Ave Maris Stella
  • Drake
    Posts: 219
    I hope you are all having a joyous Advent in preparation for Christmas. As the feast of the Immaculate Conception was approaching, I got a few notes of inspiration in my head (even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while...) and developed it into a setting of Ave Maris Stella with mixed chant and choral sections for SATB.

    I would like to share it with the group and am releasing it under Creative Commons. There is an electronic rendering and a PDF download at the linked site: http://www.catholicliving.net/ave-maris-stella-for-satb/

    Feedback and comments are welcome, and I hope it may be of use to someone here. God bless.
    Thanked by 7Incardination CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn Cantus67 CeciliaJulia Elmar Schönbergian
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Very moving! Beautiful writing, and so very text-sensitive. Of all the repertory of Marian hymns and antiphons Ave Maris Stella is my favourite. There are a few little slips in voice leading here and there, but your work is truly admirable. I will recommend this to our choirmaster at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham. I hope that you do more!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Drake
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Thank you for improving my evening. It's a beautiful piece.
    Thanked by 3M. Jackson Osborn Drake CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    Nice wirk
    Thanked by 1Drake
  • Drake
    Posts: 219
    Thank you all for the very kind comments. They really made my day. M. Jackson Osborn, I am honored that you would recommend my work to your choirmaster. I thank you also for the note about voice leading, which led me to read more about the topic and will be helpful in improving. There are more rules and guidelines than I was aware of. My rather unscientific approach to composition has been to answer the questions: a) what do the words say, and what is the overall sound to convey? b) does each voice generally sound like an independent line? c) do the parts play against one another while achieving a sonorous harmony? d) can I learn each line to sing it myself? e) have I avoided parallel 5ths (as much as possible)? There is always something more to learn, which is great.
    Thanked by 2Incardination M. Jackson Osborn
  • JoeM
    Posts: 28
    Very beautiful, the strings sound very majestic. How is that posted is that an app or video. It seems like a good way to communicate polyphony.
    Thanked by 1Drake
  • Drake
    Posts: 219
    JoeM, it is a video produced by recording a section of the screen with QuickTime Player during Finale playback in single-page view. For this video, I finally figured out how to record the audio at the same time as the screen capture (had to install a utility called Soundflower that redirects audio out to audio in). Heretofore, I had exported the audio, captured the screen recording, and tediously tried to sew them together with iMovie. I'm not in front of the computer I used right now, but the instrument is one of the string ensembles from the Garritan Personal Orchestra--something like "Long Strings" if I remember correctly.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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