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One from the Folder: Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs

May 24, 2019 by Shelbie L. Wahl-Fouts Leave a Comment

#50: Friday, May 24, 2019

“Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op.26, Group II” by Gustav Holst
Movement 3
Text by Holst, from Sanskrit sources

SSA w div, piano or orchestra

(continued from #48 Friday, April 26 & #49 Friday, May 17)

This blog is in three parts – the first part (April 26) was intro material about this full selection, and details about the first movement. The second week (May 17) covered Movement 2. This entry reviews Movement 3. Be sure to read all three!

The text of the 3rd movement is as follows:

III. Funeral Chant

To those for whom the meath is poured,
For whom the holy wine doth flow,
May he go forth!

Yea unto them whose fiery zeal
Hath burned a path to paradise,
May he go forth!

To those the heroes of the fight,
Whose lives were giv’n as sacrifice,
May he go forth!

Unto the faithful of the Law,
Whose joy doth yield increase of truth,
May he go forth!

To those whose souls are born of fire,
The poets of a thousand songs,

The Holy ones who guard the sun,
Unto the Fathers,
May he go forth!

In contrast to Holst’s bombastic Agni/Fire movement preceding, this third movement of Holst’s is slow, smooth, and calm. Titled “Funeral Chant,” it begins unaccompanied, with all Altos presenting the funeral theme.

Intonation and timbre can be tricky in that first phrase, especially if they are literally catching their breath from the previous movement. Your altos were singing near the top of the treble staff, at ff, for some of the previous movement and now are supposed to enter an octave lower, or more, with a warm rounded tone. It will take practice to make a smooth transition.

The orchestra (woodwinds, harp) enters at the end of the first choir phrase – on the same pitch as the choir. Be aware – if choir intonation has gone astray, there is no place to hide.

Speaking of orchestra, the instrumentation of the ensemble changes here from previous movements, favoring woodwinds, strings, harp, and organ pedal (or keyboard/synth or contrabassoon). The result is ethereal in nature and often lacking in rhythm, except for arpeggios in the harp. The choir absolutely needs to be able to keep its own counsel with regard to steady, consistent pulse.

After the initial motivic presentation by the altos, the choir moves from the three-part SSA of previous movements to SA/SA/SA. Essentially, there are three groups, of two-parts each (marked Treble and Alto). For the next ~30 measures, all Treble parts are the same, and all Alto parts are the same, just staggered in entrance. It is a canon, writ large.

m9-13
m14-16

Learning the parts for this section can be a snap – put all the Altos on one side of the room and all the Trebles on the other. Start the three choirs at the same time. You’ll end up with two-parts instead of six, and strength in numbers. The motives are repetitive and easily grasped. However, make absolutely sure everyone understands the counting and pulse in 3/2.

While the note-learning part is a breeze, splitting back up into three choirs can be a challenge. In my experience, students latch on to the pitches easily, but once one group misses an entrance or jumps ahead too quickly, the stability of the group takes a dive quickly.

Part of what makes this section difficult, besides the 3/2 meter, is the accompaniment. Or, rather, the lack thereof. The orchestration consists entirely of long pedal tones in the lower strings. There is no metric structure whatsoever, and no choral assistance either (except for the pedal tone).

For the choir – counting is key. For the conductor – cues for entrances are paramount. It took us one rehearsal to learn the pitches associated with the treble/alto lines, but weeks to have each choir feel comfortable with their own metric responsibility as part of the whole. Plan accordingly, depending on the strengths of your groups.

When all three mini choirs and the pedal tones are combined, the result is a haunting, layered, wave of sound. This section can be unexpectedly beautiful, especially if you are in a performance hall with reverb or delay.

This alto opening, and subsequent three-choir canon, covers the first four verses of the text. Each segment ends with “May he go forth.”

The SA/SA/SA canon then takes a pause for 7 measures, and becomes true 6 part SSSAAA. Each part has unique challenges to the tonal line – tritones, large leaps, plentiful accidentals, limited orchestral support, etc. When put together, the contrast of this stacked 6-part homophony, to the three-choir canon that has been heard thus far, is striking.

m38-39

Be sure to look at these measures (m37-43) before dividing your choir down the middle for S/A parts in the first section. Ranges in these seven measures vary.

