First line of lyrics: What can I give him
instrumentation: a cappella|piano (for rehearsal only)
initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats
Rossetti poem(s): "A Christmas Carol" ("In the bleak mid-winter")
Notes about the text: This setting uses just the final stanza of the poem.
Ratledge, John; music (American, born 1954)
Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)
Other data reference(s): "My Gift." Carl Fischer, https://www.carlfischer.com/cm9302-my-gift.html. Accessed 21 April 2020.
Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "My Gift." J.W. Pepper, https://www.jwpepper.com/My-Gift-/10352205.item#/submit. Accessed 21 April 2020.
"Copyright © 2013 by Carl Fischer, LLC. International Copyright Secured. All rights reserved, including performance rights."
The Christina Rossetti in Music project website is hosted in Canada at the University of Ottawa Library, and we aim to comply with Canadian copyright laws. If you believe we have violated Canadian copyright law, please contact us at christinarossettimusic@uottawa.ca. The Christina Rossetti in Music project is strictly not for profit and intended for research and educational purposes only.
3 pages; performance time 1 minute and 12 seconds
Record: CRM-christmascarolinthebleak-ratledge
First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird
Place in the larger work: The second song of two in the song cycle called "Contrasts," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include "For Sweet Things Dying" and "A Birthday"
Performance history: "Premiered by the Santa Rosa High School Chamber Singers at the recent [1999?] ACDA National Convention in Chicago" ("Contrasts"). On 10 November 2017 in Great Reading Room, Seerley Hall, University of Northern Iowa: "Contrasts: Differences and Similarities in Choral Settings of Christina Rossetti’s Poetry" prepared by Coren Hucke in partial fulfillment of the Honors Thesis requirement at the University of Northern Iowa, performance by Taylor Else, Lauren Soukup, Dawn Vickers (sopranos); Annika Andrews, Aja Baskerville, Mallory Vallentine (altos); Aaron DeSantiago, Aricson Knoblock, Jonathan Norris (tenors); Joel Andrews, Andy Cutler, Will Lubaroff (basses) (Hucke, concert programme).
Young, Robert H.; music (American, 1923-2011)
Other data reference(s): "Contrasts." Hal Leonard, https://www.halleonard.com/product/8739015/contrasts?subsiteid=5&. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020. Hucke, Coren. "Contrasts": Differences and similarities in choral settings of Christina Rossetti's poems. 2017, pp. 8-9 and concert programme. University of Northern Iowa, University Honours Theses, https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt/299/
Cataloguer: Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa
Fred Bock Music Company; Milwaukee: Gentry Publications
"For Sweet Things Dying" [Robert H. Young]
First line of lyrics: Why were you born when the snow was falling?
Rossetti poem(s): "A Dirge" ("Why were you born when the snow was falling?")
Place in the larger work: The first song of two in the song cycle called "Contrasts," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include "For Sweet Things Dying" and "A Birthday"
"She Sat and Sang Alway" [Robert H. Young]
First line of lyrics: She sat and sang alway
Rossetti poem(s): "Song" ("She sat and sang alway")
Composition history: "Commissioned by Hardin-Simmons University's Concert Choir [director Monte Garrett] in honor of Dr. Loyd Hawthorne's twenty-five years at HSU, October 1999" (Garrett)
Performance history: On 10 November 2017 in Great Reading Room, Seerley Hall, University of Northern Iowa: "Contrasts: Differences and Similarities in Choral Settings of Christina Rossetti’s Poetry" prepared by Coren Hucke in partial fulfillment of the Honors Thesis requirement at the University of Northern Iowa, performance by Taylor Else, Lauren Soukup, Dawn Vickers (sopranos); Annika Andrews, Aja Baskerville, Mallory Vallentine (altos); Aaron DeSantiago, Aricson Knoblock, Jonathan Norris (tenors); Joel Andrews, Andy Cutler, Will Lubaroff (basses) (Hucke, concert programme).
