Phyllis Louke - Program Notes - Unpublished Music

                           Oh Hanukah (p,3c,a,b)
                          Russian Sailors Dance by Reinhold Gliere (p,3c,a,b)
                          Shadowlands--A Journey (3c,a,b)
                           Shenandoah (p,3c,a,b)
                           When Johnny Comes Marching Home (p,3c,a,b)

Program Notes

Music for Flute & Piano

Reflections of Water for Flute & Piano

by Phyllis Avidan Louke

mp3 1. A Cool Mountain Stream mp3 2. A Quiet Morning on the Lake mp3 3. Frolic in the Surf

This piece was written in memory of my father. So many childhood memories of Dad revolved around water—summer vacations spent with my family camping by a mountain stream, fishing in a lake and outings to ocean beaches near my childhood home in Southern California. This programmatic work is in three movements.

A Cool Mountain Stream utilizes the pentatonic scale to depict a stream as it meanders along, frequently bouncing over rocks and sometimes heading down a slope, eventually ending in a small waterfall that empties into a deep pool. During a summer vacation, my family camped by a stream that was a natural waterslide. We spent many happy hours sliding down the waterslide into the pool below.

A Quiet Morning on the Lake uses the repetitive rocking motion of the piano to represent the soothing motion of the rowboat as I spent summer vacations fishing for trout with my dad on a quiet lake in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Frolic in the Surf brings out the playfulness felt at the ocean beach, while getting used to the water temperature and trying to predict when the waves will hit the shore. Many summer days were spent on Southern California beaches with family and friends, body surfing, tanning and simply playing in the waves.

Scored for flute and piano. (5:00)

Level 3

Music for Flute Trio

A Walk in a Child’s Garden: A Collection of Children’s Favorites

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

A Walk Through a Child’s Garden is a medley of well-known children’s songs such as . Mulberry Bush; She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain; The Itsy Bitsy Spider; Pop Goes the Weasel; Three Blind Mice; Frere Jacques; and All Night, All Day. Works well as a demonstration piece for schools.

Scored for 3 flutes, it is suitable to use multiple flutes on each part. (6:00)

Level 3

Music for Flute Quartet or Choir

Hanukah Celebration

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

Hanukah Celebration is a medley of Hanukah songs. The first song is a light, fast-paced song called “Hanukah”. Next is the slower, more majestic song, “Ma-oz Tzur” (translation: Rock of Ages) followed by the more up-beat song, “Oh, Hanukah!”, and finishing with the familiar “I Have a Little Dreidel”.

Scored for 4 flutes or 3 flutes and alto or bass flute, optional piccolo. (4:00)

Level 3

Music for Flute Quartet or Choir

Four Renaissance Motets by Tomás Luis de Victoria, arr. Phyllis Avidan Louke

O Magnum Mysterium (O Great Mystery)

O Quam Gloriosum (O How Glorious)

O Vos Omnes (O All Ye That Pass)

Ave Maria (Hail Mary)

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

mp3 (O Magnum Mysterium) mp3 (O Quam Gloriosum) mp3 (O Vos Omnes) mp3 (Ave Maria)

(recordings by Rose City Flute Choir 12/04)

These four motets were adapted from choral music written by Spanish Renaissance composer, Tomás Luis de Victoria. He wrote exclusively Latin sacred music. O Magnum Mysterium is perhaps the most moving sacred setting ever written during the Renaissance. Composed in the mysterious phrygian mode, this motet evokes the ancient spectacle of high services in the great stone churches of the Old World. O Quam Gloriosum’s, a motet for All Saints Day, opening chord progression depicts the mystery of transfiguration into the afterlife. After many phrases depicting many moods of death, the music leads us to a comforting close as the dead are lead to their eternal home. O Vos Omnes, a motet traditionally performed during Holy Week is seen as one of the best, combining a perfect polyphonic technique with a highly expressive interpretation of the words. Ave Maria is the composer’s best known work.

Scored for 3 flutes and alto flute (C-flute part available on request), with optional piccolo and bass flute (8:30)

Level 3

Translated Lyrics to O Magnum Mysterium:

O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the Lord born, lying in a manger. O holy Virgin, whose womb deserved to carry the lord Jesus Christ. Alleluia

Translated Lyrics to O Quam Gloriosum

O how Glorious is the Kingdom in which the saints will find bliss with Christ.

Dressed in white, they will follow the Lamb and enter the Kingdom.

Translated Lyrics to O Vos Omnes

O all ye that pass by the way, attend and see,

if there be sorrow like my sorrow.

Watch, all ye people, and see my sorrow,

if there be sorrow like my sorrow.

Translated Lyrics to Ave Maria

Hail Mary full of grace,

The Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women

And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen, amen.

Music for Flute Quartet or Choir

Madama Butterfly Suite by Giacomo Puccini, arr. Phyllis Avidan Louke

Entrance of Butterfly

Un bel di vedremo (One Fine Day)

Humming Chorus

Addio fiorito asil (Farewell My Enchanted Home)

These four arias from the opera Madama Butterfly are arranged for 4 flutes or flute choir.