Group 1 Sop is the highest of the 6 voices, while Group 1 Alto is the lowest (A3, ostensibly). You’ll need to make sure your highest and lowest voices respectively are part of Group 1, in order to make this section work well. Group 2 is essentially S2 & S3, while Group 3 is A1 & A2.

Planning your part-assignments based on the range needs of these few measures and the leadership needs of the canon will help a great deal overall.

Holst closes the movement, and the overall work, with a return to the three-choir canon and pppp rising chords in the upper strings. All in all, it is an unexpected ending compared to the rhythmicity, volume, and tonal saturation of earlier movements. Once the final chords hit though, savor the reverence in the performance space. All the work will be worth it!

Title:Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Group II
Composer:Gustav Holst
Date of Composition:1909-1911
Author:Holst, from Sanskrit Vedic hymns
Language:English
Listed Voicing:SSA
Voicing Details:SSA with divisi up to 6 parts
Ranges:Vary greatly by movement. Highest Sopranos need C6. Lowest Altos need G3.
Accompaniment:Piano, or orchestra
Duration:~12 minutes, for all three movements
Tempo:I: 48, 66
II: 200
III: 56
Dedication:To Edward Mason and his Choir
Publisher:Galaxy Music (a division of ECS)
Further descriptions and details, including program notes, audio, perusal score, and purchasing:
—https://imslp.org/wiki/Choral_Hymns_from_the_Rig_Veda%2C_Op.26_(Holst%2C_Gustav)
—https://www.canticledistributing.com/choral-hymns-from-the-rig-veda-group-96.html
—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIv01AcTt4A

Until next time!
-Shelbie Wahl-Fouts


Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts is associate professor of music, Director of Choral Activities, and music department chair at Hollins University, a women’s college in Roanoke, Virginia.
Email:
Bio:     https://www.hollins.edu/directory/shelbie-wahl-fouts/

For a listing of all current and past blog entries by this author, click here.
For a spreadsheet of all blog posts and their repertoire, click here.

Filed Under: One From the Folder, Treble Choirs, Women's Choirs Tagged With: holst, orchestra, rig veda, treble choir, Women's Chorus

One from the Folder: Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs

May 17, 2019 by Shelbie L. Wahl-Fouts Leave a Comment

#49: Friday, May 17, 2019

“Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op.26, Group II” by Gustav Holst
Movement 2
Text by Holst, from Sanskrit sources

SSA w div, piano or orchestra

(continued from #48, Friday, April 26)

This blog is in three parts – the first part (April 26) was intro material about this full selection, and details about the first movement. This week is Movement 2. My next entry will be Movement 3. Be sure to read all three!

The text of the 2nd movement is as follows:

II.  To Agni (God of Fire)

Burn up our sin fierce flaming Agni,
Thou with thy face that shineth brightly,
Flame for us O Agni, flame!
Grant unto those that call upon thee,
That we may live on in our children,
Praising thee forever.

Flame for us O Agni!
Thy glowing tongues of flame leap upward
Reaching the heavens, ever victorious,
Thy face doth gleam on ev’ry side.
Thou art triumphant ev’rywhere.
Over the raging sea of foemen
As in a boat O bear us onward,

Flame for us O Agni!

“To Agni” is a tour-de-force of rhythm and energy – and an exceptional exercise in counting! It is written in 5/4, but the asymmetrical division of 5 is not constant – Holst goes back and forth between 3+2 and 2+3. (As a side note, I also used this as a teaching example in my Conducting class this term, for asymmetrical meter. It was a universally loathed example to start with (ha!), but once they got it, they felt quite proud of themselves, and rightly so!)

The score begins with a note: “In the following hymn, the bars are divided into 3 beats followed by 2 and 2 followed by 3 alternating with few exceptions. The figure at the beginning of each bar denotes which of the two comes first.”

You can see this note, and the measure divisions and markers, in the opening excerpt below.

m1-4

There are dotted lines that mark measures as 3+2 or 2+3. And a “3” or a “2” at the start of each measure to help as well. For the most part, the music goes back and forth between the two systematically….until it doesn’t.

