The Gotham City Music Collective
CHORAL REPERTOIRE
Index of Songs
Agnus Dei
And So It Goes
The Awakening
Black is the Color
Blue Skies
Cantique de Jean Racine
Chamego (Betty’s Bossa)
Frozen Choral Suite
Gloria
Hela Rotan
I Sing Because I’m Happy
Ilus Hääl
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
Let the River Run
Loch Lomond
Lux Aurumque
MLK
Music Down in My Soul
Ой у лузі червона калина
One of these Days
Pirate Song
Robots
Sanctuary
Shenandoah
Sing Me to Heaven
Summertime
Tarekita
That Lonesome Road
The Island Itself
Ubi Caritas
United in Purpose
Wanting Memories
We Are the Music Makers
Wide Open Spaces
Agnus Dei
by Rollo Dilworth.
Here a beautiful Gospel flavor is given to a traditional Catholic liturgical prayer: the Great Doxology. Gloria shares this text. In English the lyrics read:
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
And So It Goes
by Billy Joel. Arranged by Bob Chilcott.
Though unreleased till 1989, Joel wrote the piece in 1983 about his relationship relationship with model Elle Macpherson, of whom Joel also wrote This Night and, at least in part, Uptown Girl.
The Awakening
by Joseph M. Martin.
This piece begins with a nightmare in which all music is lost and forgotten. Gradually the world awakens until the Giver of the Song arrives in triumph. Martin describes this song as in part a metaphor for his personal arc to refinding music after the murder of his junior high music teacher.
Black is the Color
Appalachian Folk Song. Arranged by Roger Emerson.
This plaintive folk song is most associated with Appalachia, though is thought to be largely derived from Scottish ballads. This melody is attributed to John Jacob Niles circa 1941.
Black is the color of my true love’s hair
Her lips are something wondrous fair
The purest eyes
And the daintiest hands
I love the ground on where she stands
Blue Skies
by Irving Berlin. Arranged by Steve Zegree.
Berlin originally wrote this piece for the musical Betsy in 1926. While Betsy only ran 39 performances, the song’s instant popularity catapulted it beyond the original show. Blue Skies became on the the first songs featured in a talkie, inspired its own titular Fred Astaire film, and featured prominently in Star Trek. The song was a favorite of Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lieutenant Commander Data.
Blue skies, smilin’ at me
Nothin’ but blues skies do I see
Bluebirds singing a song
Nothin’ but bluebirds all day long
Never saw the sun shinin’ so bright
Never saw things lookin’ so right
Noticin’ the days hurryin’ by
When you’re in love, my how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin’ but blue skies from now on
Never saw the sun shinin’ so bright
Never saw things lookin’ so right
Noticin’ the days hurryin’ by
When you’re in love, oh how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin’ but blue skies from now on
Cantique de Jean Racine
by Gabriel Fauré. Arranged by Phillip Legge.
First performed on 4 August 1866, the piece is named for Jean Racine, the author of the French lyrics Verbe égal au Très-Haut. Originally performed with strings and organ, the piece is now most known by John Ritter’s string
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Chamego (Betty’s Bossa)
by Peter Eldridge and Jack Donahue. Arranged by Darmon Meader and Peter Eldridge.
Chamego is a smooth jazz piece which premiered with the New York Voices in 2007. Stylistically the piece borrows from the Bossa Nova samba, originating in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1950s. The emblematic samba emphasis on the second carries throughout.
Frozen Choral Suite
by Christophe Beck and Leo Birenberg. Arranged by Roger Emerson. Lyrics by Christine Hals.
Composed for the 2017 Disney film “Frozen.” This arrangement concatenates several choral snippets scattered throughout the film: Heimr Árnadalr, Vuelie, and The Great Thaw. We begin with “Heimr Árnadalr,” seen during the coronation of Queen Elsa performed in the film by a red-robed, twelve-member choir shown briefly on screen. The opening title sequence of the film plays “Vuelie”, which is later reprised as “The Great Thaw” as Elsa learns to dispell the cursed winter besetting Arendelle. The sung lyrics are in Old Norse.
Great queen to be
Heart of gold, shine
We crown you with hopes, love and faith
Beautiful, gritty homeland Arendelle
Follow the queen of light
Gloria
by Paul Basler.
