The Choral-Orchestral Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams

The Choral-Orchestral Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams
Author: Stephen Town
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2019-12-06
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1793606013

The Choral-Orchestral Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams: Autographs, Context, Discourse combines contextual knowledge, a musical commentary, an inventory of the holograph manuscripts, and a critical assessment of the opus to create substantial and meticulous examinations of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s choral-orchestral works. The contents include an equitable choice of pieces from the various stages in the life of the composer and an analysis of pieces from the various stages of Williams’s life. The earliest are taken from the pre-World War I years, when Vaughan Williams was constructing his identity as an academic and musician—Vexilla Regis (1894), Mass (1899), and A Sea Symphony (1910). The middle group are chosen from the interwar period—Sancta Civitas (1925), Benedicite (1929), Magnificat (1932), Five Tudor Portraits (1935), Dona nobis pacem (1936)—written after Vaughan Williams had found his mature voice. The last cluster—Thanksgiving for Victory (1944), Fantasia (Quasi Variazione) on the ‘Old 104’ Psalm Tune(1949), Sons of Light (1950), Hodie (1954), The Bridal Day/Epithalamion (1938/1957)—typify the works finished or revisited during the final years of the composer’s life, near the end of the Second World War and immediately before or after his second marriage (1953).

A Conductor's Guide to Choral/orchestral Repertoire

A Conductor's Guide to Choral/orchestral Repertoire
Author: Dennis Shrock
Publisher:
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2017
Genre: Choral music
ISBN: 9781622772278

"This guide consists of annotated listings of more than twelve hundred works for chorus and orchestra by 250 composers of the Western Hemisphere. The listings are intended for conductors of professional, community, church, and educational organizations, including those at the high school and collegiate levels, with the purpose of aiding the conductors in the selection of works for programming and in ascertaining important information about the works. ... Five appendices further aid the conductor by listing works in categories of choral scoring, orchestral scoring, duration, textual subject, and publisher contact information."--p.xi

The (fr)agile Orchestra

The (fr)agile Orchestra
Author: Gerald Mertens
Publisher: Schott Music
Total Pages: 129
Release: 2021-07-19
Genre: Music
ISBN: 379572516X

The Corona pandemic has affected orchestra organizations around the globe since January 2020. Most of the ensembles were forced to stop operations during hard lockdown periods of public life. Freelance ensembles and privately funded orchestras faced even higher pressure than state funded ones. The pandemic has shown, how fragile orchestras may be. On the other hand the pandemic has brought forth a boost of creative alternatives from single musicians, from greater ensembles and from orchestra managements to upkeep operations under new physically distanced conditions and on the internet. Highest flexibility was shown in artistic planning, in creating new programs, in digital and recording work, in outreach and education activities, in new concert formats or support of pandemic-related charity campaigns. The pandemic has shown, how agile orchestras might be. The very questions are: What are the lessons learned from the pandemic challenges? What are new structural approaches for musicians and managements to rethink orchestral organizations for the post-pandemic future? How can the engagement of musicians and staff for the own organization be enhanced? How can the ties towards the members of already familiar audience groups be strengthened? Every co-author of this book is a specialist in his or her field. Together we're looking out to all aspects from which we think that orchestral organizations should take a breeze of fresh air and rethink their operations in the "new normal" after the pandemic. There is no step back, there only are steps forward.

Performance Practices in the Classical Era

Performance Practices in the Classical Era
Author: Dennis Shrock
Publisher: G I A Publications
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2011
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781579997991

The Classical era, from 1751 to the 1830s and beyond, is one of the most revolutionary and creative times in the history of music. However, critical details about the performance of music during this extraordinary time have too often been lost to generations of re-interpretation, opinionated colorings, and changes in fashion and taste. In this remarkable volume, noted scholar and choral conductor, Dennis Shrock brings together in one place writings from more than 100 Classical-era authors and composers about performance practices of music during their time. These primary sources represent the entire time span of the Classical era, writings from throughout Europe and the United States, and details on virtually every type of performing medium and genre of composition common in the era. Dr. Shrock quotes from diaries, instruction books, dictionaries, letters, biographies, and essays all written during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Dr. Shrock organizes all of these comments - complete with detailed music examples - in sections devoted to sound, tempo, articulation and phrasing, metric accentuation, rhythmic alteration, ornamentation, and expression. What emerges is an insightful and colorful portrait certain to assist anyone who seeks to better understand the music of Mozart, Haydn, and other noted composers. Performance Practices in the Classical Era is a vital resource for any conductor, performer, or aficionado of classical music.

Margaret Hillis

Margaret Hillis
Author: Cheryl Frazes Hill
Publisher: GIA Publications
Total Pages: 500
Release: 2022-05
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781622775996

Conductor, chorus director, airplane pilot, educator, activist, mentor, and advocate Margaret Hillis blazed a trail upon which many continue to tread. The first woman to regularly conduct a major symphony orchestra, she was the founder of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and served for thirty-seven years as its first director, winning nine Grammy Awards. In Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer, author Cheryl Frazes Hill--a longtime colleague and associate--examines how Hillis was able to overcome the many challenges she faced, navigating a career in ways relatable not only to musicians but also to women in all professions. Margaret Hillis's story is one of resilience, determination, and passion for music. Her journey is an inspiration, a portrait of what it takes to succeed at the highest level in any field.

Modal and Tonal Counterpoint

Modal and Tonal Counterpoint
Author: Harold Owen
Publisher: Cengage Learning
Total Pages: 414
Release: 1992
Genre: Education
ISBN:

This is a comprehensive study of the development of counterpoint form the sixteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century. Deriving the rules of counterpoint from the music itself, each chapter begins with a complete musical example followed by questions for class discussion. Chapter observations and subsequent musical examples amplify the concepts discoverd through individual analysis. --book cover.

Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century

Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century
Author: Nick Strimple
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2008
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9781574671544

From the author of the critically acclaimed "Choral Music in the Twentieth Century" comes an indispensable resource for choral conductors, choral singers, and other music lovers, and an essential text for educators and their students. Strimple covers repertory by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and lesser figures.

Choral-Orchestral Repertoire

Choral-Orchestral Repertoire
Author: Jonathan D. Green
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 747
Release: 2019-12-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1442244674

Choral-Orchestral Repertoire: A Conductor’s Guide, Omnibus Edition offers an expansive compilation of choral-orchestral works from 1600 to the present. Synthesizing Jonathan D. Green’s earlier six volumes on this repertoire, this edition updates and adds to the over 750 oratorios, cantatas, choral symphonies, masses, secular works for large and small ensembles, and numerous settings of liturgical and biblical texts for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental combinations. Each entry includes a brief biographical sketch of the composer, approximate duration, text sources, performing forces, available editions, and locations of manuscript materials, as well as descriptive commentary, a discography, and a bibliography. Unique to this edition are practitioner’s evaluations of the performance issues presented in each score. These include the range, tessitura, and nature of each solo role and a determination of the difficulty of the choral and orchestral portions of each composition. There is also a description of the specific challenges, staffing, and rehearsal expectations related to the performance of each work. Choral-Orchestral Repertoire is an essential resource for conductors and students of conducting as they search for repertoire appropriate to their needs and the abilities of their ensembles.