PDF Download

Price per copy: $3.15 / Minimum order quantity: 10 ($31.50)

Please purchase the number of copies required by your ensemble.

Year composed: 2023

Duration: 3 minutes

Score video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_TQYzzA3wk

“Friendship, Youth, and Wisdom” is a meditation on three and a half centuries of American choral music, tying a thread from William Billings, the “Father of American Choral Music,” to the present day. To accomplish this, I’ve woven together a quotation of Billing’s patriotic Revolutionary War anthem “Chester” with original music setting a text by 18th century English poet Edward Young. Billings set excerpts of Edward Young’s Night-Thoughts in “Easter Anthem,” and writing my piece gave me the opportunity to reinterpret one of Billings’s own sources of inspiration. This piece also displays a musical contrast between Billings’s style, a cornerstone of Sacred Harp and shape note singing, and a more contemporary choral idiom. This piece is celebratory, and encourages us to reflect on the time we spend with one another and cherish the valuable friendships we make. Dedicated to the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club, this song embodies the spirit of long-lasting brotherhood and the wisdom that such friendships instill.