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Lady Bird: First Lady of the Land : Piano/Vocal Rehearsal Score

Opera in 1 Act. ‘LADY BIRD: First Lady of the Land’, is a one-act opera based upon events in the life of Lady Bird Johnson, first lady and the wife of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Due to the passing of the civil rights bill, President Johnson was at risk of not being elected to continue his presidency. His wife Lady Bird courageously campaigned for him across the Southern states on a special train tour, at times putting her own life in danger. Duration: 60 minutes.

Draw nigh and take the Body of the Lord

Ave verum Corpus : Hail, true body

The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd

The text is Sir Walter Raleigh's response to The Passionate Shepherd by Christopher Marlowe. The two poems are worlds apart in philosophical viewpoints. The Passionate Shepherd is all about promises, promises, and more promises of constant daily joys in the sharing of love, almost to the point of frenzy. In contrast, The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd is serene and philosophically realistic, yet it seems to yearn for the idealism of the shepherd’s promises. The music is written in both a lighthearted and frenzied manner so as to deliver on the moods of the text. Duration: 3:12 Flute part included.

Ave verum Corpus : Hail, Hail, True Body

The Wind in the Willows

While studying at the American Academy in Rome from 1922 to 1925 on the first Damrosch Fellowship, Randall Thompson, fascinated with Kenneth Grahame’s delightful 1908 children’s story The Wind in the Willows, wrote two works based on chapters from it. One is a three-movement string quartet written under the influence of composers including Gian Francesco Malipiero and Alfredo Casella and the most recent European music he heard in Rome and at International Festivals he attended. Along with his five choral Odes of Horace, written at approximately the same time, this work provides us a significant glimpse of Thompson as a composer of chamber music during his formative creative years. Includes score and parts. Duration: 14:00

The Gale

A creative and unusual work, The Gale uses text painting, sound effects, and crafty choral writing to bring to life the text written by Abraham (“Abramek”) Koplowicz, a Jewish boy who was exterminated by the Nazis during the Holocaust. He wrote this poem during the time that his family was trapped in the Lodz ghetto. The terror of the storm represents a deeper terror, the "swallow and his wife...wondering what will come next" allegorically speaks for the people. So it is with the entire poem, which results in a powerful piece of music which is equally effective accompanied by piano or by chamber orchestra. Duration: 6:30

Pity the Beautiful

The poem to which this piece of music is set turns the concept of beauty on its head for about 4/5 of it. The remainder if the poem veers off in an entirely unexpected direction of gods and stars. The music reacts to the poem by way of ornamented melodies, optional improvisation heartily recommended by the composer, and homoponic passages. "The harmonic structures of the piece gets knottier as the text progresses to the penultimate statement." - Robert Schuneman

The Friendly Beasts

“The Friendly Beasts” portrays the animals who have protected Jesus and Mary during the birth. Each animal proudly takes its turn announcing its contribution. The donkey carried Mary “up hill and down.” The dove “cooed” the Child to sleep. At the end of the song, all of the animals reappear in quick succession: donkey, cow, sheep, dove. They recount the gifts they brought to Immanuel. The Clarinet plays a featured role, enhancing the message of the lyrics. For example, the Clarinet associates with each animal, braying as a donkey, warmly mooing as a cow, embellishing as a sheep with “curly horns,” and fluttering upward with trills as a dove in flight. Duration: 4:15“The Friendly Beasts” portrays the animals who have protected Jesus and Mary during the birth. Each animal proudly takes its turn announcing its contribution. The donkey carried Mary “up hill and down.” The dove “cooed” the Child to sleep. At the end of the song, all of the animals reappear in quick succession: donkey, cow, sheep, dove. They recount the gifts they brought to Immanuel. The Clarinet plays a featured role, enhancing the message of the lyrics. For example, the Clarinet associates with each animal, braying as a donkey, warmly mooing as a cow, embellishing as a sheep with “curly horns,” and fluttering upward with trills as a dove in flight. Duration: 4:15

