We Sang Before We Spoke

$2.50

Instrumentation: SSAA Choir

Duration: 4:00

Commissioned by: Commissioned by the Chanteuses treble choir of Sacramento, directed by William Zinn (2024)

Program Note

We Sang Before We Spoke, commissioned by the Chanteuses treble choir of Sacramento directed by William Zinn, sets the celebratory text by Libby Weber for SSAA Choir. The opening bright harmonies are designed to be acoustically vibrant when sung in a reverberant space, such as a stairwell, a parking lot, or a stone church. The conductor may adjust the length of rests after phrases, fermatas, and breath marks to account for the reverb in the space in which the piece is sung. The middle section (“we instruments refine”) contains a Baroque-inspired fugue, which allows each part to shine as the Subject and Countersubject material are passed among the ensemble. The piece concludes with the opening bright harmonies, which are arpeggiated downwards to allow for timbral nuances as each part moves through their range. The final line is reminiscent of the Fugue-like subject, which then cadences into a final resonant harmony, allowing for a reverberant ending.

This piece is suitable for any Treble Choir and would fit well on a concert about music or singing.

 

PERFORMANCE CREDITS:
Conductor: William Zinn
Choir: Chanteuses

Text

We sang before we spoke.
A melody in harmony with creation
Ringing through existence,
Bridging the distance
Between our souls.

 

We instruments refine
Air to breath and breath to words–
Transcending tongues through song.

 

The sum of ourselves,
Cast into eternity, returns transformed–
That which has perished,
Changed and cherished,
Welcomed home.

 

We sang before we spoke–
When words fail, we sing.

Peruse Score

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