THE MUSIC

JUMP TO:
MIXED CHOIR \\ TREBLE CHOIR \\ TENOR-BASS CHOIR

Sednalo e Djore dos - Sara Shakliyan

(prior to Area)

This one is a fun, humorous Bulgarian folk song, which tells a story of a man named George knitting a sock. When approached by a woman asking why he’s knitting, he says it is for whoever will marry him. So, she offers and he accepts! The folk tune is fast and repetitive and is arranged with colorful harmonies. Later, the treble and lower voices slow down and sing to each other, illustrating the dialogue between man and woman before the parts come together in a perpetual motion that gains intensity and speed all the way to the end.

Composed: 2003

Period: Contemporary

Language: Bulgarian

Fun Fact:  Just for inspiration, watch the second clip to see a Bulgarian choir sing a different version of this same folk tune in traditional costume. 

Liebst du um Schönheit - Clara Schumann, ed. McCullough

(prior to Area)

Similar to last year’s “Ich Stand in dunkel Traumen” for SSA, this is another German lieder (art song for solo voice) by Clara Schumann which has been arranged for choir. The music is typical of the middle Romantic period - aching lyricism, with classical era phrase structures: you’ll hear 4 bars of question, followed by 4 bars of answer, repetition to build familiarity, then a breaking of repetition to give a poignant climax at the end of the piece. It’s an archetypal love song written to archetypal love poetry, written with subtlety and sincerity.

Composed: 1841

Arranged: 2020

Period: Romanticism

Lanuage: German

Fun Fact: A quote from Clara, regarding what it was like to be a woman composer in the 1800s: "I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose – there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?”

Invitation to Love - Marques L.A. Garrett

(prior to Area)

This lush and lyrical piece is sure to please both singers and listeners! Is it this year’s “Always Keep this Close?” Is it even better? The music unfolds slowly, building through long sustained phrases to a climax of an aleatoric bath of sound as the singers repeat “and you are welcome” evoking a love both personal and timeless. Breath control and smart pacing will make this a fun one to audition on!

Composed: 2017

Period: Contemporary

Language: English

Fun Fact: The composer is a choral professor at UNT, and Rustin’s choir director!!

Dios itlaçonantzine – Hernando don Franco

(Area audition)

Story time! This piece offers a glimpse into the era in Mexico when indigenous people were converting to the Catholic faith of their Spanish colonizers. It is believed to have been written by an indigenous Nahua (Uto-Aztec) of central Mexico who took on the name of a famed Spanish composer at the time of his Baptism. The piece is a prayer to Mary, meant for use in a Catholic church service. It was found in a codex which included music by other well-known Renaissance composers like Palestrina and Lobo, and it is written in a style very similar to these composers.

Composed: c. 1540s-1580s

Period: Renaissance

Language: Nahuatl

Fun Fact: One of only two surviving songs written in the Nahuatl language

Rosas Pandan - George G. Hernandez

(prior to Area)

Rosas Pandan is a Visayan Folk Song about a woman (named Rosas Pandan) who comes down a mountain to celebrate fiesta and the ensuing dancing and celebration in which men of the town all fawn over her. The Visayan people are in the central Phillipines, and this folk song is actually a composed folk song which became popular among the people of the area. This arrangement by George Hernandez has brought this fun and energetic song a whole new level of popularity with choirs around the world!

Arranged: 2006

Period: 20th Century / Contemporary

Language: Visayan

Fun Fact: The reference recording is of the University of the Philippines where Rina went to school!

Guadalajara - Pepe Guizar, arr. Raul Dominguez

(prior to Area)

Pure, unfettered joy. This is a popular Mariachi tune which celebrates the beauty of Guadalajara, a city in central Mexico in the state of Jalisco. The words are a litany of the many things to love about the area, celebrating nature and culture. And the music dances with traditional Latin American rhythms of 3/4 against 6/8 (like Convidando esta la Noche from last year, or like “I want to be in America” from West Side Story). The arranger asks the singers to sing as full throated as possible in a group and welcomes the spontaneous bursts of joy called gritos.

Composed: 1973

Arranged: 2025

Period: 20th Century

Langauge: Spanish, with a few Nahuatl words

Crucifixion - Adolphus Hailstork

(Area audition)

This beautifully dramatic piece is based on a traditional Spiritual, but is so complex, epic, and original it would be inappropriate to call it an “arrangement.” Hailstork weaves the traditional melody within polyphonic textures and painful and obscure harmonies that blend jazz and modern-classical traditions. As a Black composer born in 1941, Hailstork bridges many eras of art and history. He was connected to giants of the European classical tradition by studying with Nadia Boulanger (who was friends with Stravinsky, and taught Aaron Copland, Elliot Carter, Philip Glass, among many others). He is still living and working - teaching at a Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Arranged: 1994

