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
* I first wrote an arrangement of this hymn around 1975, for women’s voices and piano. This combination of medieval and new words is here arranged for women’s voices first, then SATB. Suitable both for Easter and for the Feast of Mary 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