Creep

Little leaf, little leaf
Your green is turning red
Little leaf, little leaf
There's no reason to be sad

This Fall when you leave this tree
Afraid of the windy storm
Little leaf, little leaf
I will find you and keep you warm

Free download (scores and piano tracks): https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZ61BqXZ4a4vy1LSXcbiYY35jwvqp7vPaGNX

voice: Tamara Usatova
piano: Matthew Oden
music & lyrics: Bill Heigen

Special thanks to Rodrigo Oliveira

more: www.billheigen.com

Little Leaf

Snow is falling from the sky
Everything is turning white
Winter time is here

Tons of joyful cheer
Winter time is here
Best time of the year
I can't wait to go out and play
Let's have fun today.

Free download (scores and piano tracks): https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZ61BqXZ4a4vy1LSXcbiYY35jwvqp7vPaGNX

voice: Tamara Usatova
piano: Matthew Oden
music & lyrics: Bill Heigen

Special thanks to Rodrigo Oliveira

more: www.billheigen.com

Winter Time Is Here

I see new colors up and down
Birds are singing a new song
Flowers are blooming all over the town
I feel happy all day long

Spring, Spring, Spring
Is a season full of delight
Spring, Spring, Spring
Lots of fun every day and night

Free download (scores and piano tracks): https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZ61BqXZ4a4vy1LSXcbiYY35jwvqp7vPaGNX

voice: Tamara Usatova
piano: Matthew Oden
music & lyrics: Bill Heigen

Special thanks to Rodrigo Oliveira

more: www.billheigen.com

Every Day And Night

The sky is blue
The sun is shining
I sing to you:
"My heart is smiling"

I can play outside anywhere
With my favorite toy
I can feel the fun in the air
Summer brings me joy
Summer brings me joy

Free download (scores and piano tracks): https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZ61BqXZ4a4vy1LSXcbiYY35jwvqp7vPaGNX

voice: Tamara Usatova
piano: Matthew Oden
music & lyrics: Bill Heigen

Special thanks to Rodrigo Oliveira

more: www.billheigen.com

Summer Brings Me Joy

A piano piece featuring all four songs of the EP Four Seasons for Kids.

Piano: Matthew Oden
Music: Bill Heigen

Free download (scores and piano tracks): https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZ61BqXZ4a4vy1LSXcbiYY35jwvqp7vPaGNX

Special thanks to Rodrigo Oliveira

more: www.billheigen.com

Four Seasons For Kids Medley

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Introit - Solo version low voice - from Heigen's Requiem - mp3 sample

I composed this work based on the WWI poem "In Flanders Fields."  It was composed for the St. Michael's Episcopal Church choir tour of France in 2015.  It was premiered at the Norman American Cemetery at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France.  
It is scored for SATB choir with divisi.  Copyright, 2015, John Cantrell.  

In Flanders Fields - John Cantrell

This is a collaboration between me and Bill Heigen.  I wrote the music in the style of a 1960s Jobim/Getz number.  Bill wrote and sang the lyrics.  Like all good Brazilian Jazz songs, it's about unrequited love.   I played guitar and programmed percussion.  Also features Michael Bomwell on  Sax and Kevin Tkacz, Bass.  An update will be coming soon with a much better guitar player than I!  The tracks still need a bit of mixing, but it's nearly there.

©, 2018

Tao Bom Amar

Ember commissioned and performed the world premiere of Bill's setting of portions of Robert Frost's famous poem of the same name.

Robert Frost published this poem in 1914 - before the World Wars; before the Berlin Wall went up… and before it came down, which he didn’t live to see. Many people on many “sides” tried to make this poem mean something they agreed with about that wall! - but Frost has tasked us with nuance, and in his life he resisted easy “side taking.”

The poem doesn’t name the “something” that doesn’t love a wall… weather (yes, even “frost”)?  As we move along the wall, the poet moves from “time to do this” to “need we do this?” - and he and his neighbor are on the same “side” of the project, but on “opposing?” sides of the wall they are (collaboratively) setting between them (again). 

Our actions have unintended consequences - you mend a gap, you create another sort of gap. We’re up against unknown forces, when we wall ourselves off, or in, or out - and need we? Can we, really? Always, never, sometimes? The poem wants us to keep asking – and, dare we say, keep listening.

