Work
Lutebook lullaby, & Before the light fades : Two a cappella excerpts from cantata 'The Child of Heaven'
by Ralph Middenway (1971)
Score
Lutebook lullaby, & Before the light fades : two a capella extracts from 'The Child of Heaven' / Ralph Middenway.
Library shelf no. 782.55525/MID 1 [Available for loan]
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Score
The child of heaven / Ralph Middenway.
Version: This product features the SATB Choir with chamber ensemble version of this work
Library shelf no. Q 782.5522/MID 1 [Available for loan]
Work Details
Year: 1971
Instrumentation: SATB a cappella. Soprano soloist in 'Lutebook lullaby'.
Duration: 5 min.
Difficulty: Advanced — Tone clusters in one number, independent vocal lines in the other.
Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Clive Sansom, William Ballet, Eleanor Farjeon, Frances Bellerby, James McAuley, interspersed with verses of Personent hodie (Piac cantiones - 1582) and a short Gloria.
These two pieces have some of the same attributes as 'Missa Omnibus Sanctis'. Neither is straightforward; each is driven by word-setting, by the aim to fit music to the highly evocative lyrics.
The cantata The Child of Heaven needs some revision; these two numbers do not.
They are both quiet pieces.
Lutebook Lullaby is about Mary and the very young Christ Child; Before the Light Fades is the voice of a very old woman, with a few questions still requiring answers-questions about life ...
Subjects
- In the form/style of: Christmas Music
- In the form/style of: Film & TV Music
- In the form/style of: Cantatas
Performances of this work
Unknown date: St George's, Goodwood, SA
1972: Live performance in ABC Studio as part of 1972 Perth Festival, with WASO players.
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