Just when you feel like you, the chorus, and the pianist or orchestra have it down pat, Holst changes things up, In particular, there are a few sequences of multiple 3+2 measures. [m19, among others]

To make it slightly more complex, the piece is marked at MM=200, so it is fast. We aren’t talking broad, legato asymmetrical patterns with 5 distinct beats (1-2, 3-4-5 or 1-2-3, 4-5), we are talking a lop-sided “2” pattern that changes measure by measure (1& 2&a or 1&a 2&). As simply an exercise in conducting, it is great practice. Teaching it to singers or orchestra members who may not be as familiar with asymmetrical meters (or at least not as familiar with constantly shifting asymmetrical meters) will definitely require some rhythmic legwork.

There is something to be said for not overthinking this movement. Once your performers have the notion of the 3+2/2+3, my advice would be to not overdo the mathematical approach. Feel it, physicalize it, have them conduct it. Try to live the asymmetrical feeling, instead of only counting it. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not advocating a sloppy rendering of the music. But the movement needs energy too. An over-focus on the math will sap some of the inherent drive. Finding a good rehearsal balance between the feel and the math is tricky, but likely will serve the music best in the end.

After you solidify the meter, the first 18 measures of the piece are fairly straightforward. There are two contrasting lines (as seen in the example above). The eighth/quarter pattern (RH in the piano reduction) starts in the oboe, clarinet, tambourine, violins, and viola. The stepwise melodic line is found in the choir, as well as the 1st horn, 1st trumpet, and cello. Instrumentation may change, but that is the general orchestral support. The choir is homophonic, and almost entirely in unison as well, with occasional vertical harmony.

At m19 (after roman numeral I), we encounter the first “all 3+2” section. This is the first imitative moment for the voices. Each choral part enters with a near* identical motive, staggered by one measure. The entrances are supported by oboe and clarinet (LH of the piano reduction), while the eighth-quarter pattern is continued in other instruments as before. (*Alto may need extra practice at m22, as their line differs here from the S1 and S2 entrances that precede it.)

m19-20
m21-24

On m34 (after roman numeral II), we come to what is certainly the most tricky section of the piece. Instead of two distinct musical lines, as we’ve had so far, there are now multiple distinct lines. And not all are in the same metrical feel.

1) eighth/quarter pattern, that continues off and on (RH of reduction, m34-35) OR
2) triplets from the upper strings (RH of reduction, m36-37)
AND
3) straight quarter notes in a repeated 5-note stepwise gesture (usually bassoon, cello, and bass–LH of reduction, m34-35) OR
4) dotted quarter+eighth pattern, which include hemiola and ties over the barline (LH of reduction, m36-37)
AND
5) homophonic choral line made up of mostly-but-not-entirely half notes, which would arguably do better written/conducted in 2 or 4, instead of 5. There is significant hemiola and obscuring of the barline.

m34-37

This is one of those places that counting is absolutely imperative for your singers. The instrumentalists will likely find their groove, but singing the choral parts here is a bit like being tossed feet-first into a double-dutch jumprope game, without any warning or prep. At least for my singers, rehearsing on their own was fine, but once they heard the driving rhythmic 5/4 nature of the other parts, it was very difficult to keep their own 2/4-esque phrases on target. These passages, by far, took the most rehearsal time of the whole movement when combining choir and orchestra together.

At III, the movement returns to earlier styles, as in m1 and m19. Change of text or instrumentation, but similar motives/lines.

Roman numeral IV is the last push to the end, and what a push it is. It starts at fff, and only gets bigger from there. The instrumental motives and melody fragments are similar to m31-37 #1-2-3-4 listed above, while the choral parts are more like the beginning (unison or close). However, the bass line listed above as #3–straight quarter notes, is now half notes (m67-68), borrowing the hemiola concepts from the choral lines earlier. And then just when that feels established, it changes to quarter notes again (m75). With the strength of the bassoon, trombone, tuba, cello, and bass, the final ascending quarter note passage is a giant wall of sound.