Scored for 4 flutes or 3 flutes and alto or bass flute (12:20)

Level 3

Entrance of Butterfly (Act I):

All this heaven! All this sea!

We almost have arrived.

You are the last one. (I’m coming.)

We’re on a hilltop.

All these flowers! All this light!

Above the ocean, in the tree tops,

Once again we feel the breeze of spring time.

(How sweet this cheerful chatter of young girls!

No girl in all Japan can be happier than I am,

Nor in the whole world.

Remember why I came here: It was love that had called,

And love is here to greet me.

(Happy girl, may you be always so happy)

Life now is forever for Death can never come to those who are in love.

(but on your way to love that so much beauty enhances lift up your glances)

All this radiant heaven, all these flowers, all this sea

My dear ones, do not forget it was love that called me;

Love has called me and I obey its call.

Love has called and I obey, I obey its call!

(Dearest friend, may your happiness be forever, but now that your love awaits you,

turn a loving glance to the things you always have treasured!)

One Fine Day (Act II)

Soon we’ll see at daybreak a tiny thread of smoke rise where the sky borders on the ocean.

And then, a ship in motion.

Gleaming white, it draws near, steaming into the harbor, all the guns saluting.

He’s come! Just as I told you!

But I won’t go to meet him. Not yet!

I wander the rim of the hilltop and wait there.

I wait for a long time but I don’t mind it, I’m used to waiting.

A man emerges from the crowded city, a dot on the horizon: he’s setting out for our hilltop.

Who on earth can it be?

And when at last he gets here, what on earth will he say?

He will call: “Butterfly.”

I hear him faintly. But I don’t think I’ll answer, I’ll stay a while in hiding:

At first to tease him, but then for fear to die in his embraces!

Then worried by my silence he will call, he will cal:

“My little wife, my darling, my fragrant sweet verbena…”

the names he used to give me when first I met him.

That’s the way it will be, you may believe me.

You have no right to doubt it while I with faith unshaken await him!

Humming Chorus (end of Act II)

Night has fallen, the moon’s rays illuminate the shosi from the outside. Suzuki, after having carried the two lamps near the chosi, kneels and gazes outside; Butterfly places herself in front of the highest opening, gazing through it, remaining motionless and rigid as a statue, the child, who is between his mother and Suzuki, looks outside curiously.)

(The child goes to sleep, falling back onto a cushion; Suzuki also falls asleep, remaining on her haunches. Only Butterfly still remains erect and motionless.) The curtain falls slowly. (just before Act III)

Farewell, My Enchanted Home (Act III)

Pinkerton sings:

Farewell, my enchanted home, filled with blossoms and with love.

Never shall I forget her features hovering before me in pain.

(Sharpless)

Today her trusting heart can no longer be sure.

I told you, don’t you remember?

I was a prophet, then!

(Pinkerton)

I cannot bear the thought!

Ah! How can I bear the thought!

I must flee from here, I must flee!

Farewell now, I am guilty: I broke your heart.

Ah! Forgive, ah! Forgive!

Sharpless:

Now leave,the bitter truth she must learn alone.

A Song of Winter—Snowmen & Icicles

by Phyllis Avidan Louke

This piece is evocative of a cold and windy day in winter. A Song of Winter explores the contrasts between the smoothness and roundness of a snowman and the hardness and jaggedness of icicles.

Beginning with a winter storm with wind and swirling snow, the wind calms and the building of a snowman begins with the rolling of a snowball. The rolling progresses to form the biggest ball of the snowman (represented by the bass and alto flutes), which is briefly interrupted by a playful snowball fight. The flutes continue the melody for the rolling of the second ball of the snowman, followed by the piccolo representing the rolling of the smallest ball (the head of the snowman). The melody is smooth and round in a lilting ¾ time.

When the snowman is complete, the wind and swirling snow return to lead into the Icicles section. The jaggedness of the icicles is represented by the jaggedness of syncopation in a marcato style with the melody skipping larger intervals than the Snowmen melody. Even visually, the score shows the jagged shape of the icicles. Double-tongued ascending and descending lines, add to hard and brittle feeling of the icicles, as well as to the shape. The piccolo adds the glistening, shimmering effect the icicles have when the sunlight reflects off them. A final windy storm follows, which calms at the end of the piece.

Scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto flute (C-part available on request) and bass flute. (6:45)

Level 3+

Music for Flute Choir

Cloud Images

by Phyllis Avidan Louke

mp3 (Rising Above the Clouds) mp3 (Billowing Clouds) mp3 (Oh Look! There's an Alligator!)

mp3 (With Your Head in the Clouds) mp3 (Through a Sea of Clouds)

(Recordings by Rose City Flute Choir 5/01)

Cloud Images is a programmatic work in five movements for Flute Choir dedicated to Albert Weatherly of Sankyo Flutes, USA. The inspiration for this piece came from the beauty of the cloud formations observed during a long plane flight.

