MIDI songs

Partial files are displayed in italics, like this.

A-rovin' Cheesy little song I sang in the men's choir at high school. Composed by Neil Johnson. The first verse or so is entered. I once amused myself by making this the background music for a level in Doom.

Ave Maria Recent choral piece for men's choir written by Franz Biebl. I sang it in school; in case you're curious, my part was baritone 1. I think the song may have been com­missioned by Chanticleer as it appears on one of their recordings.

Candlelight Carol Lushly voiced Christmas carol, which a certain high school choir performed tra­ditionally at the senior Christmas concert. It was written by well-known British composer John Rutter. I have only entered the chorus.

Contrapunctus 14, reconstruction BWV 1080-14 Davitt Moroney completes this fragmentary piece from Die Kunst der Fuge. A competently written conclusion for the three voice fugue, which introduces the motto theme as a fourth voice, as Moroney and other musicologists believe JS Bach would have done. Published in the Urtext edition of the work.

Contrapunctus 13, inversus, alio modo, a 2 clav BWV 1080-18 From JS Bach's Die Kunst der Fuge, Art of the Fugue. An astonishingly complex two keyboard version of contrapunctus 13 which appears in the main body of the work.

Gloria Gloria Et in terra pax Laudamus te Gratias agimus tibi Domine Deus, Rex cælestis Domine Fili, unigenite Qui tollis peccata mundi Quoniam tu solus sanctus Cum sancto Spiritu The lengthy work Gloria was written by Guiseppe Carcani. I memorized the 60 page book as part of roughly four hours of reper­toire for a tour of Holland, during my tenure as a member of the British Columbia Boys Choir when I was twelve or so. The writing may not be complex but it was fun to sing in those cathedrals. Maybe sometime I'm feeling ambitious, I will enter the rest of the work.

Goldberg-Variationen BWV 988 Aria Variatio 1 a 1 clav Variatio 2 a 1 clav Variatio 3 a 1 clav (canone all'Unisono) Variatio 4 a 1 clav Variatio 5 a 1 ovvera 2 clav Variatio 6 a 1 clav (canone alla Seconda) Variatio 7 a 1 ovvero 2 clav Variatio 8 a 2 clav Variatio 9 a 1 clav (canone alla Terza) Variatio 10 a 1 clav (Fughetta) Variatio 11 a 2 clav Variatio 12 (canone alla Quarta) Variatio 13 a 2 clav Variatio 14 a 2 clav Variatio 15 a 1 clav (canone alla Quinta) Variatio 16 a 1 clav (Ouverture) Variatio 17 a 2 clav Variatio 18 a 1 clav (canone alla Sesta) Variatio 19 a 1 clav Variatio 20 a 2 clav Variatio 21 (canone alla Settima) Variatio 22 a 1 clav Variatio 23 a 2 clav Variatio 24 a 1 clav (canone all'Ottava) Variatio 25 a 2 clav Variatio 26 a 2 clav Variatio 27 a 2 clav (canone alla Nona) Variatio 28 a 2 clav Variatio 29 a 1 ovvero 2 clav Variatio 30 a 1 clav Aria da capo The work Goldberg Variations, as it is known in English, consists of an aria, followed by 30 variations, and concluding with a repetition of the aria. This fascinating work was long considered an obscure academic exercise. Glenn Gould played them for his first recording under his Columbia contract, and the record became an almost overnight bestseller. Þ

O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden Short sacred chorale. Written by some old dude (was it Martin Luther?) a long time ago, harmonized by JS Bach for his St Matthew Passion.

Irish Tune from County Derry It seems that nearly everybody knows this piece as Oh Danny Boy. It was written by Percy Grainger who based it on a folk song. This is a nice thick choral ar­range­ment, possibly by Grainger himself. Over the years I have sung many bizarre arrangements of this piece, including an interesting one by Phil Mattson, but this is surely the canonical incarnation of the tune. Unfortunately, I didn't enter the whole thing before losing the score.

Italian Concerto BWV 971 Movement I Movement II (Andante) Movement III (Presto) Pretty cool piece. I like the Glenn Gould recording.

Lost Lady Found Another piece by Percy Grainger. I got the music for this at some meeting of Chorfest. I entered this much and I think I lost the music. It's a great piece. The piano part gets harder and harder; the accompianist however stunned every singer by sight-reading it perfectly, all the while with a grim unhappy expression (his nickname is "Smiley").