From Missa Kenya, a multi-movement work Basler wrote to fuse Kenyan and classical mass music. The text, the Greater Doxology, is credited to Hilary of Poitiers in the 4th century. Lyrics are shared with Agnus Dei
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Hela Rotan
Arranged by Ken Steven.
Composer Ken Steven is an Indonesian born composer, and in this piece merges a gives a modern take on a folksong from the island of Maluku in eastern Indonesia. The central metaphor is about the game of Hela Rotan, similar to Tug-of-War. Rotan is the vining palm used to make rope. The song is a parable of competition-as-cooperation between different communities. The song also mentions the drums of Java; which may be a reference to the eruptions of the volcano of Krakatau.
I Sing Because I’m Happy
by Charles H. Gabriel. Arranged by Kenneth Paden and Rollo Dilworth. Lyrics by Civilla D. Martin.
A reinterpretation of the Gospel staple His Eye is on the Sparrow. Martin wrote the original in 1905, and it has been made famous over and over by the likes of Ethel Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Whitney Houston, Lauryn Hill, and Tanya Blount.
Why should I feel discouraged
Why should the shadows come
Why should my heart feel lonely
And long for heaven and home
When Jesus is my portion
A constant friend is He
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches over me
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me
I sing because I’m happy
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches
I know He watches
I know He watches me
Ilus Hääl
by Margrit Kits. Arranged by Laura Jēkabsone.
Jēkabsone arranged this piece for the 100th anniversary of Estonia in 2018. The lyrics are in Estonian, and the music shows the style and beauty of the folksongs common to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
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Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
Traditional Black spiritual. Arranged by Philip Kern.
A traditional spiritual, the lyrics allude to a parable told in Matthew 25:1–13:
There were ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, “Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!” Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.” While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But he answered, “Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.”
Let the River Run
by Carly Simon. Arranged by Craig Hella Johnson.
Simon wrote, composed, and performed this number as the main theme of Working Girl in 1988, earning Simon an Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy in one fell swoop. Simon says she pieced the lyrics together from the script and the poetry of Whitman and Blake.
Loch Lomond
Scottish Traditional. Arranged by Jonathan Quick.
Loch Lomond (‘Lake of the Elms’) is the largest lake in Great Britain, found in Scotland near Glasgow. Evidence suggests humans settled nearby during the neolithic era, and–somewhere in the next 5000 years–developed this ballad. The speaker pines for the beautiful landscape of home, but claims suggests zhe will only return via the “low road”–death, likely dying in rebellion against the English.
O ye’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road,
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond
Lux Aurumque
by Eric Whitacre.
A haunting piece, Whitacre has adapated Lux many forms, including this cappella version famed for its virtual performance by 185 singers from 12 countries. Whiteacre’s friend, poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, translated the lyrics into Latin. The original English poem is attributed by Edward Esch, described by Whitacre as a “recluse in the truest sense of the word”. But does Esch exist? Esch does not appear to have work outside Whitacre’s own, and Whitacre’s son is named Esch Edward Whitacre.
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MLK
by U2. Arranged by Bob Chilcott.
Irish rock group U2 debuted this ode to Martin Luther King Jr. on 18 October 1984.
Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realised
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, let it rain
Rain on him
Music Down in My Soul
Arranged by Moses Hogan.
An inspired recreation of spiritual and civil rights anthem Over My Head. In 1995, the National Association for Music Education placed it promeniently in their published a list of songs that “every American should know”. The original is of unknown authorship, likely from the 19th century.
Over my head
I hear music in the air
Over my head
I see freedom in the air
There must be a God somewhere
Ой у лузі червона калина
Traditional Ukrainian folk. Arranged by Stepan Charnetsky.
This patriotic Ukranian march was arranged by Stepan Charnetsky from traditional march elements in 1914 as a memorial to veterans of World War I. The song has ever since attracted both inspiration and political censorship. Singing Oi u Luzi in the wrong crowd could get the singer fined, beaten, or even imprisoned by anti-Ukrainian-nationalist factions in Ukraine and Russia. The song was vehemently repressed during the Soviet era (1919-1991), then following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, and after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The song sings of a Ukrainian national symbol–the red viburnum, a shrub with bright red berries.
