Choral Choir (4-Part) - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.535382 Composed by Carson Cooman. Contemporary,Sacred. Octavo. 187 pages. Musik Fabrik Music Publishing #3025403. Published by Musik Fabrik Music Publishing (A0.535382). The Revelations of Divine Love (Metaphors from Sea and Sky) (2009), an oratorio for soprano,baritone, chorus, and chamber orchestra (0000.1100.1perc.strings), was commissioned for and is dedicated to the choir ofRoyal Holloway, University of London and Rupert Gough, director of choral music.The texts of the work are adapted primarily from the writings of Julian of Norwich (c. 1342–1416).Julian is best-known for her Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love (c. 1393), believed to be the first Englishlanguagebook written by a woman. Considered one of the most significant English mystics of alltime, Julian lived a reclusive life as an anchoress at the Church of St. Julian in Norwich, England (hertrue name is unknown). Regarded even during her lifetime as a spiritual authority, her optimisticvisions have been very influential in the years that have followed.Texts are also drawn from three additional sources: an excerpt from the Book of Margery Kempe(translated by Christopher M. Brunelle), two poems by English poet Robert Herrick (1591–1674),and a poem by the American writer Elizabeth Kirschner (b. 1955).The primary concept underlying this oratorio is the presence of two distinct discourses. One is asequence taken from Julian’s religious visions. The other is a sonic geography of Nantucket Island(located 30 miles off the coast of Massachusetts in the United States). This interconnected conceptwas inspired by the writings of the great Scottish poet George Mackay Brown (1921–1996). Livinghis entire life on Scotland’s Orkney Islands, Mackay Brown consistently explored the transpositionof religious imagery and events to his native landscape. (For example, the poem Apple-Basket, Apple-Blossom takes the story and structure of the Stations of the Cross, and maps them onto imagery ofdistinctly Orcadian character.)The landscape of Nantucket Island has been the driving force behind a large number of mycompositions for many years. In this oratorio, Julian’s visions are transposed from Norwich andmapped onto the Nantucket landscape. Each movement of the work thus has two parallel purposes:a setting of the visionary words, and a portrayal of a specific place in Nantucket’s geography. Muchof the music was planned in the actual locations. Since the soloists and choir must, by necessity, singthe words, a great deal of the landscape is left to the orchestra. Thus, the orchestra’s role issubstantially greater than simply accompaniment.Because of these two discourses, the oratorio is not intended as comprehensive working out of allaspects of Julian’s visions, nor does it use her own structure and sequence. Rather, it takes herbeautiful words, and the fundamentals of her visions, and attempts to create a new narrative andspiritual experience from them.This is the full score. The vocal score is available for sale. The parts are available on rental from the publisher.
