Thea Musgrave

A Suite O Bairnsangs poems by Maurice Lindsay. Arranged for high voice and piano. Commissioned for Scottish Festival 1953.

Poems by Hart Crane from White Buildings set by Thea Musgrave for womens' voices piano and percussion.Black Tambourine was commissioned by the Musart Singers who gave the first performance at the Gallery Theatre Los Angeles on 31 May 1986.Duration c. 17 minutes.

Thea Musgrave's The Last Twilight was composed in 1980 and is arranged for SATB and Brass Ensemble. commissioned by Anthony Branch and New Mexico D H Lawrence Festival the piece has a duration of approximately 13 minutes.

For The Time Being is a setting of the first section of W.H. Auden's poem of the same title written in 1945. This work was commissioned by the BBC for the BBC singers who gave the first performance in April 1987 at St. John's Smith Square conducted by John Poole.Duration: c. 25 minutes.

Rorate Coeli for unaccompanied chorus was written in 1973 in response to a commission from the National Federation of Music Societies in Great Britain. It was first performed by the Thomas Tallis choir in Greenwich. It is a setting of two interleaved poems of the famous Scottish poet William Dunbar (written circa 1500). One poem is the Nativity poem of the title the other is the poem about the Resurrection: 'Done is a battle on the dragon black'. The work is framed by the rich chords of the opening line where full chorus is echoed by soloists. This setting of both poems simultaneously reminiscent of medieval polytextural techniques shows the future victory of theResurrection along with present joy of the Nativity. The chords of the opening return at the end combined with an exultant Gloria.

A work for SATB choir and organ setting an excerpt from Ode for Music on Saint Cecilia’s Day by Alexander Pope. It was first performed as part of the Festival of St Cecilia 2018 at St Paul’s Cathedral London on 21 November 2018 by the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral.

Thea Musgrave's Missa Brevis for SATB and Organ.Thea Musgrave's Missa Brevis was given its first performance by Wells Cathedral Choir on the Feast of John the Baptist Sunday 24th June 2018 by Wells Cathedral Choir Jeremy Cole (organ) and Matthew Owens (conductor) in the presence of the composer.The work was commissioned by Cathedral Commissions of Wells Cathedral (cathedralcomissions.co.uk).Duration: 12 minutes

Thea Musgrave's arrangement of the Anonymous 15th century text Adam Lay YBounden is scored for Children's Voices SATB Choir and Piano a performance of which lasts around 2 minutes.A review in the September 2016 issue of Organist's Review calls this 'a haunting setting...with a bell-like cascading descant' and that this 'characterful response to the words stands comparison with the well-known Ord and Ledger settings.'

This short choral work was written to celebrate the twenty-fifth season (2012/2013) of The New York Virtuoso Singers.

Marko the Miser is designed the children to mime sing and play and can be done either as a concert performance or a stage piece. The words are by the composer and Frederic Samson and are based on a story taken from the Afanasievcollection of Russian Folk Tales. The characters are Marko a rich peasant the Beggar Marko’s Wife and Robbers. The instruments include glockenspiel chime bars recorders clarinet guitar piano and a large array ofpercussion instruments.