ISBN 9781619117983.

Romantic Arias for Classical GuitarA is a collection of the worlds most beloved songs from the world of opera.A A An aria is a song performed during an opera that listeners are the most familiar with. These AC/a!Apop songs of opera" provide an entry point for those unfamiliar with the opera repertoire, considered by many as the most expressive genre of western music. For those who are familiar with the world of opera, you will recognize the selections here as the arias most beloved by millions of listeners around the world.This project, a labor of love by master guitarist Steve Eckels, contains the most famous melodies by composers Verdi and Puccini including the great operasA La Traviata,A Madame Butterfly,A La BohA"me,A Turandot,A Nabucco,A Tosca, andA Rigoletto. Also included are MassenetsA Meditation, DelibesA Flower Duet, OffenbachsA Barcarolle,A BizetsA HabaneraA and others. The pieces have been arranged for recreational or concert guitarists, and have been meticulously fingered and engraved for ease of learning. The author has also provided music reading warm-ups to assist in learning the pieces. Eckels performances of all the arrangements on YouTube will provide an aid in familiarizing yourself with the most beloved songs ever written.A Includes access to online audio.

My idea of developing music from Richard of Gloucester's monologue 'Now is the winter of our discontent', and of generating more music from that material, was conceived during the 1960s. Ten years later it took a more concrete form, when Julian Bream suggested to me that I should write a substanial new guitar work for him. More time went by, and only having finished 'We Come to the River' could I begin to realise our plan. Then began a collaboration with the instrumentalist that went through various phases, from which I gained a more profound knowledge of the technicalities and of the sound-world of the guitar. I would even go so far as to say that this collaboration gave me a new concept of how to write for an instrument with a rich tradition. The guitar is a 'knowing' or 'knowledgeable' instrument, with many limitations but also many unexplored spaces and depths within these limits. It possesses a richness of sound capable of embracing everything one might find in a gigantic contemporary orchestra. but one has to start from silence in order to notice this: one has to pause, and completely exclude noise.
The dramatis personae of this piece enter through the sound of the guitar as if it were curtain. Through masks, voices and gestures, they speak to us of great passion, of tenderness, sadness and comedy: strange events in people's lives. Into this, the whispering voices of spirits are mingled. The epilogue is spoken by Oberon, pacified and reconciled, as though Nature had been subjected to Man.
- Hans Werner Henze.

Song List:

Adoro Devote

All My Trials

All the Way My Savior Leads Me Lowry CrosbyINeed Thee Every Hour Lowry Hawks

Balm in Gilead

Benediction

Bread of the World Eucharistic Hymn

Canticle #1

Canticle #2

Close to Thee Vail Crosby Every Day and Every Hour Doane Crosby

Come to the Feast

Compline

Consecration

Deep River

Evening Prayer

Gloria

God Unseen Yet Ever Near St Flavian

Have Thine Own Way, Lord Adelaide

He Hideth My Soul Kirkpatrick Crosby

Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face Penitentia

Higher Ground Gabriel Oatman

Hold to God?s Unchanging Hand Eiland

Holy Is The Lord

I Love to Tell the Story Fischer Hankey

At the Cross Hudson Watts

I Will Arise and Go to Jesus Arise

I Will Praise Him Harris More Love to Thee Doane Prentiss

Jesu, Joy of Man?s Desiring

Jesus Paid It All Grape HallI Am Coming, Lord Hartsough

Jesus Spreads His Banner O?er Us Autumn

Just As I Am Woodworth

Kyrie Eleison

Lamb Of God

Lenten Meditation

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence Picardy

Let Us Break Bread Together

Light Of The World

Litany

Lonesome Valley

Look Down That Lonesome Road

Lord, I?m Coming Home Kirkpatrick Draw Me Nearer Kirkpatrick Crosby

Lord, Speak to Me Canonbury

Meditation on Psalm

My Faith Looks Up to Thee Olivet

My Lord, My God

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

Resignation

Nearer, My God, to Thee Bethany

Never Alone Anon

Night Prayer

Nobody Knows The Trouble I?ve Seen

O Esca Viatorum

Pass Me Not Doane Crosby

Only Trust Him Stockton

Peace

Praxis Pietatis Melica

Prayer

Prayer of Simeon

Psalm 102:1 Hear My Prayer, O Lord

Psalm 118:24 This Is the Day That the Lord Hath Made

Psalm 119:28 My Soul Is Heavy with Sorrow

Psalm 126:6 They That Sow in Tears

Psalm 128:1 Blessed Are They That Fear the Lord

Psalm 139:7 Where Shall I Go From Thy Spirit

Psalm 142:3 When My Spirit Grows Faint Within Me

Psalm 144:3 Lord, What Is Man

Psalm 16:1 Keep Me Safe, O God

Psalm 19:1 The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

Psalm 34:18 The Lord Is Close to the Broken Hearted

Psalm 65:2 Thou That Hearest Prayer

Psalm 88:13 Unto Thee Have I Cried, O Lord

Rendez a Dieu

Sanctus

Shall We Gather at the River Lowry

Softly And Tenderly

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

St Gregory Chorale

Steal Away

Sweet By and By Webster Bennett Leaning on the Everlasting Arms Showalter Hoffman