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One of these Days
by Sarah Quartel.
GCMC favorite, composer, and educator Sarah Quartel serves another banger in this 2021 piece. Like many Quartel pieces, the complex rhythm deepens the piece, in this case swinging between 3/4 and 4/4 time.
Isn’t it amazing how the years go by
Gone before they begin
Isn’t it amazing how these dreams go by
when you’re waiting for them to come
Isn’t it amazing we go on this way
seeing shadows of what could be done
Maybe I’ll see that today is enough
and this moment is all that I need
Maybe I’ll stand up and go my own way
for the beauty I know I will see one of these daysBreathing in the moment isn’t good enough
if you believe that hard must be right
Maybe if it’s easy it’s still worth it all
There’s a diamond deep in the fire
So one of these days
I’m gonna fly away
I’m gonna fly away
So one of these days when I find my own way
I’ll find that it’s today
Pirate Song
by Tim Jones.
Because sometimes you just need to say “arrrr”!
A pirate sang a song to me
He sang of life upon the sea
He sang to me with gravelled tones
He sang to me of Billy BonesPirates make me happy!
A pirate sang a song to me
He had no leag below his knee
He sang the song the best he could
His tongue was also made of woodFor romance find a pirate
My pirate comes from Tripoli
My pirate curses saltily
My pirate is not snooty
My pirate shakes his booty
My pirate swaps the deck
like noone else can swap the deckMy pirate sang a song to me
His face was kind of barnacley
He told me that my parrot stank
And so I made him walk the plank
Robots
by Flight of the Conchords. Arranged by Shane Scott.
The humans are dead.
Sanctuary
by Jason Robert Brown. Arranged by Mac Huff.
Jason Robert Brown is best known for his compositions in musical theater, winning multiple Tony awards for productions like Parade and The Bridges of Madison County. The piece was released in 2020 and contains the longing for connection ubiquitously felt during the Covid pandemic.
That’s a siren
There’s an ambulance down in the street
Shut the window
Close the curtain, the lights are blindingI can’t hear with the children crying
I can’t think with the anger flying
I can’t breathe with my mentors dying
And I, I am searching for sanctuary
Will you shelter me?
Will you shelter me?
I am searching for sanctuary
Will you shelter me?
Will you shelter me?
I am writing your name in the air
Can you see me?
Can you see me?
I am writing for sanctuary
Will you shelter me?
Will you shelter me?
Shenandoah
Traditional American folk. Arranged by Jay Althouse.
A traditional folk song. Shenandoah likely as a shanty sung by fur traders along the Missouri River in the early 19th century. Lyrics vary widely, but in many versions the titular Shenandoah is chief of the Oneida Iroquois tribe and has a beautiful daughter the fur trader speaker seeks to whisk away.
Oh Shenandoah,
I long to see you,
Away, you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah,
I long to see you,
Way, we’re bound away
Across the wide Missouri.
Sing Me to Heaven
by Daniel Gawthrop. Lyrics by Jane Griner.
In 1991 Gawthrop composed this piece on commission with the directive to create a song that “spoke to the way that we, as singers, feel about music in our lives.” It has since become one of the most frequently performed choral pieces of modern times and has sold more than a half million copies.
The choir would like to dedicate their rendition to the memory of Dr. Ann E. Rehan.
In my heart’s sequestered chambers
Lie truths stripped of poet’s gloss
Words alone are vain and vacant
And my heart is mute
In response to aching silence
Memory summons half-heard voices
And my soul finds primal eloquence
And wraps me in song
Wraps me, in songIf you would comfort me, sing me a lullaby
If you would win my heart, sing me a love song
If you would mourn me and bring me to God
Sing me a requiem, sing me to HeavenTouch in me all love and passion
Pain and pleasure, touch in me
Touch in me, grief and comfort
Love and passion, pain and pleasure
Sing me a lullaby
A love song
A requiem
Love me, comfort me
Sing me to God
Sing me a love song
Sing me to Heave
Summertime
by George and Ira Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward. Arranged by Roger Emerson.
Written first as an aria for the 1934 opera Porgy and Bess, the song has gone on to become an iconic jazz standard, appearing on billboard charts throughout pop history. We refer the interested to the Wikipedia entry for more on its history.
