Spindrift Music Catalog Scores and Parts

Shepherds and Angels for chorus, violin, harp, tamborine

by Pamela J. Marshall

Shepherds and Angels is approximately 25 minutes long, with a prelude for violin and harp and nine old American Christmas songs. The instrumentation is SATB chorus, harp, and violin, and tamborine, which can be played by a chorister. The music has a strong traditional feeling, with some spicy harmonies and instrumental interludes.

Pam writes about it:

" Song of Angels, painting by Bouguereau I love unfamiliar Christmas music, particularly the more obscure American contributions to Christmas celebration. In writing Shepherds and Angels, I also was inspired by other Christmas collections that include harp, such as Britten and Conrad De Susa. For this collection, I found tunes in Ruth Crawford Seeger's collection American Folk Songs for Christmas and I looked at old sources like William Billings and Southern Harmony."

There are 10 movements, a prelude and 9 songs:

Prelude for violin and harp
Exultation (by Humphreys, from Southern Harmony, No. 88)
Rise Up Shepherd and Follow (from Religious Folk Songs of the Negro, As Sung on the Plantations, 1909)
Jesus, Jesus Rest Your Head (collected by John Jacob Niles, date and source unknown, probably
somewhere in Southern Appalachia)
The Babe of Bethlehem (by William Walker, from Southern Harmony)
Shepherds in Judea (Tune: Emanuel, by William Billings, verses from Ruth Crawford Seeger's Christmas collection)
Oh, Mary and the Baby, Sweet Lamb (from Archive of American Folk Song, Library of Congress)
Restoration & Cradle Hymn --two very similar tunes (words from a poem by Isaac Watts, English hymn writer of the early 1700s.Restoration is from Southern Harmony, No. 5b, no composer given. Cradle Hymn is from Devil's Ditties by Jean Thomas, 1931, published by Hatfield. The tune of Cradle Hymn is from a Tennessee singer, according to R.C.Seeger)
Jesus Born in Beth'ny (collected by John Jacob Niles. Recorded in Virginia in 1932)
Rejoice My Friends (Tune: Knoxville by William Walker, from Southern Harmony)

Listen

New England premiere by the Master Singers of Lexington, MA, Adam Grossman, director. It's on the Spindrift ListenNow Holiday Music page.

The original computer-generated audio demo (no words) is hosted at SoundClick

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Download perusal score
1.8Mb	free	PDF full score. Download an Acrobat PDF file of the score for perusal. This file is for viewing only and is not enabled for printing. Since this 70-page score is such a large file, you might prefer to order the printed full score instead, or contact us to borrow a perusal copy.
471K	free	Harp part as downloadable, printable PDF. Harpists, check out the part and petition your local choral director to program Shepherds and Angels.
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