All posts by John Graves

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Magnificat

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Liturgical Music of J. S. Graves

For over 15 years I have composed multiple liturgical works for use in the liturgy of the Episcopal Church, both short service music and long pieces to be used on special occasions. I often provided various versions for different liturgical requirements. Most of my longer works can be divided into sections and sung between regular points of the spoken service, for instance at an Evensong or Lessons and Carols. I am including here free, downloadable PDF files, that can be printed for use in any church that is interested in these subjects, not just Episcopal churches. I just need to make it clear that I will continue to hold the Copyrights and those will be passed in my will. I encourage you to download any pieces that you are interested in, do that soon, because I am 84 years old I do not know how much longer I will be able to maintain this website. I only ask that if you are pleased with my music please consider a contribution of any amount to Speak, Inc., the publishers of The Anglican Digest, a little quarterly Christian magazine (anglicandigest.org) that has been printed now for 67 years in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Checks can be mailed to Anglican Digest, P. O. Box 110, Eureka Springs, Arkansas 72632-0110. You can donate online at anglicandigest.org.

  1. The Song of Mary (Magnificat) (Longest Mary & Hail Mary with a cappella Hail at end, master 12.1.2025 – Full Score) with and w/o the Hail Mary, both without the Nunc Dimittis and Gloria Patri. This version with the Hail Mary is the longest of all the pieces listed here (19 pages). The Hail Mary occurs 3 times & is both accompanied and a cappella. (The Nunc Dimittis is not included with this longer version.) Without the 3 Hail Marys this work is 15 pages). The a cappella version of the Hail Mary is on the last few pages of this file.
  2. The Song of Mary, an abridged version, (Mary & Hail Mary Choir abridged with inside cover 10.11.2025) suitable for an anthem, with or w/o the Hail Mary. (The stand alone version of the Hail Mary can be found at the end of this abridged version or at the end of the Song of Mary.) If the Hail Mary is not used this piece can be presented with or w/o the Nunc Dimittis and the Gloria Patri. Additionally, the same abridged (shortened) anthem versions of The Song of Mary is also available for soprano solo. With the Hail Mary this piece is 8 pages long, w/o the Hail Mary, or the Nunc Dimittis, it is only 6 pages.

  3. Magnificat with and without the Nunc Dimittis. Both include the Goria Patri. Neither include the Hail Mary. Magnificat-and-Nunc with-2-Gloria, title sheets ,no Hail-master-12.10.2025-Full-Score. Designed for a flexible presentation and can be performed with or w/o the Nunc Dimittis. Performance options for both versions include: The Magnificat can be sung in sections (see the Section Rehearsal Marks, A, B, C, etc.) with the service readings, prayers, psalms or hymns said or sung in between each section—appropriate for Evening Prayer, Evensong, or Lessons and Carols, etc.

      • Some of the Rehearsal Sections (A, B, C, etc.) can be performed as stand-alone pieces.
      • When the decision is made to break the work into sections, the Nunc Dimittis can be included or excluded.
      • Some portions of both the Magnificat and the Nunc Dimittis can be sung a cappella if the director chooses to do so.
  4. Hail Mary is available as a stand-alone a cappella SATB or as a soprano solo. The pdf of the SATB a capella is at the end of the abridged version of The Song of Mary. The soprano version is Mary & Hail Mary Soprano solo 11.13.2025 – Full Score.
  5. The Nunc Dimittis and the Gloria Patri are both available as stand-alone compositions. (Nunc Dimittis SATB stand alone master 10.18.2025)
    Please notify me of any found or typographical errors in any of this music. Please let me know if you use one of my compositions in you church. I would appreciate any comments you might make.

 

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Psychological and Spiritual Paths to Healing

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My  wife, R. S. Perry, has gone through a year of horror: she was diagnosed with oral cancer and has undergone 2 surgeries, chemo and radiation therapy. During this ordeal she spent some of her recovery time researching techniques for healing. Her research led to her new little book, Psychological and Spiritual Paths to Healing, which is now available on amazon.com.  Her book looks at the mind-body connection in healing from a compilation of Scriptures and secular works by renown healers.

  • The biology of what makes our cells respond to thinking
    is explored.

  • Ways for reprogramming our thinking and emotions
    are presented.

  • Discussions of our subconscious and the Shadow offer clues
    to effective paths to healing.

  • Practical help in “coming alive” can help you through a crisis.

Sandra can be reached at cronesinger@gmail.com.

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William Grant Still

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I have just published this small 44 page book about William Grant Still on amazon.com. He composed nearly 200 works throughout his career, including 5 symphonies, 9 operas, 4 ballets, art songs, choral and chamber music.  He is known for blending American genres like blues, jazz, and spirituals with classical elements.  His prolific output reflects his deep commitment to portraying the African American experience and advocating for racial equality in the arts.

To quote Claire Detels, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, “William Grant Still may be characterized as a far-seeing, progressive individual: a breaker of barriers against blacks as composers of serious concert music, a “trailblazer” in the development of a nationalistic American idiom for serious concert music, and a man of unusually broad vision of the purpose and potentialities of music for bridging the gaps between blacks and whites in this country, and indeed between people of all ethnic backgrounds all over the world.”

