Product Description
There is no Rose programme note
I took direct inspiration from Brittens setting of this text in his Ceremony of Carols. Britten has a continuous repeated ostinato played by a harp, over which the choir sing. The vocal lines begin simply and expand and rise in register to a climax before returning to the opening texture.
Instead of a harp, I use four soloists, who sing very simple lines which gradually rise in pitch. The soloists only sing in Latin, acting as a chorus to which the main choir respond. In addition, I wanted to use the space and so have placed the four soloists away from the main choir. They move towards the choir throughout the piece, coming together on the word Gaudeamus (Let us rejoice). After this climax, the four soloists move away from the choir and the music quietens and gradually returns to simple opening textures. There is a definite nod to another Britten piece Hymn to the Virgin that divides the choir in this way. Throughout I have tried to evoke a reflective and ancient mood, hoping to capture an element of the timelessness that Brittens setting evokes.
There is no rose lasts approximately three minutes and forty-five seconds.
NB: The four soloists should begin at the nave, behind the congregation. At letter A they begin moving towards the rest of the choir, timing to arrive at letter C. They remain standing within the choir then begin walking away from them at letter D. Ideally they should continue walking until the end of the piece, by which point they should barely be heard. Given the spatial requirements, it is not too much of an issue if the solosists fall out of time with the main choir, so long as they are together themselves and in time with the choir from bars 35-57. If walking is not possible, then placing the soloists in a separate position behind the audience (or anywhere that is practical and at a distance) is acceptable. Optional: Bars 3-1 4 and 66-end may be taken by a smaller subsection of the main
choir.
There is no rose of such vertu
As is the rose that bare Jesu.
Alleluia.
For in this rose conteined was
Heaven and earth in litel sp ace,
Res miranda.
By that rose we may well see
That he is God in p ersons three,
Pares forma.
The aungels sungen the shep herds to:
Gloria in excelsis deo!
Gaudeamus.
Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this j oyf ul birth.
Transeamus.
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