$2.25
I wrote this piece for my choir at Concordia University Chicago, Schola Cantorum, which sings weekly for our chapel services. If I can’t find a suitable piece based on the assigned lectionary reading for a service for which we are singing, I’ll consider writing a new piece for them. Lately I’ve been attracted to writing unaccompanied SATB settings of older, perhaps lesser known hymn texts found in our Lutheran hymnals—which have been suggested in one planning guide or another as being related to that reading. I give them a “complete makeover” with a completely new (choral) “tune” and setting. I’ve also been particularly attracted to the texts of Horatius Bonar, a Scottish churchman and poet (1808–1889), whose texts, like Paul Gerhardt’s 200 years earlier, are both heartfelt and “doctrine-felt.” The Bonar text for this anthem (found in the Lutheran Service Book and Hymnal) is in six stanzas, but combining each successive pair of stanzas into one (prompted by the repeating pairs of the opening words of the first four stanzas) seemed to work better for a choral setting. Each of the resulting three stanzas of this piece are sung to essentially the same music (for ease of learning), but with varied tempos and dynamics and slight rhythmic variations (to reflect the character of the text). My hope is that this piece is enjoyed by and speaks to both singers and listeners alike.