Official site of composer Andrea Clearfield. Biography, list of works with audio, score samples, reviews and program notes, photographs, upcoming performances.
Scored for: mezzo and soprano solos, SSA chorus, flute, percussion, piano, narrator. Also available for SSA, narrator and piano Text: Exodus 2:1-4 (narrated text), Sandy Shanin (sung text) Language: English Duration: 5:00 min. Premiere: August, 2001, The Lady Chapel Singers, Lisa Neufeld Thomas, artistic director, Heilig-Geisty-Kirche, Heidelberg, Germany Commissioned by: The Women’s Sacred Music Project Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
Women of Valor is a celebration of women from the Old Testament. The oratorio was
inspired by a midrash (biblical commentary) on Proverbs where each line of the biblical
text from Proverbs 31 represents a biblical woman. The texts for Women of Valor are
drawn from the Bible and from modern poems and prose written by women. Women of
Valor highlights the stories of Sarah, Leah, Rachel, Jocheved, Miriam, Hannah, Jael,
Michal, Ruth and Esther.
The musical material for Women of Valor incorporates ancient Hebrew synagogue chants
as well as other traditional melodies. These melodies are woven through the piece like
a tapestry, connecting threads between the old and the new. This large-scale work can be
likened to a musical midrash which reflects the poetic, colorful, powerful, evocative and
celebratory aspects of the texts.
The original hour long work is scored for soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, narrator
and symphony orchestra. It was given its world premiere at Royce Hall in Los Angeles
on April 16, 2000 by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony under the direction of Dr. Noreen
Green. Soloists were Hila Plitmann, soprano and Gail Dubinbaum, mezzo-soprano and
the narrator was noted television actress Valerie Harper. The performance was sponsored
by Hadassah Southern California, who created educational programs around the work.
A story on Women of Valor was broadcast nationally on NPR’s All Things Considered.
The Lehigh Valley Orchestra presented the East Coast premiere of Women of Valor
in 2004 in Allentown, PA, sponsored by the Jewish/Christian Institute for Understanding.
An arrangement of the work was performed by the Los Angeles Jewish
Symphony in 2004 with celebrity narrator Laraine Newman and the chamber ensemble
arrangement has been performed at numerous synagogues and concert venues.
Women of Valor will be published by LeDor (ledorgroup.com) in Winter, 2017.
The treble chorus arrangement of “Jocheved” for soloists, women’s chorus and chamber
ensemble was commissioned by The Women’s Sacred Music Project, Lisa Neufeld Thomas,
President. The premiere took place in 2001 by the Lady Chapel Singers at Heilig-Geisty-
Kirche, Heidelberg, Germany. A treble choir arrangement for SSA and piano was created
for Lirit Women’s Chamber Choir, Renee Bouthot, Artistic Director.
YOUTUBE (soloists with orchestra)
LISTEN
RECORDING
Magdalene and the Other Mary: Songs of Holy Women
The Women’s Sacred Music Project, Inc.
Church Publishing
www.churchpublishing.org
TEXT
[Narrated text, Exodus 2:1-4; Sung text “Jocheved’s Song” by Sandy Shanin]
A certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman, [Jocheved], conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. And his sister [Miriam] stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.
There’s a wind that blew the dark news to me
Of Pharaohs harsh and ugly decree
that my first born Moshe is soon to die
So I hid him in the river where the reeds are high
Oh wind that blows on the river of reeds
Blow Moshe his mother’s sweet melodies
Rock him in your watery womb
And keep him safe and warm
With pain, I brought Moshe into this world
With agony sharp, I must let him go
To save his life I must crush my soul
And I cast off the seed that I once did sow
Oh wind that blows on the river of reeds
Blow Moshe his mother’s sweet melodies
Rock him in your watery womb
And keep him safe and warm
I will suckle him on his mother’s sweet love
I will suckle him on what God says is right
I will suckle him on our history
I will suckle him on God’s word and God’s might
Oh wind that blows on the river of reeds
Blow Moshe his mother’s sweet melodies
Rock him in your watery womb
And keep him safe and warm
Jocheved
Scored for: mezzo and soprano solos, SSA chorus, flute, percussion, piano, narrator. Also available for SSA, narrator and piano
Text: Exodus 2:1-4 (narrated text), Sandy Shanin (sung text)
Language: English
Duration: 5:00 min.
