String Ensemble,String Quintet Viola - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.813975 Composed by Franz Xaver Gruber. Arranged by Regis Bookshar. Christmas,Concert,Instructional,World. Score and parts. 7 pages. Regis Bookshar #6635877. Published by Regis Bookshar (A0.813975). Viola Quintet - Intermediate - Digital Download. This arrangement of Silent Night, or in German, Stille Nacht, would be a wonderful addition to any music library and could be performed for Christmas concerts, recitals, and, especially, church services. It is equally suitable for junior and senior high school students and even older musicians. Depending on their ability, younger musicians would also enjoy playing this selection. Included are a score and a complete set of parts (7 pages). This selection is one of the many arrangements from The Regis Bookshar Trumpet Ensemble's extensive music library which are being made available for the first time.Silent Night is probably the most popular Christmas carol ever written. It was composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr and was first performed on Christmas Eve at St. Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a small village in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had written the poem, Stille Nacht, in 1816 and had gone to Oberndorf in 1817. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster and organist in the nearby village of Arnsdorf. On Christmas Eve, 1818, Mohr brought the words to Gruber and asked him to compose a melody and guitar accompaniment for that night's mass, after river flooding had possibly damaged the church organ. The church was eventually destroyed by repeated flooding and has since been replaced with the Silent-Night-Chapel.According to Gruber, Karl Mauracher, an organ builder who serviced the instrument at the Oberndorf church, was enamored with the song, and took the composition home with him to the Ziller Valley in Tyrol, Austria. From there, two traveling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers, included the tune in their shows. The Rainers were already singing it around Christmas, 1819, and once performed it for an audience that included Franz I of Austria and Alexander I of Russia. They also gave the first performance of the song in the United States in New York City in 1839. By the 1840's, the song was well known and was reported to be a favorite of Frederick William IV of Prussia. During this period, the melody changed slightly to become the version that is commonly heard today. The version of the melody that is generally used today is a slow, meditative lullaby, or pastoral, differing slightly from Gruber's original which has a moderate tempo. The song has been translated into about 140 languages and has been recorded by many singers across many music genres. The version sung by Bing Crosby in 1935, has sold over 10 million copies as a single.In this arrangement of Silent Night, Regis Bookshar has kept the basic form of this familiar Christmas carol, but has also included a descant during the third verse. Also, in addition to this version for a Viola Quintet, there are other arrangements of Silent Night available for a variety of instrumental ensembles. There are Quintets and Octets readily available for purchase. Please take the time to look for other versions of this composition. You may find something else that might also suit your needs.I would also encourage you to search for other arrangements by Regis Bookshar, as well, as there are numerous arrangements in a wide variety of styles, also available for purchase. You may find something else which might interest you. Please continue to check periodically because new arrangements are being added as often as possible. I'm certain that this wonderful arrangement of Silent Night will continue to entertain both performers and audiences alike for years to come.

String Ensemble,String Quintet Viola - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.813642 Composed by Henry Purcell. Arranged by Regis Bookshar. Baroque,Concert,Instructional,Standards,World. Score and parts. 8 pages. Regis Bookshar #6434411. Published by Regis Bookshar (A0.813642). Viola Quintet - Advanced/Intermediate - Digital Download. This arrangement of the Allegro movement from Henry Purcell's Sonata for Trumpet would be a fabulous addition to any music library and could be performed for concerts, recitals and church services. It is suitable for high school and college students but professional musicians would also enjoy playing this selection. This selection is one of the arrangements from The Regis Bookshar Trumpet Ensemble's extensive music library, many of which are being made available for the first time. They have performed the Trumpet Quintet version of this composition quite often for numerous weddings and other special occasions. The original composition was written in D Major but Regis Bookshar has transposed it to Bb Major, making it a little easier for many modern musicians. Included are a score and a complete set of parts (8 pages). The 17th century composer, Henry Purcell, is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers of his generation. His Sonata for Trumpet and Strings in D Major, composed in 1694, was probably written for the London Theatre, where a fine tradition of trumpet playing had developed. Purcell almost certainly had in mind either John Shore or his brother, William, the most renowned trumpet players in England at the time. The trumpets of the time were normally tuned in D and there were no valves on the Baroque trumpets, so they were limited in the number of notes that they could play. The term Sonata here probably means no more than a piece of incidental music and looks forward to the style that would become the solo concerto where soloist and strings are pitted against each other but also looks back to an older type of instrumental music which emphasized equality between members of the ensemble. The music is in three movements and looks forward to the fast-slow-fast plan popularized by Vivaldi's concertos. Regis Bookshar thought that it would be wonderful if other instrumentalists, besides trumpet players, could also have the opportunity to play the Allegro movement from Purcell's Sonata for Trumpet, so he has created other arrangements of this selection. This particular arrangement is for a Viola Quintet, consisting of 5 Violas, but there are Quintets, Sextets, Septets and Octets readily available for a wide variety of instrumental ensembles. Please take the time to look for other versions of this piece. You may find something else that may suit your needs. I would also encourage you to search for other arrangements by Regis Bookshar as well, as there are numerous arrangements in a wide variety of styles also available for purchase. You may find something else which might interest you. Please continue to check back periodically because new arrangements are added as often as possible. I'm certain that this exciting arrangement of Purcell's Allegro from his Sonata for Trumpet will continue to entertain both performers and audiences alike for years to come.