Movement 1, “Rising Above the Clouds”, features a soaring melody played first by the bass and alto flute over an ostinato played by the flutes. The piccolo adds a countermelody which contributes to the feeling of being above the clouds. (1:30)

Movement 2, “Billowing Clouds”, features the alto flute in a cadenza with an Irish flavor. The alto flute is then joined by the bass flute in a duet, and eventually by the other flutes. A melody in 7/8 time is then alternated with one in 6/8 and is meant to convey the shape and roundness of clouds. (2:50)

Movement 3, “Oh Look! There’s an Alligator!”, is a whimsical look at the different shapes that can be found in clouds. A running bass line in the bass flute supports a jaunty melody which seems to be “on the prowl” to find various shapes in the clouds. Several different animal shapes are “seen”: a hippo, an elephant, and finally, an alligator. Vocals can also be utilized in this movement to better communicate these animal shapes to the audience. (2:20)

Movement 4, “With Your Head in the Clouds”, is in a light-hearted “soft shoe” style. The melodies describe the feeling of skipping through life, not having a care in the world. For a “Lawrence Welk” ending, one of the players with rests can blow bubbles during the last measure. (1:40)

Movement 5, “Through a Sea of Clouds”, has a dream-like quality imagining what it would be like to travel through a sea of clouds and touch their wispy softness. The bass flute is prominently featured, and then joined by the alto flute. The piccolo adds the “frosting” on top. (2:30)

Scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto flute (C-part available on request) and bass flute. (10:50)

Level 3

Music for Flute Choir

Dreidel Song

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

This setting of the traditional Hanukah song about a spinning top,“I Have a Little Dreidel”, is in a theme and variations style, including a “music box” section.

This arrangement available for Flute Choir (piccolo, 3 c-flutes, alto, bass), Flute Quartet (2 c-flutes, alto, bass) and Flute Trio (2 c-flutes, bass flute). (4:00)

Level 3

Music for Flute Choir

Greensleeves

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

This arrangement features a beautiful duet between the bass flute and alto flute. All instruments get a turn at the melody.

Scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto (C- part available upon request) and bass flute. (4:30)

Level 3

Music for Flute Choir

Oh Hanukah for Flute Choir

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

An upbeat song for Hanukah—the Jewish Festival of Lights.

Scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto (C-part available upon request) and bass flute. (2:00)

Level 2+

Music for Flute Choir

Russian Sailors Dance

by Reinhold Gliere, arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

mp3 (recording by Rose City Flute Choir 5/05)

Reinhold Moritsevich Gliere was a prominent Soviet composer who was best known for his compositions that were inspired by folk music of Russia and its republics. Prokofiev and Khachaturian were his students. Originally written for orchestra, Russian Sailors Dance is from Gliere’s ballet “The Red Poppy”.

This arrangement is scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto flute and bass flute. If only five players are available, the alto flute part may be omitted and alto flute cues should be played. (3:30)

Level 3

Music for Flute Choir

Shadowlands—A Journey

by Phyllis Avidan Louke

mp3 (Out of the Darkness mp3 (Into the Shadows) mp3 (Moving Toward the Light!) (Recordings by Rose City Flute Choir 5-99)

Shadowlands is a programmatic work in three movements for Flute Choir written in memory of the composer’s uncle who died from cancer.

Out of the Darkness is written in a minor key, contains a plaintive melody conveying sadness which later transforms to hope.

Into the Shadows begins with a beautiful bass and alto flute duet written in quartal harmony. The melody is introspective, yet, in conjunction with syncopated chords by 4ths, keeps moving the listener forward toward a climax of resignation.

Moving Toward the Light, written in a major key, conveys a feeling of hope and peace, ending with a touching chorale.

Scored for 3 flutes, alto (C-part available on request) and bass flute. Flute 1 doubles on piccolo. (7:30)

Level 3

Music for Flute Choir

Shenandoah

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

One of America’s best loved songs began as a sea shanty. The Shenandoah spoken of in the song is not about a place, but is about an Indian chief living along the Missouri River.

Oh Shenandoah,

I long to hear you,

Away you rolling river,

Oh Shenandoah,

I long to hear you,

Away, I’m bound away

‘Cross the wide Missouri

Oh Shenandoah,

I love your daughter,

Away you rolling river,

Oh Shenandoah,

I love your daughter,

Away, I’m bound away

‘Cross the wide Missouri.

This arrangement opens with a haunting Flute 1 and Alto Flute duet. The instruments are featured in various combinations throughout the piece to explore the different of colors produced by the flute choir. The harmonies and rhythms are altered during various sections--most notably a duet between the Bass Flute and Alto Flute. All instruments have a turn at the melody at some point in this arrangement.

Scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto (C-part available on request) and bass flute. (5:30)

Level 3

Music for Flute Choir

When Johnny Comes Marching Home

arranged by Phyllis Avidan Louke

This traditional song is arranged in a theme & variations style where each section of the flute choir has a turn at the melody. There are some interesting countermelodies and additional familiar melodies interwoven into this piece.

Scored for piccolo, 3 flutes, alto (C-part available on request) and bass flute. (4:00)

Level 3

To go back to Program Notes for published music click here

For information on availability of unpublished music, contact Phyllis