Product Description
This arrangement of William H Monk's setting of Somerset C Lowry's text was made in 2003 for an Advent performance. I retained the original five stanza form of Lowry's text and wrote an arrangement that treats the Monk/Lowry hymn as a set of variations informed by the stanzas of the full text.
I arranged the Monk hymn with the original five-stanza form of Lowry's text rather than omitting stanza 2 as has been customary in recent arrangements. I arranged the hymn as a set of variations in which each variation of the chorus uses simple arranging techniques to highlight aspects of the text.
I introduce a substantially livelier bass part as part of the opening setting and reharmonized the voicings supporting Monk's melody in stanza 1. The traditional stanza 2. "Bind us all as one together" features TB unison singing beneath SA parallel thirds.
The biggest change is in the central third stanza. "As thou Lord has lived for others, so may we for others live", originally stanza 3, is cast in parallel major and is made the central variation in the setting. The modal mutation serves to highlight the bounty of divine blessing and the stewardship of the Church. The fourth and fifth stanzas return to the original minor key form of Monk's melody.
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