Judith Weir

Full Score for the Opera in Two Acts. Scored for SATB Soli SATB Chorus and Orchestra. Commissioned by English national Opera with funds from the Arts Council. Text: Judith Weir after Ludwig Tieck.

Work for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra. Judith Weir: Much of my non-operatic work for solo voice occupies an area between folk music and cabaret. In 1990 I began a personal project which is still going on today to write asmany songs as I could with the word 'horse' in the title. This short preliminary set was collected together and orchestrated for a Spitalfields Festival concert in 1996. It was written for the soprano Jane Manning her ensembleJane's Minstrels and their conductor Roger Montgomery. Text: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Scottish Folk Text and Wang Wei.

These are the Trumpet Parts for Judith Weir's Praise Him With Trumpets a work for 2 Trumpets in C SATB Choir and Organ. Commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces in collaboration with The ChoralFoundation the piece was composed for the Hampton Court Chapel Royal Choir in celebration of Hampton Court 500. A setting of text from Psalms 146 and 150 this work lasts around 5 minutes.

A3 Size Score of the Opera in 3 Acts with libretto by the composer based on the 13th Century Chinese drama The Chao Family Orphan.

Judith Weir's In The Land Of Uz for SATB chorus solo tenor and instrumental ensemble. This work was commissioned by BBC Radio 3. It was first performed on 12th August 2017 at the BBC Promsin Southwark Cathederal London by the BBC Singers Adrian Thompson (tenor) and the Nash Ensemble conducted by David Hill. In the Land of Uz is a dramatised reading of the biblical Book of Job from which all the text istaken in the musical form of a cantata or short oratorio. The majority of the music is sung by the chorus but there are also ‘obbligato’ roles for a small group of instruments which appear singly or in pairs; viola double bass soprano saxophone trumpet tuba and organ. Job appears from time to time as a solo tenor; his thoughts are also represented by the viola. Although the bulk of the storytelling is undertaken by the chorus a speakingnarrator also makes occasional appearances.

Commissioned by the Lontano Ensemble and first performed by them on 21st January 1981. In this piece one instrument per movement is given musical prominence over the other two. Duration: c. 15 minutes.

For SATB Chorus and Trombone. Commissioned to celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the Unversity of Cambridge and first performed on St Cecilia's Day 2009 by The Choir of Gonville & Caius College with Matthew Knight (Trombone).

The Big Picture was written to celebrate the completion of a major redevelopment and refurbishment to Aberdeen Art Gallery. Wishing to examine a subject important in different ways to both the visual arts and music the composer decided to write about colour. Instrumental Parts available: CH88092-02. Voice/Keyboard Score: CH88092-01. Voice/Extra Percussion Parts: CH88092-03

This work was commissioned by William Howard with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain and was first performed in the Wigmore Hall 31 May 1983. Duration: c.10 minutes.

A recomposition of Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione written in colloboration with Margaret Williams for a television film in the 'Not Mozart' series. For Soprano Mezzo-Soprano Tenor/High Baritone and Bass Soli SATB Chorus and Ensemble.

A Song Of Departure. Composed for the Schubert Ensemble?s farewell tour and modelled on ?Abschied? from Schubert?s Schwanengesang, this four-minute piece gives each player a brief solo before the work?s close. A light-hearted piece that is ideal for the end of a concert programme or as an encore.

Score and Parts.Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre. First performance 19 May 1998 Merkin Concert Hall New York City.Quoting Weir: 'In my previous work I have often enjoyed inventing titles whichattempt to encapsulate the particular world of each composition but this fifteen minutes piece for violin cello and piano is simply entitled Piano Trio . What is the reason for this unusually abstract description? I thinkperhaps that in this piece the many external impressions which habitually make up my musical world have become too numerous and too personal to be pinned down in the space of few words that a composition title allows.The firstmovement began in my mind with impressions of Venice as relayed in Schubert's song Gondelfahrer; the crisp midnight air the dark choppy water the bells tolling the gondolier alone in emotional turmoil. Schubert's world is aplace where I can find constant inspiration and strength.The second movement recalls a time when I was called from a phone box in Africa. At one moment I was alone in my room the next (or so it seemed in my imagination)surrounded by light heat and sudden energy and activity. The movement is not however an evocation of African music; it takes the form of a scherzo and trio which collide with each other at the movement's conclusion.Thethird movement formed in my mind whilst I was reading some Gaelic poetry from the Hebridean island of Lewis on Scotland 's far flung Atlantic fringe. I was thinking of the bleached white beaches in that part of the world whereevery object lying on the sand - a washed-up bottle or a bird's skeleton - is a major event in a deserted landscape. The same might be said of this short set of musical variations where melodic fragments are laid out with plentyof space around them clear and plain for everyone to hear.

This work for mixed voices and organ setting text from the First Epistle of St John and Psalm 107 was commissioned by the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport for a Service to commemorate the centenary of the end ofthe First World War held in Westminster Abbey on 11th November 2018 and first performed by the Choir of Westminster Abbey with Peter Holder (organ) conducted by James O'Donnell. Duration: c. 5 minutes

I Broke Off A Golden Branch was commissioned and first performed by the Schubert Ensemble in 1992. The words ‘I broke off a golden branch’ come from a Croatian folksong which is very obliquely referred to inthe second of the work’s two movements. Judith Weir dedicated this lovely piece of chamber music for Violin Viola Cello Double Bass and Piano to William Howard. Full score. Violin Viola Cello and Double Bass partsare included separately as well. Duration ca. 15 minutes.Judith Weir is a British composer and Master of the Queen's Music. In 1994 Weir received the Critics’ Circle Music Section Award for the mostoutstanding contribution to British musical life.