Premiere: August, 2001, The Lady Chapel Singers, Lisa Neufeld Thomas, artistic director, Heilig-Geisty-Kirche, Heidelberg, Germany
Commissioned by: The Women’s Sacred Music Project
Published by: Self-published, Angelfire Press
Contact Andrea Clearfield for score and parts:
See preview score pages: JOCHEVED SSA CHORAL SCORE EXCERPT (PDF)
PROGRAM NOTES
Women of Valor is a celebration of women from the Old Testament. The oratorio was
inspired by a midrash (biblical commentary) on Proverbs where each line of the biblical
text from Proverbs 31 represents a biblical woman. The texts for Women of Valor are
drawn from the Bible and from modern poems and prose written by women. Women of
Valor highlights the stories of Sarah, Leah, Rachel, Jocheved, Miriam, Hannah, Jael,
Michal, Ruth and Esther.
The musical material for Women of Valor incorporates ancient Hebrew synagogue chants
as well as other traditional melodies. These melodies are woven through the piece like
a tapestry, connecting threads between the old and the new. This large-scale work can be
likened to a musical midrash which reflects the poetic, colorful, powerful, evocative and
celebratory aspects of the texts.
The original hour long work is scored for soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, narrator
and symphony orchestra. It was given its world premiere at Royce Hall in Los Angeles
on April 16, 2000 by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony under the direction of Dr. Noreen
Green. Soloists were Hila Plitmann, soprano and Gail Dubinbaum, mezzo-soprano and
the narrator was noted television actress Valerie Harper. The performance was sponsored
by Hadassah Southern California, who created educational programs around the work.
A story on Women of Valor was broadcast nationally on NPR’s All Things Considered.
The Lehigh Valley Orchestra presented the East Coast premiere of Women of Valor
in 2004 in Allentown, PA, sponsored by the Jewish/Christian Institute for Understanding.
An arrangement of the work was performed by the Los Angeles Jewish
Symphony in 2004 with celebrity narrator Laraine Newman and the chamber ensemble
arrangement has been performed at numerous synagogues and concert venues.
Women of Valor will be published by LeDor (ledorgroup.com) in Winter, 2017.
The treble chorus arrangement of “Jocheved” for soloists, women’s chorus and chamber
ensemble was commissioned by The Women’s Sacred Music Project, Lisa Neufeld Thomas,
President. The premiere took place in 2001 by the Lady Chapel Singers at Heilig-Geisty-
Kirche, Heidelberg, Germany. A treble choir arrangement for SSA and piano was created
for Lirit Women’s Chamber Choir, Renee Bouthot, Artistic Director.
YOUTUBE (soloists with orchestra)
LISTEN
RECORDING
Magdalene and the Other Mary: Songs of Holy Women
The Women’s Sacred Music Project, Inc.
Church Publishing
www.churchpublishing.org
TEXT
[Narrated text, Exodus 2:1-4; Sung text “Jocheved’s Song” by Sandy Shanin]
A certain man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman. The woman, [Jocheved], conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. And his sister [Miriam] stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.
There’s a wind that blew the dark news to me
Of Pharaohs harsh and ugly decree
that my first born Moshe is soon to die
So I hid him in the river where the reeds are high
Oh wind that blows on the river of reeds
Blow Moshe his mother’s sweet melodies
Rock him in your watery womb
And keep him safe and warm
With pain, I brought Moshe into this world
With agony sharp, I must let him go
To save his life I must crush my soul
And I cast off the seed that I once did sow
Oh wind that blows on the river of reeds
Blow Moshe his mother’s sweet melodies
Rock him in your watery womb
And keep him safe and warm
I will suckle him on his mother’s sweet love
I will suckle him on what God says is right
I will suckle him on our history
I will suckle him on God’s word and God’s might
Oh wind that blows on the river of reeds
Blow Moshe his mother’s sweet melodies
Rock him in your watery womb
And keep him safe and warm