Christmas Carol by 19th century composer Emma Mundella. Sheet music available here: https://www.banksmusicpublications.co.uk/kassian-choral-series

The Desert - Emma Mundella arr. & apt. for SSA by Olivia Sparkhall. Copies available from Banks

Gebet in der Christnacht (Prayer on Christmas Eve)

Christmas piece by Fanny Hensel (nee Mendelssohn) for SSA and piano. Can be sung in German or English. 

Composed when she was 18 years old. 

Sheet music available here: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/gebet-in-der-christnacht-prayer-on-christmas-eve-by-fanny-hensel-digital-sheet-music/22062794

or here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/prayer-on-christmas-eve-for-ssa-fanny-hensel-nee-mendelssohn-choral-music-12128502

A version for a cappella SATB is available from Multitude of Voyces - published in their Anthology of Sacred Music by Women Composers Volume 1.

Gebet in der Christnacht - Fanny Hensel arr. & apt. for SSA & piano by Olivia Sparkhall

The Dormouse’s Carol - Elizabeth Poston arr. Olivia Sparkhall
Sheet music available exclusively from https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/the-dormouse-s-carol-by-elizabeth-poston-arr-olivia-sparkhall-digital-sheet-music/22075550?ac=1

This delightful carol by Elizabeth Poston, where a dormouse is awoken from its hibernation with the news of Jesus’s birth, has been reimagined for 2-part upper voices. A solo voice, taking the role of ‘lizard’, adds to the overall charm, and brings the piece to life.

Equally suitable for children’s choirs as more mature upper voices groups, the second part has been carefully constructed to suit treble voices, as well as altos.

The Dormouse's Carol - Elizabeth Poston arr. Olivia Sparkhall

by Olivia Sparkhall. A Motet for SATB. 
Digital off-print available here: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/digital-offprints/
Appears within this anthology: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/volume-1-satb-anthems/
View perusal score here: https://issuu.com/sparkhall/docs/sparkhall_dona_nobis_pacem
Further information here: https://oliviasparkhall.wixsite.com/sparkhallo/dona-nobis-pacem

Dona nobis pacem

Eternal Father, who at the baptism of Jesus revealed him to be your Son, anointing him with the Holy Spirit: 
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit, that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children; 
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever, Amen.

Suitable for use at services which include a baptism or christening, this setting of the collect for the feast of the baptism of our Lord commemorates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. The feast day itself is celebrated on the first Sunday after Epiphany. The sound-world of The Baptism of Jesus embraces the sharpened fourth which creates a timeless quality typical of modal writing. The composition is intentionally restrained in its scoring, with no divisi, and no extremes of register, making it easily performed on little rehearsal.

The Baptism of Jesus (live recording)

A new work for SATB (no divisi), this was written at the suggestion of my publisher, to provide a straight-forward, direct piece that captures something of a spirit of renewal as choirs come back together and sing. Intentionally restrained, the piece provides a satisfying harmonic journey, is contemporary without being impenetrable, and a performance is achievable on a modest amount of rehearsal.

We pray for a renewal of our faith and that, in all the tensions and confusion of this present time, we may continue to trust in your name, and find your love in strength and peace.
We pray that your Church may grow in faith, so that sharing Christ’s suffering and death, we may share in the glory of his resurrection. Gillian Rogers.

The Romsey Singers, conducted by Philip Lawson, Romsey Abbey. 9 April, 2022.

A Renewal of Faith

Ave Maria by Clara Schumann arr. Olivia Sparkhall
for Upper Voices and organ
Available from Banks here: https://www.banksmusicpublications.co.uk/kassian-choral-series/ave-maria-4120
(You might also like St Paul's Benediction by Amy Beach, in the same series).

Sparkhall Schumann

Ave Maria

Play On from Three Shakespeare Partsongs by Olivia Sparkhall, performed by Cantamus at St Paul’s Girls’ School, Bernard Hughes (cond.)

http://www.coma.org/catalogue/three-shakespeare-songs/

Three Shakespeare Partsongs, for three voices (at any pitch), is a setting of portions of text from Twelfth Night and As You Like It. There are percussion parts for side drum/tabor in ‘Play on’ and guiro in ‘For the rain’. The vocal range is narrow, and the idiom embraces both gentle dissonance and the parallel 4ths and 5ths reminiscent of early music.  