String Quintet Viola - Level 4 - Digital Download SKU: A0.1257408 Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Arranged by Regis Bookshar. Baroque,Chamber,Christian,Easter,Historic. 30 pages. Regis Bookshar #850730. Published by Regis Bookshar (A0.1257408). Three selections based on Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ lay in death's bonds) (from Cantata No.   4, BMV   4) - Johann Sebastian Bach - Viola Quintet - Advanced/Intermediate - Digital Download.Cantata No.   4, BMV   4, Christ lag in Todesbanden (also spelled Todes Banden) (Christ lay in death's bonds) is a cantata for Easter written by Johann Sebastian Bach and is his earliest surviving Church Cantata. It was probably written in 1707 when he was 22 years old. It is a Chorale Cantata, a style in which both the text and music are based on a hymn. In this instance, the source was Martin Luther's hymn of the same name which became a main Easter hymn in German Lutheranism.Regis Bookshar has transcribed and arranged three selections based on this hymn tune, two from Bach's Cantata No.   4, BMV   4, and also his Chorale Prelude, BMV 625. They may be played individually or as a trilogy and each movement gets more complex than the previous one. The first selection in this trilogy is he Chorale, Christ lag in Todesbanden, the final chorus from his Cantata No.   4, a straightforward four-part chorale setting of the hymn (Regis has also added a fifth part). This is followed by Bach's Chorale Prelude, BMV 625, a piece from his Orgelbuchlein (Little Organ Book), a collection of 46 Preludes for organ, written almost exclusively during the 1708-1717 period, while Bach was court organist at Weimar. For the final selection, Regis has placed the polyphonic and imitative chorus, Es war ein wunderlichen Krieg, da Tod und Leben rungen (It was a strange battle, that death and life waged), which Bach had placed in the middle of his Cantata No.   4.This arrangement is for a Viola Quintet. Included are a score and a complete set of parts (30 pages).I hope you will enjoy playing these selections and please search for other arrangements by Regis Bookshar. There are numerous selections in a variety of styles, also available for purchase. I think you will be pleased with what you may find.

String Ensemble,String Quintet Viola - Level 3 - Digital Download SKU: A0.813956 Composed by German Folk Song. Arranged by Regis Bookshar. Christmas,Concert,Instructional,World. Score and parts. 8 pages. Regis Bookshar #6632165. Published by Regis Bookshar (A0.813956). Viola Quintet - Intermediate - Digital Download. This arrangement of O Christmas Tree, or in German, O Tannenbaum, would be a fabulous addition to any music library and could be performed for Christmas concerts and recitals, and, perhaps, even church services. It is equally suitable for junior and senior high school students and even older musicians. Depending on their ability, younger musicians would also enjoy playing this selection. Included are a score and a complete set of part (8 pages). This selection is one of the many arrangements from The Regis Bookshar Trumpet Ensemble's extensive music library which are being made available for the first time.O Christmas Tree is a German Christmas song based on a traditional folk song which was unrelated to Christmas. The custom of the Christmas tree developed in the course of the 19th century, and the song came to be seen as a Christmas carol. The modern lyrics were written in 1824 by the Leipzig organist, teacher and composer, Ernst Anschutz. A tannenbaum is a fir tree. The lyrics do not actually refer to Christmas or describe a decorated tree. Instead, they refer to the fir's evergreen quality as a symbol of constancy and faithfulness.In this arrangement of O Christmas Tree, Regis Bookshar has kept the basic outline of this familiar song, but has inserted a short interlude, which brings to mind the sound of alphorns, or alpenhorns, instruments which may be made from red pine, or fir trees. and are used by mountain dwellers in the Bavarian Alps. I think that students will enjoy this imitative section in the song. In addition to this version for a Viola Quintet, there are also other arrangements of O Christmas Tree available for a variety of instrumental ensembles. Please take the time to look for other versions of this composition. You may find something else that might also suit your needs.I would also encourage you to search for other arrangements by Regis Bookshar, as well, as there are numerous arrangements in a wide variety of styles, also available for purchase. You may find something else which might interest you. Please continue to check periodically because new arrangements are being added as often as possible. I'm certain that this wonderful arrangement of O Christmas Tree will continue to entertain both performers ands audiences alike for years to come.