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The Orange (with Simple Gifts) Score Cover

About the Composer

Isaac Lovdahl

Isaac Lovdahl is an award-winning composer, conductor, educator, and bass-baritone vocalist who serves as Director of Choral Activities at Bemidji State University and Artistic Director of the Bemidji Chorale. Under his direction, The Bemidji Choir (BSU’s premier choral ensemble) was invited to perform as a featured ensemble at the 2025 ACDA-MN state conference. Prior to...

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Graphite Publishing

The Orange (with Simple Gifts)

Name: The Orange (with Simple Gifts)
SKU: GP-L007
Availability: InStock

Isaac Lovdahl

A heartfelt appreciation for the gift of life.

Difficulty: 4

Duration: 3-5 min.

GP-L007

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for SSAA choir and piano

Lovdahl’s treble setting is an impassioned reflection on the gift of life and how peace is found through simple pleasures: sharing a lunch with friends, taking a stroll, feeling loved. The “simple gifts” of life are like the air we breathe or the blood in our veins. The music is colorful, flowing, and emotionally expressive.

Composer’s Notes

It is often through life’s “simple gifts” that we discover the most meaning and important perspective: A laugh shared between friends; finishing chores earlier than expected; an oversized piece of fruit. It is in the loving and appreciating of these “small things” that we unearth the joy of being. Every breath of morning air is a gift – every smile and every tear; every good day and every bad one. All of it. It is THE gift to be here – trying and sometimes failing; rejoicing humbly in triumph and growing through misfortune. If you are reading this: It gets better. Keep going. I love you. I’m glad you exist.

-Isaac Lovdahl

Text

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.

-Wendy Cope (b. 1945)
from Serious Concerns © 1992. “The Orange” by Wendy Cope (© Wendy Cope, 1992) By permission of United Agents (www.unitedagents.co.uk)
on behalf of Wendy Cope.

‘Tis the gift to be simple,
‘tis the gift to be free,
‘tis the gift to come down
where we ought to be.

‘Tis the gift to be simple,
‘tis the gift to be fair,
‘tis the gift to wake and
breathe the morning air.

– Joseph Brackett Jr. (1797-1882)
excerpted from “Simple Gifts”

$2.15 per licensed PDF