Jacques Ibert’s Suite Élisabéthaine, composed in 1942 as incidental music for Le Songe d’une nuit d’été (Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), was published in 1945 and is structured in nine...

Luigi Dallapiccola’s An Mathilde (1955) is a cantata for soprano and orchestra setting five German poems by Heinrich Heine drawn from Romanzero and Letzte Gedichte. Lasting about 15 minutes, the work unfolds as a continuous sequence of...

REPRINT SERIES Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Six Choral Songs (To Be Sung in Time of War) was composed in 1940 as a response to the turmoil of the Second World War. Scored for unison voices (often treble or mixed children’s chorus) and orchestra,...

Gerald Finzi’s Two Milton Sonnets, Op. 12 (1926–28) sets John Milton’s Sonnet XIX (“When I consider how my light is spent”) and Sonnet XXX (“How soon hath Time”) for tenor (or soprano) with piano or small...

REPRINT SERIES  Ralph Vaughan Williams’s On Christmas Night is a one‐act masque co-created in 1926 with choreographer Adolph Bolm. Loosely drawing on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, it integrates singing, dancing and mime into a...

Arthur Bliss’s Pastoral: Lie Strewn the White Flocks, F.33, composed in 1928, is a choral-orchestral work lasting approximately 35 minutes. It is scored for SATB chorus, mezzo-soprano soloist, flute, timpani, and strings. The piece sets a sequence...

Darius Milhaud's Agamemnon Op. 14 is an early dramatic work that engages with themes drawn from Greek tragedy. The piece reflects Milhaud’s initial exploration of modern compositional techniques, employing polytonal harmonies and clear rhythmic...

Gerald Finzi’s orchestral setting of the Magnificat presents a measured, introspective interpretation of the biblical text, rendered through clear and refined orchestration. Unlike the more familiar organ version, this arrangement highlights the...

REPRINT SERIES Ralph Vaughan Williams’ In Windsor Forest is a five-movement cantata for SATB choir and orchestra (or piano and strings), adapted from his opera Sir John in Love. Based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, the work...

Stravinsky's Les Noces (1923) is presented here in our new 2025 Revised Edition. This groundbreaking ballet-cantata that captures the raw energy and ritualistic intensity of a Russian peasant wedding. Scored for four pianos, percussion, vocal soloists,...

REPRINT SERIES  Ravel's L'Aurore (The Dawn), composed in 1905, is a choral work for tenor, mixed chorus, and orchestra, originally created as part of his bid for the prestigious Prix de Rome. Set to a French text by Édouard Guinand, the...

REPRINT SERIES Festival Te Deum for Mixed Chorus, Organ, and Orchestra is a stately and celebratory setting of the traditional Christian hymn of praise. Composed in 1937 for the coronation of King George VI, the work reflects Vaughan Williams's mastery...

REPRINT SERIES   Ralph Vaughan Williams' Magnificat, composed in 1932, is a fascinating and unconventional setting of the biblical text traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary's song of praise. Unlike many settings of the Magnificat, which...

REPRINT SERIES  Though not readily associated with Anglican church music (despite being fully aware of its repertoire), Elgar composed two major extended anthems. The first—Great is the Lord, Op 67, a substantial multi-sectional work, begun...

An Oxford Elegy is a work for narrator, small mixed chorus and small orchestra, written by Ralph Vaughan Williams between 1947 and 1949. It uses portions of two poems by Matthew Arnold, "The Scholar Gipsy" and "Thyrsis". The first performance took place...

REPRINT SERIES The text to both songs comes from one of Prokofiev's favorite poets, Konstantin Balmont. The two choruses in this set were entitled "The White Swan" and "The Wave." The former was premiered in 1910, with the composer conducting a...

REPRINT SERIES Composed during the Second World War (most of it at a Budapest monastery) and completed in 1944, Missa Brevis was first performed in 1945, just after the end of the war, at the Budapest Opera House (where Kodály and his wife had...

Lo, the full, final sacrifice (Op. 26) is a festival anthem for SATB choir and organ, composed by Gerald Finzi in 1946. The work was commissioned by the Revd Walter Hussey for the 53rd anniversary of the consecration of St Matthew's Church, Northampton...