A leading British composer of the twentieth-century, Ralph Vaughan Williams was a lifelong exponent of choral music and singing. This two-part collection of new arrangements and editions features well-loved and lesser-known Vaughan Williams songs, anthems, and carols - for today's mixed-voice choir. It presents unison or treble pieces scored for SATB, creating new repertoire, and provides new accompaniment options and durations that widen the appeal of the pieces for church or concert use. The adaptations may introduce or give new light to the repertoire, yet are complementary to the original settings published as single pieces. John Leavitt, being an experienced conductor, composer, editor, and champion of Vaughan Williams, brings great sensitivity to this process, and knows how best to maximize rehearsal time with choirs of various types and sizes.

Songlist: The blessed son of God, No sad thought his soul affright, A Song of Thanksgiving, This is the truth, O taste and see, God rest you merry, gentlemen, O how amiable, He that is down need fear no fall, At the name of Jesus, Let us now praise famous men

A leading British composer of the twentieth-century, Ralph Vaughan Williams was a lifelong exponent of choral music and singing. This two-part collection of new arrangements and editions features well-loved and lesser-known Vaughan Williams songs, anthems, and carols - for today's mixed-voice choir. It presents unison or treble pieces scored for SATB, creating new repertoire, and provides new accompaniment options and durations that widen the appeal of the pieces for church or concert use. The adaptations may introduce or give new light to the repertoire, yet are complementary to the original settings published as single pieces. John Leavitt, being an experienced conductor, composer, editor, and champion of Vaughan Williams, brings great sensitivity to this process, and knows how best to maximize rehearsal time with choirs of various types and sizes.

Songlist: Spring from Three Children's Songs, The Singers, An Invitation, Whether men do laugh or weep, John Dory, Nothing is here for tears, She's like the swallow, Greensleeves, Silence and Music, Land of our birth

The Vagabond is based on words written by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). With their saucy praise of the life on the road and the freedom of nature, they are reminders of the ancient traditions of the wanderer. But the musical elaboration is far from being just simple and popular : Ralph Vaughan Williams employs refined means of composition, in order to realize varied colors and moods ; and he offers the voice the possibility to sing magnificent phrasing and to evoke strong emotional impact.

Vaughan Williams arranged these carols during World War 1 for the "choir" he developed among the men in his Field Ambulance unit. In 1917 they were stationed in Greece, near Katerini, on a hillside with Mount Olympus towering above. Ursula Vaughan Williams writes "Another experince, which no one who was there forgot, was carol singing on Christmas Eve: snow-capped Olympus, the clear night, the stars, and Ralph's choir singing carols of Hereford and Sussex with passionate nostaglia. The choir made that Christmas so far from home one that had a special quality, a special beauty, long remembered."

Songlist: God Rest Ye Merry, And Joseph Was A-Walking (Cherry Tree Carol), The First Nowell, The Lord At First, Coventry Carol, I Saw Three Ships, A Virgin Most Pure, Dives And Lazarus

Here's a collection from the great English composer of his original arrangements of three Shakespeare songs, two from "The Tempest" and one from "Midsummer Night's Dream". These are classics!

Songlist: Full Fathom Five, The Cloud Capp'd Towers, Overhill, over Dale

Latin. Curwen edition.

English. Curwen edition.

A new, easier to read music engraving of these perennial voice studio favorites with recorded audio accompaniment for practice and historical introduction. Contents: The Vagabond - Let Beauty Awake - The Roadside Fire - Youth and Love - In Dreams - The Infinite Shining Heavens - Whither Must I Wander? - Bright Is the Ring of Words - I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope

Songlist: Bright Is The Ring Of Words, The Roadside Fire, The Vagabond, In Dreams, Let Beauty Awake, Youth And Love, The Infinite Shining Heavens, Wither Must I Wander?, I Have Trod The Upward And The Downward Slope

A new, easier to read music engraving of these perennial voice studio favorites with recorded audio accompaniment for practice and historical introduction. Contents: The Vagabond - Let Beauty Awake - The Roadide Fire - Youth and Love - In Dreams - The Infinite Shining Heavens - Whither Must I Wander? - Bright is the Ring of Words - I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope

Songlist: Bright Is The Ring Of Words, The Roadside Fire, The Vagabond, In Dreams, Let Beauty Awake, Youth And Love, The Infinite Shining Heavens, Wither Must I Wander?, I Have Trod The Upward And The Downward Slope

Songlist: A Song for all seas, all ships, On the Beach at Night alone, The Waves, The Explorers

Serenade to Music is sublime - one of the most stunningly beautiful musical creations of the 20th century. This choral meditation on the nature of music and its power to enrapture is a setting of text from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. This tender and much-loved work was composed in 1938 in honour of Sir Henry Wood. It was written for 16 soloists and orchestra but may also be sung by four soloists and chorus, or by mixed-voice chorus. This beautifully presented edition includes an introduction by Michael Kennedy.
Also available for full orchestra without choir.

