Two Contrapuntal Organ Works

SKU: SU.80101396

Trilogy on B-A-C-H (2017) uses as its musical material a familiar four-note theme: the letters B-A-C-H (the last name of Johann Sebastian Bach) treated as a musical motive: B-flat, A, C, B-natural (H in German note naming). Starting with Bach himself, this theme has been used by a truly enormous number of composers over the centuries. Most B-A-C-H themed works (at least those for organ), tend to be extremely contrapuntal, likely taking their cue from much of Bach's own organ music. This piece explicitly goes in the other direction and use the theme primarily motivically/melodically and as a generating force for the kind of mixed modality that is typical of Cooman's music. The first movement is an energetic march. The second movement is a lyric meditation containing both an arioso and a short quasi-passacaglia, in which the B-A-C-H motive repeats slowly in the pedals. The last movement is a free fantasia: the motive appears both in chorale-like long notes and as a fast, turning figure. Instrumentation: Organ Duration: 12' Composed: 2017 Published by: Zimbel Press.

SKU: CF.B3470

ISBN 9781491159460. UPC: 680160918058.

The awardee of two Guggenheim fellowships, Julia Perry studied composition with Luigi Dallapiccola and Nadia Boulanger, and conducted her works on a tour throughout Europe with the Vienna Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestra. She would become one of the first African-American female composers to have an orchestral work performed by the New York Philharmonic. Although she had an auspicious and promising career in her early life, it was tragically cut short by a series of strokes leading to partial paralysis and eventually, her death, at age 55 in 1979.Perry’s catalog is widely varied, featuring thirteen symphonies, numerous chamber and solo works, pieces for band, choral and vocal music, and four operas. Her Violin Concerto, completed in 1968, shows the influence of Dallapiccola’s teachings: sharp harmonic dissonances organized around specific pitch centers, short repetitive patterns that establish significant musical materials, and contrapuntal textures. Her fastidious performance markings in the solo violin part indicate her profound understanding of the instrument. Angular, muscled, and sparkling by turns, this piece is a sophisticated entry to the serious violinist's concert repertoire.There is no evidence or documentation that the Violin Concerto was ever premiered or performed during her lifetime, despite the fact that the composer prepared a full score, piano reduction and orchestral parts. Regrettably, this is the case with the majority of her works composed in the final decade of her life.
What is extraordinary about Julia Perry’s musical career was the astonishing success she attained in her early years. In her youth she studied piano, voice, violin and cello. She began to compose in her teenage years, her first publication being a choral work in 1947 by Carl Fischer. Her Stabat Mater was published in 1951 and would become one of her most often performed pieces, with performances in Europe and the United States. In 1953 she was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to study with the Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola, first at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, later in Florence, Italy. During this time, she also pursued studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and was awarded a second Guggenheim fellowship. She studied conducting at this time, touring Europe in 1957 to conduct her own works with the Vienna Philharmonic and the BBC Orchestra. During her European sojourns, she learned and mastered French, German and Italian. She would become one of the first African-American female composers to have an orchestral work performed by the New York Philharmonic.Perry’s circumstances would change dramatically once she reached forty years of age, having returned permanently to the United States. At some point in the spring of 1970, she suffered the first of two strokes that would paralyze her right side and confine her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Nonetheless, she continued to compose and to promote her works with publishers and conductors. A second stroke contributed to her death in 1979 at age 55. She likely endured harsh ethnic and gender discrimination in the course of her career, and her later years would witness a period of extreme civil unrest. These matters and the significance of music in her life are undoubtedly what led her to say, “Music has a great role to play in establishing the brotherhood of man.”Perry’s catalog is widely varied, featuring thirteen symphonies, numerous chamber and solo works, pieces for band, choral and vocal music, and four operas. Her Violin Concerto, completed in 1968, is indicative of the influence of Dallapiccola’s teachings: sharp harmonic dissonances organized around specific pitch centers, short repetitive patterns that establish significant musical materials, and contrapuntal textures. The work is a single movement of 392 measures organized around three alternating tempos: Slow (Œ = 60), Moderate (Œ = 84) and Fast (Œ = 120). The opening thirty-measure cadenza for the solo violin introduces most of the thematic material for the piece. The orchestration commonly features antiphonal writing between orchestral groups, for example, strings alternating with brass, or strings alternating with winds. The harp and piano generally appear as solo instruments, rather than as members of the orchestra. Her fastidious performance markings in the solo violin part indicate her profound understanding of the instrument.There is no evidence or documentation that the Violin Concerto was ever premiered or performed during her lifetime, despite the fact that the composer prepared a full score, piano reduction and orchestral parts. Regrettably, this is the case with the majority of her works composed in the final decade of her life.

SKU: PR.16500100F

ISBN 9781491114421. UPC: 680160669783. 9 x 12 inches.

