Lauridsen - A Winter Come (sample pages)

~~~

Perforr

I was introduced to the poetry of Howard Moss through the fine musical settings of his texts by Ned Rorem and William Flanagan. Moss’s collection, A Winter Come, seemed to me a natural for a song cycle, which was composed in the Fall of 1967 and premiered in Los Angeles by soprano Rose Taylor and pianist Ralph Grierson the following Spring. A Winter Come is the second in a series of vocal cycles that has occupied a good deal of my compositional career. The songs are tuneful and direct with much of the music derived from manipulations of the opening motive: Eb, Db, C, Bb. Howard Moss (1922-1987) was for many years poetry editor of the New Yorker. His Selected Poems (Atheneum) received the 1972 National Book Award for Poetry.

—Morten Lauridsen

In his Washington Post review of the 1988 East Coast premiere of A Winter Come at the Kennedy Center, Joseph McLellan wrote: “A previously unknown composer, Morten Lauridsen, stole the spotlight from such big names as Bach, Handel and Haydn with a superb, spare-textured and deeply felt cycle of six songs, ‘A Winter Come,’ with texts by Howard Moss.”

Morten Lauridsen emerged in the 1990’s as one of America’s finest and most-beloved composers. His distinguished music has reached a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire, and is performed regularly by choruses and vocal artists throughout the world. His catalog at present includes eight major vocal cycles: Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke), Mid-Winter Songs (Graves), Nocturnes (Rilke, Neruda, and Agee), Cuatro Canciones (Lorca), A Backyard Universe (Witt), A Winter Come (Moss), Madrigali: Six “Firesongs” on Italian Renaissance Poems, and Lux Aeterna. His series of sacred motets includes one of the most performed and recorded contemporary choral works, O Magnum Mysterium.

Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) is Distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, a faculty he joined in 1967 following his studies in advanced composition with Ingolf Dahl and Halsey Stevens. He also served as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994-2001. Named an "American Choral Master" by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006, he was awarded the 2007 National Medal of Arts, the highest artistic award given by the United States government, in a White House ceremony "for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power, and spiritual depth." A native of the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Lauridsen divides his time between Los Angeles and his summer home on a remote island off the northern coast of Washington State. An award-winning documentary by filmmaker Michael Stillwater, Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, was released in 2012.

The entire A Winter Come cycle has been recorded by soprano Jane Thorngren and pianist Ralph Grierson on "Lauridsen - Northwest Journey” (RCM) and three of the songs are recorded by Voce Chamber Artists Jack Anthony Pott, tenor, and Dan Campolieta, piano, on "Sure On This Shining Night," (voceinc.net).

For more about Morten Lauridsen: www.peermusicClassical.com and www.mortenlauridsen.net

Irea),

The racing waterfall that slowed in fall Has thinned to a trickle or an icicle And stands as quiet as the rocks it willed To move. As though expecting it to fall A listener stands upon a rim of silence Seeing a changed world prepared to change The waterfall silent on its breakneck shelf And silence a spectacle in itself.

lVOS ever

s Chair of the e in Los olf Dahl and Los Angeles

And Have w \

In Tosno' wh

d and gone 1 messages

) warm

e from harm?

They he k er And

In join

s cheat

g blood sweet

, have.

And thal ", W lJal aJl UIU JllI;;lJ l\HUW of

love.

. '1'

- Poems fro

Li Winter Come

by Howard Moss

A WINTER COME to Juliana Gondek

1. When Frost Moves Fast Howard Moss

Morten Lauridsen

Fast and delightful ( = ca. 160)

exuberantly

4

When frost moves

fast

and

8ba

7

gar

dens

lose their

ground

8ba

And

8ba

Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.

Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured.

Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit.

"WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."

3 10

gold

goes

down ward

in

the

trees,

no sound

14

par

tures

of

the

leaves,

8va

crystalline

17

8va

5

20

8va

Ac

com

pan

ies

de

6

to Paul Sperry

2. As Birds Come Nearer

Howard Moss

Morten Lauridsen

= 76

rit.

As

A tempo

5

poco stringendo

birds come

rit.

bread

near

er

for

a

crust

of

A tempo

A

cross

the

fro

zen

8va

snow,

warmly

9

Poco più mosso ( = 84)

by

rit.

13

stamp

fine

foot prints on

a

scroll

hun

ger

led

Poco più mosso ( = 92)

of white,

Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.

© Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured.

Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit.

"WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."

To

8

to Sylvia McNair

3. The Racing Waterfall Howard Moss

Morten Lauridsen

Allegretto giocoso ( = 104)

The

poco rit.

5

thinned to a trick le or an

i

ci

rac ing wa ter fall that

slowed in

fall

A tempo

cle

And

stands as qui et as the

rocks

9

it

willed to

move.

cresc.

Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.

Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured.

Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit.

"WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."

Has

10

to Jama Laurent

4. A Child Lay Down Howard Moss

Morten Lauridsen

Mysteriously ( = 52)

A tempo

rit.

A child lay down in his i ma gined grave

brooding, thick

8ba

Ped. simile (Throughout this song, there is a slight stringendo from the beginning of each measure to the final beat, whereupon there is a slight ritard.)

3

To

see the form he’d make en graved in

snow,

But

e

ven that feigned hol low

filled

8ba

5

snow,

8ba

loco

8ba

loco

Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.

Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured.

Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit.

"WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."

with

12

to Rosa Lamoreaux

5. Who Reads By Starlight

Howard Moss

Morten Lauridsen

= ca. 120 excitedly, as if revealing a secret rit.

A tempo

Who reads by

star

light knows what

fire

is,

The end

of words,

4

and how

its

mys

ter

ies

Go

run

ning

in

the

flame

too

light

too

quick

7

see,

As

lan

guage has

a

10

to

be mere

fact

or

fic

tion.

Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.

Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured.

Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit.

"WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."

bright

to

14

to Rose Taylor

6. And What of Love Howard Moss

Morten Lauridsen

Warmly expressive ( = 60)

And

what

of

love

that

old

men

Poco piĂš mosso ( = 66)

4

dead

and

gone Have win

tered

through,

and writ ten mes sa ges In

rit.

A tempo

7

snow so

tra vel lers,

who come too

warm,

who come

too

warm

Poem copyright by Howard Moss. All rights reserved. Words published by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company, U.S.A.

Š Copyright 1985 by Southern Music Publishing Co., Inc. International Copyright Secured.

Printed In U.S.A. All Rights Reserved Including the Right of Public Performance for Profit.

"WARNING! Any person who copies or arranges all or part of the words or music of this musical composition shall be liable to an action for injunction, damages and profits under the United States Copyright Law."

To what may

15 10

grow too cold,

be safe from

harm? espress.

poco stringendo

14

PiĂš mosso ( = 80)

cresc.

A tempo rit.

18

passionately

They know the fire of flesh is

win ter’s cheat

8va

8va

loco

rit.

22

And how the 8va

loco

i

cy wind makes young blood sweet

In join ing

joy,

in join