The Friendly Beasts

“The Friendly Beasts” portrays the animals who have protected Jesus and Mary during the birth. Each animal proudly takes its turn announcing its contribution. The donkey carried Mary “up hill and down.” The dove “cooed” the Child to sleep. At the end of the song, all of the animals reappear in quick succession: donkey, cow, sheep, dove. They recount the gifts they brought to Immanuel. The Clarinet plays a featured role, enhancing the message of the lyrics. For example, the Clarinet associates with each animal, braying as a donkey, warmly mooing as a cow, embellishing as a sheep with “curly horns,” and fluttering upward with trills as a dove in flight. Duration: 4:15“The Friendly Beasts” portrays the animals who have protected Jesus and Mary during the birth. Each animal proudly takes its turn announcing its contribution. The donkey carried Mary “up hill and down.” The dove “cooed” the Child to sleep. At the end of the song, all of the animals reappear in quick succession: donkey, cow, sheep, dove. They recount the gifts they brought to Immanuel. The Clarinet plays a featured role, enhancing the message of the lyrics. For example, the Clarinet associates with each animal, braying as a donkey, warmly mooing as a cow, embellishing as a sheep with “curly horns,” and fluttering upward with trills as a dove in flight. Duration: 4:15

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God : From Music of the Spheres

This is the first movement (Prologue) of a five-movement work featuring texts by Johannes Kepler, John Donne, and the Psalms. Dedicated to Swiss astrophysicist Arnold Benz, a relative of the composer, the work is based on melodic ideas written to be overlaid with images of various constellations. "The Heavens Declare" is a setting of Psalm 19: 1-4, in which tenor soli and SATB choir alternately declaim the text in a call-and-response structure.

The Heavens Delight

The composer has created a new musical setting based on Josiah G. Holland's well known text "There's a Song in the Air." The opening introduction depicts the twinkling stars and beautifully captures the spirit of the text. Useful for churches or for concert use.

The Day Is Done

Longfellow's poem, The Day is Done, speaks of evening as the time when poetry and music come alive and soothe the cares of day. The musical setting presents the opening lyrics in the children’s voices: The day is done, and the darkness falls from the wings of night. These phrases, or slight variations thereof, return as refrains throughout the song. The verses alternate between the men’s and women’s voices, with the children interjecting refrains or offering commentary in the background. Finally, the children interrupt the SATB dialogue with exclamations of a song! a song! a song! These lead to the climax of the song, given to the children’s chorus, singing And the nightshall be filled with music. All voices then join together in celebration: Our song shall fill the night. The accompaniment (originally composed for piano, later adapted for flute, strings, and percussion) delights in text-setting with sparkling arpeggios depicting the celestial harmonies, and filigree patterns for the star-filled night sky. Duration: 5:00

Mass of the Resurrection

The Mass of the Resurrection is based upon three principal themes, namely the Solemn Tone of the Gregorian Te Deum laudamus, the Great Alleluia, and the splendid Easter Sequence Victimæ Paschali laudes. These three Easter themes permeate the Mass thus joining us with those of past centuries who have sung these same melodies to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who has trampled down death and won for us the life eternal. Resurrexit Christi! Alleluia! -Robert W. Lehman Duration: 7:00

The Lord's Prayer

This simple but tender setting of The Lord’s Prayer features a cantor who intones the text on a single note, and a chorus that echoes the text with rich chords. Composed in 2010 for Stephen Kennedy and the Christ Church Schola Cantorum of Rochester, New York, for their weekly compline service. Duration: 3:15 This simple but tender setting of The Lord’s Prayer features a cantor who intones the text on a single note, and a chorus that echoes the text with rich chords. Composed in 2010 for Stephen Kennedy and the Christ Church Schola Cantorum of Rochester, New York, for their weekly compline service. Duration: 3:15

Light Upon the Water

Light Upon the Water was composed as part of a 2013 Composer Fellowship from The McKnight Foundation, a program administered by the American Composers Forum. While Michael Dennis Browne’s text is appropriate for a wedding, it is also too lovely to restrict it to only that purpose. The music is tender and lyrical, and the rhapsodic nature of the movendo section near the end of the piece is not to be missed! Duration: 2:00

The War Prayer

This text has been adapted from Mark Twain's The War Prayer, which he wrote in 1904-5 to protest America’s involvement in the Spanish-American War. His family convinced him to keep if from publication, fearing it was too controversial. Published after his death, Twain makes the case that if God causes all things to happen and blesses select people, then He must also, willingly, deny others his blessing. It is the other side of prayer, the unspoken side, which Twain so brilliantly characterized in The War Prayer.

