Categories
Composers
A native of New York City, Allen Brings received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Queens College and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, where he was a Mosenthal Fellow and a student of Otto Luening, and a doctorate in theory and composition from Boston University, where he was …
Follow the NMS Blog
Follow NMS on Facebook
Follow NMS on Twitter
Information
Shopping Cart
Bestsellers
Featured
A Herrick Suite V: To Music, To Becalm His Fever
 Click to enlarge |
|
Instrumentation: four-part chorus of mixed voices (changing voices) and orchestra (2222 2000 strings)
Composed: 1977
Duration: ca. 2 min.
Pages: 13 pp
Website: library.newmusicusa.org/allenbrings
Composed: 1977
Duration: ca. 2 min.
Pages: 13 pp
Website: library.newmusicusa.org/allenbrings
Write a Review
Your Name:
Your Review: Note: HTML is not translated!
Rating: Bad Good
Enter the code in the box below:
Your Review: Note: HTML is not translated!
Rating: Bad Good
Enter the code in the box below:
Click to enlarge
A Herrick Suite was composed during the summer of 1977 in response to a suggestion made earlier that year by Lawrence Eisman. Designed primarily for performance by mixed choruses of youngsters some of whose voices may still be changing, A Herrick Suite employs diatonic materials almost exclusively and vocal ranges that are considerate of young voices. Although the music is plainly centered around one or another tonal center, its harmonic vocabulary is by no means restricted to the traditional triad; indeed it is in the rich way in which intervals are combined that shows the music to be truly of the twentieth century. Originally scored only for piano, the accompaniment of A Herrick Suite was later orchestrated to make it attractive to community choruses of limited means.
What unifies the five contrasting movements of this suite besides the common threads that run through the poetry of Herrick himself is principally the sense of key, the consistency of the harmonic language, and the occasional restatement of thematic fragments heard in earlier movements. For these reasons the work is a true suite, that is, an orderly arrangement of otherwise independent pieces, each capable of being performed separately as well as in the order specified by the composer.
The texts of A Herrick Suite were drawn from the collection of his poems that the early seventeenth century English poet Robert Herrick published in 1648 as Hesperides (with Noble Numbers). Several of Herrick's most endearing themes were chosen as the basis for A Herrick Suite, some of which may be found in the first poem of the collection, entitled The Argument of his Book. It was from this poem that I chose the lines for the opening movement of A Herrick Suite.
Based on a poem by the seventeenth century English poet Robert Herrick, To Live Merrily, and to Trust to Good Verses expresses the belief that, although it is good for him to enjoy life's pleasures while he lives, the poet best trusts only to his own good verses to outlive him. As the mood of Herrick's poem is gradually transformed from carefree buoyancy to comic pathos, boundless optimism, and finally to almost melancholic seriousness, so also the music, to reflect these changes, ranges in its choice of materials from folk-like tunes simply harmonized to the more independent part-writing characteristic of the English madrigal. Strains of types such as the glee and the drinking song may also be recognized.
Corinna's Going a Maying and To Music, to Becalm his Fever are the second and fifth movements of a suite of five songs for mixed chorus and piano set to the words of the seventeenth century English poet, Robert Herrick. Entitled A Herrick Suite, the collection was written at the suggestion of music educator and conductor, Lawrence Eisman, who noted that there was — and probably still is — a dearth of good music that can be sung by "changing voice" choruses of youngsters in their early teens. Written in Wilton during the summer of 1977, these songs were also provided with orchestral accompaniments in the hope that choruses of more mature voices might express an interest in performing them.
The musical style of these songs is quite different from that which I ordinarily write in, a style more nearly corresponding to the styles of the more "difficult to appreciate" poets and painters of the twentieth century. The style in which I chose to set Herrick's texts is simple (although, I like to think, subtle), direct, uses traditional diatonic scales and takes pleasure in long, lyrical phrases which follow closely Herrick's equally long flights of fancy.
In moments of leisure I often find myself humming or whistling phrases from these songs so that I have become almost obsessed with some of their features. It would be my fondest hope that all who hear these songs and are touched by them will have similarly pleasurable recollections.
What unifies the five contrasting movements of this suite besides the common threads that run through the poetry of Herrick himself is principally the sense of key, the consistency of the harmonic language, and the occasional restatement of thematic fragments heard in earlier movements. For these reasons the work is a true suite, that is, an orderly arrangement of otherwise independent pieces, each capable of being performed separately as well as in the order specified by the composer.
The texts of A Herrick Suite were drawn from the collection of his poems that the early seventeenth century English poet Robert Herrick published in 1648 as Hesperides (with Noble Numbers). Several of Herrick's most endearing themes were chosen as the basis for A Herrick Suite, some of which may be found in the first poem of the collection, entitled The Argument of his Book. It was from this poem that I chose the lines for the opening movement of A Herrick Suite.
Based on a poem by the seventeenth century English poet Robert Herrick, To Live Merrily, and to Trust to Good Verses expresses the belief that, although it is good for him to enjoy life's pleasures while he lives, the poet best trusts only to his own good verses to outlive him. As the mood of Herrick's poem is gradually transformed from carefree buoyancy to comic pathos, boundless optimism, and finally to almost melancholic seriousness, so also the music, to reflect these changes, ranges in its choice of materials from folk-like tunes simply harmonized to the more independent part-writing characteristic of the English madrigal. Strains of types such as the glee and the drinking song may also be recognized.
Corinna's Going a Maying and To Music, to Becalm his Fever are the second and fifth movements of a suite of five songs for mixed chorus and piano set to the words of the seventeenth century English poet, Robert Herrick. Entitled A Herrick Suite, the collection was written at the suggestion of music educator and conductor, Lawrence Eisman, who noted that there was — and probably still is — a dearth of good music that can be sung by "changing voice" choruses of youngsters in their early teens. Written in Wilton during the summer of 1977, these songs were also provided with orchestral accompaniments in the hope that choruses of more mature voices might express an interest in performing them.
The musical style of these songs is quite different from that which I ordinarily write in, a style more nearly corresponding to the styles of the more "difficult to appreciate" poets and painters of the twentieth century. The style in which I chose to set Herrick's texts is simple (although, I like to think, subtle), direct, uses traditional diatonic scales and takes pleasure in long, lyrical phrases which follow closely Herrick's equally long flights of fancy.
In moments of leisure I often find myself humming or whistling phrases from these songs so that I have become almost obsessed with some of their features. It would be my fondest hope that all who hear these songs and are touched by them will have similarly pleasurable recollections.
| Website: | http://amc.net/allenbrings |
| Email: | miramusic@aol.com |
Related:
 A Herrick Suite I: I Sing of Brooks B34-O1977-1a $6.00 |
 A Herrick Suite II: Corinna's Going a Maying B34-O1977-2a $6.00 |
 A Herrick Suite III: To Primroses Filled With Morning Dew B34-O1977-3a $6.00 |
 A Herrick Suite IV: To Live Merrily, and to Trust to Good Verses B34-O1977-4a $8.00 |
