Lennox Berkeley

Three Motets for SSATB Choir. Commissioned bt the North Wales Music Festival and premiered by St John's College Cambridge under George Guest in 1972.

Motet for Good Friday for Solo Tenor and SATB Choir. Dedicated to Peter Pears and Imogen Holst.

For unaccompanied chorus SSAATTBB. Text: Edmund Spenser.The Hill Of The Graces was commissioned by the BBC and was first performed on 20th October 1975 as part of a concert given by the BBC singers to mark the 50thanniversary of their first unaccompanied recital.

For Mezzo-Soprano (or Baritone) and Piano. Text: Walter de la Mare. Premiered by Janet Baker and Geoffrey Pratley in Chichester Cathedral July 1977.

For SSATB Choir A Cappella. Dedicated to Colin Mawby and the Choir of Westminster Cathedral. Piano rehearsal reduction provided.

A one act opera in two scenes. Scored for 2 Sopranos Alto 2 Tenors Baritone and Orchestra. Vocal Score with piano reduction.

For SSATB Choir. Commissioned for the celebration of the fifteen hundredth anniversary of the birth of Saint Benedict. Premiere by Westminster Cathedral Choir under the direction of Stephen Cleobury.

The poem I Sing Of A Maiden is one of the best known of the anonymous medieval hymns deceptive in its simplicity and full of grace and faith. The setting by Lennox Berkeley also has a deceptivesimplicity but reveals on repeated listenings or performances a harmonic integrity and subtlely that has made it a work that will continue to be performed and enjoyed for a long time to come. Lennox Berkeley wascomposing and having his works performed before he finished school then upon meeting Ravel was introduced to legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris with whom he studied. He mixed with the great artistic and musicalnames of prewar Paris before returning to Britain where he later met and lived with Benjamin Britten before the arrival of Peter Pears in Britten’s life. Berkeley was professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Musicand himself composed more than two hundred works of music many of them of enduring value.

Much celebrated work for 6 Solo Voices (2 Soprano Alto Tenor Baritone Bass) and chamber group. Premiered by the English Opera Group in Zurich in 1947 this work has recently resurfaced as one of one of Berkeley's tour deforce.

Commissioned for the the Service of 9 Lessons and Carols by Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King's College Cambridge. This short four-stanza carol follows an ABBA structure.

For Solo Soprano and Tenor SATB Choir and Organ. Commissioned by St Matthew's Church Northampton. Text: Sequence- Jerusalem et Sion Filiae George Herbert and Henry Vaughan.

For Solo Voice and Piano.There are various versions of this anonymous ballad that has its own traditionalmelody. Berkeley provided a folk-like setting in this song for Sophie Wyss (1897-1983) the Swiss sopranoliving in England who gave important premieres of Britten.Wyss and Berkeley gave the first performance in a BBC broadcast on 13 July 1947.He had already dedicated ‘Tant que mes yeux’ Op. 14 No.2/6 to her and withhimshe gave the first performance of that song as well as ‘Ode du premier jour de mai’ Op. 14 No.2/7 at the Fyvie Hall London on 20 February 1945. Those two songswere published performed and recorded but ‘The LowLands of Holland’ has beenneglected. It comes as close as Berkeley ever got to the English folk song tradition.This edition is based on the copyist’s score at the British Library and includes thecorrections thecomposer provided with it.

For High Voice and Piano. Composed by Lennox Berkeley with text by Federico Garcia Lorca translated by Stanley Richardson.