Choral & Sacred Music
Here is a list Donald's major religious choral works. Some are only now available in photocopy and sometimes photocopied manuscript from the Donald Swann Archive. For single religious songs see Songs & Song Collections.
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FESTIVAL MATINS The Festival Matins were completed in 1962 in the hope, Donald wrote: that the work might be useful at Festivals as a service cum concert! His main inspiration, he acknowledges, is Rossini's PETITE MESSE SOLENELLE and Donald produced a passionate, lively piece, a blend between so-called 'classical' and so-called 'light' music.
VENITE: O Come Let Us Sing – SATB & piano (also 2 part voices) |
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REQUIEM FOR THE LIVING by C. Day Lewis & Donald Swann for piano, speaker, solo mezzo-soprano or baritone, percussion, cimbalom, and SATB choir. Duration 35 minutes. C. Day Lewis's poem was first published in THE GATE in 1962. This highly original re-interpretation of the Requiem Mass is a vivid plea for men to abolish nuclear weapons and to respect the beauty of the world, which they threaten to destroy. |
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SOLILOQUY FOR AUTUMN A word-and-music sequence for the fall of the year; a meditation in prose by Donald Swann which links a cycle of five songs for tenor and baritone soloists, narrator and SATB chorus. The texts used are: October Song (Aaron Kramer), Equinox (Laurie Lee), Judas Iscariot (Robert Williams Buchanan), Ruler of All (St Luke trans. Ronald Knox). |
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THE FIVE SCROLLS or The Five Seasons of God, by Rabbi Albert Friedlander and Donald Swann. For speaker & SATB. Biblical texts are incorporated in the seasons of the Jewish year culminating in a season of Messianic themes drawn from various sources, especially the book of Ruth. The Autumn sequence ('A Rabbinical Tale') is also incorporated into SOLILOQUY FOR AUTUMN. |
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THIS IS THE STORY OF BONTZYE SHWEIG Based on a story by Isaac Loeb Perez. Words by Leslie Paul. Music by Donald Swann. For Narrator & SATB and piano. A concert piece capable of being staged. Bontzye, a Jewish waif in anti-semetic Eastern Europe, dies saving the life of a worthless rich man and is welcomed into heaven. |
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EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934) Words by C. Day Lewis. Music by Donald Swann. Set to music in the 1960s when Donald was preparing to work on C Day Lewis's REQUIEM FOR THE LIVING. Originally a solo song, rewritten for Mezzo or Baritone solo with Chorus Addition. |
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