By Giacomo Puccini. For Opera. (Vocal Scores). CD Sheet Music (Version 2.0). PDF file on CD. 2600 pages. Published by Subito Music.

SATB choir, cantor, assembly, keyboard accompaniment, woodwinds, timpani, brass quartet, guitar

SKU: GI.G-018040

Composed by Steven R. Janco. Sacred. Full score. With guitar chord names. GIA Publications #018040. Published by GIA Publications (GI.G-018040).

What has made this Mass rise to the top in popularity in parishes across the English-speaking world? Its adaptability. From parishes with keyboard and/or guitar and cantor to cathedrals with a large SATB choir and multiple instruments (organ, brass quartet, timpani, handbells), Mass of Wisdom has proven itself as a “Mass for the masses.” Its step-wise melodic patterns make it easy to learn without sounding musically trite in any way. Music directors agree that the through-composed Gloria is one of the most finely crafted of all the new musical settings of the prayer. That fine crafting extends to all components of this Mass, especially the acclamations sung during the Eucharistic Prayer. The multi-layered Hosannas in the Sanctus will delight the members of the choir as well as the singing assembly. This is a Mass setting that simply soars. It is a perfect setting for Ordinary Time, but music directors tell us that the Christmas and Easter seasons are made more glorious and joyful when this setting is sung, especially when the additional instrumentation is added. Dioceses and parishes that employed Mass of Wisdom as the first setting during the implementation of the new translation have found themselves returning to it time and time again. It truly has become part of the “Catholic musical DNA” across the United States and beyond.

Dan Welcher’s most enduringly and frequently played orchestral work, Prairie Light is a fascinating musical companion to three of Georgia O’Keeffe’s most unusual paintings, Light Coming on the Plains, Canyon with Crows, and Starlight Night. This work is ideal for performances using visual projections of the paintings, and is frequently programmed for subscription concerts as well as those for educational settings. Duration: 14’ Parts available on rental.
This work for full orchestra was inspired by three paintings of the noted Americanartist Georgia O’Keeffe. These three watercolors were done in 1917 while the artist was living in Canyon, Texas (near Amarillo), and deal primarily with color and shape. Consequently, the music is primarily concerned with broad lines and shapes rather than rhythms, with subtle washes of color rather than constant harmonic movement, and with arching melody instead of linear counterpoint.The first movement, Light Coming on the Plains, is an elliptical-shaped painting, deep blue to indigo with a “horizon” at the bottom that seems flat and unchanging. The sun hasn’t risen yet, although it does in the course of this movement, but it seems instead to be providing light from behind the canvas. The music is unmoving in terms of rhythm or harmony (although there is a modulation midway through), a color-infused mantra of sound that is almost Eastern.At the height of the sun, we proceed to the second movement, entitled Canyon with Crows. The canyon is red-orange, with black crows circling above friendly unfolding hills. The music is gentle but lively and more rhythmic, with the birds represented by solo oboe, clarinet, and sometimes flute. Halfway through, the brass have a chorale version of the opening motive, played very slowly, over the unending triplets of woodwinds and strings. At the end of the movement, the birds return for a duo-cadenza, accompanied by the dying rays of the sun in muted strings and the ongoing triplets of the solo quartet.The stage is set for the final movement, Starlight Night. In O’Keeffe’s painting, the stars are represented by regularly-spaced rectangles of bright pale yellow on a blue-black sky, with the same shape to the field of vision and the horizon that is found in Light Coming on the Plains. The stars become audible: harp, celesta, glockenspiel, and string pizzicati all lend a sparkle while a solo flute introduces a slowly unfolding theme. After this theme has been heard twice and the sky has begun to really brighten, there is a sudden interruption: a xylophone and a piano begin another “mantra” in brittle staccato chords. This is the same mechanical eternity as O’Keeffe’s regularly-spaced square stars, and it continues on its own as the night progresses. The music builds and grows as the moon rises and arcs, then falls as the pre-dawn light that opened the work returns to bring it to a close. Acycle of light, changing with the movements of sun, moon, and stars, appearing differently from various points of view

Soli SATB Voices, SATB Choir, 2 Ob, 2 Fg, 2 Tr, Timp, 2 Vl, Va, Bc

SKU: CA.7005304

Composed by Franz Schubert. Edited by Salome Reiser. Carus plus: Innovative practice aids; Sacred vocal music, Magnificats; use during church year: Advent, Christmas; Carus sheet music series: Vocal scores XL; Stuttgart Editions (Urtext): Stuttgart Schubert Edition; occasions: Feasts of the Blessed Virgin M. Stuttgart Urtext Edition: Stuttgart Schubert Edition. XL in large print. Innovative practice aids, Sacred vocal music, Magnificats, Advent, Christmas, Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Hymns in praise of the Virgin Mary, Daily hours. Vocal score. Composed 1815. D 486. 28 pages. Duration 9 minutes. Carus Verlag #CV 70.053/04. Published by Carus Verlag (CA.7005304).

ISBN 9790007240936. Key: D major. Language: Latin.

With a duration of about 10 minutes, Schubert's Magnificat D 486 in C major is one of the more concise settings of the well-known Marian canticles, originally for the service of Vespers. It was composed in late summer 1815, and is therefore probably one of a series of church music works Schubert wrote in his youth for Lichtenthal Parish Church. The work requires a large-scale orchestra with strings, woodwind, and brass. The four-part choir contrasts with four soloists; this quartet sings the peaceful middle section of the three-section work. For the Carus edition Schubert's own autograph manuscript of his Magnificat was consulted again for the first time since 1888. Until 1989 this had been thought to be lost. This work is now available in carus music, the choir app! Score available separately - see item CA.7005300.