The set opens with ‘Play on’. The constant repetition is designed to convince that music really is the food of love. No. 2 takes the refrain, ‘For the rain it raineth every day’ and superimposes Feste’s song, shared equally amongst the three voices. The third song uses an unexpected cadence to cast doubt as to whether sweet lovers really do love the spring. The final chord of ‘Play on’ is subverted, albeit by only one note, at the end of each verse, and the sinister whispering belies the jolly heys and hos. But all’s well that ends well!

Soiree Musicale

Play On from Three Shakespeare Partsongs by Olivia Sparkhall

For The Rain from Three Shakespeare Partsongs by Olivia Sparkhall

It Was A Lover And His Lass from Three Shakespeare Partsongs by Olivia Sparkhall

As part of the liturgy of Palm Sunday, in the Church of England, the congregation join in with the reading of the Passion, taking the part of ‘the crowd.’ It was the congregation’s shouts of ‘crucify him’ that acted as a catalyst for this setting of Crucifixus.

Crucifixus

Lux Aeterna for SSAA, Women's chorus and harp

Lux Aeterna was commissioned by Louise Stewart for the 2018 Salisbury International Women’s Day service. She asked for the piece to be written for two choirs: an Upper Voice Chamber Choir and an inclusive choir featuring the women of Salisbury’s churches; with an open invitation to any female member of any congregation to take part. Olivia Sparkhall conceived Lux Aeterna to be a companion piece to Carol J. Jones’s All Shall Be Well, a piece commissioned for the 2017 Salisbury International Women’s Day service. She writes:
‘I was moved by the story of the life of Julian of Norwich; how she was so near death that she received the last rites before her miraculous recovery led to the writing of some seminal works. Death is a complex concept in the Catholic church as both an end to earthly existence and the beginning of everlasting life. The Lux Aeterna, which comes at the very end of the Requiem Mass, asks God to shine eternal light on the departed as well as to grant them eternal rest. As a companion piece to All Shall Be Well, I have considered how Julian’s visions might have been understood then, with how they might be interpreted now. To represent this in sound I have juxtaposed the ethereal qualities of some contemporary sacred music with the music we know would have been familiar to Julian and her contemporaries. Using the original plainchant Lux Aeterna melody as an intonation, reminiscent of the opening of All Shall Be Well, along with the notes of the Lydian mode (the mode in which the Lux Aeterna is set), I have attempted to reimagine the sounds associated with Julian’s fourteenth century voice in the twenty-first century.’

Lux Aeterna is published by Multitude of Voyces and available here:
https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/ordering-information/ or as a digital offprint: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/digital-offprints/

Lux Aeterna for SSAA, SA & harp - Olivia Sparkhall (rehearsal recording)

Ding Dong! Merrily on High arranged for two-part Upper Voices by Olivia Sparkhall
This lighthearted arrangement for Upper Voices and piano is suitable for both girls’ choirs and adult, women’s choirs. It starts in four-parts but after the opening ‘ding, dongs’ is in two parts.

Published by Banks and available here: https://www.banksmusicpublications.co.uk/kassian-choral-series

Ding Dong! Merrily on High arranged for Upper Voices by Olivia Sparkhall Sheet music from Banks

Che si può fare - Barbara Strozzi arranged for Upper Voices by Olivia Sparkhall
This arrangement for SSA and piano (or chamber organ) is suitable for both girls’ choirs and adult, women’s choirs. 
This is a live recording.
Published by Banks and available here: https://www.banksmusicpublications.co.uk/kassian-choral-series

Che si può fare - Barbara Strozzi arr. for Upper Voices by Olivia Sparkhall Sheet music from Banks

In 2018 Cappella Nova held a competition inviting women composers to submit a score for an a cappella work setting the text ‘dona nobis pacem’. The winning piece was to be performed alongside Robert Carver’s Mass, L’Homme armé. Olivia Sparkhall’s composition was short-listed in the competition. Carver was the only British composer to base a Mass-setting on the medieval European ‘pop’ song L’Homme armé. In light of this, Olivia took the ‘dona nobis pacem’ from Carver’s Missa L’Homme armé as a literal starting point. The piece is enveloped in the sound-world of Carver, whilst embracing more contemporary choral sounds, to give a sense of it being as much about the ‘here and now’ as a homage to the past. Dona nobis pacem is suffused with direct quotes from the medieval song L’Homme armé, albeit in a harmonic language which is at once contemporary whilst also harking back to the parallel harmony of the distant past.

