A range of solo voices with piano accompaniment
in settings based on stories of women in the Bible 

Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary's cousin, Elisabeth; Mary Magdalene; the Saviour; Angels; and stories involving a plethora of courageous and heroic women found within the bindings of the Holy Bible, these are the basis of this collection of songs.

The first song in this collection came to me sometime in 1986 after Sacramento soprano Rona Commins asked me to compose a work for her annual Christmas concert.

It begins with the soprano singing in the key of D Major, with the piano right hand in D Major and the left hand in F Major—bitonality. The work progresses into a beautiful ending.

The song is my imagination of what Mary might have sung to comfort her newborn son, Jesus. Rona premiered it on December 07, 1986.

Many years later, in 2020, I revised the song ever so slightly when I created a digital software version on my computer. I did not use computer software for scores and parts until the late 1980s, and all of my works I had composed with pencil and paper, and then hand copied in ink for performances.

About this time, 2020, I began converting and revising all of my earlier works into the computer/digital format and enjoyed the luxury of digitally sampled sounds of actual instruments for playback. This helped and inspired me to make many revisions.

With the lullabye completed, I thought to add another song, and came up with “Mary, at the Tomb” using some material from an earlier choral work, “Easter Trilogy,” which used the biblical version of several women tending to the Saviour after the Crucifixion.

Next came “Woman at the Well,” which tells the story of Jesus conversing with an unnamed woman in Samaria. “Mary and Elisabeth” followed, which includes the Magnificat that wrote as a duet with Elisabeth reinforcing Mary’s words. The most recent, as of this writing is a depiction of three women lamenting at the foot of The Cross. All were named Mary and thus the title, “At the Cross: Lamentations of Three Marys.”

It had become obvious that I had a pattern going so I decided to put all of these songs into a collection. My plans and to try to do “Mary and Martha,” from the New Testament, and then turn to the wealth of stories of great women from the Old Testament, such as “Ruth and Naomi,” Esther, Rahab, and others.

December 2024
Vanessa McClintock,
Composer

UPDATED: December 16, 2024--At the Cross: Lamentations of Three Marys is completed and uploaded!

  

Each of the links at the top of this page will take you to a page with links to the full score viewable on screen and downloadable PDFs, and audio recordings of the work.

The full/complete downloadable score includes cover, notes, and narratives for each section/movement.

Parts will be made available upon confirmation of concert programming. 
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