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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Hymn-a-Week 50 - the last! (for now)

Well, this has been a fun year.

One hymn a week (almost) for a year. Here's the last for this project; I may take it up again another time. But for now, that's enough.

For any who are interested:
- the complete list of hymn tunes (with keys and meters) is here
- the thirty hymns from 2015 are in one PDF collection here
- the twenty hymns of 2016 are in one PDF collection here
- and they're all in one big fifty-page PDF collection here

A fun ride. I've played with all sorts of different ideas and concepts and I'm mostly happy with the way things turned out. I think I've grown as a composer, and I hope that someday some of these can find their way into some use!

Cheers!

This hymn tune 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!

Hymn-A-Week 49

Wow.

30,000 views.

Nothing special planned for it, but wow, nonetheless.

Thank you all!

Here's a little hymn tune that started as a planned setting for "Immortal, Invisible." Through the writing process, I decided that it fit a long metre better. It could be converted back to 11 11 11 11, if need be, but for now it stays as it is.

That's about it!

The usual stuff down there.

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 48

Okay, so it's modeled after "Nearer, My God, To Thee." But you could also fiddle with it a bit to make "God Save the Queen" fit. Or any number of other tunes with that... admittedly unusual rhythm.

The heat was getting to me. And the deadline approached. So that's that.

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 47

Shamelessly modeled on the meter of Jesu, Meine Freude.

There's a downside to a ninth-floor apartment, and you notice it immediately when the elevators are out.

Stuff!

This Hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 46

So hey, here's a complete PDF of the hymn tunes from 2016, updated regularly.

I went a little bit viral last Friday. I doubt I'll have such success again for a while, but that's alright. Still, it's neat to see over 1,000 hits within a week. (pedal exercises are apparently good for business)

I asked a friend for a favourite hymn, she suggested "The Ash Grove." So here's The Ash Grove's meter, with a non-Welsh tune.

Legal things and standard end credits:

{This} 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!

Hymn-A-Week 45

Every so often I start to wonder: is this the week?

Is it this week that this toiling in obscurity, pumping out tune after tune, week after week, finally gets to me? Do I lose my mind and start doing some very strange things?

I think this might have been the week.

I guess that as I approach the end of this project, or at least this particular incarnation of it, I'm starting to get a little squirrelly with the melodies. And the harmonies. And just about everything about it.

But it's interesting! So... there's that.

This hymn tune 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!

Hymn-A-Week 44

I'll just leave this here and be on my way before anyone murders me.

Cheers!

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 43

The 43rd weekly hymn, another unusual rhythm. Because why not?

I'm doing seven more, then switching projects. I'm getting bored with hymn tunes!

Here's the legal stuff and ... yes, I still want money!

{This} 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!

Hymn-A-Week 42

With a two-day lead on Easter Sunday, here's a tune which will work for "The Day of Resurrection."

This afternoon, a short all-Bach recital left me kind of worn out, and choir practice finished me, so really not much to say. I have a Good Friday service tomorrow and a prelude in C-sharp Minor to write... And a niece to wish a happy first birthday.

Stuff! Things!

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 41

So in the approach to Holy Week, here's a tune for Go To Dark Gethsemane. Or any other hymn of similar rhythms (Rock of Ages, say).

Nine more for fifty!

Hey, support a musician!

This hymn tune 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!

Hymn-A-Week 40

This week, inspired by Lauda Anima (John Goss' tune for "Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven"), I wrote this tune.

I'm starting to get a little tired of writing these hymns, to be honest; it may be time to put up this project in place of some of the others I've been thinking of. We'll see what happens when I get to #50 in May.

Legal things to think about, and request for support below!

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 39

New hymn day! I had a friend choose a number at random from a hymnal, which turned out to be "O Holy Spirit, By Whose Breath" to the tune Veni Creator, so I used that for a meter (ignoring the coda) and she gave me a key as well (A-flat) and a little while later, out popped this!

Not a lot else to report! The usual end-of-post-things below.

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 38

I opened a hymnal randomly to "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," and decided to use that rhythm for some slightly harmonically unusual hymn tune. I think it's rather fun, myself.

Interested in using this hymn tune? Copyright info is below. Interested in helping me continue to write them? A donation link is also below!

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 37

This week it's a less-usual rhythm, and some straight-forward homophony. Because why not?

This is recovery week. I'm suffering a little bit of exhaustion from the social on Sunday, and various work things in the meantime.

Ending stuff!

This hymn 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!

Hymn-A-Week 36

Thought I'd take on "Crown Him with Many Crowns" (and various other hymns with this rhythm) and give the tenors and altos something interesting to do.

And busy enough this week with my wedding fundraiser this Sunday that this is very last minute!

Copyright and money request follows:

{This} 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!