"A Birthday" [James Hopkins]

"A Birthday" [James Hopkins]

First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird

Part of: "The Rossetti Songs"

Hopkins, James F.; music (American, born 1939)

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

1997 [composition]; 2000 [copyright]

Boston: E. C. Schirmer Music Company

genre: choral music|song cycle|song

chorus: SATB voices with divisi

instrumentation: harp|piano

initial sharps/flats: three sharps

initial time signature: 6/8

other version 1 - chorus: SATB voices with divisi

other version 1 - instrumentation: flute|oboe|clarinet|harp|strings

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Place in the larger work: The fourth movement of four in the choral cycle "The Rossetti Songs," settings of Christina Rossetti poems. The songs include 1. "May"; 2. "Come to Me in the Silence of the Night (Echo)"; 3. "When I am Dead, My Dearest (Song)"; 4. "A Birthday".

Composition history: "The Rossetti Songs were completed during the summer and fall of 1997 as the second commission for the recently-created position of Composer in Residence for the Pacific Chorale. Come to Me in the Silence of the Night (Echo), the first piece written, was composed in the fall of 1996 as a gift to the Chorale for their a cappella performance at the national ACDA Convention. [...] The successful reception of that movement encouraged the addition of other settings of the beautiful, mostly wistful poetry of Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). Three new movements were added, each for SATB Chorus and Harp [...] After the completion of this choral cycle, the composer adapted the instrumental part for small orchestra. The instrumentation is 1 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet in A, Harp and Strings."

Tempo markings: eighth note = 178-190

Performance instructions: "For SATB chorus (divisi) and Harp (or Piano)" "Performance with Harp is preferred. In this case, the separate fully edited Harp part available for purchase from the publisher must be used (Catalog No. 5486). Use this Piano part for rehearsal and performance with piano."

Performance history: Debut performance: "April 26, 1998; St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church; Newport Beach, California; The Pacific Chorale; John Alexander, Conductor; Mindy Ball, Harpist"

Recordings: "A Birthday - from The Rossetti Songs (James Hopkins)." Sweet Harmony, performance by the Pacific Chorale's John Alexander Singers, Mindy Ball, harp, and John Alexander, conductor. Amazon.com.

Notes: The score includes composition and performance history on page 2.

Format 1: musical score

14 pages (pp. 3-16); performance time 3 minutes and 30 seconds to 4 minutes

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington and Anna Lewis, University of Ottawa

musical score: University of Houston Libraries, Houston

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "The Rossetti Songs: 4. A Birthday." ECS Publishing Group, https://www.ecspublishing.com/the-rossetti-songs-no-4-a-birthday.html. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Record: CRM-birthday-hopkins

"© Copyright 2000 by E. C. Schirmer Music Company, a division of ECS Publishing, Boston, Massachussetts. All rights reserved"

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