Lauridsen - Canticle

MORTEN LAURIDSEN

CANTICLE

for Solo Bb Clarinet (with optional antiphon O Vos Omnes for women’s voices and chimes)

Canticle

for Solo Bb Clarinet (with optional antiphon O Vos Omnes for women’s voices and chimes)

Canticle was composed as a farewell song to my friend and composition mentor, the eminent composer/musicologist Halsey Stevens (1908-1989). Halsey had a special affinity for the clarinet; among his own compositions is his wonderful Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra as well as numerous shorter pieces.

Canticle is a kind of abstract blues and the grace notes are, therefore, not quick but rather long and lazy, having the effect of appoggiaturas. Accidentals apply only to immediately adjacent notes. It is bipartite, with the Secundo Parte being a set of four compressed variations on the Primo Parte, the variations being delineated by two, quite beautiful multiphonics. Fingerings for the multiphonics are provided on the score by the extraordinary clarinet virtuoso, Thomas Cooke.

I have also made a version of the Canticle for vibraphone solo.

Canticle may be performed alone with a short pause between the two sections or it may also include the antiphon O Vos Omnes for women’s voices and chimes between the halves. The women should commence singing the antiphon two seconds after the clarinet's final note in the Primo Parte fades away and, similarly, the clarinet should begin the Secundo Parte two seconds after the final note in the antiphon fades away. I composed the antiphon in memory of my younger brother, Neal Arthur Lauridsen (1948-2002), on his birthday while at my summer cabin in the San Juan Islands in 2007.

Canticle with the antiphon is recorded by Maestro Cooke with the women of the chamber choir Voce, on Sure On This Shining Night – Voce Sings Lauridsen.

—Morten Lauridsen The Storybook Cottage Beachwood Canyon

The music of Morten Lauridsen, Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of the Twenty-First Century. His works, including eight vocal cycles and a series of sacred motets, are regularly performed throughout the world and have been recorded on over 200 CDs, several of which have received Grammy nominations. An award-winning documentary by filmmaker Michael Stillwater, Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, was released in 2012. Information about the film is at songwithoutborders.net.

Named an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2005, he was awarded the 2007 National Medal of Arts, the highest artistic award in the United States, by the President in a White House ceremony “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth.”

For more about Morten Lauridsen: www.peermusicClassical.com

In memoriam Halsey Stevens

CANTICLE Primo Parte Tempo rubato (e = ca. 84)

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bœ bœ π molto legato

Poco più mosso (e = 92)

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rit. (echo)

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œ bœ bœ œ nœ bœ J œ œ j & œ œ #œ P

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poco accel.

F

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Deliberamente (e = 132)

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b œ- b œ-

© Copyright 2005 by Songs of Peer, Ltd. International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved.

Printed in U.S.A

rit.

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P

a tempo

,

Poco più mosso (e = 112)

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U

lunga

Morten Lauridsen

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rit.

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(echo)

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3 Secundo Parte U ; = 112 , # œ U #œ Uœ , b œ œ œ # œ œ œ œœ œœ ≈ œ & #œ œ œ œ œ bœ bœ bœ bœ œ bœ #œ #œ bœ bœ bœ nœ p π œ π ˜.. .˜. ... p molto legato .˜ ..˜ .˜˜ , lunga bœ œ , U b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ & œ œ œ œ œJ œ #œ #œ J œ #œ b œ b œ #œ P F Variation I

R

# C or

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no R

# C Eb

#œ & #œ π .˜.˜ C# .˜. C# . ..˜

Variation II

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or

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U

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no R

Eb

Più mosso (e = 132)

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bœ

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œ- # œ- # œ- , œ œ- œb œ- - b œJ b œœf f Variation III

*Gradually stop tone. Continue air stream and fingering for percussive effect for as long as possible.

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