Partita for 8 Voices is an a cappella composition by the American composer Caroline Shaw. It was composed from 2009 through 2012 for the vocal group Roomful of Teeth and was released on their Grammy Award-winning debut album October 30, 2012. The piece was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music on April 15, 2013, making Shaw the youngest recipient of the award. The work, however, was not premiered in full until November 4, 2013, at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City.
Contents
Structure
Partita for 8 Voices has a duration of roughly 25 minutes and is composed in four movements named for Baroque dances:
- Allemande
- Sarabande
- Courante
- Passacaglia
Reception
At the premiere of the complete Partita for 8 Voices, Justin Davidson of New York wrote that Shaw had "discovered a lode of the rarest commodity in contemporary music: joy."