SKU: A0.549902

Score: 3 pages, String parts 1 page each. The First Noel arranged for Alto Sax & Piano with new harmony for the final verse.

Origins

The First Noel is an English Christmas carol. Even more, it was probably written in the late Cornish Renaissance period. While other versions spell the title as Nowell, this is just a colloquial variation. Furthermore, Noel is an older word meaning Christmas. Therefore the First Noel translates as the First Christmas. First of all, Gilbert and Sandy published the earliest version. As a result, this version appears in the Carols Ancient and Modern songbook of 1823. William Sandy edited and arranged the book. Similarly, his partner Davies Gilbert edited and added the familiar extra verses. The First Noel: Piano Quartet Version comes with new harmony in final verse for more energy and drive.

Stainer

Organist and composer Sir John Stainer published the most noteworthy customary arrangement in the 1870’s.  Stainer is above all famous for his songbook entitled: Christmas Carols New and Old (1871). This volume served as an important catalyst for reviving the English Christmas carol.  Other famous Stainer arrangements from this book are such titles as What Child Is This, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Good King Wenceslas, and I Saw Three Ships.

Diatonic Function

The melodic structure in the First Noel is uncommon among English folk tunes. It simply repeats one phrase twice then follows a variation refrain. All three phrases of the song end on the mediant scale degree. This is unusual because the diatonic function of the mediant is non-final compared to the more usual tonic or even dominant degrees. Consequently, this gives the song as kind of open-ended feeling – like maybe it never really ends.

Political Context

The Catholic clergy sang carols outside of the church in Latin. After the Protestant Reformation, the reformers thought it would be better for everyone to sing carols. They decided to bring music back to the common folk. So, they translated the lyrics from Latin into common language. Moreover, the Protestants wanted more control over the music in church than what the Vatican allowed. Protestant composers such as William Byrd composed complex polyphonic Christmas music that they called carols. Nonetheless, some famous folk carols were composed in this era. Eminent composers in the nineteenth century began to revise and adapt them. Consequently, they revived the English carol.

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SKU: A0.552117

Seven popular pieces from Handel's Water Music - most often requested for weddings. Score: 16 pages, Duration 12:15. Players may read from the score, or from the included instrumental parts.
Contents:
1. Air
2. Minuet
3. Bourrée
4. Hornpipe
5. Rigaudon
6. Minuet
7. Andante

Handel's Water Music is one of his most famous compositions. It was written for King George I's pleasure barge trip along the River Thames in 1717. The Water Music is divided into three suites, each containing a variety of movements. The music features a mix of dance rhythms such as minuets, bourrees, and hornpipes, along with lively fanfares and slower, more stately airs. Its combination of light and playful music with grandeur and pomp has made it one of the most beloved pieces of classical music. Water Music has been performed by many orchestras and is a popular choice for special occasions, such as coronations and weddings. Its enduring popularity has helped to make it one of Handel's most famous and beloved compositions.

Weddings during the time of Handel were usually quite extravagant affairs. The ceremony was typically held in a church and was accompanied by a full orchestra. Handel's own compositions were frequently used to provide the music for the ceremony. This was especially true in London, where Handel was based and where his music was extremely popular. Handel wrote a number of pieces specifically for use at weddings, including the popular Wedding Anthem and the Wedding Anthem in D Major. Handel's music provided a sense of grandeur and elegance to the proceedings and was often used to give the wedding an extra special touch.

The festivities following the ceremony were also often quite lavish, with a large feast and plenty of dancing. Handel's music was often used to provide the background music for the dancing, and he wrote many dance suites that were specifically designed for this purpose. The bride and groom would often have a special dance to the music of Handel's Water Music, a particularly popular piece for the occasion. Guests at the wedding would be treated to a variety of Handel's works, ranging from his operas to his oratorios, which often had a spiritual or religious theme. Handel's music provided a sense of joy and celebration to the wedding and helped make it an occasion to remember.

SKU: A0.549784

Mozart's Romanze from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 for Piano Quartet (String Trio and Piano). Duration: ca. 7:00. Score: 11 pages. Violin: 4 pages, Viola: 3 pages, Cello: 2 pages, piano: 4 pages. This is one of the most beloved works in all of Mozart's catalog making it a strong choice for a recital, meditation, nightclub, church or wedding reception.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Eine kleine Nachtmusik is also at the same time known as Serenade No. 13. Indeed, we find it listed in the Köchel Catalog as K. 525. With this in mind, Mozart composed the piece by all means in 1787 probably as a commission. To clarify, the title translates as a little night-music. Mozart originally scored the work in particular for an ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello with double bass (optional). In modern times the work is certainly usually performed by string orchestras, though it is often in fact performed by a string quartet – with or without double bass.

Publication

A point often overlooked is that the name of the work derives from the entry Mozart made in his private journal. He wrote: Eine kleine Nacht-Musik. This explains that Mozart was probably not naming the piece, but only entering a record that he had completed it. Nevertheless, the work was published by and large in 1827. It had been sold to the publisher for the most part in 1799 by Mozart's widow Constanze. Nowadays, it is on balance extensively performed and recorded. Some critics ultimately claim that it is the most popular of all Mozart's works.

Early Years

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791), was a productive and significant Austrian classical composer. Mozart displayed unusual musical capability from his earliest childhood. It seems like he was already capable on keyboard and violin at the age of two. He started composing at age five and performed before European royalty.

Middle Period

At 17, Mozart was working as a musician at the Salzburg Royal court but grew agitated from boredom and traveled to search for a more interesting job. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was summarily dismissed from his Salzburg job. Nevertheless, he decided to stay in the capital (Vienna), where he achieved much fame but little economic haven. Throughout his concluding years in the Capital, he composed many of his most famous works: symphonies, operas, and concertos.