Other data reference(s): Garrett, Monte. "Curriculum Vitae." Monte Garrett, https://montegarrett.com/curriculum-vitae/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020. "She Sat and Sang Alway." Hal Leonard, https://www.halleonard.com/product/8739166/she-sat-and-sang-alway?subsiteid=5. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020. Hucke, Coren. "Contrasts": Differences and similarities in choral settings of Christina Rossetti's poems. 2017, pp. 8-9 and concert programme. University of Northern Iowa, University Honours Theses, https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt/299/
First line of lyrics: Come to me in the silence of the night
Recordings: "Echo." Choral music excellence, Performance by Schola Cantorum of Texas, Gary Ebensberger, conductor, recorded at the Texas Choral Directors Association Annual Convention in San Antonio, Schola Cantorum of Texas, Forth Worth, 1996. Fall 2009, performed by The Mixolydians. "Echo." YouTube, uploaded by The Mixolydians, 23 Dec. 2009, https://youtu.be/lkxrS_tladE.
Other data reference(s): Record for "Echo : (SSATTB ; A Cappella) : [a sacred choral anthem for a cappella mixed voices]." WorldCat, http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/318273075. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020. Hucke, Coren. "Contrasts": Differences and similarities in choral settings of Christina Rossetti's poems. 2017, pp. 8-9 and concert programme. University of Northern Iowa, University Honours Theses, https://scholarworks.uni.edu/hpt/299/
Cataloguer: Diana Bishara, Jazmine Clement and Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa
4 pages; performance time approx. 3 minutes
"A birthday" [Robert Livingston Aldridge]
Composition history: Aldridge attempted to compose each of the songs in his collection "LoveSong" in one day, "striving for a simple, immediate and visceral connection between music and text."
Tempo markings: "Gospel"; quarter note = 60
Performance instructions: Aldridge instructs the text from the second stanza to be sung "more animated, but not accelerating."
Performance history: First performed as part of the song collection "LoveSongs" April 2005 at Peak Performances in Montclair, New Jersey by tenor Stephen Oosting and pianist Robert Spillman.
Notes: The fifth song of sixteen in the song collection "LoveSongs" which includes 1. "My Love in Her Attire" (Anonymous); 1. "Reluctance" (Robert Frost); 3. "When We Two Parted" (Lord Byron); 4. "Young and Old" (Charles Kingsley); 5. "A Birthday" (Christina Rossetti); 6. "Jenny Kissed Me" (Leigh Hunt); 7. "Why Is The Rose So Pale" (Heinrich Heine"); 8. "Gone" (Carl Sandburg); 9. "She Comes Not' (Herbert Trench); 10. "Song" (Christina Rossetti); 11. "Love Despised" (Anonymous); 12. "Beauty and Love" (Andrew Young); 13. "Alms" (Edna St. Vincent Millay); 14. "Wild Nights" (Emily Dickenson); 15. "Of Pearls and Stars" (Heinrich Heine); 16. "Saga Love" (Bee Rawlinson). This song collection can be performed as a cycle, individually, or excerpted in groups.
Aldridge, Robert Livingston; music (American, born 1954)
Other data reference(s): Record for "LoveSongs. Volume I : high voice : fifteen songs for voice and piano." University of Toronto Libraries, https://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?8319195&uuid=973e273d-f7b4-4174-a9ad-a1210bc1be41. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa
musical score: Aldridge, Robert Livingston. "Song." LoveSongs. Volume I: fifteen songs for voice and piano: high voice, Edition Peters, 2011, pp. 35-40. University of Texas Libraries, Austin.
"My heart is like a singing bird" [Geoffrey William John Hinds]
Notes: The first song of three in the madrigal collection "Three madrigals" which includes 1. "My heart is like a singing bird" (Christina Rossetti); 2. "When you are old and gray" (W B Yeats); 3. "Farewell, love" (Philip Sidney).
