Oxford University Press

This gentle carol sets the text of Isaac Watts' popular 'Cradle Song' to the music of Charles Villiers Stanford's lullaby, 'Golden slumbers, kiss your eyes', from his Six Songs (op. 19), written in 18...

Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing is an upbeat setting of a hymn text by seventeenth-century English poet George Herbert. Chilcott uses irregular metres, syncopation, and dancing melodic shapes t...

Cecilia McDowall's fresh and appealing style is amply displayed in this cycle, subtitled 'Three Shakespeare Songs'. In total, six Shakespeare texts are used, and McDowall's response encompasses a flee...

This poignant anthem was originally composed to be sung at a funeral. It is a beautifully composed work, sufficiently sombre for such an occasion, but with a celebratory element which is uplifting and...

Available here in German translation Christmas Lullaby was commissioned in 1989 by the Bach Choir in celebration of the seventieth birthday of its conductor, Sir David Willcocks. Offprinted from Weihn...

This gentle, reflective piece, originally from Three Children's Songs, has been arranged for a mixed choir and is perfect for a spring concert. Offprinted from Vaughan Williams for Choirs 2.

Written for the 25th anniversary concert of the Manchester Chorale in 2004, this setting of a poem by Paul Eluard (trans. Bowen) is both powerful and gentle, and is ideal for concert use. Combining a...

This luminescent setting of 'O lux beata Trinitas' (ascribed to St Ambrose) uses a variety of textures and vocal techniques to reflect the joy expressed in the text - from simple homophony to improvis...

The Parting Glass is a traditional Scottish song, often sung as a farewell at the end of a get-together. With its valedictory message, it would make a fitting end to a performance, perhaps as an encor...

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This is a gentle and graceful anthem setting the well-loved words usually ascribed to St Francis of Assisi. It has been arranged for upper voices from the composer's Lux Perpetua, a choral work on the...

This Marian text for Eastertide, Regina caeli, was set four times by Morales. This setting for four voices was first published in the Spanish composer's 1543 collection and notated in high clefs.

This celebratory anthem sets Psalm 100 'O be joyful in the Lord' and uses organ flourishes, dancing vocal melodies, and lively articulation to emphasize the exultant message of the text. Jubilate Deo...

The sustained homophonic opening creates an ethereal sound-world, mirroring the reverence of the text of this Eucharistic hymn. The exquisite vocal lines that follow create simple but effective polyph...

Setting words by the composer, One of these days is an affirmatory piece with pop-inspired rhythms and harmonies. The scat syllables and repeating patterns of the lower parts provide a rich cushion fo...

In Be like the bird, Quartel sets an English translation of a text by Victor Hugo to lyrical melodies and rising sequences that reflect the uplifting message of the words. A passage from the original...

The text is a set of six poems by John Drinkwater (1882-1937). Drinkwater had close associations with Warwickshire and much of his poetry reveals his love of the countryside. The first and last of six...

This anthem sets the Antiphon at All Saints to a lively melody and rich, sonorous harmonies. Opening and closing with a drawn-out melisma, the music moves between different rhythms and textures. Ideal...

With specially written poems by Kãrlis Verdinš based on the Adonis chapters from Frazer's The Golden Bough, each song in this little cycle explores a single Affekt.

This anthem sets a descriptive passage by Milton that sees the poet ask for guidance as he enters the 'studious Cloysters pale'. Jackson sets the words sensitively, building to a glorious climax on 'A...

Based on Feste's famous words from Twelfth Night, this energetic piece abounds in word painting and imitative exchanges, as the music sings, dances, questions, laughs, and teases along with its text,...