With the quarter note bass line coupled with the quarter-eighth pattern and the dotted-eighth/quarter pattern, and an accelerando, the movement snowballs hugely to the finish. After counting rests for a few measures and hoping to jump in at the correct time, the choir enters with a barn-burner of a final chord – the biggest, loudest, longest, highest C major they can muster. (i.e. If you have S1s who love their high notes, this is not the time to hold them back!)

m67-70
m75-80(end)

All in all, this is a short movement, but a powerful one. The text is about Agni, the god of fire: fire & flame, victory & triumph. Holst’s musical setting does not disappoint. Prepare for the metrical challenges, but support the musical ideas with unbridled energy and drive. Bring your fire and the music will too.

To be continued in my next entry, focusing on movement 3.

Title:Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Group II
Composer:Gustav Holst
Date of Composition:1909-1911
Author:Holst, from Sanskrit Vedic hymns
Language:English
Listed Voicing:SSA
Voicing Details:SSA with divisi up to 6 parts
Ranges:Vary greatly by movement. Highest Sopranos need C6. Lowest Altos need G3.
Accompaniment:Piano, or orchestra
Duration:~12 minutes, for all three movements
Tempo:I: 48, 66
II: 200
III: 56
Dedication:To Edward Mason and his Choir
Publisher:Galaxy Music (a division of ECS)
Further descriptions and details, including program notes, audio, perusal score, and purchasing:
—https://imslp.org/wiki/Choral_Hymns_from_the_Rig_Veda%2C_Op.26_(Holst%2C_Gustav)
—https://www.canticledistributing.com/choral-hymns-from-the-rig-veda-group-96.html
—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIv01AcTt4A

Until next week!
-Shelbie Wahl-Fouts


Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts is associate professor of music, Director of Choral Activities, and music department chair at Hollins University, a women’s college in Roanoke, Virginia.
Email:
Bio:     https://www.hollins.edu/directory/shelbie-wahl-fouts/

For a listing of all current and past blog entries by this author, click here.
For a spreadsheet of all blog posts and their repertoire, click here.

Filed Under: One From the Folder, Treble Choirs, Women's Choirs Tagged With: holst, orchestra, rig veda, treble choir

One from the Folder: Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs

April 26, 2019 by Shelbie L. Wahl-Fouts Leave a Comment

#48: Friday, April 26, 2019

“Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Op.26, Group II” by Gustav Holst
Intro and Mvt
1
Text by Holst, from Sanskrit sources
SSA w div, piano or orchestra

This blog is in three parts – the first part (this week) will be intro material about this selection, and details about the first movement. Subsequent weeks will cover the 2nd and 3rd movements.

At Hollins, I lead the choral program, and recently also took on directing the student/community orchestra (Valley Chamber Orchestra). With me in front of both the choral and orchestral forces, the time seemed right this spring to program a choral-orchestral concert. The biggest challenge of this collaboration (besides how to fit everyone on stage!) was about repertoire. The amount of choral-orchestral rep for SATB choirs is large. However, the list of quality non-pops selections for full orchestra and SSAA choir is much harder to navigate.

In the end, the rep for the combined portion was as follows:

  • David Dickau, “If Music Be the Food of Love.” SSAA. Also available SATB. Orchestral parts for purchase from Colla Voce for orchestra parts.
  • Gustav Holst, Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Group II. SSA div. Orchestral Parts for rent from ECS.
    • I. To Varuna
    • II. To Agni
    • III. Funeral Chant
  • Gwyneth Walker, “Crossing the Bar.” SSAA. Orchestra parts for purchase from ECS.
  • Giuseppe Verdi, “Witches’ Chorus”from Macbeth, arr. Rutter, published in Three Opera Choruses for Upper Voices. Orchestra parts available for rent through Oxford and Edition Peters. SSA.
    • We only did the Verdi this time, but have previously programmed the other two movements in this set: “Spinning Chorus” from Wagner’s Der Fliegende Hollander and “Chorus of Peasant Girls” from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Of all the repertoire in the choral-orchestral portion of the concert, the Holst gained the most grudging respect from my singers, over the course of the semester. At first, I’ll be honest, they were not fans. Unfamiliar harmonies, exposed choral parts, sparse orchestral support, odd divisi, and difficult meters were just some of the reasons they found the work overwhelming early in the learning process. It was tougher music than I’d thrown at them before, so they were a little hesitant. The orchestra was likewise reticent, for similar reasons. But all those same challenging qualities also ended up being what they loved most about the work by the end.

