Product Description
"Chad Gadya" ("one little
goat" in Aramaic) is a popular prayer from the Jewish holiday of
Passover. While the holiday celebrates the biblical journey of the
Israelites from slavery to freedom, "Chad Gadya" tells the story of one little
goat that, right at the beginning of the prayer, is eaten by a cat. This
tragic event begins a horrific fable about the power of nature, in which each
being is killed by one larger than itself. Following the 20th-century
French composer Darius Milhaud, who wove Provençal Jewish prayers into his
music, I chose to use an old Provençal tune of "Chad Gadya" as a
musical source for my piece. I decided, however, that the poor animal
deserves a second chance. Instead of one goat, my piece portrays three
(or possibly three aspects of the same goat). The first one is
an oppressed, captive goat who sings the blues through the low-ranged
cello. The viola represents a second goat that finds its way out
of captivity and frolics here and there, but unfortunately
its memories of oppression do not allow it to find peace. Only
the third goat, featured by the violin, reaches true salvation. In a free
adaptation of the original Provençal melody, the goat celebrates its freedom by
dancing among the hills using awkward meters (since I cant really
imagine a goat dancing in 4/4 time). The piece was commissioned by Apollo
Chamber Players for their 20x2020 project, underwritten by a grant from the
Houston Arts Alliance, and was written for their "Oppression to Expression" season program
"Rhapsody Nouveau," connecting works influenced by Provençal Jewish
and African-American traditions. 2017 Chamber Music Contest Entry
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.