A Voice Was Heard in Ramah

SATB with Baritone solo and piano
or orchestral accompaniment

Cover art This piece was written as part of a soon-coming Christmas cantata to be based on Old Testament scripture.

One part of the Christmas narrative that is often overlooked—but is a crucial part of it—is the “Slaughter of the Innocents” by King Herod. This was foretold in Old Testament prophecy, the text used by this piece.

Score download:

This piece was conceived and written for a special Christmas program: The Villains of Christmas. This piece was premiered by the Vintage Voices of Granville in December, 2012, as part of that program.

This piece can be performed with piano only, or with a variety of optional extra percussion and other instruments (instrumental parts available separately).

The demo recording here was created as one of the demos being produced for the upcoming cantata. It was rendered using the EastWest Quantum Leap sound libraries, including the Symphonic Choirs library.

Tip: To best experience the demo, first load the PDF in another browser tab. Then start the playback of the recording and follow along in the PDF.

“Qui cantat laudem non solum cantat, sed et amat eum quem cantat.”
(He who sings praise is not only singing, but also loving Him whom he is singing about/to/for.)

— St. Augustine of Hippo
Corpus Christianorum
Latinorum, vol. 39

The music of Charles O. Beck

A Voice Was Heard in Ramah

SATB with Baritone solo and piano or orchestral accompaniment

SATB with Baritone solo and piano
or orchestral accompaniment