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Musical Works
This is a sample of Ned Rorem's music. For a complete list refer to his music publishers: Publisher information, duration, and reviews for each work may be had by left-clicking on the title of the work.
ORCHESTRAL WORKS
ORCHESTRA WITH VOICE(S)
  • AFTER LONG SILENCE (1982)
    Ten poems for voice, oboe and strings
    Text: William Butler Yeats, George Herbert, Thomas Carew, Robert Burns, Queen Elizabeth I, Thomas Hardy, William Blake, Ernest Dowson, Emily Dickinson (E)
  • POEMES POUR LA PAIX (1953; orchestrated 1956)
    for medium voice and strings
    Text: Jehan Regnier, Pierre de Ronsard, Olivier de Magny, Jean Daurat, Jean Antonie de Baif (F)
  • THE SCHUYLER SONGS (1987)
    Eight poems for voice and orchestra
    Text: James Schuyler (E)
    2(=picc).2.2.2-1.1.0.0-pft-strings
  • SUN (1966)
    Eight poems in one movement for voice and orchestra
    Text: King Ikhnaton, Lord Byron, Paul Goodman, William Blake, Robin Morgan, William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Theodore Roethke (E)
    2.picc.2.corA.2.asax.2.dbn-4.3.2.1-timp.perc:SD/BD/bongos/chimes/gong(tam-t)/anvil/metal sheet/cyms/cast/wdbl/glsp/xyl/vib-harp-cel-pft-strings
  • SWORDS and PLOWSHARES (1990)
    for four solo voices and orchestra
    Text: Arthur Rimbaud, Lord Byron, W.H. Auden, W.B. Yeats, Archibald MacLeish, E.A. Robinson, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Denise Levertov, Psalm 133
    3(III=picc).3(III=corA).3.2-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(4):SD/TD/BD/cyms/large tam-t/metal plate/anvil/glsp/large gong/vib/slapstick/tgl/susp.cym/cast/chimes-harp-pft(=cel)-strings
WORKS for CHORUS and ORCHESTRA
  • AN AMERICAN ORATORIO (1984)
    Texts by nine 19thh Century American authors for mixed chorus, tenor solo and orchestra
    Text: Emma Lazarus, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mark Twain, Sidney Lanier, Stephen Crane, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville (E)
    3(III=picc).3(III=corA).3.2-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(2 or 3):TD/BD/tgl/xyl/glsp/anvil/gong/SD- harp-pft(=cel)-strings
  • GOODBYE MY FANCY (1988)
    an oratorio for mixed chorus and orchestra with alto and baritone soloists
    Text: Walt Whitman (E)
    3(III=picc).3(III=corA).3.2-4.3.3.1-timp.perc(3):vib/glsp/xyl/cym/susp.cym/large susp.cym/ large gong/tgl/tamb/wdbl/metal plate/tom-t/BD/SD/TD-harp-pft(=cel)-strings
  • HOMER (1986)
    Three scenes from The Iliad for four-part mixed chorus and eight instruments
    Text: Based on Homer's The Iliad (E)
    1.1.0.1-0.1.0.0-pft-strings (1.0.1.1.0)
  • LAUDEMUS TEMPUS ACTUM (1964)
    for mixed chorus and orchestra
    Text: By the composer (L)
    2.2.2.2-2.2.2.0-timp-harp-strings
  • LETTERS from PARIS (1966)
    for mixed chorus and small orchestra
    Text: Janet Flanner (E)
    1(=picc).1(=corA).1(-asax).1-1.1.1.0-timp.perc(1):glsp/chimes/vib/xyl/bongos/anvil/cyms/ large gong/tgl/cast/ratchet/BD/SD/TD/police whistle-harp-cel-pft-harmonium-strings
  • LIFT UP YOUR HEADS The Ascension (1963)
    for mixed chorus, wind ensemble and timpani
    Text: John Beaumont (E)
    2.2.2.2-2.3.3.1-timp
    NB: Also arranged for 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani and organ
  • LITTLE PRAYERS (1973)
    for soprano and baritone solos, mixed chorus and orchestra
    Text: Paul Goodman (E)
    2.2.2.2-4.2.2.0-timp.perc(2):large gong/BD/xyl/tgl/SD/TD/cyms/glsp-harp-pft-strings
  • The POET's REQUIEM (1955)
    for soprano solo, mixed chorus and orchestra
    Text: Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, Jean Cocteau, Stephane Mallarme, Sigmund Freud, Paul Goodman and Andre Gide (E)
    2.2.2.2-2.1.1.0-timp.perc(1):SD/large gong/cyms/tgl-harp-pft-strings
  • A SERMON on MIRACLES (1947)
    for unison chorus, solo voice and strings
    Text: Paul Goodman (E)
  • The SEVENTIETH PSALM (1943)
    Anthem for mixed chorus and wind ensemble
    Text: Psalm 70 (E)
    1.1.1.1-2.0.0.1
    (NB: This was the first public performance of Ned Rorem's work)
  • TE DEUM (1987)
    for mixed chorus, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones and organ
    Text: Book of Common Prayer (E)
  • WHITMAN CANTATA (1983)
    for men's chorus, twelve brass and timpani
    Text: Walt Whitman (E)
    0.0.0.0-4.4.3.1-timp
CHAMBER WORKS with VOICE(S)
CHAMBER WORKS
KEYBOARD WORKS
OPERAS
  • BERTHA (1968)
    an opera in one act
    Libretto: from the play by Kenneth Koch (E)
    Mez; H, Med-hi, Med, Med-low, Low; small chorus (opt.)
    Setting: In and around the royal residence at Oslo, Norway
  • CHILDHOOD MIRACLE, A (1956)
    a children's fable
    Libretto: Elliot Stein (E)
    Publisher: Peermusic Classical
  • FABLES (1970)
    five very short operas
    Libretto: from poems of Jean de la Fontaine, translated by Marianne Moore (E)
    The Lion in Love, The Sun and the Frogs, The Bird Wounded by an Arrow, The Fox and the Grapes, The Animals Sick of the Plague
    At least 3 singers; chorus and mimes ad libitum
  • HEARING (1966, arranged 1976)
    five scenes for four singers and seven instrumentalists
    Libretto: a dramatization by James Holmes of poems by Kenneth Koch, adapted from the song cycle
    cl(=asax)-tpt-perc(1):SD/BD/tgl/cyms/xyl/glsp/gong/mandolin (or guitar or ukelele) -pft(=harmonium)-strings(1.0.1.0.1)
  • MISS JULIE (1965, rev. 1978)
    opera in one act
    Libretto: by Kenward Elmslie, based on the play by August Strindberg
    2S, S or Boy S, Mez, 2T, BBar
    Setting: The servant's quarters of a country estate in Sweden on a midsummer eve in the 1880's
  • The ROBBERS (1956)
    melodrama in one scene
    Libretto: by the composer after Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale" (E)
    T, Lyric Bar, BBar
    Setting: Early evening in the sordid second story room of a 14th Century inn
  • THREE SISTERS WHO ARE NOT SISTERS (1968)
    opera in three scenes for five solo singers
    Libretto: based on the melodrama by Gertrude Stein
    2S, Mez, T, Bar with piano accompaniment
  • OUR TOWN (2005)
    Libretto: by J.D. McClatchey, based on the Thornton Wilder play Our Town
CHORAL WORKS