Composer's notes:The Fool is a time-honoured Orthodox religious figure: a Saint the highest of all who discards everything for Christ's sake. He discards all convention all decency all wealth actual and spiritual and turns himself into a figure of fun - defying all acceptable behaviour - and all religious decency. He stands in the square and lets down his trousers - he stuffs himself with food on Good Friday - he gets drunk - he 'appears'to fornicate wildly. There is a faint possibility (in not the highest of 'Fools') of gaining worldly popularity by such flagrant denial of all moral behaviour. Can such behaviour be too interesting? The true fool however embraces all of this and also (unseen) shrinks before the face of his God. By his behaviour he plucks out all hypocrisy false piety and corruption. He is a figure much needed in our times!!! The way I have tried to tacklethis extraordinary subject is to show him in seven stages from an obscene huge fat traditional clown who is drunk fornicating etc. through a stumbling frail agonized figure to a sallow-faced gaunt business man in a formalsuit staring at an empty glass. Having first revered him then mocked him the 'people' while they get drunk and jabber away at 'Christmas' and at the Feast of Feasts 'Easter' are no longer aware of him. But the audience seeshim - a tiny ragged scrap of mortality lying in a corner and faintly so faintly the voice of the Fool the true Fool for Christ's sake sings above the ribald crowd. 'He has given His life'. The Gogmagogs are the 'people' 'priests' 'singers' etc. and one male singer who can 'create' or 'uncreate' this vast role (singing and acting miming etc.) John Tavener Arranged for SSATBB chorus. Date of composition 2000. Chorus part only.

Music runs through the story of Arion which begins with a singing competition in Sicily. Arion wins the prize and this puts his life in danger: his newfound wealth excites the greed of the sailors who are supposed to be bringing him back to Corinth and they threaten to kill him. They allow Arion to sing one last song and the power of his singing attracts dolphins to the ship.  At the end of his song he jumps overboard and one of the dolphins carries him to safety.  So Arion’s musical gift gets him into trouble but it is also his salvation.   The idea of being rescued by a music-loving dolphin is very appealing. In Robert Graves’account of the myth the dolphin could not bear to be parted from Arion and accompanied him back to court where “it soon succumbed to a life of luxury.”  However Herodotus says that after his rescue and return to Corinth Arion failed to return the dolphin to the sea and it died there.  Apollo placed the dolphin among the stars and next to it Arion’s lyre in recognition of his musical skill.  This is one of the mythical explanations of the origins of the constellations Delphinus and Lyra. It seems natural to sing a story that has singing at its heart. When I was asked by the Nicholas Berwin Charitable Trust to write a choral work for Making Music something that would be within reach of many choirs and involve children this story struck me as ideal: the men of the chorus could be the bloodthirsty sailors and the women could create an atmosphere of mystery for the arrival of the dolphins represented by children’s voices. There would be one solo voice: Arion the marvellous singer. Andrew Fardell the conductor who was advisor to this commission had suggested that I might use the same instrumentation as a popular arrangement of Orff’s Carmina Burana a work that as well as using children’s chorus features a solo countertenor. I thought the magical otherworldly quality of this

Danish and English title included.Anthem for S-solo SSATB and organ.Danish title: Hør min bøn O Herre.

BWV 77. Par BORNEFELD HELMUT. Gattungen: Motetten - Reihen bei Carus: Gesamtausgaben - Langue : Allemand / Mottet / Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

Bella Mano Veduta. Aus: Italienische Madrigale. Par SCHUTZ HEINRICH. Tonalité : mixolydisch - SWV 8 (op. 1 #8)/ Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

Aus: Israelsbrünnlein. Par SCHEIN JOHANN HERMANN. Johann Hermann Schein’s Israelsbrünnlein, published in Leipzig in 1623, is a supreme achievement not only among the works of this composer, who had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig since 1616, but also for the entire body of German music written during the first half of the 17th century. Among the 26 motets written “in the Italian madrigal manner” 23 are settings of Old Testament texts, a fact to which the collection owes its title. The source for the text of this collection is the “inexhaustible fountain” of the Psalms, the books of Moses, the Prophets, the Songs of Solomon, and other books of the Old Testament. / Mottet / Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

Aus: Israelsbrünnlein. Geistliche Madrigale. Par SCHEIN JOHANN HERMANN. Johann Hermann Schein’s Israelsbrünnlein, published in Leipzig in 1623, is a supreme achievement not only among the works of this composer, who had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig since 1616, but also for the entire body of German music written during the first half of the 17th century. Among the 26 motets written “in the Italian madrigal manner” 23 are settings of Old Testament texts, a fact to which the collection owes its title. The source for the text of this collection is the “inexhaustible fountain” of the Psalms, the books of Moses, the Prophets, the Songs of Solomon, and other books of the Old Testament./ Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

This unaccompanied SSATB choral arrangement of The Beatles classic With A Little Help From My Friends by Carsten Gerlitz includes 10 vocal scores to allow mixed choirs to sing this paean to friendship.One of The Beatles' most popular compositions, it was composed for Ringo Starr to sing, and therefore needed to have just five notes in the melody to accommodate his limited vocal range. The song inspired a number of famous cover versions, most notably Joe Cocker's at Woodstock. / Choeur Mixte (SSATB)

Partita Dell'Amante. Aus: Italienische Madrigale. Par SCHUTZ HEINRICH. Tonalité : a-Moll - SWV 4 (op. 1 #4)/ Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

Annelies is the first adaptation of the diary of Anne Frank into a large-scale choral work. It brings to life the diary written by Annelies Marie Frank between 1942 and 1944 when she and her family hid in the backof an Amsterdam warehouse. Scored for Soprano soloist and SATB chorus with Piano reduction this vocal score can be used for both the chamber and orchestral versions of the work.

Aus: Cymbalum Sionium. Par SCHEIN JOHANN HERMANN. Tonalité : G-Dur - / Mottet / Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

Stagioni Contrarie Alla Sua Ninfa. Aus: Italienische Madrigale. Par SCHUTZ HEINRICH. Tonalité : mixolydisch - SWV 7 (op. 1 #7)/ Répertoire / Choeur SSATB

For Passion in 1680 Dieterich Buxtehude composed his largest work in the style of an oratorio the cantata cycle Membra Jesu nostri and he dedicated it to his friend the Swedish Court Music Director Gustav Düben. In each of the seven separate cantatas which in principle follow the scheme ?instrumental introduction ? choral movement with biblical texts ? vocal soli (aria) with a sacred text from the Middle Ages ? repetition of the choral movement ? the feet knees hands side chest heart and face of the crucified Christ are interpreted allegorically. The original scoring for strings in No. VI ('Ad Cor') consists of a consort of five gambas. If this group of instruments isnot available then violins I/II can be substituted for gamba I/II and the gamba V parts can be played by the violone (the music for these substitute parts is contained in each respective parts) so that in this case only two gambas (III IV) are needed. For such a performance only two copies of the Gamba performance score (Carus 36.013/16) are required.

Motette aus dem Israels-Brünnlein. Par SCHEIN JOHANN HERMANN. Motette Aus Dem Israels-Brünnlein/ Répertoire / Choeur Mixte (SSATB)