“This is the inspiring side of William Grant Still—the youth of 17 from the Deep South who dreamed, in spite of all signs of societal repression, that he would compose operas and symphonies…however, there is another side which is equally as important to an understanding of the composer and his works: William Grant Still the traditionalist.”

“As a human being, William Grant Still stood for, spoke for, and wrote about traditional values throughout his adult life—values such as patriotism, freedom, democracy, religious faith, family, and education.”

Bluffton, New Posts, Palmetto Bluff, SC, South Carolina History

River Tides and the Creative Life

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River tides are famous for their effect on human life. I have included here some of the information in my recent book, Lowcountry Tides, Selected Poems of Florence Rubert Graves, where I commented on the impact of those tides. My book is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Florence Rubert Graves, greatest of mothers, loving wife, best of daughters, and a loyal friend to many. She guided, mentored and encouraged all who had the good fortune to know and love her. She wrote many poems over a long lifetime. However, I selected the poems for this collection from those she either wrote during the years she spent in the tidal river lowcountry of Bluffton, South Carolina, or later poems written while remembering those times. Living near those tides has a daily impact on creativity. A tidal river can be seen and experienced as a metaphor for the ebb and flow of daily life; the highs and lows of human emotion—and everything in between. Click here for those thoughts, River tides and Creativity

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Charles Ives and the American Mind

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My wife, R. S. Perry, published a book in 1974 entitled Charles Ives and the American Mind. Her book is a very broad and knowledgeable study on American Transcendentalism and its impact on creative artists such as the composer Charles Ives. I have re-edited that book for a second edition. That new edition is now available on amazon.com.  I will occasionally post some quotes from her book on a new page called R.S. Perry’s Charles Ives.

 

Bluffton, New Posts, Palmetto Bluff, SC, South Carolina History

Tales of Old Town Bluffton

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My new book, Tales of Old Town Bluffton, The Complete Writings of Andrew Peeples, is now available in paperback from Amazon Books. Andrew Peeples’ stories are full of early twentieth century small town local color.  He was born in 1905 in Bluffton, SC, and raised on Calhoun Street (the main street) in the house shown below. He was the seventh son in a family of fourteen children. He graduated from Bluffton High School and later from the University of South Carolina. For many years he worked as the Health Education Director for the South Carolina State Board of Health.

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Ethnic Influences on Musical Style

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As some of you know I have long been interested in American Neo-Romantic orchestral music. So much so that I started a study over ten years ago and have been working on the book, off and on, ever since that time. (There was a lot of down time!) I finally decided to finish the project! If you ever wondered what Neo-Romantic music is, or just want to know more about it, my new book, Ethnic Influences on Musical Style, Three American Neo-Romantics, is now available on Amazon Books. The cover art is by my wife, R. S. Perry.

The three American Neo-Romantic composers that I discuss are Ernest Bloch, William Grant Still, and Samuel Barber. It is a small and affordable book. (122 pages, $7.95) I plan on making it available as an e-book soon. Stay tuned, or just check back on Amazon from time to time.

When I compose music, I sign it as J. S. Graves. When I write a book or an article I sign it as John Samuel Graves III. It’s kind of complicated. Perhaps I will explain it some day in this blog.

New Posts, SC, South Carolina History

Testimony of the Infant Children, the Untold Story

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On April 4, 1951 at 3:30 P. M., my brothers and I experienced a trauma that marked us for life: our father took us by force on our way home from school in Philadelphia and brought us back 700 miles to his and our home: Bluffton, SC. My twin brother and I were nine and one-half years old, and my younger brother was only six. None of us, including our father and mother, ever fully recovered from that event and the subsequent custody battles that followed.

John Samuel Graves, Jr., my father, and Florence Rubert, my mother, married on June 25, 1939. After 11 years of marriage my mother decided she wanted to think things over. She and my father agreed to a trial 3 month separation, and on June 3, 1950, Mother took us north to stay with her sister, her mother, and her grandmother. After about 10 months had passed without our father being allowed to see us he became convinced that he had to take matters into his own hands: he would return us to our ancestral South Carolina home. The details of that story are presented in my new book, Testimony of the Infant Children, the Untold Story, a non-fictional account of those and previous times in the Lowcounty town of Bluffton, South Carolina. The second edition will soon be available. Stay tuned.

For more information about the people described in my book please visit The Real People in my New Book tab on graveshouse.org.

My book is now available in its Second Edition on Amazon Books. Amazon’s Look Inside feature allows a viewer to read substantial portions of the book’s text. Please take a look! The Second Edition in not primarily different from the first edition. It has been re-edited for spelling, grammatical and formatting issues. The Second Edition also contains photographs that were not in the earliest versions of the book. Some of these additions and corrections have been posted for quite some time on graveshouse.org . See page Testimony Back Story & Photos.

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The Resilience of Nature

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The Resilience of Nature
October 2020

Nature often seems to ignore
whatever is going on in our lives.

It just keeps “pushing things up.”
Nature is “by nature” hopeful!

These photos are of things that have just “appeared” in our yard in the last month – without invitation or prodding. Somehow – like music – they just seem to “always be there for us, if we will just look and listen.”

If anyone knows what exactly these plants are please let me know. When using my contact form please include “plant names” in your first line. I get a lot of junk mail in my contact form and I may inadvertently delete your email. Thanks.