December 11, 200817 yr So for this semester, our university's chamber choir sang compositions which contain the Ave Maria theme. It is a tradition that at the end of the semester I would write a piece based on the theme. So here is my version of Ave Maria for SATB. http://h1.ripway.com/minhman13/ “Ave Maria”.pdfPDF MIDI Two pieces that somewhat influenced this composition are: 1. Gorecki's Totus Tuus 2. Bruckner's Ave Maria's Question: How would classify this piece? (renaissance, baroque etc.) Enjoy & Thank,
December 20, 200817 yr Well, I can certainly hear the Bruckner influence! Bars 49-50 are quite reminiscent of a similar moment in 'Christus factus est'. Most of my criticisms are technical: - Slurs are not normally used in choral music, unless you are writing unusual breathing places. A choir will breathe with the words. - You need to hyphenate words with several syllables. - Unless it was your intention to be like e. e. cummings, the opening word Ave needs to be spelt with a capitalised 'A' - When you divide a part, it may be helpful for the singers to print 'div.' Intervals and voice-leading are generally okay, but there are a few moments I would bring to your attention: - Bar 7, altos - why double the sopranos on beats 2 and 4? - Bars 9-10 - a leap of a seventh in sopranos and basses. Not easy to pitch, especially as nobody else is singing -Bar 10 - I'm not sure you can really put the syllable '-minus' on a single note. Write two, it won't affect the music. - Bar 37-38, basses. Another leap of a seventh, again not easy to find. - Bar 47-49, tenors. That's really low for tenors and the subsequent leap of an eleventh is beyond all but solo singers. It's almost doubling the altos anyway. Write it into a top bass part as it's right in a good part of their range, and put something like a D an octave above the basses in the tenor part. -Bar 49, basses - There are no rules against dividing a chorus section into more than two parts, however this is not a successful example. There is a very close spacing of notes at the bottom of the chord which will produce a rather muddy sound. If you want this chord, with the third (A) at the root, remove the c from the bass parts and put the altos up to a C two octaves above this. - Swapping the soprano and tenor lines around (so the sops start on a high Bb) in bar 50-51 will produce a greater sense of climax - but ignore me if this is not the effect you desired. You are the composer, I'm just a critic. Your word-setting is excellent. All the right syllables fall on strong beats. Likewise you have a good sense of the flow and climax of a piece, and bring it to a satisfactory close with an effective diminuendo. Your dynamics are good and appropriately used. If you amend this as I have suggested, I would encourage you to find a choir that will perform the work, as it is well-written for the most part.