Mending Wall by Bill Heigen

This track is currently available on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lamentations-jeremiah-i-single/id626743855

Mortensemble was officially founded in January, 2013 with the debut release of William Byrd's "Ave verum corpus".

The concept of Mortensemble, under the direction of Erik-Peter Mortensen, is to be an ensemble of recording artists specializing in recording and producing performances of the great choral masters, as well as the choral works of Mr. Mortensen. Based in New York, it is especially difficult to get top professional singers to coordinate recording and performance schedules, as they are always in high demand, and very busy. To that end, Erik-Peter chooses recording projects based on the availability of his roster and the vocal requirements of a particular piece, which means, in some cases, a very versatile member may sing more than one vocal part on the recording. in the case of the debut release, for example, Mr. Mortensen sang all choral parts (SATB) doubled, producing a recorded ensemble of 8 singers!

Current Roster

The initial roster of professional singers that Mr. Mortensen will call upon for projects includes:

Sarah Moulton Faux (soprano, alto)
Katrina Montagne (soprano, alto)
Catherine Hedberg (soprano, alto)
John Tully (countertenor)
Aaron Lauber (countertenor)
Bill Heigen (countertenor, tenor)
Edwin Santayana (tenor)
Erik-Peter Mortensen (countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass)
Benjamin Clements (baritone, bass)
Elliot Levine (bass)

This roster will no doubt expand in the coming years, and it's more than probable that a live performance of Mortensemble may be planned in the future.

About the Track

Thomas Tallis made two famous sets of the Lamentations. Scored for five voices (either one on a part or in a choral context), they show a sophisticated use of imitation, and are noted for their expressiveness. The settings are of the first two lessons for Maundy Thursday. As many other composers do, Tallis also sets the following:

The announcements: Incipit Lamentatio Ieremiae Prophetae ("The Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet begins") and De Lamentatione Ieremiae Prophetae ("From the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet")

The Hebrew letters that headed each verse: Aleph, Beth for the first set; Gimel, Daleth, Heth for the second. These letters were considered part of the text in the Latin Vulgate Bible of Tallis's day, although most English translations omit them. Tallis's use of 'Heth' rather than the correct 'He' appears to have been an error

The concluding refrain: Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum ("Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the Lord thy God") – thus emphasising the sombre and melancholy effect of the pieces

Tallis's two settings happen to use successive verses, but the pieces are in fact independent even though performers generally sing both settings together. Composers have been free to use whatever verses they wish, since the liturgical role of the text is somewhat loose; this accounts for the wide variety of texts that appear in these pieces.

Text for Tallis' setting of Lamentations I:

(Opening announcement)

Incipit lamentatio Ieremiae prophetae.

(from Lamentations, Chapter 1)

1:1 ALEPH. Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo! Facta est quasi vidua domina gentium; princeps provinciarum facta est sub tributo.
1:2 BETH. Plorans ploravit in nocte, et lacrimæ ejus in maxillis ejus: non est qui consoletur eam, ex omnibus caris ejus; omnes amici ejus spreverunt eam, et facti sunt ei inimici.

(Concluding refrain)

Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum

English translation:

(Opening announcement)

Here begins the Lamentation of Jeremiah the Prophet.

(from Lamentations, Chapter 1)

1:1 ALEPH. How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal.
1:2 BETH. She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, and they have become her enemies.

(Concluding refrain)

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, return unto the Lord thy God

Original Hebrew text (without introductions or conclusions)

(from Lamentations, Chapter 1)

     א  אֵיכָה יָשְׁבָה בָדָד, הָעִיר רַבָּתִי עָם--הָיְתָה, 
כְּאַלְמָנָה; רַבָּתִי בַגּוֹיִם, שָׂרָתִי בַּמְּדִינוֹת--הָיְתָה, 
                                                        לָמַס.  {ס}

ב  בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַּיְלָה, וְדִמְעָתָהּ עַל לֶחֱיָהּ--אֵין-לָהּ 
מְנַחֵם, מִכָּל-אֹהֲבֶיהָ:  כָּל-רֵעֶיהָ בָּגְדוּ בָהּ, הָיוּ לָהּ 
                                                    לְאֹיְבִים.  {ס}

Mortensemble members recorded on this track

Bill Heigen, alto, tenor 1, tenor 2
Erik-Peter Mortensen, alto, tenor 1, tenor 2, baritone (doubled), bass (doubled)

Authorship

According to Jewish and Christian traditions, authorship is assigned to the Prophet Jeremiah, who was ministering the Word of God during the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, during which the First Temple was destroyed and King Zedekiah was taken prisoner (cf. 2 Kings 24-25, Jer. 39:1-10 and Jer. 52). In the Septuagint and the Vulgate the Lamentations are placed directly after the Prophet.

