International Federation for Choral Music

In the current awful climate of war, many of us are feeling the need to use music as a means of showing solidarity and support for Ukraine.

There are many ways of doing this through choral music. With its 200 000 data items, the Musica International database has information about more suitable scores than can possibly be listed here. This is especially true if you are inventive in your searching. Here is some advice to help you home in on the very best scores for this theme, followed by a few examples resulting from our own searches.

Click HERE to go straight to the Musica International website with the full and unlimited benefit of IFCM member privileges across all areas of the site (change language if necessary).

Depending on how complex you want your searches to be, you can either consult the database direct via the rapid search form on the homepage, or click on ‘More criteria’to navigate to a more detailed search form.

First a quick summary of some search results:

• searching for 'Ukraine' in any ‘Country of all kinds’ field (composer, author of text, publisher) gives 407 hits.
• searching for ‘peace’ in the ‘Keyword, Word of title…’ field gives 8 305 hits.
• searching for ‘freedom’ in the ‘Keyword, Word of title…’ field gives 1031hits.
• searching for‘mercy’ in the ‘Keyword, Word of title…’ field gives 2 364 hits.

Go on, try searching for your own keywords.

Obviously it is better to narrow your search by combining several criteria. For example, ‘peace’ and ‘Ukraine’ together give 37 hits. Other additional criteria you could try might include ‘Language’, ‘Type of choir’, etc.

Searching as described above suggests several scores. For example:

• 140 hits for the title ‘Dona nobis pacem’, including the famous anonymous canon and some lesser-known jewels by a range of composers.
• Composers are working right now on the theme of Ukraine. Examples: 
• Litany for Ukraine (Jeff Enns)
• A Ukrainian Prayer (John Rutter)
• Terve Ukraina! (Olli Saari)
• Several scores have the title ‘In terra pax’, including a piece by Jean-Christophe Rosaz which the composer himself posted on 10 March 2022 at https://www.facebook.com/MusicaInternational with a personal commentary on Ukraine.
• There are many works by the Ukrainian composer Dmitri Bortnianski. Of particular note is Cor Jesu melle dulcius (keyword ‘peace’), and the collection Bortniansky - 35 Sacred Choral Concertos (Carus).
• Herr, nun lässest du fahren in Frieden (Sergei Rachmaninov), which uses a melody from Kyiv (keyword ‘peace’). 
• Opferlied (Beethoven), in an arrangement by Ukrainian Eusebius Mandyczewski (keyword ‘freedom’).
• Draw near, O Sabbath bride (Valerie Shields) (keyword‘peace’). 

It goes without saying that searching like this is perfect for putting together a programme on any theme you choose.

One final reminder: Musica International is a collaborative project that welcomes all contributions to enrich the database and new volunteers to help with inputting. Just contact office@musicanet.org

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