Product Description
This is a big four-minute festival choir arrangement which may be accompanied by piano or piano/orchestra (with the orchestral score and parts posted separately on Sheet Music Plus). It begins and ends with a choral fanfare, reflecting the exuberance of the Charles Wesley text. This would be ideal for sacred music conferences or use by church-affiliated university choirs and orchestras, especially schools connected to the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition. The ultimate would be to have the Mormon Tabernacle choir and orchestra perform it (please, Mr. Wilberg!) :-)
I have made five rough rehearsal demos by playing each part with a vibraphone over a live performance; I will be happy to send these mp3s free of charge upon request: <leathmus@ol.com>.
Finally, I'd point out that there is also a piano/organ duet edition, which will also be posted separately on SMP. This duet works great by itself, or it could be played along with the orchestra. (I wouldn't recommend using the duet with the choir, since the organ part basically doubles the voice parts.)
Here are some program notes:
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) and his brother John (1703-1791), sons of an Anglican minister (Samuel), both trained for ministry at Oxford University. While there, they were labeled (somewhat derisively) "methodists" because of the strict regimen of spiritual exercises and scholarship that they developed. After a short unsuccessful stint as missionaries to the ColoniesGeorgia, specificallythey returned home to England, frustrated in their spiritual lives. In an interesting parallel to John Newtons life, it was during the sea voyage that seeds were planted, as they watched a group of Moravians experiencing amazing peace during rough seas. Shortly thereafter they experienced spiritual rebirth, and the rest is historywith Johns preaching and Charles hymn-writing becoming the catalyst for a great revival that swept across England. John wrote a few hymns himself, but mainly translated Moravian hymns from German and edited hymnbooks. Charles, on the other hand, wrote almost 9,000 poems, of which some 6,500 were hymn texts. This prodigious output earned him the posthumous title: "sweet bard of Methodism." His many hymns still in use today include "A Charge to Keep I Have," "Arise, My Soul, Arise," "Soldiers of Christ, Arise," "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," "Rejoice, the Lord Is King," "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing," "Celebrate Immanuels Name," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus," and "Ye Servants of God."
Days before his death at the age of 81, Charles preached in the City Road Chapel, London. The hymn preceding his sermon was Isaac Watts "Ill Praise My Maker While Ive Breath." Falling critically ill the next day, he amazed those around him by singing that entire hymn with a strong voice. Later that week he died, with that same hymn forming his last words.
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If you are curious about other resources that I am making available as I am "sheltering in place" here in May, 2020, please do a search of my name here on SMP...or go to my Facebook site <https://www.facebook.com/leathermanmusicservices> where you can see and hear more of my published works. Thanks for your interest!
Lyndell Leatherman, ASCAP
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