Funeral Nunc Dimittis
Created in 2013 for the funeral of a friend, Maureen, this piece derives from one I made in 1973 for a Nativity presentation at Lee Abbey ‘A Song for Simeon and Anna’. The words here set for ‘her’ can be Read More …
Category: Resurrection
Ym Methlem datguddiwyd
* This hymn is written to be a carol for the Welsh service of Plygain. I am grateful that the author, Alice Evans, has approved my setting of her words. The appended (paraphrase) translation is mine. Ym Methlem datguddiwyd.midi TRANSLATION The prophesied Word Read More …
Is this for me, this shattering news?
*** Unconventional in that it does not begin by proclaiming Resurrection triumph, this hymn for Easter Day is based on Peter’s sermon in the house of CORNELIUS (Acts 10.34-43). It presupposes that the singing worshipper is part of Peter’s congregation, and is enabled, Read More …
We have not walked these paths before
** Christopher Idle wrote this lyric on the first day of this millennium. We have not walked these paths before.midi PORRESHAR.midi I like this lyric a lot, and was particularly grateful for the chance to give it a musical setting, because, Read More …
Appeal to God
This hymn anticipates the celebration of Christ’s Ascension. It expounds a remarkable fact of history: that members of a small, first-century sect within the Roman Empire proclaimed that ‘their’ God had gone into heaven… with angels, authorities and powers Read More …
Do not let your hearts be troubled
A versification and setting of words from John chapter 14. I realized that the opening sentence of John 14 fits beautifully to the first line of music in a much-loved Welsh lullaby Suo Gân (though the lullaby has two phrases to a Read More …
Christ our Shepherd, all souls calling
* The music of this hymn is an arrangement of Bach’s ‘Sheep may safely graze’, sung first at a gloomy low pitch, then a bright fourth higher. Christ our shepherd.midi COMMENTARY ‘Shepherd’ is a notoriously redundant image for modern urban Read More …
Upon the cross you breathed your last
* A simple hymn about the apostle Thomas’ encounter with the risen Christ. Upon the cross you breathed your last.midi COMMENTARY This writer grew up thinking that ‘Doubting Thomas’ was a moral liability to Jesus and his elite corps of Read More …
Mary, weep not, weep no longer
* Around 1975 I wrote out the plainsong of this Easter hymn as a song for women’s voices and piano. The setting here, for women’s voices first, then SATB, is written to be sung as a hymn, but also to Read More …
Most holy Jesu
*** This hymn was written when I was Vicar of St Thomas’ PEARTREE in Derby, to mark the centenary of the church’s consecration on 21st December 1881. Most holy Jesus.midi