By Kelsi Capizzi7/7/2011

Morten Johannes Lauridsen & Les Chansons

des Roses

Morten Lauridsenis “the only American

composer in history who can be

called a mystic, (whose) probing,

serene work contains an elusive

and indefinable ingredient which

leaves the impression that all the questions have been answered”.

-Nick Strimple, Conductor

http://homepage.mac.com/kennesten/lauridsen/index2.html

Born Feb. 27, 1943

• Born in Colfax, Washington• Raised in

Portland, Oregon

Began playing the piano at age

8• Learned a love

of music from his mother

Shortly after that he began

playing the trumpet

Biographyhttp://stopthecap.com/tag/cable-television/page/2/

http://www.webweaver.nu/clipart/music/piano.shtml

http://www.leadmineband.com/trumpet.html

SchoolingGraduated from

Whitman College in Washington

Went to graduate school at the University of Southern California (USC)

Graduated from USC in 1967

http://www.yorkblog.com/teentakeover/2009/04/usc-sets-high-standards-for-ac.html

Professor of Composition at USC’s Thornton School of Music

Chair of the Composition Department at USC

Composer-in-Residence for Los Angeles Master Chorale

Founded USC’s Advanced Studies Program in Film Scoring

Currently USC’s Distinguished Professor of Composition

Career

Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke)Mid-Winter Songs (Graves)Cuatro Canciones (Lorca)A Winter Come (Moss)Madrigali: Six “FireSongs” on

Renaissance Italian PoemsNocturnesLux Aeterna

Vocal Cycles

O Magnum MysteriumAve MariaO Nata LuxUbi Caritas et AmorAve Dulcissima Maria

Series of SacredA cappella Motets

3 Grammy Nominations

Named “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006

Awarded the National Medal of the Arts from President Bush in 2007

Awards

http://www.bruceduffie.com/lauridsen.html

Composition HistoryRainer Maria Rilke’s poems about roses

from the early 1900s became

the text for Lauridsen’s

Les Chansons des Roses.

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7906.Rainer_Maria_Rilke

Les Chansons des Roses was premiered on April 23, 1993. It was

sung by Choral Cross-Ties and conducted by Bruce Browne.

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O Magnum Mysterium

The Complete Choral Cycles

Nocturnes

Morten Lauridsen The Passing of the Year

Echo in my Soul

Albums

Verse 1 begins with driving rhythmHomophonic textureKey phrase = “Mais tu n’a pas pensé ailleurs”

(Translated by Barbara and Erica Muhl to mean “But you never did think otherwise”) which is always repeated at least twice

Verse 2 begins much more polyphonic in textureVerse 1 repeats; back to a homophonic texturePiece ends with key phrase being repeated

three time with very gradual ritardando and decrescendo

En Une Seule FleurListening Guide

Verse 1-Phrase 1 begins extremely quietly (ppp) with a very slow and thoughtful tempo

Verse 1-Phrase 2 begins with tenors being quite prominent even though sopranos maintain the melody

Verse 2-Phrase 1 begins with tenors ahead of the other parts rhythmically

Verse 2-Phrase 2 grows in volume and intensity as it approaches the climax of the song

Song reaches its climax with the words, “Au contraire” (or “to the contrary”)

Final chord has no resolution which seems appropriate considering the text ends by restating a question

Contre Qui, RoseListening Guide

Verse 1-Variation 1 opens very light Verse 1-Variation 2 grows to a much fuller and louder sound Verse 1-Variation 3 starts at the slow/dissonant part and moves

to the quick/light ending Verse 2-Variation 1 begins with very driving rhythm Verse 1-Variation 4 has the altos singing melody and the

sopranos holding a long, sustained note above that Verse 2-Variation 2 has men begin the verse and as the pitch of

the melody rises, the women join in which gives it the feel that it is growing

Verse 1-Variation 5 the volume slowly grows as the tempo picks up, but quickly fades

Verse 1-Variation 6 begins almost with a round All parts join together for a final repeat of the quiet/dissonant

theme, followed by the light/quick conclusion

De Ton Rêve Trop PleinListening Guide

Very melodic and beautiful beginningHarmony holds a lot of dissonanceVerse 1 repeats with a lot more movement from

the tenorsVerse 2 has sopranos take melody and maintain

their own rhythm while other parts remain homophonic and provide the harmony

Verse 2 repeats with the entire choir lingering on the climax a little longer than before

Concludes with final phrase repeated twice, softer and slower with slight dissonance

La Rose CompléteListening Guide

http://homepage.mac.com/kennesten/lauridsen/index2.html

http://www.classiccat.net/lauridsen_m/biography.php

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/q66659http://www.answers.com/topic/les-chanson

s-des-roses-for-chorus

Resources