Five years ago composer Dennis Rosenbaum was browsing through his published titles at YRM, and realized he hadn’t written any Hanukkah music. He decided to rectify the situation and Flames So Bright at Chanukah is the end result. Yelton Rhodes Music is pleased to bring this piece out this year!
Dennis wrote us about the process of composing this work:
I wanted to write something original, and realized that I needed to write my own text for it. Since I do write poetry, I was pretty sure that I could come up with suitable lyrics. I had the melody in mind, and came up with words to fit it that told the Hanukkah story. The end result is a piece with a Jewish flavor to the melody that tells the Hanukkah story in a very concise manner. It is short enough to allow for great versatility in programming for a wide variety of performances.
This piece is a straight-forward, melodic work intended to be sung a cappella. It is available for men’s chorus, mixed chorus and women’s chorus (just click on the links to view a partial score PDF of each voicing).
Flames So Bright at Chanukah (as performed by Madrigalia, Rochester’s Chamber Singers)
With an extensive ouevre of arrangements and orchestrations of Christmas music under his belt, Larry Moore decided to try his hand at Hanukkah music. He was asked by the Milken Archive to do an arrangement of Likhtelekh, a traditional Hanukkah melody, for mixed chorus. It was recorded with the original Yiddish text by the Coro Hebraeico. A few years later he decided to revisit the piece. Moore felt the text was fine, but wanted an English translation to make the piece accessible to a broader market. The trick was in finding a translation that he felt worked… and after two failed attempts he ultimately contacted Roger Bourland, publisher of Yelton Rhodes Music, who recommended GaryBachlund, another accomplished writer and composer in the YRM “stable.”
Moore was delighted with Bachlund’s translation! Here are a few lines from the text:
Light the lamps and wonders tell. Light the lamps that hearts may swell, and dark days dispel.
Light the lamps of well-won peace. Light the lamps as battles cease. May this light increase.
Ah, Freedom won is worth such price, with God’s help which did suffice, worth each sacrifice.
Light these lamps that, as they burn, we may once again yet learn for liberty to yearn.
Moore also reworked the arrangement for men’s chorus. You can view a PDF of the first four pages of score for the SATB voicing and the TTBB voicing by clicking on the links.
The office at YRM has received several inquiries regarding our newest offerings of Hanukkah-appropriate music. So, in response to their requests, Paul Leavitt’s Oseh Shalom has been selected for today’s blog entry (with more Hanukkah-related pieces to be featured in the near future).
Paul intended for this music to be a prayer to God to make peace for all of Israel and for all of us. Its message is one of increasing importance in the midst of escalating violence throughout the world. The composer himself tells how the piece came about:
When the director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, Jeff Buhrman, asked me to write a commission piece for their 2003 holiday concert, I was needless to say flattered. The stipulation was that the piece had to be in Hebrew, and needed to be written for men’s chorus and brass quintet. There is a dearth of men’s choral music in Hebrew with brass accompaniment, I’ll admit. As the US was gearing up for war in Iraq, Jeff suggested we go “the peace route”. “Any suggestions?” I asked. He said, “How about the text to ‘Oseh Shalom’?”. “I love the text, but that’s kind of like rewriting ‘Let it be’ by the Beattles with a brand new melody. It’s one of the most popular songs in Hebrew in the world”. I continued to ponder the idea as the piece started to assemble itself in my inner ear.
Oseh Shalom is available for men’s chorus and mixed chorus, and YRM offers piano-vocal scores in addition to the full scores for chorus and brass quintet (2 trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba). Click on the links to view the first six pages of the piano-vocal score for each voicing.
Oseh Shalom (as recorded by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC)
How familiar are you with that one famous drop of oil that lasted eight days and nights?
As holiday concerts become increasingly “multi-traditional”, many audiences anticipate hearing a piece that celebrates the miracle of Hanukkah. Scott Henderson’s original composition Flame of Faith (A Hanukkah Song), with lyrics by Linda Marcus, both inspires and informs regarding the observance of this Jewish holiday. Henderson has a knack for writing elegant and engaging melodies supported by colorful harmonic progressions, and this piece exemplifies his wonderful musicality and keen sensibility regarding the treatment of text.
Flame of Faith is available for both mixed chorus and men’s chorus. Click on the links to view the first 6 pages of each score.