First, a little background on this portion of Holst’s compositional life, according to musicologist Chris Morrison:

“The years 1900 through 1912 could be thought of as the British composer Gustav Holst’s (1874-1934) “Sanskrit” period. Inspired by his Theosophist stepmother, Holst developed an interest in the religious literature and poetry of India in his mid-twenties, going so far as to learn the rudiments of the Sanskrit language at University College, London, so that he could make his own translations when he found those that available were unsuitable for his musical settings. His first effort in this vein was the opera Sita (1900-1906); later came works like the opera Sàvitri (1908), the choral work The Cloud Messenger (1909-1910), and the Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, written over the years 1908 through 1912.

The Rig Veda is a set of over 1000 hymns — singing the praises of the sacred plant soma and gods like Varuna, Agni, and Indra — brought by Indo-European speaking peoples into India somewhere around 1500-1000 B.C. Holst set 14 of these hymns in his four groups of Choral Hymns, which were fairly popular during his lifetime, but have seldom been performed since.

The first group (written in 1908-1910, premiered at Newcastle on December 6, 1911) is scored for mixed chorus and orchestra. The third group (written in 1910, premiered at Blackburn on March 16, 1911) combines women’s chorus with harp accompaniment. The fourth group (written in 1912, premiered at Queen’s Hall on March 18, 1914) is scored for men’s chorus and orchestra. [As a women’s chorus conductor, the third group – for women’s choir and harp – was the one I was already familiar with.]

The second group (written in 1909, premiered at Queen’s Hall on March 22, 1911) features women’s chorus with orchestra. The mysterious “To Varuna (God of the Waters),” with its quiet, desolate opening and unusual harmonies, is followed by the lively, polyphonic “To Agni (God of Fire)” and the haunting “Funeral Chant.”

The text of the 1st movement is as follows:

I.   To Varuna

O Varuna, we offer up to thee a song to bring thee earthward unto us.
O thou, the Ancient One, the Mighty, the Holy,
laden with treasure of sacrifice, Descend to us.
But now having entered unto his presence his face doth scorch as flames of angry fire.
O Varuna if we have sinned against thee yet we are thine own.
Give shelter to those that bring thee praise.
Hast thou forgotten how in the days gone by with thee O Varuna fearlessly walked we.
Into thy mansion, lofty and shining, built with a thousand doors,
Freely we entered.
Then in thy boat we embarked with thee Varuna,
Forth did we wend o’er the path of the ocean,
Over the surface of billowy waters swaying so gently, gliding so smoothly,
Yea in those happy days
Thou didst inspire us, gavest us wisdom, mad’st us thy singers.
Ah! In those happy days
Broad were the heav’ns, long were the days
O Varuna if we have sinned against thee yet we are thine own
Give shelter to those that bring thee praise.

“To Varuna,” opens very sparsely in 3/2, with haunting phrases in individual string parts, punctuated by intervals in the winds. There is one sharp in the key signature, but accidentals abound. Your principal violin and principal viola must have no fear, and great intonation. I conducted this in big 3, with subdivisions as needed for entrances or emphasis.

After the intro, choral parts (SSA) enter in unison, but with no instrumental support underneath. They just float in from the ether. For a choir used to rhythmic or tonal accompaniment support (either from the piano or from other voices), this opening can feel a little exposed.

The unison turns to homophonic/chordal harmony, with some difficult dissonances between voices. A solo oboe enters above the voices, to add a layer. The counting here for voices can be tricky – the rhythms fall in line with the text, which makes it feel more spoken than sung, but the rests come at unexpected times.

Flute, harp, timpani, and horn enter next, pp – still no full strings. Throughout the whole movement, there is a rhythmic contrast between three-half-notes and two-dotted-half-notes. Both figures are almost always present, so if you are conducting in a big 3, one group will always feel “on” and another will always feel “off.” It makes for tricky rehearsals initially, but good rhythmic intrigue later.

The voices return, continuing in the parlando style – minimal harmony, maximum text. Tension ramps up quickly – moving from pp with just a few instruments to ff with everyone (including percussion and brass). This coincides with the text “as flames of angry fire.”

Continuing in the study of contrasts, the harp has running patterns of four-sixteenths, while the strings enter with 8th notes triplets. Some instrumental lines have dotted half figures, while others have half notes. Everyone must count – each section for themselves!

