Date: Mon, 10 Oct 1994 15:14:46 -0600
From: Nina Gilbert
Subject: Thanksgiving follow-up


Dear Choralist,

What a wise, generous bunch we are! (Bravi!!)

About ten days ago I posted a request from a colleague seeking a
Thanksgiving anthem that is easy, festive, in English, and
accompanied by piano or organ. Within minutes I had a few
suggstions, and they've continued to trickle in through the week.

Here's what we've "harvested" from Choralist:

Larry Frederick (lbf(a)aol.com, eh257(a)freenet.cwru.edu) takes a
minute off from closing on a house to say:

Mozart's "Praise the Lord our God Forever." It is a
concert round
and is accessible to most choirs. I don't have the publication
information with me (I'm home), but I can try to get that to you later.


Ken Sybesma suggests:

A good, easy Thanksgiving octavo is Fred Bock's "A
Grateful
Heart." Mostly two part (SA/TB) with a four-measure a cappella SATB
section that's very easy, and a single "chord" for SSAA in one spot. My
folks enjoy it as a "respite" from our work on a Mozart missa brevis.


Mr. Samson SiSing Cheung , who serves as
Assistant Music Adminstrator for the Music Office of the Hong Kong
Government (!), offers:

I would suggest one to look at the catalog of Shawnee
Press which
includes a number of singable anthems or hymn-anthems from the
GlorySound and Harold Flammer lines. They are rather Southern
Baptist oriented but I used them anyway in Hong Kong in my
Protestant Church with good rapport.

More difficult (I should say, sophisticated) ones are
from the
Hinshaw library. All these works are contemporary English ones and
cost about $1 each octavo copy.


Benjamin Kornelis (benk(a)dordt.edu), Choral Director at Dordt College,
Sioux Center, Iowa, has several festive suggestions, "not necessarily
specific to Thanksgiving":

The Lord Our Mighty Sovereign; Johann Herbst (Boosey and
Hawkes 5863) with organ.

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven; John Goss (look for
good
Hymnal versions) organ.

Lord, Thou Hast been our dwelling; Ralph Vaughan
Williams (G.
Schirmer 9720) organ and trumpet - needs semi-chorus or quartet.

The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune; Ralph Vaughan Williams
(Oxford)
organ, opt. brass, quite easy.

Praise to the Lord; Hugo Distler (Arista) a cappella,
and
rhythmically quite challenging, but it's really fun once a choir's got it.

David Puderbaugh , of the
University of Missouri-Columbia, suggests:

"Sing To the Lord of Harvest" by Healey Willan. It is
scored SATB
with keyboard accompaniment. It is quite a bit simpler than "The
Heavens Are Telling." It is appropriately festive as well.

I have forwarded these suggestions, with two more:

Britten, "Jubilate Deo," a fanfarish piece in English
with organ that
also works with piano; lots of two-part and practically two-part
passages; Boosey & Hawkes, I think.

Billings, _Kittery_ ("Our Father who in heaven art"), a
setting (in
typical, hearty Billings idiom) of a common-meter version of the
Lord's Prayer. I think there is an octavo of this in print, but I have
worked with photocopies of the beautiful edition in the Collected
Works, thanks to the American Musicological Society and the
University of Virginia, who own the copyright and are generous with
permission.


Finally, some words of encouragement from Alistair Warwick
(mu31aw(a)surrey.ac.uk), Director of Music, Arundel Cathedral, UK:

No ideas, since we don't celebrate Thanksgiving over
this side of
the pond, (except for Eucharist!) but do send my encouragement to
Richard: it's not easy to try to "improve" people's perceptions of what
good music is...

Thanks again. Between the repertoire suggestions on Choralist and
the recipe suggestions over on VEGLIFE, one could have quite an
Internet-driven Thanksgiving!

Nina Gilbert

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Nina Gilbert, Wabash College, Crawfordsville IN 47933 (USA)
gilbertn(a)wabash.edu
phone/FAX 317-364-4299
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---

Thanks to the many Choralist members who responded on my request for
suggestions of good choral music on the themes of Harvest and Thanksgiving.
Here is the result of those suggestions. Several of you asked for it.
O Give Thanks Wayland Rogers 2-part
All Good Gifts Brad Nelson
Sing to the Lord of Harvest Healy Willan
Golden Harvest Dvorak
Nun Danket alle Gott J. Pachelbel for double choir
any of the many arr. of Now Thank We All Our God
the Promise of Living Copland
the Corn Song Holst unison/2 part
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing arr. Wilberg
My SHepherd Will Supply arr Wilberg
All Things Bright & Beautiful Rutter
Pilgrims Hymn Paulus
Thou Gracious God Wilberg
I Thank You God Gwyneth Walker
Thank the Lord Rene Clausen
For the Beauty of the Earth Rutter
For the Beauty of the Earth Bradley Ellingboe Kjos publ.
choruses from "Cavalleria Rusticana"
"Elisir d'Amore"

Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions.

Ron Sayer, director
Marshall Community Chorus
ronsay(a)aol.com