The Bill of Rights
Ten Amendments in Eight Motets by Neely Bruce
Click below to enjoy performances on YouTube
Celebrated composer, pianist and scholar Neely Bruce (Lincoln Center, Spoleto Festival US, Guggenheim) has set The Bill of Rights to music! Neely Bruce has set the first ten amendments to music, utilizing the text of the amendments themselves to suggest the musical settings. Ideal for high school choruses, college chorals or civic choirs, the work is sure to inspire and challenge audiences.
First Amendment
Instrumentation:
- SATB chorus (mostly a cappella)
- flute (optional)
- organ (optional)
Click here to download the First Amendment for FREE
To inquire about performing the entire piece, please contact Sue Birch, at sue@suebmusic.com or call (860) 346-1498.
"Classical composers have a history of writing music that is also political protest. There is, for instance, Mozart, whose opera ''Le Nozze di Figaro'' offered a biting critique of the French aristocracy, and Beethoven, whose opera ''Fidelio'' is even more explicit in its critique of tyranny and especially Napoleon.
"Then there are modern-day examples, like Neely Bruce, a Middletown composer and pianist. Earlier this year, he felt the urge to compose a political piece after reading a national survey of 100,000 American high school students on their understanding of First Amendment rights."
-The New York Times
To continue reading the New York Times article about this piece, click HERE