The War Prayer

This text has been adapted from Mark Twain's The War Prayer, which he wrote in 1904-5 to protest America’s involvement in the Spanish-American War. His family convinced him to keep if from publication, fearing it was too controversial. Published after his death, Twain makes the case that if God causes all things to happen and blesses select people, then He must also, willingly, deny others his blessing. It is the other side of prayer, the unspoken side, which Twain so brilliantly characterized in The War Prayer.

The War Prayer

This text has been adapted from Mark Twain's The War Prayer, which he wrote in 1904-5 to protest America’s involvement in the Spanish-American War. His family convinced him to keep if from publication, fearing it was too controversial. Published after his death, Twain makes the case that if God causes all things to happen and blesses select people, then He must also, willingly, deny others his blessing. It is the other side of prayer, the unspoken side, which Twain so brilliantly characterized in The War Prayer.

The Mystery

Sara Teasdale’s poem, The Mystery, depicts deep lasting love - “Your eyes drink of me” and “We have long been lovers”. It also raises a question - “Can I ever know you / Or you know me?” Stephen Chatman’s expressive setting begins with a unison melody, supported by modulating harmonies in the piano accompaniment, and evolves toward four-part voices. The middle section, featuring rising vocal lines in imitative counterpoint, precedes a return to the initial melody. One of a set of six of Teasdale's love songs. Duration: 2:30

The Mystery

Sara Teasdale’s poem, The Mystery, depicts deep lasting love - “Your eyes drink of me” and “We have long been lovers”. It also raises a question - “Can I ever know you / Or you know me?” Stephen Chatman’s expressive setting begins with a unison melody, supported by modulating harmonies in the piano accompaniment, and evolves toward four-part voices. The middle section, featuring rising vocal lines in imitative counterpoint, precedes a return to the initial melody. One of a set of six of Teasdale's love songs. Duration: 2:30

The Vision : Keyboard/Choral Score

Engraved and edited after the composer's death, this charming piece deserves wider attention in the choral world. The music features unmeasured chant-like passages contrasted with moving accompanied ones. The English text is a rhapsodic vision of one entering into the Kingdom of God, the Latin text "In paradisum" weaves in near the end and brings the piece to a close. Duration: 6:00 Engraved and edited after the composer's death, this charming piece deserves wider attention in the choral world. The music features unmeasured chant-like passages contrasted with moving accompanied ones. The English text is a rhapsodic vision of one entering into the Kingdom of God, the Latin text "In paradisum" weaves in near the end and brings the piece to a close. Duration: 6:00

The Angel with the Broken Wing

This poem by Dana Gioia is spoken by a santo, a devotional wooden statue carved by a Mexican folk artist. This anthropomorphized statue speaks of its history and its fate as a museum piece. The setting, a hymn by Robert Schuneman, is intended to challenge singers’ perception of rhythm, harmony, and structure. It contains a cantus firmus that undergoes various transformations paired with shifting time signatures nearly the entire way through the piece. Mostly homophonic music is contrasted by passages of polyphony, thinner choral textures, and one featuring a pedal point.

Praise Now the Risen Christ

The surprising joy of the Resurrection is conveyed through jubilant fanfares in the accompaniment and a shifting of the rhythm between 3/4 and implied 6/8 meters. As the mood softens, a more melodic section expresses the lyrics, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." After the unaccompanied chorus sings "All glorious Risen Christ" and a brief moment of silence, the piece bursts forth again with fanfares and thicker choral textures that build in excitement to the end. A perfect Easter anthem! Duration: 2:45

In the Name of Music

Commissioned by the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, this piece was created to celebrate the awakening and life-transforming power of music, as a force that enlivens and enlightens us. The original text is by the composer. Although the original was for women's chorus and mixed chorus, this version is for SSAATBB chorus alone. Extensive instructions are provided for the ethereal aleatoric section, addressing stage placement, dynamics, use of a solo group, and how the piece should end. Duration 4:40Commissioned by the Radcliffe Choral Society and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, this piece was created to celebrate the awakening and life-transforming power of music, as a force that enlivens and enlightens us. The original text is by the composer. Although the original was for women's chorus and mixed chorus, this version is for SSAATBB chorus alone. Extensive instructions are provided for the ethereal aleatoric section, addressing stage placement, dynamics, use of a solo group, and how the piece should end. Duration 4:40