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Solo Vocal Music![]() Arsis Press scores may be ordered from individual composers.
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Bohun,
Lyle de Songs
of Estrangement The four songs are entitled: Snow Has Lain, Flowers Fall, Death Has Risen and Love Is A-Borning. With metaphors from nature, this four movement work dramatically depicts the developing intensities of a romantic relationship which over time matures and stabilizes into mutual contentment. |
ART SONGS
All of Lyle de Bohun's songs are poignantly influenced by the melodic folk traditions of the Appalachian Mountains where the composer spent her childhood. Nevertheless, some melodies are unabashedly twelve-tone rows. This is essentially a collection of love songs with the exception of Beyond the Stars, Lovely Heart, Slumber Song, and When Songs Have All Been Sung, which offer commentary on the meaning of human existence.
Beyond
the Stars
(C to F-sharp) $ 4.00 #040031 AP-310 The song is dedicated to Daniel and Nancy
Boone, and is set to a text by Gwen Frostic.
Celestia Fantasia |
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Goodnight
Kiss
(C to F) $ 4.00 #040025 AP-304 Lovely
Heart
Mirrored
Love |
![]() Goodnight Kiss) |
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Sea Thoughts Slumber
Song Sonnet |
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Time Cannot
Claim This Hour When Songs
Have All Been Sung Winter Song |
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![]() (Winter Song) |
Brill,
Elissa Minnie Minnie is a light-hearted setting of Eleanor Farjeon's
humorous poem about Minnie who just could not make up her mind.
The song is a whimsical caricature that spotlights both the vocal
and theatrical talents of the performer. It is an audience pleaser
that easily fills the spot for humor on a concert program. |
Diemer,
Emma Lou And I Saw
a New Heaven and a New Earth This dramatic work varies in mood from declamatory or dynamic to lyrical. |
Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God from "Psalm 51" for medium voice and organ or piano 3'35" $ 6.00 #040037 AP-316 The music is quite tonal, very expressive and moving. A portion of the piece appears as an Offertory response in The New Century Hymnal (Pilgrim Press, 1995). |
I Will Sing of Your Steadfast Love from "Psalm 89" for high voice and organ 4'25" $ 6.00 #040038 AP-317 This is a joyous solo, rhythmic and colorful, ending
with a jubilant expression of praise. |
Who Can Find a Virtuous Woman? from "Psalm 31" for medium high voice and organ or piano 4'35" $ 6.00 #040039 AP-318 "Proverbs 31" is a chapter exalting and honoring women of stature and virtue. The setting is lyrical and tonally uncomplicated, and should be sung with dignity of expression. |
Donahue, Bertha Terry (1917-1994)
The Castle Yonder These songs are settings of poems by children collected by Richard Lewis in his book Miracles, published by Simon and Schuster, New York 1966. They reflect a mother's comprehension of a child's world interwoven with her own. The six songs are titled: The Castle Yonder, The Dew, Household Problems, Rain, A Cat, and The Four Winds. |
Dutton,
Leslie Rimas
de Amor Rimas de Amor is dedicated to John Gillas, Professor of Horn at Texas Tech University. The cycle consists of six poems by the Spanish Romantic poet, Gustavo Adolfo Becquer (1836-70). Most of the songs are through-composed except for #2 which is ternary and #1 which is strophic in form. The composer writes that it is her interest in the language and culture of the West Texas area that inspired her to select these poems for her song cycle. |
Funk,
Susan For My Beloved A technically easy piece for weddings or recitals, this song was the composer's gift to her bridegroom. The text is from the Song of Solomon. |
Hyson,
Winifred Songs of
Job's Daughter These songs were a prize winner in the 1971 Mu Phi Epsilon Composition Contest, and was the required selection for sopranos in the 1980 Mu Phi Sterling Staff Competition. |
Laitman,
Lori I Never Saw
Another Butterfly Edition for Alto Sax and Soprano: #040043 AP-322, $17.50 |
Larson,
Anna (1940-2007) The
Listeners The composer describes her dramatic narrative setting of the poem by Walter de la Mare: "This setting of The Listeners was written in the late 1970's as a surprise gift for my father, Arthur Larson, at the suggestion of my mother who sent me several of his favorite poems. I was immediately drawn to this text because it combines a beautifully crafted dramatic form with a stirring expression of human integrity in a world where absolute knowledge is mysteriously withheld." |
Based on the title role of Ibsen's play, Nora received
its first performance in 2001 on a concert of the Contemporary
Music Forum at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.