A cantata for soprano and baritone soloists, SATB, and large or small orchestra
Drawing upon the Bible, sections from the Mass, and poems by Walt Whitman, this is a powerful evocation of the destruction and death brought about through war and violence, with an overarching message of peace and reconciliation.
Materials for the full and small orchestral versions and an accompaniment for strings and piano are available on hire.

This cantata was adapted by the composer from music from his opera Sir John in Love. Comprising five choral songs, it features texts by Shakespeare (from 'Much Ado About Nothing') and his near contemporaries Thomas Ravenscroft, John Lyly, and Thomas Campion. The first song is a gleeful denunciation of men and their devious ways, scored for women's voices, while the second is a rollicking drinking song for men's voices. The third maintains this energy, with sparkling orchestration to evoke the 'fairies' of its title, before the 'Wedding Chorus' changes the mood to one of blissful tranquillity. The Epilogue is celebratory and grand, bringing the cantata to a powerful close. All of the songs except the third are available individually.

This is an unusual setting of the text, in that after an ethereal opening, a contralto/mezzo-soprano soloist sings the Magnificat text while the female chorus interpolates with other texts in praise of the Virgin Mary. The contrast between the rhapsodic lines of the soloist and the more reflective emotions of the chorus result in a moving work.

An Oxford Elegy combines adapted versions of The Scholar Gypsy and Thyrsis by Victorian poet Matthew Arnold. It conveys the story of an Oxford scholar who abandons his friends and studies to live in the countryside surrounding the city as a gypsy. The work is unusual in the fact that the text is largely spoken by a narrator, with the chorus providing mostly wordless accompaniment. The result is a highly atmospheric and evocative work that combines pastoral simplicity with darker, more melancholic passages. Scores and parts for the string and chamber orchestra accompaniments are available on hire.

For mixed chorus and orchestra, to a poem by Ursula Vaughan Williams

A cantata for soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, SATB choir, and orchestra
In this Christmas cantata Vaughan Williams uses and a wide range of musical styles to create a compelling, vivid, and highly original retelling of the Christmas story. Composed in 1953â4, Hodie (This Day) was Vaughan Williamsâs final large-scale choral-orchestral work, and was premiered under his own baton in Worcester Cathedral as part of the 1954 Three Choirs Festival. It comprises sixteen movements, including 'narrations' of words from the Bible, chorals, and a variety of other forms for both soloists and choir. The words are taken from diverse sources, with sacred texts from the Vespers of Christmas Day and the Bible interspersed with secular texts by poets including John Milton, Thomas Hardy, and the composer's own wife Ursula Vaughan Williams.

For SATB and orchestra or brass

Drawing upon the Bible, sections from the Mass, and poems by Walt Whitman, this is a powerful evocation of the destruction and death brought about through war and violence, with an overarching message of peace and reconciliation.

This cantata features sixteen highly-varied folk song settings, bound together in seasonal groupings to take the listener on an engaging journey through the year from Spring to Winter. The prologue implores us to 'sing and be merry', and many of the songs facilitate this with their charmingly light-hearted melodies and imaginative orchestral accompaniment. There are also darker moments, such as the haunting and heart-rending setting of 'The Unquiet Grave' in 'Autumn'.

Published in 1929, Benedicite is a substantial setting of texts from the 'Song of the Three Holy Children' (part of the Apocrypha) and John Austin's hymn text 'Hark, my soul, how everything'. Forceful and dynamic passages with thick choral-orchestral textures are juxtaposed against more solemn passages, often with a gentle soprano solo floating over the choral texture.

In this Christmas cantata Vaughan Williams uses and a wide range of musical styles to create a compelling, vivid, and highly original retelling of the Christmas story. Composed in 1953â4, Hodie (This Day) was Vaughan Williamsâs final large-scale choral-orchestral work, and was premiered under his own baton in Worcester Cathedral as part of the 1954 Three Choirs Festival. It comprises sixteen movements, including 'narrations' of words from the Bible, chorals, and a variety of other forms for both soloists and choir. The words are taken from diverse sources, with sacred texts from the Vespers of Christmas Day and the Bible interspersed with secular texts by poets including John Milton, Thomas Hardy, and the composer's own wife Ursula Vaughan Williams.

This cantata features sixteen highly-varied folk song settings, bound together in seasonal groupings to take the listener on an engaging journey through the year from Spring to Winter. The prologue implores us to 'sing and be merry', and many of the songs facilitate this with their charmingly light-hearted melodies and imaginative orchestral accompaniment. There are also darker moments, such as the haunting and heart-rending setting of 'The Unquiet Grave' in 'Autumn'.

Written for Vaughan William's choir in surrey, these are beautifully judged for amateur voices. The music is direct and sharply characterized. Originally with orchestra, they are equally suitable for performance within choral concerts or as church anthems, with either organ or piano accompaniment.

Songlist: Easter Hymn, Christmas Hymn, Whitsunday Hymn

Ralph Vaughan Williams's setting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 71 and Ben Jonson's Echo's Lament for Narcissus are here published for the first time, and present a fascinating insight into the early development of one of Britain's greatest twentieth-century composers. Vaugh Williams's Two Partsongs were published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the composer's death (1872-1958).