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About the Composer
Paul John Rudoi
Cantus
America the Beautiful (TTBB)
A familiar tune scored for all voicings, including a narrative moment to bring home its message of community, empathy, and the ideal of selfless patriotism.
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America the Beautiful
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America the Beautiful
TTBB a cappella
Paul John Rudoi’s arrangement of America the Beautiful is simple for a reason. The work uses the familiar tune in healthy ways for TTBB choir, and includes a narrative moment with several adapted quote options to bring home its message of community, empathy, and the ideal of selfless patriotism.
Composer’s Notes
America the Beautiful is a well-known tune, and my intention with this arrangement is to further entrench it in some of the ideals that make America great: community, support, selflessness, and music. Whichever quote you decide to use, whether it’s the Walt Whitman excerpt within the music or the four adapted alternatives offered on the last page, make sure to think of it as a more theatrical moment. Consider having the soloist step out similar to how one would make an announcement, and of course, find the intimacy of the unison that follows.
-Paul John Rudoi
Text
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
OPTIONS FOR NARRATION:
Walt Whitman quote, adapted from Leaves of Grass:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
From “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Adapted from Democracy and Social Ethics by Jane Addams:
Democracy is the belief that the voice
of every human being must count.
It is the faith that each person’s experience,
no matter how humble, has meaning–
and that justice must begin with neighborly regard.
Adapted from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech:
We look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms:
Freedom of speech and expression–everywhere.
Freedom of worship–everywhere.
Freedom from want–everywhere.
Freedom from fear–everywhere in the world.
From The Woman’s Bible by Elizabeth Cady Stanton:
The voice of the Eternal speaks not to the few,
but to all souls alike.
Each one, made in the divine image,
is called to light and liberty,
to rise in wisdom and justice.
– Katherine Lee Bates; Quotes by Walt Whitman, Emma Lazarus, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jane Addams, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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