Hinds, Geoffrey William John; music (New Zealand, born 1950)
Other data reference(s): Record for "Madrigals Three madrigals [for SSA]." National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/records/23241170. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
other version 1 - instrumentation: piano
other version 1 - initial sharps/flats: two sharps
Notes about the text: This song is a setting of stanzas 1 and 3 only.
Composition history: "CGR was aware of the setting as early as December 1864: "I hear that my "Echo" is likely to be published, set to music by a Miss Gabriel" (Letters 1:206, 222). In 1868, WMR noted that it had been published and dedicated to him" (Ives DM9).
Dedication: "To William Michael Rossetti."
Notes: "The British Library holds an undated separate publication by Ashdown & Parry (publishers of Hanover Square): depository copy dated 25 Nov. 1868, plate number A & P No. 5538, dual key signature for F and D (one flat and two sharps)" (Ives DM9)
Gabriel, Mary Ann Virginia; music (English, 1825-1877)
In reference to the published works below: Ives DM9
Reference: Ives, Maura. Christina Rossetti: A Descriptive Bibliography. New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2011.
Cataloguer: Diana Bishara, University of Ottawa
musical score: Hanover Square; a Magazine of Pianoforte and Vocal Music, edited by Lindsay Sloper, vol. 1, no. 6, April 1868, pp. 160-165. Internet Archives, https://archive.org/embed/hanoversquaremag01slop. Accessed 20 Apr. 2020.
First line of lyrics: Who has seen the wind?
Rossetti poem(s): "'Who has seen the wind?'"
Place in the larger work: The fourth song of five in a song cycle called "Five Songs for Children" which includes 1. "Afternoon on a Hill" (Edna St. Vincent Millay); 2. "The Sea Shell" (Amy Lowell); 3. "Someone" (Walter de la Mare); 4. "Who Has Seen The Wind" (Christina Rossetti); 5. "The Bluebird" (Emily Huntington Miller).
Composition history: The composition of “Five Songs for Children” straddles a 37-year period, an interval in which composer Lita Grier stepped away from male-dominated field of music composition and focused on other musical pursuits. The first three songs in the sequence were composed in 1962, and “Who Has Seen the Wind” and “The Bluebird” were composed in 1999. The set of songs was completed at the invitation of Mezzo Soprano Patricia Stiles for an Indiana University recital and CD. For this recital, the song originally third in the sequence, “Someone” by Walter de la Mare, was removed because the concert was to feature only the work of women composers and women poets. In reviewing the concert, in the Herald Times of Bloomington, the renowned music critic, Peter Jacobi commented that “In Grier’s Children’s Songs the music seemed to equal or even enhance the texts.” Composer Lita Grier herself states that “in setting any poetry the composer's task is to serve the poet/poem, and as much as possible to add expressive power to the words” (Grier).
Performance history: First performed by Mezzo Soprano Patricia Stiles at Indiana University, this recital repertoire was recorded and appears in the 2001 album "Vitality Begun." Performed by soprano, Michelle Areyzaga, accompanied by Welz Kauffman, Executive Director of Ravinia, at a concert devoted to works by Lita Grier’s at the Ravinia Festival on 7 Sept. 2008. Performed by soprano Jacqueline Piccolini at Chicago's Friday Noonday Concerts at Buchanan Chapel on 7 Sept. 2018. Performed by Chicago's Fourth Coast Ensemble's soprano Sarah Van Der Ploeg in their Salon Series.
