SKU: PR.31241902S

UPC: 680160690589. English.

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Terra Nostra is a 70-minute oratorio on the relationship between our planet and humankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. Part I: Creation of the World explores various creation myths from different cultures, culminating in a joyous celebration of the beauty of our planet. Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines human achievements, particularly since the dawn of our Industrial Age, and how these achievements have impacted the planet. Part III: Searching for Balance questions how to create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. In addition to the complete oratorio, stand-alone movements for mixed chorus, and for solo voice with piano, are also available separately.
Terra Nostra focuses on the relationship between our planet and mankind, how this relationship has shifted over time, and how we can re-establish a harmonious balance. The oratorio is divided into three parts:Part I: Creation of the World celebrates the birth and beauty of our planet. The oratorio begins with creation myths from India, North America, and Egypt that are integrated into the opening lines of Genesis from the Old Testament. The music surges forth from these creation stories into “God’s World” by Edna St. Vincent Millay, which describes the world in exuberant and vivid detail. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “On thine own child” praises Mother Earth for her role bringing forth all life, while Walt Whitman sings a love song to the planet in “Smile O voluptuous cool-breathed earth!” Part I ends with “A Blade of Grass” in which Whitman muses how our planet has been spinning in the heavens for a very long time.Part II: The Rise of Humanity examines the achievements of mankind, particularly since the dawn of the Industrial Age. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “Locksley Hall” sets an auspicious tone that mankind is on the verge of great discoveries. This is followed in short order by Charles Mackay’s “Railways 1846,” William Ernest Henley’s “A Song of Speed,” and John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s “High Flight,” each of which celebrates a new milestone in technological achievement. In “Binsey Poplars,” Gerard Manley Hopkins takes note of the effect that these advances are having on the planet, with trees being brought down and landscapes forever changed. Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “A Dirge” concludes Part II with a warning that the planet is beginning to sound a grave alarm.Part III: Searching for Balance questions how we can create more awareness for our planet’s plight, re-establish a deeper connection to it, and find a balance for living within our planet’s resources. Three texts continue the earth’s plea that ended the previous section: Lord Byron’s “Darkness” speaks of a natural disaster (a volcano) that has blotted out the sun from humanity and the panic that ensues; contemporary poet Esther Iverem’s “Earth Screaming” gives voice to the modern issues of our changing climate; and William Wordsworth’s “The World Is Too Much With Us” warns us that we are almost out of time to change our course. Contemporary/agrarian poet Wendell Berry’s “The Want of Peace” speaks to us at the climax of the oratorio, reminding us that we can find harmony with the planet if we choose to live more simply, and to recall that we ourselves came from the earth. Two Walt Whitman texts (“A Child said, What is the grass?” and “There was a child went forth every day”) echo Berry’s thoughts, reminding us that we are of the earth, as is everything that we see on our planet. The oratorio concludes with a reprise of Whitman’s “A Blade of Grass” from Part I, this time interspersed with an additional Whitman text that sublimely states, “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love…”My hope in writing this oratorio is to invite audience members to consider how we interact with our planet, and what we can each personally do to keep the planet going for future generations. We are the only stewards Earth has; what can we each do to leave her in better shape than we found her?

SKU: CF.CY3233Y

ISBN 9780825890048. UPC: 798408090043. 11 x 14 inches.

...Around the time of the Bicentennial, when I got a commission to write my American Cantata, I found the need to be American again in my music, as I was in my early music. I started to combine my adventurousness of my more recent music with my earlier traditional style. And I found that I could be just as crazy, while being at the same time, to a certain extent, traditional! (excerpted from a Foss interview with classical radio host Bruce Duffie) A manuscript score is now available as custom print, offering a special glimpse into the genesis of this major Foss choral work.

SKU: BA.BA04599-41

ISBN 9790006496310. 24.4 x 17.3 cm inches. Language: Italian. Pietro Metastasio.

This separately published Critical Commentary offers extensive information on the genesis, reception, sources, and readings of the works included in the music volume.

SKU: HP.C5636O

UPC: 763628256364. Natalie Sleeth. 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, Eccesliastes 3:1-8, Genesis 1:14, John 12:24, Psalms 1:3, Psalms 30:5.

Popular choral anthem Natalie Sleeth's popular choral anthem and hymn, also known as In the Bulb There Is a Flower, has been given a lovely new treatment by Tom Fettke for SATB choirs. The provocative text relates both to our present life and our hope of eternal life, as expressed in I Corinthians 15:35-58. This fresh setting emphasizes the resurrected life as it builds to the final victory stanza with driving rhythm and a change to common meter (4/4). This arrangement is also available in a medium-voice vocal solo in the key of F.

The orchestration by Camp Kirkland contains a Conductor's Score and parts for: Flute 1 & 2, Oboe, Clarinet 1 & 2, Horn 1 & 2, Alto Sax 1 & 2 (substitute for Horn 1 & 2), Trombone 1 & 2, Tenor Sax/Baritone TC (substitute for Trombone 1 & 2), Trombone 3/Tuba, Percussion 1 & 2, Harp, Violin 1 & 2, Viola, Clarinet 3 (substitute for Viola), Cello/Bassoon and String Bass, Keyboard String Reduction.