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Ennis Fruhauf
Hymn Tunes from the British Isles
Settings for Organ
Volume 1
Prelude
on Brother James’ Air (2 pages)Notes
Prelude on
Brother James’ Air is a brief setting of a familiar hymn tune from Scotland. Written by James Leith MacBeth Bain, or ‘Brother James,’ as an accompaniment for the 23rd Psalm, it was first printed in London in 1915. Originally titled Marosa to honor the seventh daughter of a friend whom he had christened, the melody eventually came to be known by its present name. This setting in the form of a congenially harmonious chorale prelude presents the tune in the tenor register, accompanied by loosely imitative counterpoint. The pedal part is minimal, used only to assist the manuals for sustained pitches.Trio on Bryn Calfaria presents a Welsh hymn tune by William Owen that was first published in 1886, then subsequently included in The English Hymnal (1906) with the text, "Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendor." Following the pattern of Welsh melodies represented in this collection, the language and structure are set in the late Baroque keyboard tradition, in this instance limning a tightly contrapuntal and imitative trio that presents its fugue-like subject in original and mirrored forms, with the cantus firmus melody sounded in the soprano voice. The pedal is used only for sustained tonic pitches in the last two measures.
Rondo on Two Welsh Hymn Tunes presents John Hughes’ Cwm Rhondda and Thomas John Williams’ Ton-y-Botel, again in a Baroque keyboard idiom. The first tune takes its name from the valley of the Rhondda and was written between 1905 and 1907. Ton-y-Botel ('Tune in a bottle'), also called Ebenezer in some collections, was extracted from an anthem by Williams and first published as a hymn tune in 1890. In both settings, the hymn melodies appear in the soprano voice, and in each case a rhythmic reorientation has displaced the original beat pattern by shifting the meter from quadruple to triple. This setting for manuals only offers some of the aspects of a piPce de clavecin, or composition for virginal, and the rondo structure is emphasized by a contrasting change of keys and modality from B-flat major to G minor, with the introduction of dancing triplet figures animating Ton-y-Botel with lilting rhythms.
Postlude on Duke Street sets a hymn tune that first appeared in a collection published in 1793; not until its appearance in William Dixon’s Euphonia in 1805 was it ascribed to John Hatton and given the name by which it is now known. The traditional melody is retained here with all of its original pitches and sequences intact, but the tune is reset into flowing notes of equal value. Each successive phrase appears in points of imitation sounded in the upper voices in rolling eighth notes, followed by a cantus firmus pedal presentation in augmentation. The harmonic language and textural writing is rich and calls for bold and resounding registrations.
Prelude on Greensleeves sets an English ballad tune; although its origins likely go further back in time, the actual name first appeared in September, 1580 on two separately issued printing licenses for the title, Lady Greene Sleeves, and twelve days later for a sacred text. The tune is also mentioned in Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor. Its current hymn format comes from the collaborative efforts of Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer, in their collection entitled Christmas Carols New and Old (London, 1871). This setting begins as a lilting siciliana, in which the traditional modal English folk melody emerges in long note values that are sounded in the soprano voice. At midpoint, the dotted dance rhythms cede to a plaintively sighing eighth-note figure presented in triple meter; the tune shifts to the tenor voice, then back to the soprano, along with a return of the siciliana rhythm and opening dance figurations of the beginning.
Carillon-Toccata on St. Anne is based on a well known hymn tune ascribed to William Croft, dating from the early 18th Century, that was first published anonymously in London in 1708 with its present tune name. It has also appeared under the name ‘Leeds,’ attributed to a ‘Mr. Denby;’ in Canada the same melody has been published with its now familiar text, "O God, our help in ages past," but with the name ‘Chelsea .’ This large-scale setting offers a toccata in the late French Romantic organ tradition, with overtones of the English keyboard carillon, in which pealing bells are imitated. The opening toccata figurations accompany an emerging thematic melody based on the hymn tune, presented consecutively in tenor, then soprano and finally pedal voices. A developmental section follows, giving way to the return of the opening toccata figuration and theme, all sounding over each of the four phrases of the hymn tune, presented in augmentation in the pedal. The coda adds a resoundingly pealing and jubilant conclusion.
Rondo on St. Patrick and Dierdre combines two traditional Irish melodies, the former adapted for hymn use by Charles Villiers Stanford and first published in 1903, and the latter adapted and combined with St. Patrick by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The two contrasting tunes are paired in many contemporary hymnals to create an epic rondo structure, in which the first returns with concluding verses after the contrasting second one is sung with its own text. The same overall structure is preserved in the present setting, with a distinctive alteration of the rhythm of St. Patrick, wherein the original meter is shifted by one beat to create an accented syncopation instead of an upbeat followed by a strong downbeat over the barline. Individual fragments of each phrase are isolated and echoed on contrasting sounds and manuals throughout the first part. The second portion of the rondo presents the melody of Dierdre, phrase by phrase, in varying voices and at contrasting key levels, altering the period structure of the original tune. St. Patrick’s return rounds out the ternary structure and ends on a strongly affirmative tonic cadence.
Copyright © 2005 Ennis Fruhauf
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