Broadening the Repertoire,
Choral Music by Women Composers
Throughout history, compositions by women have often been overlooked and frequently omitted from established anthologies. Things are beginning to change however, with publishers such as Oxford University Press, and Multitude of Voyces, addressing the issue and publishing choral works by great women composers, living and historical, such as Sarah Quartel, Cecilia McDowall, Libby Larsen, Becky McGlade, Rebecca Clarke, Grace Williams, Phyllis Tate, and many more. Below you will find our selection of recent publications celebrating the fantastic output of choral music by women composers.
Sacred Music by Women Composers
Multitude of Voyces is a publisher which exists to support underrepresented, underutilised, vulnerable, or marginalised communities, through creative use of music and words. The Sacred Music by Women Composers anthologies present sixty-three women composers spanning eight-hundred years of music, with many historical works published here for the first time, alongside works composed specifically for the anthologies. In three volumes, these anthologies are perfect for choirs looking to expand their repertoire
Volume two is for upper voices, and contains works by Amy Bebbington, Elizabeth Poston, Hilary Campbell, Gemma McGregor, Margie Harrison, Olivia Sparkhall, Carol Jones, Morfydd Owen and Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, and more.
Available Format: Sheet Music
Sheet Music Collections by Sarah Quartel
Sarah Quartel is a Canadian composer, conductor, and educator known for her fresh and exciting approach to choral music. The Sarah Quartel Songbook brings together a selection of her best-loved pieces available for SATB or upper voices, providing an invaluable resource for choirs. In addition to these songbooks, the recent publication Breath of Song is a collection of ten exquisite works by contemporary women composers, compiled and edited by Quartel, and includes an eclectic mix of styles and colours.
For SATB, with piano or drum or unaccompanied. The Sarah Quartel Songbook brings together a selection of the composer's best-loved pieces for mixed voices, including favourites such as Sing, my Child, Voice on the Wind, and Swept Away.
Available Format: Sheet Music
For upper voices in two to four parts, with piano or unaccompanied. An invaluable resource for choirs, the Sarah Quartel Songbook brings together a selection of the composer's best-loved pieces for upper voices, including favourites such as The Birds' Lullaby and I remember.
Available Format: Sheet Music
Includes works by Sarah Dacey, Eleanor Daley, Reena Esmail, Laura Hawley, Cecilia McDowall, Becky McGlade, Jenny Mahler, Sarah Quartel, Annabel Rooney, and Joan Szymko.
Available Format: Sheet Music
New and Notable Publications by Women Composers
For SATB (with divisions) unaccompanied choir. Setting Revelation 21: 1-5, this short anthem is in McGlade's typically fluid style, with harmonic twists, changing metres, and tempo fluctuations. With some divisi in the upper parts, it will be particularly welcomed by experienced church and cathedral singers as a new take on these well-known words.
Browse more choral music by Becky McGlade here.
Available Format: Sheet Music
For SSAA choir and piano. Refuge sets a powerful Sara Teasdale poem that perfectly captures the healing power of singing: 'For with my singing I can make a refuge for my spirit's sake'. Quartel's musical structure complements the narrative, opening and closing with music marked 'resilient and strong', with a 'warm and hopeful' central section.
Browse more choral music by Sarah Quartel here.
Available Format: Sheet Music
For SATB unaccompanied choir. This is a warm and tender piece setting the last three verses of Christina Rossetti's What good shall my life do me?, which encourages leading a life of love as an example for others. Daley's heartfelt melodies are set to hymn-like textures and flow freely in ever-changing time signatures.
Browse more choral music by Eleanor Daley here.
Available Format: Sheet Music
For SATB unaccompanied choir. This uplifting anthem sets the Invocation text from Carmina Gadelica. McDowall's beautiful melodies flow and intertwine, decorated by scotch snaps that reflect the text's origin. Suitable for services or concerts. Also published in Breath of Song.
Browse more choral music by Cecilia McDowall here.
Available Format: Sheet Music
The choirbook Women of Our World is more than a simple song collection: In easy two- to three-part arrangements for women’s voices, forty pieces in twenty-five different languages from more than thirty countries are gathered here. Singable transcriptions for each piece as well as pronunciation guides and translations in the appendix enable an immediate access. Introductory texts inform on the origin and cultural background of the songs; chord symbols allow an instrumental accompaniment, too. Unique for choirbooks of this kind though are the contributions from women of international origin living in Germany; they are presented in portraits and describe their personal relation to singing in a choir. Women of Our World is the result of the years long work of editor Hayat Chaoui with international song repertoire as choir leader, singer and consultant.
Available Format: Sheet Music
Ellena Taylor - Sheet Music and Books Manager