Recordings: "Who Has Seen the Wind." Songs From Spoon River, Reflections of a Peacemaker, performance by Michelle Areyzaga, soprano and Wellz Kauffman, piano, recorded in Bennett-Gordon Hall at Ravinia, Highland Park IL, Cedille Records, 2009. Lita Grier Composer, http://www.litagrier.com/works.html?name=five_songs_for_children. "Who Has Seen the Wind." Vitality Begun, performance by Patricia Stiles, mezzo-soprano, Graham Cox, piano, Cavalli Records, 2001. "Who Has Seen the Wind." American Songs, performance by Patrice Michaels, soprano, Elizabeth Buccheri, piano at WFMT Chicago, Cedille Records, 2006. Cedille Records, https://www.cedillerecords.org/albums/american-songs/
Grier, Lita; music (American, born 1937)
Reference: Ezust, Emily. The LiederNet Archive. http://www.lieder.net/lieder/index.html
Other data reference(s): "Songs from Spoon River, Reflections of a Peacemaker, and Other Vocal Works by Lita Grier." Cecille Records, http://www.cedillerecords.org/albums/songs-from-spoon-river. Accessed 19 March 2018. "Works." Lita Grier Composer, http://www.litagrier.com/works.html. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020. Grier, Lita. "Re: Who Has Seen the Wind.” Received by Mary Arseneau, 21 Apr. 2020.
Cataloguer: Jacob Spence and Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa
performance time 2 minutes; complete song cycle performance time 6 minutes and 26 seconds
sextet: two altos, two tenors, one baritone, and one bass
Tempo markings: "With a light flowing touch"; quarter note = 70
West, Charles; music (English, born 1945)
Other data reference(s): "A Birthday." Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Charles_West). Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Charles_West)
"Copyright: Choral Public Domain Library"
"Still (Dost Thou Not Care?)" [J. Guy Stalnaker]
First line of lyrics: I love thee I love thee here I love thee here or there
Part of: "Three Christina Rossetti Poems"
genre: sacred music|choral music|song|song cycle
Place in the larger work: The third song of three in the song cycle called "Three Christina Rossetti Poems" which includes 1. "A Rose Plant in Jericho"; 2. "A Birthday"; 3. "Still (Dost Thou Not Care?)"
Notes about the text: This is a setting of the first stanza of the poem only. Stalnaker begins the setting with the last two lines of the first stanza "I love thee here or there, / I will accept thy broken heart, lie still" then follows these with the entirety of first stanza, following Rossetti's text exactly except to repeat the words "it breaks my heart / To love and not to love," "I love thee" and "lie still."
Stalnaker, J. [James] Guy; music (American, born 1958)
Other data reference(s): Record for "Three Christina Rossetti Songs (J. Guy Stalnaker)." Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Three_Christina_Rossetti_Songs_(J._Guy_Stalnaker). Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Three_Christina_Rossetti_Songs_(J._Guy_Stalnaker)
Place in the larger work: The second song of three in the song cycle called "Three Christina Rossetti Poems" which includes 1. "A Rose Plant in Jericho"; 2. "A Birthday"; 3. "Still (Dost Thou Not Care?)"
"A Rose Plant in Jericho" [J. Guy Stalnaker]
First line of lyrics: At morn I plucked a rose and gave it Thee
Rossetti poem(s): "A Rose Plant In Jericho"
Place in the larger work: The first song of three in the song cycle called "Three Christina Rossetti Poems" which includes 1. "A Rose Plant in Jericho"; 2. "A Birthday"; 3. "Still (Dost Thou Not Care?)."
Tempo markings: "Antante mosso"; quarter note - 120
Ferrari, Carlotta; music (Italian, born 1975)
Reference: IMSLP Petrucci Music Library, http://imslp.org/
Other data reference(s): Record for "A Birthday (Carlotta Ferrari)." Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Carlotta_Ferrari). Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: Choral Public Domain Library, http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/A_Birthday_(Carlotta_Ferrari)
Tempo markings: "Andante cantabile"; quarter note = 76
Performance history: Performed on March 30, 2008 by Karen Staniland, Hilary Nobes, Bryony Jagger and Geoffrey Hinds at the Auckland Leider Group ("A Birthday").
