Augsburg Fortress

For years I improvised an accompaniment for a choir anthem with the choir singing from the hymnal. At the request of some church musicians I notated my improvisation, and with this publication of Augsburg Fortress it is now widely available. The melody and the minor harmony, particularly the unexpected C minor chord, beautifully embrace this melody and poignant text. The same music with a louder dynamic level effectively provides a convincing agent for the more joyful text that concludes the anthem. In order to highlight the text “Hope of the world, Mary’s child” I delayed any four-part writing up to that point.