Dream of Gerontius - part 1

File:
elgdream-part1.nwcOctober 200668.49 kB00:32:40
Composer:Elgar, Edward William (1857-1934), English
About:http://www.elgar.org/3geront.htm
Lyricist:N/A
First Line:N/A
Genre:Oratorio
Instruments:arranged for SSAATTBB Chorus1 & 2 (piccolo, clarinet, French horn, bassoon) plus SATB Semi-chorus, plus Soprano, Tenor & Bass soloists
Submitter:Hooper, John
Email:john (e-mail)
Website:http://www.learnchoralmusic.co.uk
Arranger:N/A
Zipname:elgdream
Ziptitle:Dream of Gerontius (1900)
There are no text/lyrics; these Files were generated purely for Choral Rehearsing purposes (using a published piano-reduction Score), and so don't look pretty even though they should sound reasonable (though that depends very much on your hardware/software; mine is a Soundblaster AWE64 Gold).
My Website (above) also contains Midi Files for several rather more modern Composers, for which NWC versions may be available.
"Dream of Gerontius" has been a hard Work to key in and arrange. The problem is mainly technical, and is down to Elgar's requirement of 12 different Choir voices - Semi-chorus SATB, Chorus 1 SATB and Chorus 2 SATB - plus three soloists (STB), sometimes all apparently singing at the same time, coupled with the need to provide four staves for the expanded piano reduction. Notionally this necessitates 19 different midi Channels - which, since General Midi only allows for 15 (plus a dedicated percussion channel), means that in the absence of two Midi devices certain Midi channels - those for Choirs 1 and 2 - have to double up. As a result, and because of the way Midi works, it may not always seem that one or other of each pair of voices - Sops 1 and 2, for instance - are singing the correct duration of note when they are singing the same note.
A very minor part of the problem is that just occasionally one voice is itself further divided - the Semi-chorus Sopranos into Sop 1 and Sop 2 in at least one place, and the Chorus 2 Sopranos into Sop 1 and Sop 2 - well, really Sop 2 and Sop 3! - in at least one other. Thanks, Elgar!. I have included the notes, but not attempted to divide the voices for real.
Another side of the problem is the Semi-chorus; it doesn't sing much, so to stop its Members being bored it has in these Files been assumed that when they're not doing their own thing they will be singing the relevant Chorus 1 parts. In these Files, then, sometimes the Semi-chorus sings its own notes, while at other times it sings the Chorus 1 notes. And sometimes the two Choruses sing the same thing, sometimes they sing something different. I suspect that on a couple of occasions I may have got confused about who's singing what. Sorry about that!