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April Rain Song

A little sleep-song, sung to the cadence of a gentle rain
Poet/Lyricist: 
Langston Hughes
Commissioned by the Festival Choir of Madison / Eric Townell
Winner of the Brookline Chorus Composition Competition

This intimate piece is — in Langston Hughes’ words — a “sleep song,” with a vocal accompaniment built from the syllables of the word “lullaby.”  Opening with a pure soprano solo and the suggestion of a sparse, gentle rain, April Rain Song goes on to cradle the listener in a slumberous sea of sound.

April Rain Song is the first movement of the 10 minute work, Spring Revels.

Item Instrumentation/Voicing Duration Level Audio Peruse Delivery Method (Print vs. Digital) Price Quantity
SEA-006-01 SATB a cappella - Choral Score
 3' MA https://www.seafarerpress.com/sites/seafarerpress.advantagelabs.com/files/samples/april_rain_song.mp3 Sheet Music $3.00
SEA-006-01DEL SATB a cappella - Choral Score
 3' MA https://www.seafarerpress.com/sites/seafarerpress.advantagelabs.com/files/samples/april_rain_song.mp3 Licensed PDF $3.00
SEA-CD-01 Finally on My Way to Yes - CD
 60' https://www.seafarerpress.com/sites/seafarerpress.advantagelabs.com/files/works_variant_audio_files/finally_on_my_way_to_yes_0.mp3 CD $7.00

April Rain Song

Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.

The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night.

And I love the rain.

© 1932 by Alfred A. Knopf, renewed in 1960 by Langston Hughes. Reprinted by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated, as agents for the Estate of Langston Hughes.

Performers: 

Spring Revels (complete work)
Premiere: Cayuga Vocal Ensemble / G. Roberts Kolb (Ithaca, NY)
Broadmoor Chamber Singers / Rebecca Kenneally (Natick, MA)
Brookline Chorus / William Cutter (Brookline, MA)
Cayuga Vocal Ensemble / Carl Johengen. 5th Annual Poetry and Song Concert (Ithaca, NY)
Chamber Singers of Iowa City / Martin Dicke (Iowa City, IA)
CoroAllegro / Jack Warren Burnam (Wilmington, DE)
Hamilton College Choir / Rob Kolb (Rochester and Buffalo, NY; Cincinnati and Cleveland Heights, OH; Evanston and Kenilworth, IL)
Harmonium Choral Society / Ann Matlack
Harmonium Choral Society / Ann Matlack (Madison, NJ; Geraldine R Dodge Poetry Festival in Waterloo Village, NJ)
Lively Experiment of University of Rhode Island / Mark Conley (Kingston, RI)
South Bend Chamber Singers / Nancy Menk (South Bend, IN)

I. April Rain Song
From Age to Age / Peter Durow (Anoka, MN)
Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington D.C. / C Paul Heins (Washington, DC)
Oriana Choir / Dominic Peckham. Bir Miftuħ International Music Festival (Gudja, MALTA)
Oriana Choir / Dominic Peckham. Sammy Ofer Gallery, Cutty Sark, Greenwich (London, ENGLAND)
Southern Nazarene University Chorale / Brent Ballweg (Okalahoma City, OK)
Festival Choir of Madison / Bryson Mortenson (Madison, WI)
VocalEssence / Philip Brunelle. Annual Witness Concert (Minneapolis, MN)

II. when faces called flowers float out of the ground
College Hill Singers / G Roberts Kolb (Clinton, NY)
Minnesota Oratorio Society / George Chu (St. Paul, MN)

III. Spring Grass
Premiere: Festival Choir of Madison / Eric Townell (Madison, WI)
CoroAllegro / Jeffrey Dokken (Wilmington, DE)

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Basic Genres: 
Choral
Choral Genres: 
Adult Mixed
Styles: 
Soundscapes
Themes: 
Children
Water

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