After another sparsely orchestrated section with speechlike rhythms, the style changes a bit. Instead of moderate 3/2, the tempo gets just a little faster and is written in 6/4. I kept conducting in three, but it felt like 3 primary beats, whereas the 3/2 felt like three with subdivision. This was counterintuitive to the given meter signatures, but it fit the music best.

Oboe, bass clarinet, and horn underscore this middle section of the movement, with an interesting combination of long tones and quick eighths. Choral parts are legato half notes (“Hast thou forgotten…”), in solid, non-diatonic triads. Accidentals are everywhere! This is not the section to learn via solfege – recognizing half-steps and whole-steps would be a much stronger teaching tool here. There are also some enharmonics from chord to chord that can be problematic until the singers catch them all.

After a full cycle of the choral half-note motive, with very minimal accompaniment, the strings re-enter as a unit, doubling the choral notes. At this point though, Holst introduces divisi into the vocal lines. In the score, it is written as “first row” (SSA new material) and “remainder” (SSA half note motive, now supported by strings). Essentially, your group is now in six parts.

For my purposes, I put my stronger singers on the new material, regardless of where they were standing, and kept everyone else on the material they already knew. Your mileage may vary, depending on how you feel your group would best be divided. The “first row” lines are predominantly quarter notes, so they move twice as fast as the rest of the choir. Together, the six parts and the orchestra create a quiet yet energetic section of moderately-controlled chaos.

After a brief return to the half-notes-only motive, without the quarter note overlay, the piece shifts to piu mosso and some very loud, very emphatic quarter note duplets (“Ah, in those happy days…”), before calming back down. The opening material returns, in pseudo da-capo fashion. The piece ends similar to how it begins, with a parlando invocation to Varuna, this time with a poignant violin solo over top.  

To be continued in my next entries, focusing on movements 2 and 3.

Title:Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, Group II
Composer:Gustav Holst
Date of Composition:1909-1911
Author:Holst, from Sanskrit Vedic hymns
Language:English
Listed Voicing:SSA
Voicing Details:SSA with divisi up to 6 parts
Ranges:Vary greatly by movement. Highest Sopranos need C6. Lowest Altos need G3.
Accompaniment:Piano, or orchestra
Duration:~12 minutes, for all three movements
Tempo:I: 48, 66
II: 200
III: 56
Dedication:To Edward Mason and his Choir
Publisher:Galaxy Music (a division of ECS)
Further descriptions and details, including program notes, audio, perusal score, and purchasing:
—https://imslp.org/wiki/Choral_Hymns_from_the_Rig_Veda%2C_Op.26_(Holst%2C_Gustav)
—https://www.canticledistributing.com/choral-hymns-from-the-rig-veda-group-96.html
—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIv01AcTt4A

Until next week!
-Shelbie Wahl-Fouts


Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts is associate professor of music, Director of Choral Activities, and music department chair at Hollins University, a women’s college in Roanoke, Virginia.
Email:
Bio:     https://www.hollins.edu/directory/shelbie-wahl-fouts/

For a listing of all current and past blog entries by this author, click here.
For a spreadsheet of all blog posts and their repertoire, click here.

Filed Under: One From the Folder, Treble Choirs, Women's Choirs Tagged With: holst, orchestra, rig veda, treble choir, Women's Chorus

One from the Folder: Weekly Repertoire Thoughts for Women’s/Treble Choirs

August 3, 2018 by Shelbie L. Wahl-Fouts Leave a Comment

Week 20: Friday, August 3, 2018

“Ave Maria” by Gustav Holst
Marian antiphon
SSAA/SSAA, a cappella

This blog on ChoralNet is now 20 weeks old, just slightly older than my infant son (currently 13 weeks!). So far, much of the repertoire has been from the 20th and 21st centuries, with one week each of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Today, we look at an offering from the late Romantic era, by noted English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934).

Written in 1900, the piece falls in the early part of Holst’s output, being one of his first published works. He dedicated the piece to his mother, Clara von Holst, who died when he was just eight years old.

This work is about five minutes long, which is remarkably brief compared to Holst’s later, larger choral compositions, such as Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda. “Ave Maria” is a beautiful opportunity to study Holst’s lush techniques in a more compact, manageable fashion.

