Omni Die

Going from one of my least favourites to one of my most favourites - Omni Die is a hymn tune I most associate with the text "From the Slave Pens of the Delta," by Herbert O'Driscoll. As Rev. O'Driscoll is still alive, and his copyright is still active, I can't print or link his words, but this post isn't about his words as much as it is about the tune.

Omni Die - from the Trier Gesangbuch (Omni die dic Mariae), not that of Corner - dates from the late 17th century, and is a powerful and energetic tune, one that I could listen to and play with over and over. And so, I've provided here a prelude based on Baroque points-of-imitation techniques and a reharmonization, with the hope that people might get as much enjoyment as I do from this tune.

The prelude

Pick your favourite pedal-heavy registration and go. Light and clear preferred, I think, to best illustrate the contrapuntal nature of the work. And yes, in my opinion it's a viable introduction to the hymn - if you have a congregation that knows the tune and doesn't mind sitting for a few minutes while you play. Here it is.

Herein links the PDF

Prelude on "Omni Die" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The reharmonization

... went places I wasn't totally expecting. But it was fun to write. I actually wrote it starting from the end and moving forward, so I knew I was working with a modal cadence and tried to make the rest of the piece fit. Instead, the whole thing went chromatic on me, much to my delight. And hopefully yours.

For PDF, click here!

Reharmonization of "Omni Die" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Might be a bit of a challenge to sing. Shouldn't be too tough to play, though.

Easter hymns (but not "Easter Hymn")

I know, we're in Lent.

But musically speaking, we should be looking at Easter Sunday and in to that season. It's only a month away, after all.

Ellacombe, a tune I know best as going with the hymn "The Day of Resurrection" (and the William Tarrant labour hymn "My Master Was a Worker," which is quite fun), is the subject of my latest fauxbourdon arrangement, as well as a 2008 fanfare prelude which I've used many times since then.

Without a whole lot of further ado, here is the music!

The prelude:

Download the PDF

Download the PDF

 It's fun to look back a few years and see what I had in mind. Sometimes I wonder.

Prelude for "Ellacombe" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

And the aforementioned fauxbourdon, harmonically wandering a bit.

PDF link here!

Fauxbourdon on "Ellacombe" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

It's a fantastic tune with a great many possibilities, and the more it's heard the better, as far as I'm concerned.

Eventide

The hymn-tune "Eventide," long associated with the hymn Abide with Me, has been a frequent target of my efforts. So for this week's hymn efforts, here is a reharmonization of it (perhaps handy for a final verse), a fauxbourdon because I like them (even when my harmony drifts to weird places), and a piece I've used as an improvisation for funerals, lenten services, and other similar quiet times. Since I've been doing this for a while, it feels like I'm finally putting down on paper something that's been in my repertoire for years. It's a weird feeling, to be sure.

Here they are!

When I see an accidental in the melody, I can't help but think "Key change," instead of "Leading tone." Forgive me, it only gets wilder.

Why yes, that is a cadence on the minor median resolving deceptively to the major median and sliding out from a second-inversion chord to a root-position tonic a tritone away. And yes, the harmony voices have a tendency to move in whole-tone scales from time to time.

Honestly, I'm not sure if the tenors would have an easy time with this one, melody or not. The urge to cadence out-of-key was strong, but resisted.
And as usual, the PDFs are here, and here's the license:

Harmonization and Fauxbourdon on "Eventide" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

And the Simple Meditation. The pages should cycle every five seconds.

PDF available here

This is the same improvisational pattern I used to write the Meditation in the Little Suite, incidentally.

Simple Meditation on "Eventide" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Five years old this year - A Simple Style

A couple from the archive, a little bit of long-distance.

Aus der Tiefe / "Heinlein" / "Forty Days and Forty Nights" is a hymn I've heard and played at many Ash Wednesday and First-Sunday-of-Lent services. Five years ago, I wrote this little prelude using a style I was experimenting with at the time, a very simple two-part setting. I also wrote a final verse to go with it. Both are attached here.

A few notes about the prelude. The accompanying voice was composed against the choral then simply set twice, once without the theme and then once with. The effect is intended to be meditative, calm, and stark. I've written a few other preludes in this style and without exception those in a bleaker character work far better than those intended to introduce more uplifting hymns - a realization that may be one of the least surprising revelations in my years of composing.

Prelude on "Aus der Tiefe" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The final verse I wrote puts the melody squarely in the pedals, and calls for a strong solo in the left hand, perhaps even a reed if your registration philosophy allows for it, and the agility to cross hands. Looking at it from five years later, it may be easier to play the solo in the right hand... Ah well.

Nothing overly radical in terms of harmonic language; I was then and remain now pretty solidly entrenched in the warm sounds of the late nineteenth century.

Final verse: "Aus der Tiefe" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

So I'm thinking a prelude-and-final-verse treatment of a hymn every week. That might be fun. And in between Sundays, some other music, hither and yon.

PDFs:

Prelude

Final Verse

Creative Commons and Insomnia

You know what's fun? Writing music at five in the morning because you can't sleep.

You know what's less fun? Editing that music the next day. Because sometimes what I write at five in the morning is weird.

I got lucky and started the year with a good copy of a hymn introduction. I will get away from the church music (and the organ) eventually, I promise! Anyway, I picked this tune because of its use at Crescent Fort Rouge for Transfiguration - with the words "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise" - which gives me a month and a half to prepare it for worship. My history with the Anglican Church of Canada suggests this tune also for the hymns "Sing of God Made Manifest" for the Baptism of Christ, the wedding at Cana, or the Transfiguration (or all three, why not?), and "At the Lamb's High Feast we Sing" for Easter, so this piece has its uses through the first third or so of the year.
And two for the price of one, there's also a final verse attached to the thing. Just for fun.

So from now I'll try and keep a six-week-or-so lead time on liturgically useful music, at least that which is linked to a specific date in the calendar.

Meanwhile, there's a new little image at the bottom of this page, and of all my previous blog posts. It looks like this:

That's right, I'm now licensed under Creative Commons. The little symbols mean that you can do what you like with these pieces, provided that you're not republishing them for commercial use (if anyone's going to sell 'em, it'll be me, thanks!) and provided that, if you use my work to create something of your own, it has the same permissions - so in other words, your Variations on a Theme by Mike Cutler will be similarly licensed for free public use. Or Creative Commons will find you and mail you a nasty letter or something. To be perfectly honest, I don't know how it works at all. Which is not unusual for me.
Thanks go to Facebook contact Noel Jones for pointing out this option!

Anyway. Toccatina on Salzburg. And a final verse. Three-pager this time.

Toccatina on "Salzburg" by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

"Salzburg" Final Verse by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

And of course a link to the PDF of these two pieces.

Enjoy!

A Christmas gift

Sunday afternoon at Crescent Fort Rouge United Church our choir had its Christmas concert. Present were two good friends of mine, excellent musicians both, flutist Charmaine Bacon and trumpeter Frank Burke, who both contributed so much to the music. Looking forward to doing it all again soon!

Charmaine also happens to be an organist. When, as I do, I improvised the harmony to the last verse of the last carol (O Come, All Ye Faithful), she commented on wanting a copy of that harmonization. Well, since it was improvised, no copy exists, clearly. Regardless, I approximated at closely as I could (without listening to the recording, which I now realize would have given be a better approximation) and instead of not posting anything before Christmas as I had planned, I'm posting this before Christmas.

As with everything else, a PDF is available on request!

Final verse for Adeste Fideles, with choral unison:

Adeste Fideles (Final Verse) by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
"Adeste Fideles" attributed to John Francis Wade, c. 1743