Variaçao – Carol Barnett

Composer: Carol Barnett

Text by: Traditional texts

Instrumentation: SSAATTBB choir and piano

Duration: Approx. 3 minutes

Date Written:  2000

Composer’s note: Variaçao was commissioned in 2000 by composer Janika Vandervelde as part of a musical birthday present to her fiancé, Larry Fuchsberg. It is based on a beautiful and calming pentatonic melody that she imagined and sang to him as they toured the Portuguese countryside in a rented car, nerves jangled by the poor roads and terrifying fellow drivers. The men’s soothing melody and the women’s quicker nonsense syllables alternate as both try to sooth the child. As the piece reaches its resolution, the men’s and women’s parts converge, coalescing into a single chord as sleep arrives.

Variaçao was premiered on the Dale Warland Singers’ Echoes of Christmas concerts in December 2000. 

Texts

Boyo-yo balu Boyo-yo balu
Dorma. Ador, adormeça.

Lalow Boyo lalow Boyo
balu o meu menino doce.

Sleep. Go to sleep
my sweet little boy.