Jagger, Bryony; music (New Zealand, born in England, born 1948)
Other data reference(s): "A Birthday." SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, https://www.sounz.org.nz/works/19191. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019. Record for "A birthday : for soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, and piano / Bryony Jagger ; words by Christina Rossetti." National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/records/38471145. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
musical score: National Library of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "A Birthday." SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, https://www.sounz.org.nz/works/19191. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
First line of lyrics: What would I give for a heart of flesh to warm me through
Place in the larger work: The third song of twelve songs in a song cycle called "The Rustling of Angels" which includes 1. "How Sweet the Answer" (Thomas Moore); 2. "I Saw" (Anonymous); 3. "What Would I Give" (Christina Rossetti); 4. "Gather Ye Rosebuds" (Robert Herrick); 5. "At the Moated Grange" (William Shakespeare); 6. "Love's Philosophy" (P.B. Shelley); 7. "Green Grow the Rushes" (Robert Burns) 8. "Art" (Herman Melville); 9. "The Revelation" (Coventry Patmore); 10. "Echo" (Christina Rossetti); 11. "The Old Stoic" (Emily Bronte) 12. "Beneath the Cypress Shade" (Thomas Love Peacock).
Recordings: Pasatieri, Thomas. "What Would I Give." Songbook, performance by Sheri Greenawald, soprano and Warren Jones, piano, Albany Records, 2007. YouTube, uploaded 21 Mar. 2015, provided by The Orchard Enterprises, https://youtu.be/bxAbMQdgeCM.
Pasatieri, Thomas; music (American, born 1945)
Other data reference(s): "A Rustling of Angels." Sheet Music Plus, https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/a-rustling-of-angels-sheet-music/4823533. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020. "Thomas Pasatieri Songbook." Chandos Records, https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/TR%200901. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020.
Cataloguer: Diana Bishara and Roxanne Lafleur, University of Ottawa
musical score: New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York.
King of Prussia: Theodore Presser Company
"© 2003 by Theodore Presser Co., King of Prussia, PA. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured."
2 pages (pp. 9-10); performance time approx. 3 minutes; complete song cycle performance duration 30 minutes.
Place in the larger work: The tenth song of twelve songs in a song cycle called "The Rustling of Angels" which includes 1. "How Sweet the Answer" (Thomas Moore); 2. "I Saw" (Anonymous); 3. "What Would I Give" (Christina Rossetti); 4. "Gather Ye Rosebuds" (Robert Herrick); 5. "At the Moated Grange" (William Shakespeare); 6. "Love's Philosophy" (P.B. Shelley); 7. "Green Grow the Rushes" (Robert Burns) 8. "Art" (Herman Melville); 9. "The Revelation" (Coventry Patmore); 10. "Echo" (Christina Rossetti); 11. "The Old Stoic" (Emily Bronte) 12. "Beneath the Cypress Shade" (Thomas Love Peacock).
Recordings: Pasatieri, Thomas. "Echo." Songbook, performance by Jordan Shanahan, baritone and Warren Jones, piano, Albany Records, 2007. YouTube, uploaded 4 Oct. 2014, provided by The Orchard Enterprises, https://youtu.be/GBIBYpoKsoU.
Other data reference(s): "A Rustling of Angels." Sheet Music Plus, https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/a-rustling-of-angels-sheet-music/4823533. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020. Carman, Judith E., et al. Art Song in the United States, 1759-2011. Fourth edition, Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2013, 1987.
musical score: New York Publish Library for the Performing Arts, New York.
3 pages (pp. 29-31); performance time approx. 3 minutes; complete song cycle performance duration 30 minutes.
Artley, Chris; music (New Zealand, born 1963)
Other data reference(s): Record for "Birthday / Chris Artley ; lyrics, Christina Georgina Rossetti." National Library of New Zealand, https://natlib.govt.nz/records/38194403. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.
First line of lyrics: Remember me when I am gone away
Place in the larger work: The third song in a song cycle called "Birthday Bouquet," which includes 1. "for your birthday" (e e cummings); 2. "Your Birthday" (Christina Rossetti); 3. "Remember" (Christina Rossetti); 4. "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" (W.B. Yeats)
Notes about the text: "The ground of the third song, a serene lament, pays homage to Dido's famous lament from Purcell's opera."
