SKU: HX.143205

SKU: A0.953632

This delightful intermediate-level nature-themed piece is fun to sing and put together with organ and nature soundtrack. Your audience will chuckle and applaud this whimsical work!

For the Toad on the Kitchen Step (2021) by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP) sets the poem For the Toad on the Kitchen Step by Oregon's 2018-2020 Poet Laureate and Lewis & Clark College Associate Professor Kim Stafford (ASCAP) for SATB mixed chorus, organ, and nature soundtrack. Commissioned by Inversion Ensemble, it contrasts both the whimsical levity of the poem with the darker implications of humans’ impact on toads and their habitats. Colorful choral harmonies, grand organ gestures, delicate vocal effects, and the nature soundtrack create a soundscape that draws the audience into the toad’s world view. The nature soundtrack was recorded by Adrienne Inglis in June 2021 on Cow Creek Road, western Travis County, Texas (https://youtu.be/CWXMUt6RyNM).

SKU: A0.1080531

Nature Morte | by William Brenner (Still life) For quartet: Clarinet in Bb, Horn in F, Viola and Xylophone This is my final project for my 2nd semester in college. I hope you enjoy it! The piece explores complex musical writing and technical elements. My goal was to explore this kind of composition while following my typical way of writing music: expressing a story or an image through music. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Program note: Many times throughout history, cycles and elements of nature like birth, death and, of course, love have been extremely rich sources of inspiration for composers. However, even though it has been the main subject of many musical works in the past, it is still pretty rare for nature to be represented as a cycle used when describing humankind. Therefore, the goal of the piece Nature Morte is to not only show the cycle of life present in nature, but also address the cohabitation of death and life within this same cycle. Paintings by Jan Wijnants like Le repos des chasseurs aux faucons et Paysage avec bovins sur une route de campagne wonderfully illustrates this phenomena. This dutch painter often uses dead trees and big tree stumps in his work, which symbolizes typical fields and landscapes from the 17th century. This demonstration of coexistence between life and death, as well as this idea of cycles within life in nature, are the main sources of inspiration for this piece. Given that the idea of life and death within nature is inspired by motionless elements in visual art, it explains the chosen title: Nature morte (which could translate as “Still life�).

SKU: A0.1365464

26 Secular consort pieces and songs  in 2, 3 and 4 parts from late mediaeval and early renaissance sources in full score with lyrics.  

The century between 1430 and 1530 was a revolutionary time for the arts in Europe, bridging the late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance.

This selection of 26 pieces have been prepared in modern notation and familiar time signatures for those who wish to explore music popular secular music composed between these years .  There are songs and instrumental pieces that can be performed in a wide variety of ways, using modern  or period reproduction instruments.  Each piece has background historical notes, and there is an accompanying playlist on YouTube in which each of the pieces can be auditioned.  The pieces are presented in full score form, with lyrics provided.

This book covers the transition in music between that featured in my volume Harmony of the Middle Ages, and the other two volumes Chording to the Dance Masters and Chording to the Consort.  Together they provide an invaluable companion to performers of Early Music, re-enactors or people who would like to extend their repertoire and get to know works of this period.

SKU: MQ.8491-30E

French.

A French composer, Théodore Gouvy (1819-1898) was one of the most significant composers of 19th Century in Europe. The movement of rediscovering his instrumental music has been increasingly successful in Europe since the 1990s, especially following the birth of L’Institut Gouvy in France. However, his solo vocal music has been waiting to be unveiled to the public. Volume One includes 52 songs of Gouvy.
Gouvy traveled widely throughout Europe. He was also a lover of nature. Generally, he spent his winters in Leipzig, but in the summertime, he always returned to Hombourg-Haut, France, to stroll through the woods, to hunt, and to relax. Gouvy was fluent in several languages and had a great appreciation of the Renaissance French Poetry of Pierre de Ronsard whose poetry he had set to music. The fifty-two songs in this volume are largely by Ronsard and other Renaissance poets of La Pléiade.
Although Ronsard is approximately 300 years older than Gouvy, they both seem to have the same interest in classical literature, though, admittedly, for different reasons. Celebrated by the French and English courts, Ronsard (1525-1585) was the leader of La Pléiade: a group of seven poets (Joachim Du Bellay (1522-1560), Rémy Belleau (1528-1577), Étienne Jodelle (1532-1573), Pontus de Tyard (1521-1603), Jean–Antoine Baïf (1532-1589), and Jean Daurat (1508-1588), who dedicated their efforts to writing poetry in French rather than in Latin (or Greek) as most of the Romantic poets did. They wished to enrich the French language, and establish a new literature which would be the equal of the other literature of their period, and the equal to poets of the past. French Romantic poetry featured the closeness of the poet to nature, and his ability to communicate with nature by personifying (anthropomorphizing) all of nature’s elements: flowers, the planets, the moon, the breeze, and even the sand upon the shore.
As a significant melodist, Gouvy’s treatment of the vocal solo line and his treatment and development of the piano accompaniment places him in the upper echelons as a composer of songs. His diverse cultural life led a rich and significant musical life, interacting with his contemporaries who admired his work, and whom Gouvy knew well, such as Liszt, Brahms, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Gounod.
Contents:
Six Odes de Ronsard pour ténor et piano, Op. 37 (No. 3 et No. 5 avec violoncelle)
Neuf Poésies de Ronsard pour soprano ou ténor et piano, Op. 41
Six Poésies de Ronsard pour soprano ou ténor et piano, Op. 42
Quatre Odes de Ronsard pour baryton et piano, Op. 43
Huit Poésies de Ronsard pour ténor ou soprano et piano, Op. 44
Sept Poésies de Ronsard pour ténor ou soprano et piano, Op. 47.

SKU: A0.987861

Six character vignettes or musical sketches were inspired by three colorful birds, an adorable little beast, a loving pair of human beings and a famous European river - the Rhine! The last, Bacharach am Rhein, is exemplified by an included MP3 audio recording for your delectation. In a sense these vignettes may be compared to a collection of short stories, each with its very own mood and leading actor. For instance, The Hummingbird, according to legend, floats free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration..