ME = Moderately Easy
M = Medium
MD = Moderately Difficult
D = Difficult
Choral Works
...or a musician (Philip Dacey)
SATB, chamber orchestra (2200,0200, timp, hpschd/cel, strings) - 10 minutes - MDSEA-007-00 - $15.00/full score
SEA-007-01 - $5.50/choral part
SEA-007-02 - part rental (contact Seafarer Press for price)
Commissioned by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and American Master Chorale "The music illustrated both music's wonderful variety and expressiveness and the interrelation of sacred and secular. Old favorites in a new setting prompted joyful laughs from the audience." -Wisconsin State Journal
This mercurial musing on music's mysterious source draws its literary inspiration from a spirited poem by Philip Dacey, in which the sacred and secular merge into one powerful life force. Special requirements include a foursome who do a little barbershop quartet bit, and a very high soprano who gets a campy, exposed, three note solo. Intrigued yet? The best way to get a feel for this piece is by listening to the tape - don't hesitate to ask for one!
Technical Details: Voice parts are in a comfortable range, and orchestra parts are playable by a good community orchestra (i.e. no "killer" passages). The biggest challenge of this piece is frequent tempo changes, so everyone has to watch the conductor, but you want them to do that anyway, don't you?
Soprano: d'-g", Sop. solo: e" -c"', Alto: g-d", Tenor: d-a', Bass: G-d'(f ')
American Master Chorale & Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra ~ David Lewis Crosby, conductor
The Musician
"Bach is always making the sacred secular and the secular sacred."
- Bill McGlaughlin, Minnesota Public Radio
In the great nave of the church,
we eat noodles and throw dice,
while at lunch in the cafe
a man sinks to his knees,
muttering prayers
and touching the floor with his head.
A minister delivers a sermon
that sounds suspiciously like a recipe
for coq au vin,
while someone else has hung
beautiful laundry out to dry
on the wide-open arms of a cross.
We're confused
but happy to be so,
unclear as to whether
that was God who just walked by
or a musician
on her way to a concert,
the whole next world
squeezed into her black case.
Copyright by Philip Dacey. Reprinted by permission of the poet.