Commissioned for a consortium of high school and college bands in the north Dallas region, FOR THEMYSTIC HARMONY is a 10-minute inspirational work in homage to Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon,patrons of the Fort Worth Symphony and the Van Cliburn Competition. Welcher draws melodic flavorfrom five American hymns, spirituals, and folk tunes of the 19th century. The last of these sources toappear is the hymn tune For the Beauty of the Earth, whose third stanza is the quatrain: “For the joy of earand eye, For the heart and mind’s delight, For the mystic harmony, Linking sense to sound and sight,”giving rise to the work’s title.
This work, commissioned for a consortium of high school bands in the north Dallas area, is my fifteenth maturework for wind ensemble (not counting transcriptions). When I asked Todd Dixon, the band director whospearheaded this project, what kind of a work he most wanted, he first said “something that’s basically slow,” butwanted to leave the details to me. During a long subsequent conversation, he mentioned that his grandparents,Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon, were prime supporters of the Fort Worth Symphony, going so far as to purchase anumber of high quality instruments for that orchestra. This intrigued me, so I asked more about his grandparentsand was provided an 80-page biographical sketch. Reading that article, including a long section about theirdevotion to supporting a young man through the rigors of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition fora number of years, moved me very much. Norwood and Elizabeth Dixon weren’t just supporters of the arts; theywere passionate lovers of music and musicians. I determined to make this work a testament to that love, and tothe religious faith that sustained them both. The idea of using extant hymns was also suggested by Todd Dixon,and this 10-minute work is the result.I have employed existing melodies in several works, delving into certain kinds of religious music more than a fewtimes. In seeking new sounds, new ways of harmonizing old tunes, and the contrapuntal overlaying of one tunewith another, I was able to make works like ZION (using 19th-century Revivalist hymns) and LABORING SONGS(using Shaker melodies) reflect the spirit of the composers who created these melodies, without sounding likepastiches or medleys. I determined to do the same with this new work, with the added problem of employingmelodies that were more familiar. I chose five tunes from the 19th century: hymns, spirituals, and folk-tunes.Some of these are known by differing titles, but they all appear in hymnals of various Christian denominations(with various titles and texts). My idea was to employ the tunes without altering their notes, instead using aconstantly modulating sense of harmony — sometimes leading to polytonal harmonizations of what are normallysimple four-chord hymns.The work begins and ends with a repeated chime on the note C: a reminder of steeples, white clapboard churchesin the country, and small church organs. Beginning with a Mixolydian folk tune of Caribbean origin presentedtwice with layered entrances, the work starts with a feeling of mystery and gentle sorrow. It proceeds, after along transition, into a second hymn that is sometimes connected to the sea (hence the sensation of water andwaves throughout it). This tune, by John B. Dykes (1823-1876), is a bit more chromatic and “shifty” than mosthymn-tunes, so I chose to play with the constant sensation of modulation even more than the original does. Atthe climax, the familiar spiritual “Were you there?” takes over, with a double-time polytonal feeling propelling itforward at “Sometimes it causes me to tremble.”Trumpets in counterpoint raise the temperature, and the tempo as well, leading the music into a third tune (ofunknown provenance, though it appears with different texts in various hymnals) that is presented in a sprightlymanner. Bassoons introduce the melody, but it is quickly taken up by other instruments over three “verses,”constantly growing in orchestration and volume. A mysterious second tune, unrelated to this one, interrupts it inall three verses, sending the melody into unknown regions.The final melody is “For the Beauty of the Earth.” This tune by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872) is commonly sung atThanksgiving — the perfect choice to end this work celebrating two people known for their generosity.Keeping the sense of constant modulation that has been present throughout, I chose to present this hymn in threegrowing verses, but with a twist: every four bars, the “key” of the hymn seems to shift — until the “Lord of all, toThee we praise” melody bursts out in a surprising compound meter. This, as it turns out, was the “mystery tune”heard earlier in the piece. After an Ivesian, almost polytonal climax, the Coda begins over a long B( pedal. At first,it seems to be a restatement of the first two phrases of “For the Beauty” with long spaces between them, but it soonchanges to a series of “Amen” cadences, widely separated by range and color. These, too, do not conform to anykey, but instead overlay each other in ways that are unpredictable but strangely comforting.The third verse of “For the Beauty of the Earth” contains this quatrain:“For the joy of ear and eye, –For the heart and mind’s delightFor the mystic harmonyLinking sense to sound and sight”and it was from this poetry that I drew the title for the present work. It is my hope that audiences and performerswill find within it a sense of grace: more than a little familiar, but also quite new and unexpected.

SKU: CA.2100749

ISBN 9790007197889. Text language: Latin.

The three grands motets, Quam dilecta, In convertendo and Deus noster refugium, which Jean-Philippe Rameau composed from 1713 to 1715 are still relatively unknown today. Yet these masterworks can stand comparison to the best works of Michel-Richard de Lalande. They are testimony to Rameau's great contrapuntal mastery and contain beautiful lyrical passages. Quam dilecta and Deus noster refugium have survived only in later sources which originated in about 1770, after Rameau's death, and the works have been rendered in a scoring which does not correspond to his intentions. The present new edition attempts for the first time to reconstruct them as closely as possible to their original form. The edition of In convertendo is based on Rameau's autograph score from 1751. Score and part available separately - see item CA.2100700.

SKU: CA.5425449

ISBN 9790007226077. Language: Latin.

Just by reason of its scoring the Missa Sancti Hieronymi occupies a special place not only among the settings of the Mass by Haydn, but also in the repertoire of church music at the Royal Court of Salzburg. Other than the Hieronymus Mass and the Proprium motet Timete Dominum MH 256, which is connected with it, there are no additional surviving works in the Salzburg repertoire with this type of instrumentation. The unusual instrumentation, the contrapuntal style in the fugal sections, as well as the melodic invention and harmonic elaboration show that this Mass is a masterpiece. Score and part available separately - see item CA.5425400.

SKU: M7.AHW-1208

A compendium of contrapuntal gems - 45 in all - drawn largely from the enduring works of the great baroque masters: Vivaldi's concerto's; Handel's organ concertos, Fireworks Music, and Water Music; and J.S. Bach's partitas, orchestral suites, concerti grossi, harpsichord and violin concertos, and preludes and fugues from The Well Tempered Clavier (Books I and II). A few of the duets are within the capability of beginning students. For example, the familiar Shaker tune Simple Gifts, many require intermediate level proficiency, but most will challenge - and reward - the advanced player. Excellent material for those wishing to improve their technique on the high trumpets.