Choral Piece of the Day, FINAL Installment, No. 62:
"Only from Blood Does Freedom Grow"
for SATB Chorus and Piano or Orchestra
(2024)
Based on one of only several poems written by my mother, Jewish Holocaust survivor Rita Hoffman (1927–2018), "Only from Blood Does Freedom Grow" echoes the words of "Hatikvah (The Hope)", the national anthem of Israel. I have to believe that she wrote this poem around 1948 because of how it is worded.
I of course knew the source of inspiration for this poem when I reread it not long ago—something I had not done since the 1990s—but its having been inspired by Hatikvah was really driven home to me by a Facebook comment. That comment inspired me to compose a piece in which the opening and closing sections are based on the opening melody of Hatikvah, but in which the middle section is newly composed.
—
“Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy, and it honors the sword of freedom.” —John F. Kennedy
—Stanley M. Hoffman, 25 June 2024
—
The sheet music is available from me and from the distributor Sheet Music Plus.
Follow the next URLs to visit the distributor's product pages for this unperformed title.
Piano/Choral Score
Full Score and Parts
Follow the next URL to view a scrolling piano/choral score music video on YouTube.
Follow the next URL to view a scrolling piano/choral score music video on YouTube.
Follow the next URL to view a watermarked PDF for the piano/choral score.
Follow the next URL to hear a synthesized rendition of the piano/choral score.
Follow the next URL to view a watermarked PDF for the full score.
Follow the next URL to hear a synthesized rendition of the full score.
Comments