Partita I Præludium Allemande Corrente Sarabande Menuet I Menuet II Giga I played this piece by JS Bach on piano very early on. Years ago I found some movements on a local BBS in a unique file format which played over a PC speaker, back when sound­cards were rare. As a PC speaker can only produce a single tone, chords were played arpeggiated several times a beat, resulting in a strange, not unpleasant rippling effect. I also impressed my grade 8 computer science teacher by writing a program which played the first movement, in BASIC!

Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 225 This MIDI file is the first movement from the first of JS Bach's so-called Six Motets. I can't remember when I first heard of these pieces, but the first recording I bought of them, a CD still on my short list of favorites, looms strong in memory. I bought a book containing the music for all six motets, published by Bärenreiter.

Three Kings Amazing Christmas carol I sang in high school choir. This song was created by Housman & William. A note I made in the file suggests it was copyrighted 1928 but I wonder if that's true. Most but not all of the music has been entered, it stops just before the climax. I will probably never see the full score again. A while ago, I heard a pro­fessional group perform the piece on the radio, and the effect was extra­ordinary. Here are the words: Who knocks tonight so late, so late? the weary porter said. Three Kings stood at the gate, Each with a crown on head. The serving man bowed down; The inn was full, he knew. Said he, 'In all this town is no fit place for you!' A light! the manger lit: There lay the Mother meek. Said they, 'This place is fit: Here is the rest we seek!' They loosed their latchet strings; So stood they all unshod. Come in, ye Kings! And kiss the Feet of God.

Wohltemperirtes Clavier Book I BWV 846 C major Prelude Fugue BWV 847 C minor Prelude Fugue BWV 848 C-sharp major Prelude Fugue BWV 849 C-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 850 D major Prelude Fugue BWV 851 D minor Prelude Fugue BWV 852 E-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 853 E-flat minor Prelude D-sharp minor Fugue BWV 854 E major Prelude Fugue BWV 855 E minor Prelude Fugue BWV 856 F major Prelude Fugue BWV 857 F minor Prelude Fugue BWV 858 F-sharp major Prelude Fugue BWV 859 F-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 860 G major Prelude Fugue BWV 861 G minor Prelude Fugue BWV 862 A-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 863 G-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 864 A major Prelude Fugue BWV 865 A minor Prelude Fugue BWV 866 B-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 867 B-flat minor Prelude Fugue BWV 868 B major Prelude Fugue BWV 869 B minor Prelude Fugue If you have not heard of Das Wohltemperirtes Clavier, by JS Bach, know that it is held in such high regard among musicians it is often referred to simply as the WTC or the 48. There are two books in the work, each containing 24 preludes and 24 fugues, in all the keys available. Fugue XX is surprisingly comlpex and extended for the first book. It is a four voice fugue on one theme. The writing is great but the thing is murder to play, especially the last few bars which are impossible without cheating a bit. Sadly, I haven't entered the whole piece.

Wohltemperirtes Clavier Book II BWV 870 C major Prelude Fugue BWV 871 C minor Prelude Fugue BWV 872 C-sharp major Prelude Fugue BWV 873 C-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 874 D major Prelude Fugue BWV 875 D minor Prelude Fugue BWV 876 E-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 877 D-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 878 E major Prelude Fugue BWV 879 E minor Prelude Fugue BWV 880 F major Prelude Fugue BWV 881 F minor Prelude Fugue BWV 882 F-sharp major Prelude Fugue BWV 883 F-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 884 G major Prelude Fugue BWV 885 G minor Prelude Fugue BWV 886 A-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 887 G-sharp minor Prelude Fugue BWV 888 A major Prelude Fugue BWV 889 A minor Prelude Fugue BWV 890 B-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 891 B-flat major Prelude Fugue BWV 892 B major Prelude Fugue BWV 893 B minor Prelude Fugue I shall describe two of my favourite fugues from this book. Fugue IX is a friendly, warm four voice fugue. Great fun to play, especially really loud. I entered so little of it here it doesn't reach the interesting parts. Fugue XIV is a three voice triple fugue that ends in a brilliant combination of the themes. After the middle of the piece, there are nonstop 16th notes until the end, making it an exhilirating piece to play on piano.