Dona Nobis Pacem is published by Multitude of Voyces and is available here:
https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/ordering-information/ or as a digital offprint: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/digital-offprints/

Dona Nobis Pacem - Olivia Sparkhall ~ Sacred Music Anthology available from Multitude of Voyces

Available here: http://chichestermusicpress.co.uk/thisholynight/
This Holy Night is an arrangement of the traditional tune ‘Londonderry Air’ for SSA and piano. Suitable for Christmas Carol Services and Concerts, the lyrics, by Olivia Sparkhall, tell of the night of Jesus’ birth, the visit of the shepherds, and, in the final verse, of the three wise men. The final verse makes the piece also suitable for Epiphany. 
A supportive piano accompaniment gives singers confidence, and an optional solo at the very end provides a magical moment.

Godolphin Vocal Ensemble

This holy night - Olivia Sparkhall available from Chichester Music Press

Gabriel’s Message – Basque folk melody arranged Olivia Sparkhall

Gabriel’s Message is for SSA and two soloists, with harp accompaniment.* 
*There is also a version for piano accompaniment. 
Using the Basque folk melody, this setting of the carol which begins ‘The angel Gabriel from heaven came’ is suitable for SSA youth and adult choirs alike. This accessible, yet effective arrangement would be suitable for Advent and Carol Services and Concerts, as well as on 25 March, of course!

Published by Banks and available here: https://www.banksmusicpublications.co.uk/kassian-choral-series

For offprints of the version for SAB, visit this link: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/digital-offprints/

Unknown album (11/07/2019 20:08:59)

Gabriel’s Message for SSA, two soloists, and harp – Basque folk melody arranged Olivia Sparkhall

Ave Maria by Clara Schumann, arranged for SA and piano by Olivia Sparkhall.
This beautiful setting of the Ave Maria is suitable for trebles and sopranos, and provides a rare opportunity for Upper Voices choirs to sing choral music by Clara Schumann. Suitable for both liturgical and concert use. Published by Banks and available here: https://www.banksmusicpublications.co.uk/kassian-choral-series

Clara Schumann

Ave Maria - Clara Schumann, arranged for SA and piano by Olivia Sparkhall

Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824)
My project to make choral repertoire by historical women composers more easily accessible has led me to research the lives and works of hundreds of women composers from the last 1000 years. Focussing on expanding the repertoire available for upper voices, in particular, my intention has been to make it much easier for school, church, youth and adult choirs to perform a more diverse selection of composers from previous centuries, dispelling the falsely-held view that there were ‘no women composers’ in the past. Among the modern editions of works I have produced sits that of the Austrian pianist, singer and composer, Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824). She went blind as a young child and used a specially invented composition board to compose. This piece comes from a set of 12 songs, written whilst on tour of west Europe (including London and Paris), which she dedicated to her patroness Princess Louise. In order for it to be suitable for publication in the Multitude of Voyces’ Christmas Anthology, I have substituted the original words with ‘Es ist ein Ros entsprungen’, words which can be found in the Gebetbuchlein des Frater Conradus (Father Conrad’s little prayer-book, c.1582). I feel they suit von Paradis’s spritely melody and ever-changing, entwining accompaniment patterns. My source for the von Paradis, and several other of the pieces in my project, is the wonderful Musikalischer Hausschatz Der Deutschen. Eine Sammlung Von über 1000 Liedern Und Gesängen Mit Singweisen Und Klavierbegleitung. This collection of over a thousand German songs from the 18th and 19th centuries truly is a treasure trove of music by the men and women of Germany’s rich musical heritage.

The sheet music is available as part of the exciting new anthology of music for the Christmas season: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/ordering-information/ or as a digital offprint: https://www.multitudeofvoyces.co.uk/digital-offprints/

Es ist ein' Ros' - Maria Theresia von Paradis arr. Olivia Sparkhall

Biography – Olivia Sparkhall
Olivia Sparkhall is a composer and arranger, primarily of choral music, who is based in South West England. Her compositions have been performed in the UK, and abroad, including on BBC One’s Songs of Praise programmes and on BBC Radio 3. Olivia is published by Encore Publications, Chichester Music Press, Tim Knight Music, Lindsay Music, and within the Kassian Choral Series of Banks Music Publications both as composer, and as arranger and editor of choral music by women composers from the past. She is part of the series research and editorial team for the Multitude of Voyces CIC Sacred Music by Women Composers set of anthologies, as well as contributing original compositions and arrangements to each of the three volumes.

Olivia Sparkhall - composer

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