New SATB Choral Music from The Lygonia Press
Featuring SATB choral anthems by Charles Kaufmann
Charles Kaufmann is a juried member of the MaineArtsAccess of the Maine Arts Commission,
featuring "Maine artists recommended for use by the public as professional artists demonstrating high artist merit."
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A TREE
(a Pamela Alexander poem for SATB choir a cappella)
A Pentatonic melody and D Dorian harmonies reflect such lines of poetry as 'The sails of the forest are open and green'
View a pdf file of the partial score.Listen to a synthesized Finale recording of Biography of a Tree
$1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file.
Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
THE SKY SINGS
(a Denise Duhamel poem for SATB choir)
Accompanied by wineglasses tuned with water, claves, Latin shakers and piano, this anthem is dedicated to any child, young or old, who has found music in objects at holiday dinner tables.
I felt like I was hearing my muse singing back to me. I could never have imagined such a beautiful song springing from the text - Denise Duhamel
Listen to The Sky Sings performed by The Choral Art Society of Portland, Maine, Robert Russell, Director.
View a pdf file of the partial score.$1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file.
Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
A LONGFELLOW WINTER
(Five texts about winter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for SATB chorus and piano)
Listen to a December 2009 Maine Public Radio interview with Charles Kaufmann about his cantata, "A Longfellow Winter."
Listen to NOW HAD THE SEASON RETURNED (Mvt. 1) as sung by The Longfellow Chamber Chorus directed by the composer
Listen to SNOW-FLAKES (Mvt. 2) as sung by The Choral Art Society, Portland, ME, Robert Russell, director
Snow-Flakes won the second prize in 2007 at the eminent Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest.
View a pdf file of the partial score of movement III.
The [Choral Art] society got its money's worth in commissioning "A Longfellow Winter," by Maine composer Charles Kaufmann.... The work, tonal and impressionistic, creates just the right atmosphere to set off our native poet's apt lines about...winter.... Kaufmann knows his favorite poet so well that he is able to "music" the tricky dactylic hexameter of "Now had the season returned," from "Evangeline".... The whirling snowflakes of "Birds of Passage" and the wind singing in the rigging from "Hyperion" were also beautifully portrayed. "A Longfellow Winter" seems destined to become a season classic....
—Christopher Hyde, concert review, Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, December 7, 2009.
$1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file.
Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry poem for SATB choir a cappella)
This setting of Wendell Berry's poem was chosen as one of the final entries in the 2003 Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest.
Listen to The Peace of Wild Things
sung by the Ward Melville High School Chamber Chorus of Setauket, Long Island, Linda Contino, Director.$1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file.
Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
SPHERES, a cantata for Alto and Bass soloists, SATB Chorus and Piano. Text: twelve short poems, 2004, by Maine poet Constance Hunting, 1925-2006.
Commissioned by the Community Chorus at South Berwick, Maine, Dr. Harry Moon, director
Written in her eighties, Spheres is one of Hunting's final minimalist series of poems. In Spheres, Hunting hears "the great orchestral A" in the world around her: in the hum of a porch light, in the natural environment of Maine's woods and fields, and in the stars of a Maine sky. These poems take the cognizance of human existence to the highest and most delicate spiritual level.
Listen to eight of twelve movements of Spheres. The Community Chorus at South Berwick, Dr. Harry Moon, director; Marlene Hudson-Moon, contralto; William Wieting, bass:
2. O bravo overnight
view demo pdf
3. In august
4. Because our minds were bent on earthly things This short movement puts the listener directly into the inner heart of a beekeeper's beehive.
8. In winter the locomotive's lament At 17 seconds, the world's shortest choral piece.
9. Talking to the deaf
10. Runes (An ice-skating waltz scene under a star-filled winter's night sky)
11. If all things dim and fail (Based on a chant of Hildegard von Bingen)
12. Slowly and mournfully (A pavane after Thomas Tomkins)Kaufmann's wonderful choral setting of my mother's poems, "Spheres", makes her poetry speak, and her speaking, music.
- Sam Hunting, Puckerbush Press
$2.00 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file.
Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
A fascinating, challenging, endlessly interesting composition, "Spheres" does what great choral music should do: it adds meaning to the text while increasing our understanding of it
-- Bill Wieting, Spheres premiere bass soloist.
The Azalea Variations, ten pages of SSAATTBB choral settings of the poetry of David Ray, was first published in CHELSEA 77, Alfredo de Palchi, editor.
To order send $13 to:
CHELSEA
P. O. Box 773
Cooper Station
New York, NY
10276-0773
The Best Thing in the World
(an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem for SATB choir and simple 'inside the piano' sounds)
Plucked and strummed piano strings provide the accompaniment as the choir lists E. B. Browning's possible answers to an enigmatic question.
Send an order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
Rumors from an Aeolian Harp
(a Henry David Thoreau poem)
The organ imitates an aeolian harp in this song about a place where 'poetry is yet unsung.' Available as Soprano Solo and organ, and SSA and organ.
Send an order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.