It is said that Jeremiah retired to a cavern outside the Damascus gate, where he wrote this book. That cavern is still pointed out by tour guides. "In the face of a rocky hill, on the western side of the city, the local belief has placed 'the grotto of Jeremiah.' There, in that fixed attitude of grief which Michelangelo has immortalized, the prophet may well be supposed to have mourned the fall of his country" (Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, History of the Jewish Church).

However, the strict acrostic style of four of the five poems is not found at all in the Book of Jeremiah itself and Jeremiah's name is not found anywhere in the book itself (nor any other name, for that matter), so authorship of Lamentations is disputed. The Book of Chronicles says that Jeremiah did write a lament on the death of King Josiah. The work is probably based on the older Mesopotamian genre of the "city lament", of which the Lament for Ur is among the oldest and best-known.

According to F. W. Dobbs-Allsopp, "the widely observed unity of form and point of view... and general resemblance in linguistic detail throughout the sequence are broadly suggestive of the work of a single author," though other scholars see Lamentations as the work of multiple authors.

Setting

Most commentators see Lamentations as reflecting the period immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, though Provan argues for an interpretation that is ahistorical. Many elements of the lament are borne out in the historical narrative in 2 Kings concerning the fall of Jerusalem: Jerusalem lying in ruins (Lamentations 2:2 and 2 Kings 25:9), enemies entering the city (Lamentations 4:12 and 2 Kings 24:11), people going into exile (Lamentations 1:3 and 2 Kings 24:14) and the sanctuary being plundered (Lamentations 1:10 and 2 Kings 24:13). On the other hand, Babylon is never mentioned in Lamentations, though this could simply be to make the point that the judgment comes from God, and is a consequence of Judah disobeying Him.

Date

Lamentations was probably composed soon after 586 BC. Kraus argues that "the whole song stands so near the events that one feels everywhere as if the terrible pictures of the destruction stand still immediately before the eyes of the one lamenting."

Contents

The book consists of five separate poems. In chapter 1 the prophet dwells on the manifold miseries oppressed by which the city sits as a solitary widow weeping sorely. In chapter 2 these miseries are described in connection with national sins and acts of God. Chapter 3 speaks of hope for the people of God. The chastisement would only be for their good; a better day would dawn for them. Chapter 4 laments the ruin and desolation that had come upon the city and temple, but traces it only to the people's sins. Chapter 5 is a prayer that Zion's reproach may be taken away in the repentance and recovery of the people.

Structure

The first four poems (chapters) are acrostics, like some of the Psalms (25, 34, 37, 119), i.e., each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet taken in order. The first, second, and fourth have each twenty-two verses, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The third has sixty-six verses, in which each three successive verses begin with the same letter. The fifth is not acrostic, but also has twenty-two verses.[1] In the second, third and fourth chapters, the order of the 16th letter (ע) and the 17th (פ) is reversed.

Use

Readings, chantings, and choral settings, of the book of Lamentations, are used in the Christian religious service known as the Tenebrae (Latin for darkness). In the Church of England, readings from Lamentations are used at Morning and Evening Prayer on the Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week, and at Evening Prayer on Good Friday.

The Book of Lamentations is recited annually on the Tisha b'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both of the Jewish Temples as well as numerous other unfavorable days in Jewish history.

As quoted by Scottish Presbyterian preacher, Matthew George Easton (1823-1894), at the "Wailing Wall" in the Old City of Jerusalem, "the Jews assemble every Friday afternoon to bewail the downfall of the holy city, kissing the stone wall and watering it with their tears. They repeat from their well-worn Hebrew Bibles and prayer-books the Lamentations of Jeremiah and suitable Psalms."

In the Coptic Orthodox Church chapter three is chanted on the twelfth hour of the Good Friday service, that commemorates the burial of Jesus.

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Introit - Solo version low voice - from Heigen's Requiem - mp3 sample

Bill Heigen

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