morten johannes lauridsen & les chansons des roses
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Morten Johannes Lauridsen & Les Chansons des Roses. By Kelsi Capizzi 7/7/2011. Morten Lauridsen - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
By Kelsi Capizzi7/7/2011
Morten Johannes Lauridsen & Les Chansons
des Roses
Morten Lauridsenis “the only American
composer in history who can be
called a mystic, (whose) probing,
serene work contains an elusive
and indefinable ingredient which
leaves the impression that all the questions have been answered”.
-Nick Strimple, Conductor
http://homepage.mac.com/kennesten/lauridsen/index2.html
Born Feb. 27, 1943
• Born in Colfax, Washington• Raised in
Portland, Oregon
Began playing the piano at age
8• Learned a love
of music from his mother
Shortly after that he began
playing the trumpet
Biographyhttp://stopthecap.com/tag/cable-television/page/2/
http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/music/piano.shtml
http://www.leadmineband.com/trumpet.html
SchoolingGraduated from
Whitman College in Washington
Went to graduate school at the University of Southern California (USC)
Graduated from USC in 1967
http://www.yorkblog.com/teentakeover/2009/04/usc-sets-high-standards-for-ac.html
Professor of Composition at USC’s Thornton School of Music
Chair of the Composition Department at USC
Composer-in-Residence for Los Angeles Master Chorale
Founded USC’s Advanced Studies Program in Film Scoring
Currently USC’s Distinguished Professor of Composition
Career
Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke)Mid-Winter Songs (Graves)Cuatro Canciones (Lorca)A Winter Come (Moss)Madrigali: Six “FireSongs” on
Renaissance Italian PoemsNocturnesLux Aeterna
Vocal Cycles
O Magnum MysteriumAve MariaO Nata LuxUbi Caritas et AmorAve Dulcissima Maria
Series of SacredA cappella Motets
3 Grammy Nominations
Named “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006
Awarded the National Medal of the Arts from President Bush in 2007
Awards
http://www.bruceduffie.com/lauridsen.html
Composition HistoryRainer Maria Rilke’s poems about roses
from the early 1900s became
the text for Lauridsen’s
Les Chansons des Roses.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7906.Rainer_Maria_Rilke
Les Chansons des Roses was premiered on April 23, 1993. It was
sung by Choral Cross-Ties and conducted by Bruce Browne.
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O Magnum Mysterium
The Complete Choral Cycles
Nocturnes
Morten Lauridsen The Passing of the Year
Echo in my Soul
Albums
Verse 1 begins with driving rhythmHomophonic textureKey phrase = “Mais tu n’a pas pensé ailleurs”
(Translated by Barbara and Erica Muhl to mean “But you never did think otherwise”) which is always repeated at least twice
Verse 2 begins much more polyphonic in textureVerse 1 repeats; back to a homophonic texturePiece ends with key phrase being repeated
three time with very gradual ritardando and decrescendo
En Une Seule FleurListening Guide
Verse 1-Phrase 1 begins extremely quietly (ppp) with a very slow and thoughtful tempo
Verse 1-Phrase 2 begins with tenors being quite prominent even though sopranos maintain the melody
Verse 2-Phrase 1 begins with tenors ahead of the other parts rhythmically
Verse 2-Phrase 2 grows in volume and intensity as it approaches the climax of the song
Song reaches its climax with the words, “Au contraire” (or “to the contrary”)
Final chord has no resolution which seems appropriate considering the text ends by restating a question
Contre Qui, RoseListening Guide
Verse 1-Variation 1 opens very light Verse 1-Variation 2 grows to a much fuller and louder sound Verse 1-Variation 3 starts at the slow/dissonant part and moves
to the quick/light ending Verse 2-Variation 1 begins with very driving rhythm Verse 1-Variation 4 has the altos singing melody and the
sopranos holding a long, sustained note above that Verse 2-Variation 2 has men begin the verse and as the pitch of
the melody rises, the women join in which gives it the feel that it is growing
Verse 1-Variation 5 the volume slowly grows as the tempo picks up, but quickly fades
Verse 1-Variation 6 begins almost with a round All parts join together for a final repeat of the quiet/dissonant
theme, followed by the light/quick conclusion
De Ton Rêve Trop PleinListening Guide
Very melodic and beautiful beginningHarmony holds a lot of dissonanceVerse 1 repeats with a lot more movement from
the tenorsVerse 2 has sopranos take melody and maintain
their own rhythm while other parts remain homophonic and provide the harmony
Verse 2 repeats with the entire choir lingering on the climax a little longer than before
Concludes with final phrase repeated twice, softer and slower with slight dissonance
La Rose CompléteListening Guide
http://homepage.mac.com/kennesten/lauridsen/index2.html
http://www.classiccat.net/lauridsen_m/biography.php
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/q66659http://www.answers.com/topic/les-chanson
s-des-roses-for-chorus
Resources