One notable facet of this composition is the voicing, set for double SSAA choir. On one hand, this could be a beautiful chamber selection for eight of your strongest independent soloists – singers who can fully hold their own one-on-a-part. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the piece would be equally lovely with a large choral ensemble. In a smaller group, the internal moving parts will be heard more clearly, while with a larger group, the overall sonorities will blend and soar more easily. Regardless of the total number of singers, you will need at least one soprano who can effortlessly sing (and hold) Bb5 and another soprano with a solid Ab5, as well as an alto with a steady F3.

Earlier in my graduate career, I programmed this work with the Ball State University Women’s Chorus, a medium-large undergraduate ensemble. This upcoming fall at Hollins, I plan to introduce the piece to my small advanced choir. The part-independence and self-reliance required will push them, as there are usually only 12-14 voices in the group, but I know they will relish the challenge.

Tonally speaking, the piece envelops Eb major, but it encompasses both tonal and modal harmonies. Some phrases will be very conducive to diatonic solfege, while other phrases will require a different approach. There is often a strong vertical triad present at cadence points, but not all the triads are found within the key of Eb. The lack of solfege-functionality may be a stumbling block for some ensembles but will also present an opportunity for other methods of learning.

In addition to the double choir format of the composition, another defining trait of this setting is its constantly-moving step-wise nature (both parallel and contrary motion). There are certainly skips and leaps within Holst’s writing, but the scalar nature of many passages contributes to the forward-flowing motion that seems to be perpetually active in this song. It’s as if the work is consistently unfolding, eager to reach the next triad.

The piece is written in 6/4, with some measures necessitating a feeling of 6 micro beats, while others feel in 2 macro beats. This distinction will largely depend on the speed at which the song is presented. No matter the tempo though, the piece needs to feel as if the individual lines are leading via their stepwise motion, taking you from one cadence to the next.

As with many late Romantic/early 20th century composers, widely varying dynamics play a key role in supporting the drama of a song. Nearly every measure in Holst’s piece has a marking. From pp to ff, cresc. to sotto voce, every phrase has a detailed dynamic pattern to follow. Use these. Embrace these. Attention to the ebbs and flows of the dynamics will help the piece to blossom.

As Holst published this piece in 1900, the material is currently in the public domain. At present, there is at least one free/CPDL version available. However, be cautious of using public domain versions without due diligence; they may lack a keyboard/rehearsal reduction or have a problematic visual layout/spacing or have errors in transcription. For this piece in particular, I would err on the side of published versions, including a time-tested edition from 1987 by Galaxy Music (now ECS Publishing) and a more recent one from 2006 by Collegium Music Publications (distributed by Oxford University Press).

This brilliant example of Holst’s sonorous writing – in miniature – is truly a treat to learn and perform.

Title:Ave Maria (Op. 9b, H. 49)
Source:Marian antiphon
Composer:Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Date of Composition:1900
Subject(s), Genre:sacred, late Romantic era
Language:Latin
Listed Voicing:SSAA/SSAA double choir
Ranges:Choir 1
S1: D4 – Bb5
S2: Bb3 – F5
A1: Bb3 – Eb5
A2: G3 – Bb4

Choir 2
S1: Db4 – Ab5
S2: C4 – F5
A1: Ab3 – Eb5
A2: F3 – C4

Accompaniment:a cappella
Duration:~5:00
Tempo:Adagio
Dedication:“To the memory of my mother”
Publisher:ECS Publishing 1.3121
https://ecspublishing.com/ave-maria-40268.html
Oxford University Press 9780193416048
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ave-maria-9780193416048

Until next week!
-Shelbie Wahl-Fouts


Dr. Shelbie Wahl-Fouts is associate professor of music, Director of Choral Activities, and music department chair at Hollins University, a women’s college in Roanoke, Virginia.
Email:
Bio:     https://www.hollins.edu/directory/shelbie-wahl-fouts/

For a listing of all current and past blog entries by this author, click here.
For a spreadsheet of all blog posts and their repertoire, click here.

Filed Under: One From the Folder, Treble Choirs, Women's Choirs Tagged With: ave maria, double choir, holst, SSAA

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