strings/bells/timpani: "I Live My Life in Growing Orbits" but is only about 5 minutes. You can hear a sample on my website: www.sacredvoice.com (four-hand piano version).
Best of luck!
Tom Hale
on July 29, 2010 6:57am
What about Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony with texts by Whitman?
Also, Whitman texts might be a good way to start to look at other composers. The book Musical settings of American poetry : a bibliography by Michael A. Hovland,
(Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, c1986) might be a good place to start.
on July 29, 2010 9:49am
Hi Adam,
I was recently commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society (CA) to write a 20 minute work using a secular text. The result was "Contraries: The Human Condition" -- 3 poems from the Innocence section and 3 from the Experience section of Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience." It was written for orchestral accompaniment although some, if not all, of the movements would work using keyboard accompaniment. They can, of course, be excerpted.
If you have any interest in knowing more about "Contraries" please send me an email and I can send you some PDF’s and an audio sample. Soon there will be some excerpts on my website but that is in process at the moment.
The movements are:
1. The Blossom
2. The Laughing Song
3. The Lamb (soprano solo only)
4. The Garden of Love
5. Sick Rose
6. Poison Tree
(By the way, after today I’m away from email until Wednesday, August 4th.)
Good luck with your program! Sounds like an interesting one! Let me know if I can help.
Sincerely,
Don McCullough
on July 29, 2010 10:09am
Not clear whether you meant to include a cappella works. If yes, you could consider major works by Vel jo Tormis. Estonian is easy to pronounce. A pronunciation guide is free from his main publisher, Fennica Gehrman.
Estonian Calendar Songs lasts 43 minutes, a bit longer if you include a pause between each of the 5 cycles that make up this major work. Martinmas Songs is for men's chorus; St. Catherine's Day Songs for women's chorus; Shrovetide Songs for men; Swing Songs for women; and St John's Day Songs is for mixed chorus. Despite some of these titles, they are all secular works.
Unlike the Calendar Songs, I do not recommend singing all the cycles that make up his celebrated series Forgotten Peoples one after another on the same program. Individually they run from 12 to 30 minutes.
If you will be buying a large number of scores you can negotiate their price with Fennica Gehrman. Alternately, try Sulasol (Finnish choral society)
Mimi S. Daitz
on July 29, 2010 11:19am
When We No Longer Touch by Kristphoe J. Anthony
Originally for TTBB, an arrangement for SATB is available. The work unravels emotions revolving around losing loved ones to AIDS. While mostly secular in subject matter, each movement is intertwined with pieces of the Latin Mass.
- Gerald Gurss
on July 29, 2010 4:07pm
Adam,
If you're wanting a work which is something of a rarity as far as performances go, try "The Canterbury Pilgrims" by George Dyson, written in 1930. It's based on some of the characters in the "Canterbury Tales" by the 15th century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and is scored for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists with piano or orchestral accompaniment. Copies and orchestral parts are available for hire from the Oxford University Press, www.oup.co.uk
I greatly enjoyed singing it as a student forty-five years ago with my college choir. Interestingly, the baritone soloist on that occasion was Anthony Holt who went on to become a founder member of The King's Singers and the very fine tenor soloist was Roger (now Sir Roger) Norrington, the celebrated conductor.
David Marsden
on July 29, 2010 10:38pm
Hi Adam,
I can't think of a single work of that lenght other than Carmina, however if you combined Randall Thompson's "Testament of Freedom" and "Frostiana" (based of secualr writings by Thomas Jefferson and Robert Frost respectively) they would add up to around your desired time.
on July 30, 2010 7:25am
Hello, Adam,
If you can use a work of about 35 minutes' duration, let me offer you my "Principles", on texts of Thomas Jefferson, SSAATTBB with Baritone solo. It works well with piano OR with piano and 6 percussion. (An organ reduction of the original band accompaniment is in work but not available yet.) The texts include the salient parts of the Declaration of Independence, the amazing Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and several letters, with a populist, almost revival -style final peroration on "All Eyes are Opened . . . to the Rights of Man!" It is a rousing, powerful piece in modern tonal style, audience accessible but serious.
I can work with you on costs (I offer an inexpensive .pdf photocopy licence arrangement, and educational discounts).
Please let me know if you would like to see a perusal score.
Regards,
David Avshalomov
Santa Monica, CA
davshalomov(a)earthlink.net
310-480-9525
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