Sweet Hour of Prayer Showalter Hoffman Is Your All on the Altar Hoffman

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

The Lord?s Supper Way

To God Be the Glory Doane Crosby

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus He Is Lord

Wade In The Water

Wayfaring Stranger

We Give Thee Thanks

Were You There

What a Friend We Have in Jesus Converse

When I Lay My Burdens Down

Song List: 5th Avenue Swing Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow American Hornpipe An Comhra Donn Angels Rock Me To Sleep Bacon In The Skillet Balkan Sunset Barney's Goat Bennett's Favorite Reel Bill Cheathum Billy in the Lowground Black And White Rag Blackberry Blossom Blanchard's Hornpipe Bluesin' the Frets Bottom of Punch Bowl Hornpipe Brian Boru's March Brighton Beach Bring Back to Me My Wandering Boy Brunswick Dance Brush Creek Bumpin' Buster's Reel Buttermilk Jig Caleb's Gorge Cape Cod Reel Carolan's Draught Carrie's Dream Catawissa Reel Catskill Night Cold, Frosty Morning Coldwater Creek Collin's Quest Copthorne Blues Crazy Creek Cumberland Gap Cumberland Ridge D Lite Days Of 'Lang Syne Devil's Dream Dixie Breakdown Don't Go Out Tonight, My Darling/East Virginia Down In The Willow Garden Dublin Dance East Tennessee Blues Echo Canyon Echo Waltz Eighth Of January Eleven Mile Canyon Em Study Fair And Tender Ladies Far From Home Gladiator Reel Green Fields Of America Guster Halloween Harvest Moon Strathspey Haste to the Wedding Haul Away, Joe Heebie Jeebie Hens In The Kitchen High Barbaree High five Hills of Roane County Hooker's Hornpipe I Never Will Marry I'll Be All Smiles Tonight Indian Creek Isle Of Cumbrae Ivy Leaf Reel Jacks Fork Rendezvous Jackson's Jig Katy Trail Kitchen Girl Lady's Fancy Lark in the Morning League Reel Little House 'Round the Corner London Hornpipe Lonesome River Lost Indian Luckie Bawdin's Reel Maddie's Bonnet Martha's Cider Mere Point Midnight Flight Mississippi Basin Missouri Mud Molambe Morrison's Jig National Lancer's Hornpipe Neapolitan Threshers Night Voyage North Sea Obadiah Johnson Peeler Creek Waltz Powder Mill Raqad Red Fox Waltz Red Haired Boy Reel De Lapin Rickett's Hornpipe Roll On Buddy Sally In The Garden Shannon's Well Ships Are Sailing Reel Short Life Of Trouble Shuckin' The Corn Sidney Street Silver Bell Silverheel's Shuffle Song Soppin' The Gravy Soulard St Anne's Reel St Clair's Hornpipe Star Of Bethlehem Step Around Johnny Stepping Out Stone's Rag Storms Are On The Ocean Suffolk Stroll Sugar In The Gourd Sundance Swallowtail Jig Sweet Lillie Sweet Sunny South Swing LTD Swing Steppin' The Burning Of The Piper's Hut The Clergy's Lamentation The Cuckoo The Downfall Of Paris The Girl I Loved in Sunny Tennessee The Promenade The Rights Of Man The Teetotaller's Reel The Unfortunate Rake The Wild Mare Whiskey Before Breakfast Wilson's Hornpipe Witch Of The Wave Reel Young McGoldrick

Apr�s avoir �t� quelque temps �loign� de la composition classique, j'ai d�cid� de me lancer un d�fi et d'�crire un court morceau de guitare par jour. Je l'ai fait pendant un mois et j'ai fini avec une vingtaine de "Sketches". L'id�e de d�part �tait de r�aliser des pi�ces courtes pour les enfants. Certaines se sont r�v�l�es trop difficiles pour les �tudiants et pourraient donc devenir des pi�ces plus longues � l'avenir. D?autres, je n?ai tout simplement pas beaucoup aim�. Au final, j'ai s�lectionn� les 10 Sketches qui m'ont le plus plu. Ces 10 morceaux sont destin�s � des joueurs de niveau interm�diaire et chacun d'entre eux se concentre sur un aspect technique ou musical. After being some time away from classical composition I decided to challenge myself and write one short guitar piece daily. I did it for a month and ended up with around 20 "Sketches". The original idea was to make short pieces for children. Some turned out to be too difficult for students, so they might become longer pieces in the future. Some others I just didn't like that much. In the end I selected the 10 Sketches that I liked the most. These 10 pieces are intended for intermediate level players and each of them focuses on a technical or musical aspect.