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Festival (November)

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HIGH SCHOOL REPERTOIRE
Submitted by Mary Bigus,
WCDA R&S High School Chair

1. Bogoroditsye Dyevo (Ave Maria), Sergei Rachmaninov
BOOSEY & HAWKES, SATB (DIVISI), UNACCOMP.
This song is absolutely beautiful and very accessible to a high school mixed chorus. There is an occasional split in the alto and tenor sections but tessitura is very comfortable. And don’t be afraid to try the Russian language.

2. Hodie, Christus natus est, William Mathias
OXFORD UNIV. PRESS, SATB (DIVISI), UNACCOMP.
This would be more comfortably done by your advanced mixed choir due to the shifting of keys. There are opportunities for and alto and baritone soloist. Great concert opener.

3. Draw the Tear From Hopeless Love, George F. Handel
G. SCHIRMER, SSATB, PIANO
Another gem by Handel. Very accessible musically and range-wise. The counterpoint and the sheer beauty of the sonority, in addition to the wonderful text, make this is a piece you need to do with your singers!

4. Peace I Leave With You, Rene Clausen
FOSTCO MUSIC PRESS, SATB (DIVISI), UNACCOMP.
This song works very well as a district festival piece. Beautiful text and beautiful harmonies throughout. Tessitura very accessible.

5. Flanders Fields, Paul A. Aitken
BELWIN-MILLS, SSAATBB, UNACCOMPANIED
This is an absolutely beautiful setting of this text—a must-do! Tessitura very accessible.

Mary also suggests:

6. Dravidian Dithyramb, Victor Paranjoti, ed. Andre de Quadros.
EARTHSONGS, SATB (DIVISI), UNACCOMPANIED
Extremely fun; rhythmic; tessitura is, once again, not impossible. This piece contains traces of ragas from the LCarnatic music of South India. Dithyramb is Greek for a wild, passionate hymn.

7. Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?, arr. Moses Hogan
HAL LEONARD. SSAATTBB, UNACCOMPANIED
This is a very moving spiritual. A great concert closer!

CHILDREN’S CHOIR REPERTOIRE
Submitted by Karen Bruno
WCDA R&S Children’s Chair

1. The Star, Charles Collins
BOOSEY & HAWKES, #OCTB6796 UNISON TREBLE VOICES, PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT
The poem that begins “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” is familiar to us all…but can you recite all of the verses? Charles Collins takes the strophic text and sets it in a through-composed melody that has a decidedly contemporary sound. The phrases are of varying lengths, and the melody contains several chromatic notes, providing a wonderful opportunity to teach altered tones with solfège syllables. Although the chromaticism can be a challenge, the tessitura is perfect for a younger choir. The piano accompaniment encourages independent singing but does provide assistance
harmonically.

2. Night, David A. Sasso
TEXT BYWILLIAM BLAKE. PLYMOUTH MUSIC CO, #HL-212. SSAA, PIANO, AND CLARINET
This piece, written by a senior in high school, is an extraordinarily sensitive setting of Blake‚s poem. The clarinet opens the song with melodic fragments that evoke images of birds and nature; this immediately introduces the textual ideas. The
voices begin in unison, and then flower out into two, three, and four parts. The ending is particularly difficult, as the voices split six ways in one page of close a cappella harmonies. The marriage of melody, text, and accompaniment make this a favorite of both the choir that sings the song and the audience that hears it.

3-5. Three Songs of Light, Srul Irving Glick
I. The Light That Fills the World
II. Magic Song for One Who Wishes to Live
III. Magic Prayer
EARTHSONGS, SSAA, PIANO, ALTO SAXOPHONE
These three songs are based upon Inuit poems, and celebrate both the light of day and “a spiritual light which is the fabric of all things...” If you do not have the time in your program to sing all three pieces, choose the second and the third; they provide a wonderful contrast musically and work extremely well together textually. If you have time for only one of the three, choose the first or the third, which musically and textually stand on their own. The composer uses beautifully lush chords (often difficult to tune—there are occasional ninth chords in the third piece) and word painting, particularly in the accompanying instruments, to illuminate the text. In “Magic Song...” the voices and saxophone echo gentle melodic fragments that suggest the rising sun. “Magic Prayer” has a rhythmic intensity to it, inviting us to awake and greet the day: “I arise from rest with movements swift/As the beat of a raven’s wings.” The piano accompaniment provides the beating of the raven’s wings, and the saxophone has sixteenth-note ascending motives that punctuate the text.