NEW:
Learn about the third annual
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Birthday Choral Concert
and
Longfellow Chorus Composers' Competition
3 PM, Saturday, February 21, 8:00 PM, and Sunday, February 22, 2009, at First Parish Church, U. U. A., Portland, Maine.
e-mail: Charles Kaufmann; The Lygonia Press
About the Composer
featuring "Maine artists recommended for use by the public as professional artists demonstrating high artist merit."
|
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A TREE
(a Pamela Alexander poem for SATB choir a cappella) A Pentatonic melody and D Dorian harmonies reflect such lines of poetry as 'The sails of the forest are open and green' View a pdf file of the partial score. Listen to a synthesized Finale recording of Biography of a Tree $1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file. Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press. |
THE SKY SINGS
(a Denise Duhamel poem for SATB choir) Accompanied by wineglasses tuned with water, claves, Latin shakers and piano, this anthem is dedicated to any child, young or old, who has found music in objects at holiday dinner tables. I felt like I was hearing my muse singing back to me. I could never have imagined such a beautiful song springing from the text - Denise Duhamel Listen to The Sky Sings performed by The Choral Art Society of Portland, Maine, Robert Russell, Director. View a pdf file of the partial score. $1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file. Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press. |
A LONGFELLOW WINTER (Five texts about winter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for SATB chorus and piano) Listen to a December 2009 Maine Public Radio interview with Charles Kaufmann about his cantata, "A Longfellow Winter."Listen to NOW HAD THE SEASON RETURNED (Mvt. 1) as sung by The Longfellow Chamber Chorus directed by the composerListen to SNOW-FLAKES (Mvt. 2) as sung by The Choral Art Society, Portland, ME, Robert Russell, director
Snow-Flakes won the second prize in 2007 at the eminent Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest. View a pdf file of the partial score of movement III. The [Choral Art] society got its money's worth in commissioning "A Longfellow Winter," by Maine composer Charles Kaufmann.... The work, tonal and impressionistic, creates just the right atmosphere to set off our native poet's apt lines about...winter.... Kaufmann knows his favorite poet so well that he is able to "music" the tricky dactylic hexameter of "Now had the season returned," from "Evangeline".... The whirling snowflakes of "Birds of Passage" and the wind singing in the rigging from "Hyperion" were also beautifully portrayed. "A Longfellow Winter" seems destined to become a season classic.... —Christopher Hyde, concert review, Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, December 7, 2009. $1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file. Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press. |
|
The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry poem for SATB choir a cappella) This setting of Wendell Berry's poem was chosen as one of the final entries in the 2003 Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest. Listen to The Peace of Wild Things sung by the Ward Melville High School Chamber Chorus of Setauket, Long Island, Linda Contino, Director. $1.50 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file. Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press. |
SPHERES, a cantata for Alto and Bass soloists, SATB Chorus and Piano. Text: twelve short poems, 2004, by Maine poet Constance Hunting, 1925-2006. Commissioned by the Community Chorus at South Berwick, Maine, Dr. Harry Moon, director Written in her eighties, Spheres is one of Hunting's final minimalist series of poems. In Spheres, Hunting hears "the great orchestral A" in the world around her: in the hum of a porch light, in the natural environment of Maine's woods and fields, and in the stars of a Maine sky. These poems take the cognizance of human existence to the highest and most delicate spiritual level. Listen to eight of twelve movements of Spheres. The Community Chorus at South Berwick, Dr. Harry Moon, director; Marlene Hudson-Moon, contralto; William Wieting, bass: 2. O bravo overnight view demo pdf 3. In august 4. Because our minds were bent on earthly things This short movement puts the listener directly into the inner heart of a beekeeper's beehive. 8. In winter the locomotive's lament At 17 seconds, the world's shortest choral piece.
9. Talking to the deaf 10. Runes (An ice-skating waltz scene under a star-filled winter's night sky)11. If all things dim and fail (Based on a chant of Hildegard von Bingen)12. Slowly and mournfully (A pavane after Thomas Tomkins)Kaufmann's wonderful choral setting of my mother's poems, "Spheres", makes her poetry speak, and her speaking, music. - Sam Hunting, Puckerbush Press $2.00 per score and permission to reprint a pre-paid number of copies from a pdf file. Or pay by mail with check or money order. Send a mail order inquiry to the Lygonia Press.A fascinating, challenging, endlessly interesting composition, "Spheres" does what great choral music should do: it adds meaning to the text while increasing our understanding of it -- Bill Wieting, Spheres premiere bass soloist. |
The Azalea Variations, ten pages of SSAATTBB choral settings of the poetry of David Ray, was first published in CHELSEA 77, Alfredo de Palchi, editor. To order send $13 to: CHELSEA P. O. Box 773 Cooper Station New York, NY 10276-0773 |
|
The Best Thing in the World (an Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem for SATB choir and simple 'inside the piano' sounds) Plucked and strummed piano strings provide the accompaniment as the choir lists E. B. Browning's possible answers to an enigmatic question. Send an order inquiry to the Lygonia Press. |
Rumors from an Aeolian Harp (a Henry David Thoreau poem) The organ imitates an aeolian harp in this song about a place where 'poetry is yet unsung.' Available as Soprano Solo and organ, and SSA and organ. Send an order inquiry to the Lygonia Press. |
NEW: Learn about the third annual Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Birthday Choral Concert and Longfellow Chorus Composers' Competition 3 PM, Saturday, February 21, 8:00 PM, and Sunday, February 22, 2009, at First Parish Church, U. U. A., Portland, Maine. |
e-mail: Charles Kaufmann; The Lygonia Press
About the Composer