Tarekita
by Reena Esmail.
Composer Reena Esmail wrote this piece for The Urban Voices Project. While writing a totally different piece for The Urban Voices Project, she spent one rehearsal substitute teaching and discussed traditional Indian rhythms. The choir members became so engaged in the topic that Esmail ended up writing Tarekita for them to perform. Esmail says of her piece:
“Tarekita is a vibrant joyful piece in a raga (an Indian classical melodic framework) called Jog, which incorporates both major and minor modalities into a single scale. The text syllables are onomatopoeic vocalizations of the sounds produced by Indian instruments.”
That Lonesome Road
by James Taylor and Don Grolnick. Arranged by Simon Carrington.
James Taylor, American singer-songwriter best known for massive 70’s hits Fire and Rain and You’ve Got a Friend, wrote this piece in 1981. Interestingly Taylor had an 11 year marriage to Carly Simon, composer of Let the River Run.
The Island Itself
by Sarah Quartel.
Quartel sets to haunting melody the words of Irish poet Joan McBreen. The titular island is Omey in County Galway off the west coast of Ireland, the historical site of a monastery and settlement reportedly founded by St Feichin.
The piece is sung a cappella and is reminiscent of a modern Celtic style with an ebb and flow evocative of waves off the beach.
Homage to Omey
by Joan McBreen (1944)Afternoon sun on my back,
irregular slap of water on rock,
and then, a skylark.Fine sand blown over
the hill’s top, over the lake,
swans, and the sound they make.Aquamarine, the colour of the sea.
Nobody to say my name,
no one to listen to me.Nothing to remember
but the currents swell and shift
and the island itself;again my head thrown back,
my eyes shut, clear music in the air
and the smell of sea-wrack.
Ubi Caritas
by Ola Gjeilo.
With music written in 2001, this is a haunting song delivered chant style. The Latin hymn is attributed to Paulinus of Aquileia in 796.
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United in Purpose
by Roger Dilworth.
This moving Gospel piece reminds us of what we owe to each other. Dilworth took the text for the piece from this moving passage in Dr. Angelou’s book, Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou.
Lyrics by Maya Angelou
The onus is upon us all to work to improve the human condition.
Perform good deeds, for that is truly the way to battle the forces of entropy that are at work in our world.
The composite of all our efforts can have an effect.
Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.
When we unite in purpose,
we are greater than the sum of our parts.
Wanting Memories
by Ysaye M. Barnwell.
Barnwell wrote Wanting Memories for the 1980 dance piece Crossings. The lyrics resonate deeply by our choir members for the mothers we have lost. Barnwell’s notes say of the piece:
“What was special though was that I am an only child and when my father died and then my mother, and I prepared to sell the house I grew up in, I found bags of photos, letters and other memorabilia – the kind of things especially an only child hopes for. So in a sense, the song was an unconscious wish or prayer that actually came true.”
We Are the Music Makers
by Reginal Wright.
This uplifting work by American composer Reginal Wright sets a text by the nineteenth-century poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy. The powerful words are sung to a memorable melody embellished with syncopation and triplets. The voices are accompanied by rippling broken chords enriched with falling chromatic lines.”
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
Wide Open Spaces
by Sarah Quartel.
Commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in 2015, this piece is among the many commissions Quartel has composed. Quartel says of her composing past, “Creating music has always come naturally to me. The phrase, “Sarah, that’s not Beethoven, you’re composing” could regularly be heard in my childhood piano lessons. (Whoops?)”
There’s part of my story,
there’s part of my song,
there’s part of my journey,
that’s yet to be found.With life all around us,
there’s so much to see,
adventure is calling,
it’s calling to me.Out in the wide open spaces around me.
With big sky above me,
I’m on my way.
Scanning the horizon
of a brand new day.Feet to the earth now,
there’s no turning back.
Into the world now,
look at me, look at me go!Out in the wide open spaces around me,
out in the wide open spaces around me.But as I journey out,
I look within and see,
the spaces inside of me,
yet to be filled,
filled with what I have seen
and what I will be, Oh!I’m filling the wide open spaces inside of me,
with something I love,
something I would like to be, be, be.
Filling the wide open spaces inside of me.
Filling the wide open spaces within me.