Period: 20th Century / Contemporary

Language: English

Fun Fact: You can listen to the original source material here: https://youtu.be/PEZtA8MHMpg?si=INE2s0l1em8kFZhK

Aer Enim - Linda Kachelmeier

(Area audition)

This piece is a hypnotic meditation on the mystical nature of air - sustaining all, and being sustained in this act. It is based on a medieval chant by Hildegard von Bingen (who also inspired “Caritas Abundat” from last year) who also wrote the Latin text. Linda Kachelmeier deconstructed the chant and gave it to multiple different voice parts, which weave together throughout to create the melody, and at the very end demonstrate a medieval musical style called “hocket” which is essentially what we today call “syncopation.” The piece ends on an exhale, noting our connection with the air the song is about.

Composed: 2006

Period: Contemporary

Language: Latin

Fun Fact: Hildegard von Bingen, who wrote the chant this piece quotes, is a really cool historical figure: an abbess who was a polymath, mystic, visionary, spoke against corruption in the catholic church, composer of the sacred monophony, philosopher, poet, medical theorist…

O Ignis Spiritus - Connor Koppin

(Area audition)

The best description for this piece is the composer’s own in the beginning of your score - he had very clear ideas for how to evoke his interpretation of this ancient mystical text. Ritualistic repetitive chanting punctuated by percussive stomps is meant to bring a sense of conjuring and embodiment of the fiery Spirit the text speaks of. The frenzied fast music briefly gives way to a lyrical middle section before returning to the fast ostinato with which the piece begins. Interestingly, while the composer was inspired by Hildegard von Bingen’s text, he does not quote any of her musical material.

Composed: 2024

Period: Contemporary

Language: Latin

Fun Fact:  Hildegard von Bingen, who wrote the text for this piece, is a really cool historical figure: an abbess who was a polymath, mystic, visionary, spoke against corruption in the catholic church, composer of the sacred monophony, philosopher, poet, medical theorist… She has inspired lots of contemporary composers, including a TMEA treble piece this year and last year!

Look Down, Fair Moon - Mari Esabel Valverde

(prior to Area)

A lush, prayerful elegy (a song/poem written in lament for the dead). Valverde sets text by Walt Whitman which depicts moonlight and cleansing rain falling on the bodies of dead soldiers in the Civil War. With tender falling piano lines and unresolved dissonances, Valverde creates a tender memorial and calls for reconciliation and healing in our own time.

Arranged: 2015 (voiced for SATB 2023)

Period: Contemporary

Language: English

Fun Fact: Valverde is a native Texan! She is a Mexican-American transgender composer whose music has appeared at TMEA a few times now!

Spark of Light - Andrew Steffen

(prior to Area)

This piece gets its energetic “spark” from constant eight notes in the accompaniment throughout the piece. The rhythmic energy never stops, while singers spin long lines over the sparkling, bubbling piano part. This is sure to be a quick favorite as the opening melody returns throughout to build a nice sense of familiarity and singability. The text and the music evoke  a wonder of the universe, a spaciousness, and a joy of existence.

Arranged: 2023

Period: Contemporary

Language: English

Stardust - B.E. Boykin

(prior to Area)

A moving memorial to the people of color whose lives were taken “before their time and without concern for their humanity” as Marcus Jauregui, who commissioned this piece, says. Mixing the “magic words” from a children' s book about enslaved Africans remembering their power. Prayerful remembrances of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others are woven throughout. Like much good art, the piece is searingly specific and powerfully universal at the same time, evoking not only grief but also resilience and optimism within the remembrance.

Composed: 2021

Period: Contemporary

Language: English

Fun Fact: The poet and commissioning choir are both from Texas!

Butterfly Lullaby - Dale Trumbore

(prior to Area)

As the name suggests, this piece is a lullaby - lilting, dreamy, and gentle. Scored for the interesting combination of vibraphone and cello as accompaniment to SATB voices, the music and lyrics use the real names of butterfly species to weave together images into a “haunting lullaby for one, butterfly or child, who will inevitably fly away.” Devastatingly beautiful, with subtle uses of dissonance and of duplets stretching over triplet rhythms. Composer Dale Trumbore lives in southern California with a bunch of cats.

Composed: 2013

Period: Contemporary

Language: English

Gimikwenden Ina - Corey Payette

(prior to Area)

This song is an excerpt from a music by Corey Payette called “Children of God” which tells a story of two Oji-Cree children sent to a residential school in Canada. These schools often tortured or murdered indigenous children in an effort to “take the Indian out of the child” and force them to assimilate. This song is a moment in which one of the children, Tommy, tries to remember his heritage against all odds. Powerful lyrics, powerful music, incorporating native improvisatory and rhythmic traditions with Musical Theater styles. 

Composed: 2020

Period: Contemporary

Language: Ojibwe Anishinaabemowin