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He Moemoea

for piano and mezzo soprano, soprano or baritone or SATB. Anthony Ritchie. Opus 54b

Designed for quick learning, this lyrical song has proved popular with choirs and soloists.

Portrays a quintessential New Zealand image, a child dancing on a beach. Lively in character. Available for mezzo soprano, soprano or baritone. Also for girl's choir.

It is published in 2020 Trinity College London Press' A Recital Anthology 22 art songs for diploma level performance High Voice

Watch St Hilda's Madrigal choir sing He Moemoea

Listen to performance

Hulme writes: I love the coastal beaches around Dunedin also (and further north, Moeraki-wards where I wrote He Moemoea). Simon is a child, indeed the same Simon who inhabits the The Bone People. There is an echo of the poem in the novel (p.424 in the Spiral/Hodder & Stroughton Edition). One of the small delights of life (for me anyway) is watching people on beaches become unfettered, children particularly, but adults also. We seem peculiarly adapted to dancing by/in/with waves.

The song begins with a lively evocation of Simon dancing on the beach. In the latter part, the dream becomes dark and brooding, before a very short return to the opening.

This song was originally commissioned and written for the New Zealand Association of Singing Teachers' annual conference in Dunedin, 1993.

It became popular particularly in the version for mezzo soprano, and in 2008 Anna Leese recorded the song on the CD New Zealand Poets in Song: Songs by Anthony Ritchie (see http://www.anthonyritchie.co.nz/recordings.html).

It is available here in 4 versions, for piano and mezzo-soprano, soprano, baritone or SATB choir.

The original version, with descant, is currently available in hand-written format directly from the composer. Listen to the St Hilda's Madrigal choir sing He Moemoea on youtube

Dedicated to Maureen Smith

Buy the right to download a pdf online for one singer for NZ$15.00

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