The composer writes: |
Lomon,
Ruth
of Cambridge, MA Canticles The texts are by Marguerite Bouvard and the music is dedicated to her. There are three canticles: Honoring the Hidden Work, Mindfulness, and Questions. |
Five
Songs after Poems by William Blake
Five polyphonic duets for contralto and viola. 6' $ 8.00 #040045 AP-324 The first four poems by William Blake set here are from his Songs of Experience and the fifth is from his Satiric Verses and Epigrams. The pieces are polyphonic duets with the titles: The Sunflower, The Fly, The Sick Rose, The Clod and the Pebble, and Injunction. In a paper entitled A Comparative Stylistic Analysis, Carol Ann O'Connor writes: "This set of five polyphonic duets for contralto and viola incorporates many aspects of musical personality and technique found in [the composer's] later works...and illustrate Lomon's sensitivity to capturing in music the essence of a poetic gesture or image." |
Songs from
a Requiem "Lomon's intense, emotional songs have profile and character." (Boston Globe) The songs are inserts in the setting of a Requiem Mass composed by Ruth Lomon in 1977, and dedicated to the memory of her sister. The Mass is set for chorus with trumpets and trombones. The songs, settings of poems by the composer from 1970-72, are orchestrated for soprano, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, and bassoon. Thisversion for soprano and piano was written in 1982. The titles are: Les Baux, Interregnun, The Mammoth Head, Cancrizans, Black Mesa, and Incantation. |
Munn,
Zae Lauber Lieder:
Four Songs for Soprano and Piano The titles are: The Slowly Opening Rose, I have Washed and Buttoned Up, Geese Along the Flowage, and The Sermon. The texts of these emotionally direct and attractive songs are by Peg Carlson Lauber, with whom Zae Munn has collaborated on other works. The poems are linked by the theme of coping with, and overcoming burdens and challenges. The songs were written in the summer of 1994, and while conceived as a set, may be performed separately. |
Two for Three Two for Three (1994) is based on two poems by Peg Carlson Lauber: For a Few Minutes Lie in the Sun and Contemplate Cliché Angels. The structure of the first song puts musical parentheses around anger and bitterness by alternating serenity, venomous emotions and a return of serenity. The second song alternates humorous music with jazz references to celebrate words. The two songs may be performed separately |
What's for Supper? Composed both to entertain and educate young people about contemporary concert music as well as serve as recital pieces, What's for Supper? was written on a COSTAR Grant from Saint Mary's College. The titles of the four songs are: I'll Go Along, What's for Supper?, If I Could, and Oh no! Not Me. The individual songs may be performed separately and the piece may be performed without viola. |
Pierce,
Alexandra Psalm 100 Written in 1993, the piece is dedicated to Tina Haddon. It contains strong shifts of character, ornamentation with a Middle-Eastern flavor, and a vocal part for an agile and lyric soprano. The piece is written to be freely danced or gestured as it is sung (if desired). The pianist is an equalpartner to the singer. |
Shaffer,
Jeanne Christina
Rossetti, My Mother and Me Dedicated to her mother, the piece is the composer's Op. 207. The titles of the songs are: Up-Hill, Sleeping at Last, Song, Remember, and Another Spring. The poems are about life, death, and using well our time with those we love. The first performance was at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C |
Emptiness
Became Music The songs are on texts by the composer and are entitled: When Did Our Love Begin?, How Dare You?, I Hear the Music Still, and Love Is Like That. |
Eternity - Five
Songs to poems of William Blake
Composed in 1992, Eternity has five parts: The Wild Flower's Song, Soft Snow, Infant Joy, Infant Sorrow, and Eternity. The first version of this piece was performed at the Piccolo SpoletoFestival in Charleston, SC. The published version was first performed at the 1996 Women's Music Festival at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. |
On
Gardens, Minutes and Butterflies The songs are on texts by the composer and are entitled: Come slowly, Paradise, What Can I Give You, My Love?, Beautiful Fool, On Planting a Garden and all that Jazz, and Sing for Days Like Today. |
Shore, Clare Four
Dickinson Songs "...interesting contrapuntal writing"(NY Times) Written in 1981-82, the songs to texts by Emily Dickinson have the following titles: With a Flower, I'm Nobody, Summer Shower, and I Shall Know Why... |
Van Appledorn, Mary
Jeanne (1927-2014) Five
Psalms Written in 1998 and based on Psalms 100, 13, 117, 23 and 150. |
Missa
Brevis The piece had its premiere in October Hall at the Saratov State Conservatorie in Saratov, U.S.S.R., in 1987. The performance was by Anatoly Selianin with organist Trina Khudiakova. Robert Birch, trumpet, and Carol Feather Martin gave the American premiere at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. and have recorded the piece on a Contemporary Record Society album entitled Brass and Pipes. |
Songs Without
Words These three songs were written in 2000 and dedicated to Kathy and Linda McNeil. The titles are "La la la," "Ooo-Ah" and "Ta-ka-ta-ka-tu." The two vocal parts consist of imitative lines sung on nonsense syllables. The piano part includes several special effects such as glissandi and tone clusters played with the arm on the black keys. |
Vercoe, Elizabeth Herstory
II: Thirteen Japanese Lyrics "spare, reticent" (Boston Globe) |
Herstory
III: Jehanne de Lorraine (Joan of Arc) "The most powerful work I know by a woman on a feminist theme." (Washington Post) "This extraordinary work would be a wonderful
second half for any vocal recital." (The NATS Journal)
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Irreveries from
Sappho "hugely funny, elegant" (St. Louis Dispatch) The titles are: Andromeda Rag, Older Woman
Blues, and Boogie for Leda.
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Weigl, Vally (1884-1982)Dear
Earth-a quintet of poems from Frederika Blankner
Score only 15'30" $ 8.50 #040061 AP-340 Parts available from American Composers Alliance 170 W. 74th St., New York, NY 10023 Recording: Orion Master Recording 80393 The song titles are: Evolution, Redemption, Post Factum, Dear Earth, and This Gift of Mine. The piece is dedicated to Ilse Sass. |
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