Monday, February 17, 2014

MONDAY MUSIC // WEEK OF 2.9.14



Since music is such a big part of my every day life and art making, I thought I'd start a new "Music Monday" feature!  Every monday I'll tell you what I've been listening to and loving the past week.  Not super interesting in the scheme of things, but music is great!  Listening to music is the ultimate stress reliever and mood creator.

This week, a lot of my listening has been of the music I'm singing in Chorus and Choir.  I recommend listening to every single piece we're singing, as they are all so, absolutely beautiful.  I am so exited this semester because I'm finally in Choir.  Chorus is just the University Chorus, so many people take it for an art credit and can't actually sing or have no desire to sing.  Therefore, the Chorus is no where near the level of Choir.  To get in to Choir, you have to audition and also have some sort of sight reading ability.  I can't really sight read, but I can pick up notes easily after hearing them once and have the ability to guess what's coming next while looking at the music, which probably comes from years of singing and playing instruments.

Either way, it's been my dream to be in Choir for two years, so I'm so ecstatic I'm finally in it, even though it's my last semester.  Better late than never!

xxTanya

We're Performing //


Elijah by Mendelssohn


Elijah is absolutely amazing.  We're not singing the whole thing (it's about two hours or more, after all) but the parts we are singing are absolutely beautiful.  I can't wait until we sound much better, later in the semester.  I also can't wait to hear my friend who is an absolutely fantastic bass (opera level amazing) sing the solos.

Introduction //  As God the Lord of Israel liveth
1 Chorus //  Help, Lord!
2 Duet with Chorus // Lord, bow thine ear to our prayer!
3 Recitative // Ye people, rend your hearts
4 Aria // If with all your hearts
5 Chorus // Yet doth the lord see it not
11 Chorus // Baal, we cry to thee
12 Recitative // Call him louder!
     Chorus // Hear our cry, O Baal!
13 Recitative // Call him louder!
     Chorus //  Baal hear and answer
14 Aria // Lord God of Abraham
20 Chorus // Thanks be to God! 

Sfogava is absolutely beautiful.  The combination of the different voices gives me absolute shivers.  There's so much emotion in this work.  The translation my copy has is:

Raving aloud at heaven stood a lover distracted,
Under nocturnal skies his pain depicted
And he told the stars his passion.
"O, ye mirrors of beauty!  O ye mirrors of beauty!
The object of my worship, 'Tis you who let me view her,
Her loveliness illumin'd By your light rarely shining,
And those same beams do show her myself in torment pining.
O let your golden likenesses now move her; Show mercy,
O let your golden likenesses now move her; Show mercy,
Show mercy, yes, Show mercy, yes,
O let your golden likenesses now move her; Show mercy, yes,
as you have made me love her,
Show mercy, yes,
as you have made me love her.



This piece is less classically beautiful in the way I usually love, but it's still has that ethereal beauty that Vaughan Williams is best known for.  Along with that, it has about sixteen solos, so I'm going to audition for one.  I probably wont get one, because Choir is full of extremely strong singers, but I'm not going to let that stop me.  I've auditioned for solos twice while being in Chorus and this is my last chance.  might as well!  While listening, if you notice, the solos I'll be trying out for are the first and last soprano solos, the first and last solos in the entire piece.  I feel like my voice would best lend to them, since they're not super strong, and the strong ones will be given to the stronger singers in Choir.

Wade In The Water (Spiritual)

Wade In The Water is a really, really great sounding piece, and it makes me so sad that I can't find a copy that sounds the way we're singing it at the concert!


Yet another beautiful choral piece.  My professor (who is also a famous choral director) raves about how tortured and amazing Beethoven was every time we pull this piece out.



This piece is probably the most well known choral piece.  Have you ever heard the Hallelujah chorus?  It's from this piece!  This is the one piece we're singing in Chorus, and I hope that we can do it justice.  We're singing parts from the second section, since that's the Easter section and the concert is right around Easter.
22 Chorus // Behold the Lamb of God
24 Chorus // Surely he hath borne our griefs
33 Chorus // Lift up your heads, O ye gates
37 Chorus // The Lord gave the word
39 Chorus // Their sound is gone out
44 Chorus // Hallelujah 
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2 comments:

  1. It is wonderful to read about something you're clearly so passionate about! We are a family of musicians and so this post really has greatly inspired me! Thank you.

    Good luck and enjoy!!!

    New follower on GFC, Bloglovin and Twitter!

    Hope to keep in touch xxx

    www.bohemianmuses.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much for your lovely comment! Music has always been something my family was very passionate as well, though I'd say we were just artistic in general (though my mom was a musician). I'm so glad that I was able to inspire someone with my little post about Choir.

      And thank you for the follows!
      xxTanya

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