"Like a Singing Bird" [Rhiannon Randle]

"Like a Singing Bird" [Rhiannon Randle]

First line of lyrics: My heart, my heart

Part of: "Echoes from Willow Wood"

Randle, Rhiannon; music (English, born 1993)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

2015 [publication]

London: Stainer & Bell

genre: song|choral music

chorus: women’s SSAA chorus

instrumentation: a cappella|piano (for rehearsal only)

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: United Kingdom

female composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Composition history: The score contains the following information about the music's composition: the piece was commissioned by BBC radio 3 in 2015 for International Women's Day, reflecting the day's theme of hope. "The anthem is the first of three which are collectively entitled Echoes from Willow Wood [. . .] The text, Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘A Birthday’, features in Virginia Woolf’s classic essay A Room of One’s Own, based on lectures delivered at Newnham College and at Randle’s own Cambridge alma mater, Girton, an institution at the forefront of women’s education for two centuries. Inspired by the clock in Girton’s Stanley Library, the ‘chiming rhythms’ which are a driving force within the piece offer a further level of connection. The music moves from quiet anticipation to bright affirmation, the sense of something life-changing heralded by an Advent plainchant quoted in the second half. The final couplet is set apart in a hushed recitative, reflecting, in the composer’s words, ‘the hope I and other young female composers can have as we try to make our mark in what has traditionally been a male domain.'"

Tempo markings: "With quiet anticipation"; quarter note = c.60

Performance instructions: Scored for "a small solo group of sopranos or mezzo-sopranos drawn from the upper-voice ensemble" ("Randle, Rhiannon: Like a Singing Bird").

Performance history: "Like a Singing Bird" was premiered live on Radio 3 on 8 March 2015 by Sarah Connolly and the St Catharine’s Girls’ Choir, conducted by Edward Wickham."

Dedication: "for Dame Sarah Connolly, Edward Wickham and the Girls' Choir of Saint Catharine's College, Cambridge"

Format 1: musical score

7 pages

Other data reference(s): Randle, Rhiannon. "Works." Rhiannonrandle.com, http://rhiannonrandle.com/works.html. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.
"Randle, Rhiannon: Like a Singing Bird." Stainer & Bell Ltd., https://stainer.co.uk/shop/cn23/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa

musical score: Royal Academy of Music Library, London

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "Randle, Rhiannon: Like a Singing Bird." Stainer & Bell Ltd., https://stainer.co.uk/shop/cn23/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.

Record: CRM-birthday-randle

"© Copyright 2017 Stainer & Bell Ltd, 23 Gruneisen Road, London N3 1LS, UK, www.stainer.co.uk"

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