Tempo markings: quarter note = 88; "Espressivo"
Recordings: "A Birthday Bouquet." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, e.e. cummings, and W.B. Yeats, performance by Susan Gonzalez, soprano, and Marcia Eckert, piano. Songs by Women, Leonarda Productions, 2002, https://www.discogs.com/Susan-Gonzalez-Marcia-Eckert-Songs-By-Women/release/8292648. Accessed 14 January 2019.
Notes: Program notes for the score, written by the composer, mention that "different ostinato patterns link" this setting with the first song in the cycle, "for your birthday." The composer goes on to write that the piece, which is "full of sun and shadow, contains a brief quote from Hugo Wolf's 'Gesang Weylas' (from 'Morikelieder'), a personal 'dream picture' shared by my husband and myself." As the lyrics do not contain any changes from Rossetti's original text, the "quote" Phillips mentions must be musical.
Austin, Elizabeth R.; music (American, a.k.a. Elizabeth Scheidel, born 1938)
Other data reference(s): Austin, Elizabeth R. "List of Works - Discography - Publications." Elizabeth R. Austin. 2016, http://www.elizabethaustinmusic.com/home-page.html. Accessed 14 Jan. 2019. "BIRTHDAY BOUQUET." American Composers Alliance, https://composers.com/composition/birthday-bouquet. Accessed 14 Jan. 2019.
Cataloguer: Robyn Finlay, University of Ottawa
musical score: University of Ottawa Library, Ottawa, Canada
4 pages (pp. 6-9); song cycle performance time 9 minutes
Place in the larger work: The second song in a song cycle called "Birthday Bouquet," which includes 1. "for your birthday" (e e cummings); 2. "Your Birthday" (Christina Rossetti); 3. "Remember" (Christina Rossetti); 4. "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" (W.B. Yeats)
Tempo markings: "Andante con moto"; quarter note = 63
"My heart is like a singing bird" [Michael Berkeley]
Place in the larger work: The second song in a song cycle called "Songs of Awakening Love," which includes 1. "I thought once how Theocritus had sung" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning); 2. "My heart is like a singing bird" (Christina Rossetti); 3. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
Composition history: "The work was commissioned by the City of London Sinfonia with funds from the Arts Council of Great Britain." "Songs of Awakened Love" was written for Heather Harper" (Berkeley 4)
Tempo markings: dotted quarter note = 76
Performance instructions: The orchestra is comprised of flute (doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling Cor anglais), 2 bassoons, 2 horns, strings.
Performance history: "First performed on 15 July 1986 at the Cheltenham International Festival of Music by Heather Harper and the City of London Sinfonia, conducted by Richard Hickox."
Notes: The themes explored in "Songs of Awakening Love" are continued in Berkeley's song cycle "Speaking Silence." While "Songs of Awakening Love" explores first love, "Speaking Silence" comes at the end of the cycle of love. "Speaking Silence" includes a setting of Christina Rossetti's "Echo" (Berkeley 4).
Berkeley, Michael; music (English, born 1948)
Other data reference(s): Berkeley, Michael. Speaking Silence, Oxford University Press, 1986.
musical score: Carleton University Library, Ottawa
New York: Oxford University Press; London: Zwemmer/Oxford University Press Music and Books
23 pages (pp. 37-59); complete song cycle performance time 27 minutes
Part of: "Three Jovial Songs of Christina Rossetti"
Place in the larger work: The third song of three in the song cycle called "3 Jovial Songs of Christina Rossetti," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "The Queen of Hearts"; 2. "Farm Walk"; 3. "A Birthday."
Tempo markings: "Andante"; quarter note = 100
Recordings: "A Birthday." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by Helen Semple, soprano, Steven Neugarten, piano. YouTube, uploaded by Joe St.Johanser, 11 Jan. 2017, https://youtu.be/Sd9NwPkX_No.
