SKU: PR.342402020

ISBN 9781598064995. UPC: 680160616084. 8.5 x 11 inches. English. Text: William Shakespeare; Aurelius Prudentius Clemens; Aeschylus. Aurelius Clemens, William Shakespeare, Aeschylus. Texts from Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, Aeschylus, and William Shakespeare.

When Tim Sharp, Executive Director of the ACDA, offered Stucky the Brock Memorial Commission, it was decided that the text would commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, since the annual convention would take place in Dallas of that year. To that end, Stucky chose four different but pertinent texts to honor the occasion, although never referencing JFK by name. Take Him, Earth was premiered at the ACDA convention in March, 2013. Originally scored for chorus and chamber ensemble of nine instruments (available on a rental basis), Take Him, Earth is presented here in piano reduction. For advanced choirs. Duration: 13'.
When Tim Sharp, Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association, very kindlyoffered me the Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission for 2013, he suggested that because thepremiere would take place at the national conference in Dallas in the 50th year since the assassinationof John F. Kennedy in that city, the text might refer in some way to that grim anniversary. Hesuggested, too, that I consider using a chamber ensemble or chamber orchestra to accompany thechorus.I took these suggestions to heart, but at the same time I wanted to write something universal enoughto be appropriate on other occasions, in other settings. Thus the score is dedicated to PresidentKennedy’s memory, but otherwise he is never referred to by name. Instead, I assembled a group oftexts that are associated with him in some way, but that also stand alone as a more general eulogy.As a refrain, there are a few lines from the early Christian burial hymn that begins “Take him,Earth, for cherishing” — lines that were earlier set to music by Herbert Howells in his classic motetcommissioned for Kennedy’s memorial service in 1963. The lines of Aeschylus “Drop, drop — inour sleep, upon the heart sorrow falls” from Agamemnon were quoted by Robert F. Kennedy uponthe death of Martin Luther King in April 1968. The celebrated “When he shall die, cut him out inlittle stars” from Act III of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was cited by RFK a few months after hisbrother’s murder.

SKU: HL.49046988

ISBN 9781705174333. UPC: 842819115281. 8.25x11.75x0.695 inches.

SYNOPSIS Aribert Reimann's 'Trilogie lyrique' is based on three plays by Maurice Maeterlinck: In L'Intruse, a family is sitting at the table with their blind grandfather. They are waiting for the doctor to arrive and tend to his daughter who is lying ill in bed after having given birth: her new-born son has not yet made a single sound. The old man senses that something is wrong due to the uneasy atmosphere in the room. Who is sitting in our midst? he asks. He is the only one who cansee the presence of death. Interieur: Once again a family is gathered round the table in the evening, but this time we observe the action from outside, looking through the window with the grandfather and a stranger: no sound can be heard. Outside the house, the stranger reports that the eldest daughter has drowned and that he has pulled her out of the river. Although the corpse is already being carried through the village to the family, the grandfather cannot bring himself to destroy this idyll. La Mort de Tintagiles: The young Tintagiles is told a story about a mysterious castle and the aged queen who has all potential heirsto the throne murdered. His siblings sense that Tintagiles has been summoned to the castle to be murdered, but nobody openly expresses this fact. It is the sinister messengers of death from the interludes, now visible as the queens servants, who ful?l her demand and snatch the sleeping boy from his sisters'arms. Commentary 'In comparison with his Medea for example with its stormy outbreaks of emotion and violence, Reimann's score is worked in an impressive refinement of sound. It begins with rumbling, hesitating and expressive music in the first section, demanding highly ingenious sound effects from the lower strings including tapping and faltering glissandos in its noisy expression of mortal fear. Inthe second part, the woodwind formation plays at times almost in chamber music fashion and is then suddenly painfully shrill. The third part luxuriates and rages in its rich, full orchestration. The manner in which Reimann displays his mastery in textural shading, the invention of sounds welling up and fading away, the rhythmic and melodic capacity of suffering and the music's inner violence are all utterly compelling.'(Wolfgang Schreiber, Opernwelt, November 2017).