Benjamin Britten’s Spring Symphony, Op. 44, was composed in 1948–49 on commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Britten described it as “a symphony not only dealing with the Spring itself but with the progress of Winter to Spring...

Respighi’s La bella dormente nel bosco is a “musical fairy tale” in three acts, originally composed in 1921 for Vittorio Podrecca’s Teatro dei Piccoli puppet theatre and later substantially revised in 1933 for full theatrical...

REPRINT SERIES Poulenc’s "Stabat Mater" (FP 148), composed in 1950, is a powerful and emotional choral work set to the traditional Latin hymn, "Stabat Mater Dolorosa." The piece was written in the aftermath of World War II, and its deeply...

Five Tudor Portraits (1935), by Ralph Vaughan Williams, is a work scored for contralto (or mezzo-soprano), baritone, mixed chorus and orchestra. It sets several poems, or extracts from poems, by the 15th/16th-century poet John Skelton, portraying five...

Dona nobis pacem (English: Grant us peace) is a cantata written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1936 and first performed on 2 October of that year. The work was commissioned to mark the centenary of the Huddersfield Choral Society. Vaughan Williams produced...

REPRINT SERIES Seven, They Are Seven (Russian: Семеро их) (op. 30) is a cantata by Sergei Prokofiev composed in 1917 for large orchestra, chorus, and dramatic tenor soloist. It was composed in Yessentuki and Kislovodsk, and the words are taken from the...