Fanfare and harmony: "Victory"

Well, it's about six weeks or so until Easter, just enough time to learn a new fanfare for an old tune. And a twisty sort of harmony for it.

The tune "Victory" comes from Palestrina, and the most common harmonization is by W. H. Monk. I somehow doubt that my rather... robust, chromatic harmonization will supplant it, but that's really not the point of the exercise. The fanfare is in 5/4 because, ah... because it is.

And here they are (PDF link)

More Easter music coming up!

Fanfare on 'Victory' and this reharmonization by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Prelude and Harmonization: O Welt, ich muß dich lassen

Seeing as I'm presently preparing several of Brahms' Eleven Choral Preludes for recital, this tune came up: "O World, Now I Must Leave Thee." It seems to be fairly uncommon; the only work I could find using the tune is a Bach four-part setting and the two Brahms preludes, #s 3 and 11.

So, seeing as I needed to come up with a harmony for my choir to sing at the recital anyway, why not, I figured, pull in the tune for a choral prelude of my own?

And this then became the Ostinato on "O Welt..." in which I borrow a page or two from Rheinberger and put the theme in the upper voices (see Meditations, Op. 167, #10), as well as have the theme constantly shifting key (Character pieces, Op. 156, #11).

So without further ado: Ostinato on, and reharmonization of, O Welt, ich muß dich lassen

Ostinato on O Welt, ich muß dich lassen, and this harmonization by Mike Cutler are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Prelude and Harmonization: O Waly Waly

Alright, so here's a favourite tune of mine, often presented in a form I greatly dislike - in four, rather than in three. The problem being that in order to make these nicely set bars of three in to bars of four, you have to elongate some of the notes and bog down all the forward momentum.

So I leave it in three. Only makes sense to do so if I don't like it in four.

I don't know what the original is, incidentally. I just know I like it in three, don't like it in four, and that I've talked too much about this.

O Waly Waly - prelude and reharmonization

Any ideas for what to work on next are welcome! Drop me a line if you have a thought. And a tip or donation along with that line or thought would always be appreciated!

Little Prelude on O Waly Waly and this harmonization of O Waly Waly by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Your donations can help me keep writing these! Click to feed a composer!

Reharmonization: Wondrous Love

Not a lot to say about this one... a continuation of sorts from last week's prelude: a harmonization of the American hymn tune "Wondrous Love"

(link to the PDF)

This hymn harmonization by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Your donations can help me keep writing these! Click to feed a composer!

Meditation on Wondrous Love - new project going slower than anticipated

All it took to get me back in to things was a donation. How about that?

Naw, I'm kidding. I've been busy with a bunch of other projects, mainly performing ones, and I just haven't been on the ball regarding my weekly writing plans. I'll get back to it eventually... I hope! I may even catch up on the few weeks I've missed.

So! first of all, I need to send out a gigantic Thank You to Carson Cooman, who

- gave generously to support my ongoing projects (third weekly prelude book starting soon!)

- suggested the tune to write a prelude on; and

- mentioned in passing an interest in single-manual, small-pedal-compass organs, providing an interesting creative challenge for writing this work.

So here, then, without further ado, is the Meditation on "Wondrous Love" (click for downloadable PDF) - just in time for Lent, no less!

So thanks again to Carson, and hopefully I'll have more in the pipeline shortly!

Mike

Meditation on Wondrous Love by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Your donations can help me keep writing these! Click to feed a composer!

Postlude on Hyfrydol: new year, new projects

Well! it's 2017 now.

Time to get back to the weekly work. New year, new project. Or, rather, getting going on an old project that was started but never followed through.

Last summer I got married (whoo!) and last fall I got very, very busy (also whoo!) such that I just didn't have the drive to continue my weekly hymn-based works. So that's my 2017 project - one a week, based on a hymn tune.

I have Richard Crossman to thank for his generous donation and his suggestion of using Hyfrydol. If you have a hymn tune you'd like to see given a treatment, let me know - and if you want to support my work in doing so, there's a link at the bottom of the post to my GoFundMe page. I'm still getting ready to start my third book of 24 free works, and a little extra money goes a long way towards making that happen!

So here's the Postlude on Hyfrydol (Click on this link for a PDF):

All the best to all in the new year!

Postlude on Hyfrydol by Mike Cutler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Your donations can help me keep writing these! Click to feed a composer! Help me fund my third book of free preludes!