St.Johanser, Joe; music (British, born 1941)
Other data reference(s): "3 Jovial Songs of Christina Rossetti." Joestjohanser.co.uk, http://www.joestjohanser.co.uk/op19.htm. Accessed 16 April 2020.
"Copyright © Robosoft Music 2008." This score is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The score appears on this website by kind permission of composer Joe. St.Johanser.
3 pages (pp. 15-17); complete song cycle performance time 9 minutes
First line of lyrics: The year stood at its Equinox
Place in the larger work: The second song of three in the song cycle called "3 Jovial Songs of Christina Rossetti," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "The Queen of Hearts"; 2. "Farm Walk"; 3. "A Birthday."
Tempo markings: "Allegro"; quarter note = 118
Other data reference(s): "3 Jovial Songs of Christina Rossetti." Joestjohanser.co.uk, http://www.joestjohanser.co.uk/op19.htm. Accessed 15 April 2020.
Cataloguer: Mary Arseneau and Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa
9 pages (pp. 6-14); complete song cycle performance time 9 minutes
First line of lyrics: How comes it Flora
Place in the larger work: The first song of three in the song cycle called "3 Jovial Songs of Christina Rossetti," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "The Queen of Hearts"; 2. "Farm Walk"; 3. "A Birthday."
Tempo markings: "Presto"; quarter note = 180
Performance instructions: The solo may be sung by either a soprano or mezzo-soprano.
Recordings: "Soprano song - 'The Queen of Hearts.'" Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by Helen Semple, soprano, Steven Neugarten, piano. YouTube, uploaded by Joe St.Johanser, 11 Jan. 2017, https://youtu.be/DaUbWcqMvOQ.
5 pages (pp. 1-5); complete song cycle performance time 9 minutes
File(s): CRM-queenofhearts-stjohanser.pdf
Place in the larger work: The first song of four in the song cycle "Four Reveries" which includes 1. "Echo" (Christina Rossetti); 2. "Remembrance" (Percy Shelley); 3. "My River Runs to Thee" (Emily Dickinson); 4. "Meeting at Night" (Robert Browning).
Composition history: "'Four Reveries' was commissioned by Dr. Robert Bower in celebration of the 15th anniversary of his wedding to Debra Lea Goettsche, and the 15th Anniversary of the founding of [t]he Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Earl G. Rivers, Music Director, Robert H. Bower, M.D., President, Board of Trustees."
Tempo markings: "Andante Mosso"; quarter note = 66 ca.
Performance instructions: "For SSAATTBB Voices"
Performance history: "Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Earl Rivers, Conductor, Emery Theater, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 7, 1995, World Premiere"
Recordings: "Four Reveries: No. 1. Echo." Hawley: Shall We Gather at the River: Choral Music of William Hawley, performance by Choral Arts, Robert Bode, director, Gothic, 2013. Amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Hawley-Shall-We-Gather-River/dp/B00FAF1Y7I?language=en_US
Hawley, William; music (American, born 1950)
Other data reference(s): "I. Echo." Four Reveries, William Hawley, williamhawley.net/scorepages/fourrev/1echo/1echo.htm. Accessed 2 Mar. 2018. "Premieres and Significant Performances." William Hawley, https://www.williamhawley.net/premieres.htm. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020.
sound recording with the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati and Earl Rivers: William Hawley
This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "Four Reveries." Sheet Music Plus, https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/four-reveries-digital-sheet-music/20673601. Accessed 16 Apr. 2020.
"© 1995 Richard Hawley" This score and sound recording are protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The score and sound recording appear on this website by kind permission of composer William Hawley. To purchase musical scores or to request performance rights, please consult the composer’s website, www.williamhawley.net.
8 pages (pp. 1-8); performance time 3 minutes; complete song cycle performance time 9 minutes and 30 seconds
performance time 2 minutes and 48 minutes
File(s): CRM-echo-hawley.pdf; CRM-echo-hawley.mp3