works:SATB – The Artsy Honker

Double Chant in G Major

Byartsyhonker January 31, 2020 1 Comment

It's been a while since I wrote an Anglican chant, so here's another. I was thinking broadly of Psalm 27 when I wrote it, but it's in the nature of Anglican chant that it isn't fixed to one set of words, so I present it here with no text. There are some robots singing it (they don't do words either): And there's a PDF to download. As usual, it's CC by-SA which means you can copy it as long as...

I sing of a maiden

Byartsyhonker December 1, 2019 0 Comments

Here is my .PDF of "I sing of a maiden" I sing of a maiden PDF file. Here is the robot clarionet rendition: Text: I sing of a maiden that is makeless; King of all kings to her son she ches. He came all so still where his mother was As dew in April that falleth on the grass: He came all so still to his mother's bower, As dew in April that falleth on the flower. He came all so still where his...

This Endris Night

Byartsyhonker November 1, 2019 0 Comments

If you're looking for a relatively straightforward SATB carol, you might enjoy my setting of This Endris Night: This endris night, I saw a sight, A star as bright as day, And ever among this maiden sung, Lully, by by, lullay. 1. This lovely lady sat and sang, and to her child did say, My son, my brother, my father dear, why liest thou thus in hay? My sweet bird, though it betide, thou not be...

Good Friday

Byartsyhonker September 30, 2019 0 Comments

Here's my setting of 'Good Friday' by Christina Rossetti: Am I a stone and not a sheep That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross, To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss, And yet not weep? Not so those women loved Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee; Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly; Not so the thief was moved; Not so the Sun and Moon Which hid their faces in a starless sky, A...

The Passion

Byartsyhonker July 31, 2019 0 Comments

I chose this poem by George Herbert for Station X in my Stations of the Cross, "Jesus is Stripped". To have our clothing removed, particularly forcibly, is so vulnerable; but in asking Jesus to fill the emptiness of his heart and drive out sin, Herbert mirrors that vulnerability. Or so it seems to me, anyway... The Passion Since blood is fittest, Lord, to write Thy sorrows in, and bloody fight;...

Ave Verum Corpus

Byartsyhonker June 30, 2019 0 Comments

Here is my setting of the Ave Verum Corpus: Ave Verum Corpus PDF file Ave, verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine: vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine: cuius latus perforatum unda fluxit sanguine: esto nobis praegustatum, in mortis examine. O dulcis, O pie, O Jesu, Fili Mariae. Miserere mei. Amen. In English: Hail the true body, born of the Virgin Mary: You who truly suffered and were...

Faithful Cross

Byartsyhonker May 30, 2019 0 Comments

Here's another movement from my Stations of the Cross -- not really suitable for today's feast of Ascension, but I didn't want to wait until Holy Cross Day to post it. Eventually I'll do a Latin setting of this text. In the meantime, this SATB a cappella version is richer in texture than my SA and organ setting from 2010. Faithful Cross, above all other, One and only noble tree: None in foliage,...

Pigeons

Byartsyhonker April 30, 2019 0 Comments

I do get the best texts to work with sometimes. I love this poem by Marnanel Thurman, which I set as part of my Stations of the Cross but also works well as a stand-alone piece: Pigeons, to me, were always signs of hope: even the whirl of wings against the air would right me, show me once again the scope of who I was and whose I was and where; as when, in one deep shock of vertigo I saw the city...

Ave Maria

Byartsyhonker March 31, 2019 0 Comments

It was Refreshment Sunday today, and we had at least one of my favourite Marian hymns. Here's my setting of the Ave Maria, then, played by robots: Ave Maria PDF for download. This is part of my Stations of the Cross, premiered in Aberdeen on 7th March; but I'm releasing it online now. Other pieces from the Stations that will work as stand-alone pieces will also be released in due course. As...

There Is No Rose

Byartsyhonker January 31, 2019 0 Comments

Here is my setting of an anonymous text from around 1420: It was wonderful to compose this for the Cathedral Singers of Ontario, who I've sung with for many years on their visits to the UK, and to sing it with them at Canterbury Cathedral early this month. 1. There is no rose of such virtue As is the rose that bare Jesu; Alleluia. 2. For in this rose contained was Heaven and earth in little...