SKU: A0.1454832

SKU: IZ.OMW202

9 x 12 in inches.

This piece was commissioned by Georges Vilson and The Kandelab Foundation. Kandelab seeks to bring awareness to Haitian Folk and Vodou music. Vilson's book, Kandelab: 101 Notated Haitian Folk and Vodou Songs are transcriptions of this music that has otherwise been handed down through an aural tradition. Vilson's descriptions of the tales that go with these melodies were a great help in setting the tone of this work. Many thanks to Vilson and Kandelab for introducing me to these wonderful melodies and rich cultural heritage.

Minis Azaka is known as the great Minister of Agriculture in Haitian Vodou. Iwa peasants bring grievances to him and also reach out to him for prosperity.

An invitation is made to a gathering along the countryside and this piece introduces a dignified Minis Azaka entering a hall adorned for his arrival. His followers trail behind him. He sits to listen to their gripes, but also joins them in dance as he is
also a well known dancer. He exits with the same reverence he entered, then disappears into the fields with his entourage. This piece expresses a veil of mystery and darkness setting the tone of great honor and respect.

The Nago drum reference is included with the parts. The pattern should be played in reference to the slash marking in the score. The reference is meant as a guide and liberty may be taken with the pattern.

SKU: A0.1284530

SKU: A0.976734

CONJUNCTION interprets the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn near the end of the year 2020 as a celestial metaphor for the good news of Christ's birth in a replay of the Star of Bethlehem. Hence, its subtitle of The Christmas Star of 2020. The music, along with narration from selected Old and New Testament scriptures, delivers a message of hope amid the turmoil and chaos of current times.

It's written for smaller concert bands hungry for challenging music. Ample cues and doubling allow for flexible instrumentation while mixed meters, varying tempos and textures, and interesting solo lines provide opportunities for strong players to shine. CONJUNCTION is also available with strings for orchestra.

PROGRAM NOTES:

2020 is widely characterized for its maladies: murders, burning cities, riots, a pandemic, economic shocks, and political turmoil. For some of us, it also held personal tragedy such as my brother’s passing from COVID. But, 2020 also brought a sign of hope, namely the celestial phenomenon known as the Great Conjunction of 2020. For earth-bound observers, this was the closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn in almost 400 years as they appeared to almost touch in the early evening sky to produce the most brilliant evening star of our lifetimes. The occurrence of the event in November-December neatly coincided with the Advent season, peaking just before Christmas Day. One could hardly fail to note the parallels with the Christmas star of Matthew’s gospel which gave the conjunction its alternate name, the Christmas Star of 2020. Thus, this star spoke, to those with ears to hear, the same message the prophet Isaiah wrote about the coming Messiah, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. This star thus served to remind us that the LORD has not rejected us; He will show His favor again; His love has not vanished; His promises have not failed; He has not forgotten to be merciful or compassionate; and we are called to remember His mighty deeds (Psalm 77). CONJUNCTION: The Christmas Star of 2020 is inspired by these particulars.

For the music, I looked to Gustav Holst’s The Planets for themes that would portray Jupiter and Saturn’s pas de deux. I selected several motives from the corresponding movements mixed and matched in sometimes easily recognized quotations and other times in heavily camouflaged derivations. An exuberant polyphonic passage recaps themes from both Jupiter and Saturn when the music resolves from uncertainty into hopefulness. While Holst’s motives provide CONJUNCTION’s foundation I also used Handel’s Messiah for transitory and climactic material. You will hear his The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light in transitions and a short trombone solo. And a re-harmonization of the opening line from For unto us a child is born brings the music to a joyous climax.

Although the music stands firmly on its own, I elected to incorporate some narrative to make the musical sentiment explicit. In a commentary on 2020’s grim events, I took adaptations of Habakkuk 1:2-4 and 2 Tim 3:1-4 and set them over Saturn’s plodding and ominous harmonies. Contrasting replies shimmer with hope as the narration melds Isaiah 9:2 and Luke 1:78-79 over another Saturn motive set against pitch sets from Jupiter’s main hymn theme. Still, it’s the music that tells the story of the Christmas Star of 2020.

Please visit my website for a complete score preview: https://wheatmyermusic.com/conjunction-the-christmas-star-of-2020

I feel somewhat guilty making claim to this music as almost all the building blocks are taken from other composers. But the end result is neither a medley, nor an arrangement, rather it is something clearly new, so I call it my own with deep respect to those giants on whose shoulders I stand.

Robert Myers
S.D.G.

SKU: A0.861925

The American Seasons (violin solo part – violin and string orchestra) MO148B

Violin Solo Part (score and parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

30 pages - 38:00 minutes in length

The American Seasons
(Seasons Of An American Life)

The American Seasons (Seasons Of An American Life) is a concerto for Violin And Chamber Orchestra. Composed in 1999, the music celebrates the various stages of an American life at the waking of the 21st century. Constructed in four movements and representing four stages of life, birth, adolescence, maturity and old age, the music also pays homage to Shakespeare's Seasons Of Man His acts being seven ages, incorporated throughout the work.

Spring introduces the ideas of birth and infancy. After the principal theme has been stated, there is a violin cadenza encountering all twelve major keys and a 13/8 time signature representing the ancient golden ratio. These elements recall birth with all the possibilities a new life offers. Ending the movement, the principal theme is repeated with more complexity... as if posing life's questions.

Summer represents the excitement and bravado of youthful adolescence and young adulthood. For the style of this movement I use a happy-go-lucky Blues voice which melds into Swing. I identify swing rhythm in all of 20th century American music culture as a common thread that runs through Ragtime through Rock and Roll on to Rap. Swing means testing the waters and pushing the envelope for lovers and soldiers.

Fall is the slow movement symbolizing the wisdom of maturity. It is a peaceful theme with nostalgic strokes. It is a time for sincere reflection and enjoying ones accomplishments in life.

Winter embodies the complexities and knowledge of an older person and that of a dying person. The movement begins with the principal them from Spring, but with a dissonance that emanates from a lifetime full of emotions and responsibilities. In the middle of the movement is a transition to an old world. I use my personal ancestry from Ireland as a foundation from which to rediscover one's lineage and explore the meaning and value of a cultural legacy.

The exploration evolves into a four- and five-part fugue with a reel, jig, air, countered bass and the motif from the principal theme. All these elements, dances and melodies appear simultaneously and converge to form a unique insight to life's consequences from a historical perspective. Following the fugue, the principal theme finds its way back in. It sounds much as it did at birth. In the end, the solo violin cadenza carries the last earthly breaths before the violin and orchestra once again join in harmony to focus on a new life being transformed somewhere else. Life's four seasons in perpetuity.

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 1999

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by the Troy Savings Bank Concert Hall for their 2000 Celebration

Can be heard on American Seasons Sony Classical and The Essential Mark O’Connor Sony Classical

Mark O’Connor - violin, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Catalogue Number MO148B

Copyright © 1999 by Mark O’Connor Music International

For more information on violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, O’Connor String Camps, Touring Ensembles, Discography, Bio, Repertoire and more, please visit

www.markoconnor.com

For information on the O’Connor M.