Description
A Joyful Symphony (2004)
Anthem for Palm Sunday
SATB, treble chorus (SA), organ
5′ duration
Text: Henry Vaughan (1621-1695), from “Palm Sunday.”
Commissioned by the American Composers Forum through the Faith Partners Program.
Premiere—2003, by the Westminster Presbyterian Church Sanctuary Choir, Jere Lantz, conductor, Minneapolis, MN.
Published by ECS. Distributed by Canticle.
Performance recommendations
- m. 11: change tenor and bass to:
- m. 79 Soprano 2 may sing E-flat2 instead of high B-flat.
- The indicated meter is alla breve, but note the metronome marking. Not too fast!
Program Note
From 2003-2005, I participated in an American Composers Forum Faith Partners residency which paired Westminster Presbyterian Church (Minneapolis) with the Cathedral of Saint Paul. When Westminster asked for an anthem which their children’s choir could sing with the adult choir on Palm Sunday, two memories sprang to mind: singing “hosanna” with abandon as a little soprano myself, and seeing a glowingly bald conductor turn and throw a long-bomb cue to the children in the St. Matthew Passion.
The dual nature of Palm Sunday can make for awkward programming. No sooner does one celebrate the triumphant passage of Jesus into Jerusalem than it is time to plunge into the darkness of Holy Week. Particularly in Protestant churches, which tend to de-emphasize the Passion in favor of the Resurrection, Palm Sunday can be a bi-polar affair—first fronds up, then heads down.
In Henry Vaughan’s poem “Palm Sunday” there is majesty, mirth and a foreshadowing of things to come. A Joyful Symphony, a symphony only in the Baroque sense, takes its title from that poem’s last line, but it is also a complement to my anthem, An Echoing Song (which takes its title similarly). Echoing is about questioning and opening up, Joyful about affirmation and closure.
Text
Original:
Come drop your branches, strow the way The King of grief, the man of sorrow Put on, put on your best array; Trees, flowers and herbs; birds, beasts and stones, I’le get me up before the Sun, Hark! how the children shril and high And their own Angels shine and sing |
Modernized:
Come drop your branches, strow the way The King of grief, the man of sorrow Put on, put on your best array; Trees, flowers and herbs; birds, beasts and stones, I’ll get me up before the Sun, Hark! how the children shrill and high And their own Angels shine and sing |
---|
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.