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Ennis Fruhauf

Hymn Tunes from the British Isles

Settings for Organ

Volume 2

Invention  on  Aberystwyth  (4 pages)
Postlude  on  Bunessan   (4 pages)
Three Canons  and  a  Lilt  on  Danby  ( 5 pages)
Paraphrase  on  God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen  (5 pages)
Prelude  on  Nicaea  (3 pages)
Four Verses  on  St. Columba  (4 pages)
Prelude  on  Slane  (4 pages)

Notes

Invention on Aberystwyth continues use of a Baroque idiom for the settings of Welsh hymn tunes represented in this collection. Written by Joseph Parry, Aberystwyth was first published in a collection that appeared in 1879, Ail Llyfr Tonau ac Emynau, and it takes its name from the Welsh seaside resort of the same name. In the invention’s contrapuntal textures, the lower of the two voices offers an extended and thematic obligato that returns at varied key levels and weaves its way around the longer notes of the hymn’s cantus firmus, sounded in the upper voice. This composition is for two manuals and requires no use of pedals.

Postlude on Bunessan is a splashy neo-20th Century setting of a familiar Scottish hymn tune. The original Gaelic melody was transcribed by Alexander Fraser from the singing of a wandering Highlands musician and first published in Songs and Hymns of the Gael in 1888. It takes its name from Bunessan, on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, and the hymn first appeared with the text, "Morning has broken," in Songs of Praise (London, 1931). Following an introduction and transition, the first half of the melody weaves its way through first the tenor, then the soprano voice, giving way to two transitional measures. The second half of the melody is similarly presented, followed in turn by the transitional measures and a cadential restatement of the introduction, punctuated by a strongly cadential codetta.

Three Canons and a Lilt on Danby offer contrasting perspectives of a lesser-known hymn tune that was adapted by Ralph Vaughan Williams from an old English ballad melody. In the course of his travels through the English countryside, Vaughan Williams first heard this distinctive air sung by a Mr. Broomfield at the Cricketer’s Inn of Herongate, Essex, on February 22, 1904. It first appeared in 1906 with a text by Charles P. Price, "Tis winter now," along with its present tune name in The English Hymnal, and subsequently in Songs of Praise. Its contemporary North American reemergence in The Hymnal 1982 pairs it with another Price text, "The golden sun lights up the sky." The multiple verse setting provided here opens with a simple statement of the melody, followed by three canonic presentations, each at contrasting temporal and tonal intervals, and separated by varied interludes. The concluding ‘Lilt’ sounds the hymn tune in an ornamented version, then cedes to a return of one of the preceding interludes and a brief codetta. Subtle contrasts of tempos and registrations from one section to the next will enhance the performance of an intricate but charming composition.

Paraphrase on God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen offers a unique opportunity for the organist to shine in a brilliant neo-romantic postlude that is reminiscent of the late 19th century French organ toccata. It begins with brief declamations of fragments from the familiar 19th century English Christmas carol tune, that give way in turn to a toccata figuration accompanying reordered phrases of the carol melody, altered in rhythm to sound in consecutive notes of equal value. At midpoint, a developmental interlude is interpolated, and the returning toccata figuration shifts from compound duple meter to triplet groupings and is combined with phrase statements of the tune. An evocative return of the declamatory introduction cedes to a brilliant coda. Paraphrase on God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen makes considerable technical demands of the performer and equally so of the instrument on which it is to be performed.

Prelude on Nicaea is a noble and stately composition, based on a familiar and beloved hymn tune that was composed by John Bacchus Dykes and first published in Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1861, where it appeared with its familiar text, "Holy, holy, holy!" In keeping with the Trinitarian nature of the text, the tune name was drawn from the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325). The prelude opens with loosely imitative counterpoint in the manuals that makes use of a rich array of varied dotted rhythms. Phrase by phrase, the hymn tune appears boldly in augmented note values in the organ pedal line.

Four Verses on St. Columba sets an Irish folk melody that was first ‘collected’ by George Petri (ca. 1855), and then was published in Charles Villiers Stanford’s Complete Collection of Irish Music (London, 1902), prepared for the Irish Literary Society. The tune appeared again in Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1904, and Ralph Vaughan Williams subsequently included it in The English Hymnal in 1906 with the text, "King of Love." Its tune name is drawn from the name of the patron saint of Scotland. Following a brief introduction, four verses that are varied in treatment and content follow, the first displaying a rhythmic displacement of the meter, and the second presenting a canon between the tenor and alto voices. The third variation begins in A-flat major after a brief modulation, then runs the tonal gamut through E major, and by a circuitous and developmental route back to its original D major tonic for the fourth and final variation, concluded by a briefly imitative codetta.

Prelude on Slane finds its origins in an Irish folk melody, named for Slane Hill, about ten miles from Tara Hill in County Meath, where supposedly St. Patrick defied the pagan King Loigaire by lighting a ritual Paschal fire on Easter eve, prior to the king’s own celebratory spring festival fire-lighting on Tara Hill. An altered version of the tune first appeared in Old Irish Folk Music and Songs in 1909, with the text, "Lord of all hopefulness," and subsequently in the Irish Church Hymnal (Dublin, 1919) with the text, "Be thou my vision." The setting here frames two verses with a freely imitative opening and closing prelude. The first of the two central variations resets the tune from its original triple meter into quadruple, while the second offers a gently romantic verse with the melody appearing as a solo in the tenor register.

Copyright © 2005 Ennis Fruhauf

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Ennis Fruhauf.

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