Final Period

The conditions surrounding his death have been much the subject of much conjecture and mythology. He composed more than 600 works, many recognized as highpoints of symphonic, chamber, concertante, choral and operatic. He is among the most everlastingly popular of classical composers, and his impact is substantial on succeeding Western art music.

SKU: A0.1404728

“Parallel Tracks� was primarily inspired by a ten day train trip, from the heart of Virginia to the far west and back. It is not necessarily a narrative of that journey. Rather, it is a collage of sensations, taking in the sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings of the voyage. Much like the views through the train windows, the musical vistas of this work change rapidly. There are rolling fertile plains, deep river valleys, and jagged mountainous peaks. The train passes through some of the nations’s larg- est cities and some of its tiniest bergs, crosses some of the oldest and newest mountain ranges in the country. There are tunnels and trestles, forests, farms, and prairies. It is incredibly calm yet delightfully exciting.

There is something elegant about spending an extended period crossing the country in an Amtrak roomette. On such trains as the Cardinal, the Empire Builder, the Coast Starlight, and the Califor- nia Zephyr, it feels as if one is stepping into the past. Nothing is rushed. Fine dining, spectacular views, riveting conversations with strangers. The grandeur of the mighty stations, such as Union Station in Chicago. And the humble beauty of the smaller stops like Staunton, Virginia, my starting and ending point.

The perpetual motion of train travel is unique. The movement can feel smooth at times and bone rattling just a few minutes later. It can be a quiet purr or the sound of grating metal. And yet the gentle sway can envelop one like a blanket, enticing deep sleep throughout the night. Waking to pastries and coffee while rolling across the countryside is divine. And elegant.

“Parallel Tracks� begins with a sound of forward motion put forth by the piano. Smooth and easy. Plucked strings ride on top of the steady piano pad as the chain of cars passes effortlessly through fields. As the cello presents the first theme, a more strident feeling is revealed and explored, driv- ing the engine toward its dramatic destinations. The first climax gives way to a playful scherzo-like section, the elegance of the journey on full display. The return of the first theme at a more majestic tempo announces that the voyage’s terminus is near.

The parallel tracks on which a train glides are always a fixed distance and never cross. The parallel tracks of life are not so bound by mathematics. There is something more fluid when the tracks are allowed to cross. The string section and the piano each create their own track in this composition, frequently squaring off. At times it is if they are on the same train but sitting in opposite directions and on the opposite side of the car. There are moments that even sound as if they are proceeding at two different speeds. But their tracks are never too divergent, never really out of sync. And both arrive at the final stop together.

SKU: A0.548651

A unique arrangement of Jingle Bells arranged for a piano quartet (piano, violin, viola, cello, and optional sleigh bells). The first verses are based on the traditional version. After an abrupt modulation, the third verse explores an augmentation canon, while the viola pursues a wild sleigh ride passage. Meanwhile, the tune is fragmented and sequenced in the piano. It gets wild but straightens out for the final refrain. Score: 7 pg, 68 ms. String parts: 2 pg. Sleighbell part: 1 pg. Piano part: 3 pg.

Jingle Bells is perhaps the most famous song in American music history. James L. Pierpont published the song One Horse Open Sleigh in the late 1850s. Since its introduction, people began to insist that Pierpont wrote it for a Sunday school choir. However, it seems unlikely that such a secular song would be considered appropriate during that historical period for Sunday school.

Christmas Repertoire

Pierpont wrote the song for the Thanksgiving holidays, but over time people began to think of it more as a Christmas song. Some choirs adopted it as part of their Christmas repertoire in the 1860s and 1870s. Jingle Bells was first recorded in 1889 on a wax cylinder.

Origins

No one knows where Pierpont composed the song. One theory suggests he wrote it in Medford Massachusetts in 1850. Sleigh races were certainly popular in 19th-century Massachusetts. To this day, a commemorative placard appears in Medford Square claiming that it is the birthplace of Jingle Bells. Others suggest that he wrote it in Savannah, Georgia where he was an organist and music director at the Unitarian Church. This theory gained support from the copyright date of 1857. We know he was living in Savannah by then.

Traffic Signals

Horse-drawn sleighs are relatively quiet in the snow. Consequently, horses were usually equipped with bell-laden straps so as to avoid accidents at blind intersections. Sleigh drivers in 19th Century New England were constantly vigilant, listening for the sounds of approaching horse-drawn sleighs. The tune imitates the rhythm that the trotting horse bells produce.

Social Context

Jingle Bells was sung as a drinking song at local revelries: during the song, folks would rhythmically jingle the ice in their glasses. A sleigh ride allowed couples to be alone together. The term Jingle bells is a poetic descriptive adjective referring specifically to the more accurate term sleigh bells. In many arrangements, sleigh bells accentuate the rhythm during the song's chorus. 

 

SKU: A0.550049

Score: 8 pages. Duration: ca. 4:20. A very thought-provoking and expressive recital encore.

SKU: A0.1104206

This piano quartet for violin, viola, cello and piano of the warm, evocative Christmas carol We Three Kings of Orient Are follows a musical path that merges with the wintry road leading to Enrique Granados' delicately beautiful piece Oriental.  A bit of holiday serendipity!  Recommended for Christmas pageants, plays and programs, holiday recitals and Christmas concerts as well as traditional Christmas church services and other seasonal worship events, as a prelude, postlude, an offertory, interlude, Christmas play overture, silent prayer accompaniment and special music.  18 pages of music (that includes separate two-page parts for violin, viola and cello).  Concert Key: A minor

     We three kings of Orient are: bearing gifts we traverse afar
     Field and fountain, moor and mountain - following yonder star.
     O star of wonder, star of night; star with royal beauty bright,
     Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to Thy perfect light.