Musical contribution - December 2018

Fanfare: “O Come, All Ye Faithful” - Leendert Verduijn (LiVE sample set: Paris, Cavaillé Coll).

This month, we’ve chosen a Christmas song that’s known all around the world. Together with “Silent Night” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, this Hymn appears to be one of the top three best-known Christmas carols. Scholars are not entirely in agreement with each other over its origin, however. Some claim that John Wade wrote the lyrics and music in 1743, while others say that it’s originally a Portuguese Christmas song dating back to 1640. In any case, we can still enjoy it!

Especially in the form of the arrangement that we’re offering here. I asked the young organist Leendert Verduijn to provide the music this month. He wrote: “This is my first writing assignment. Thank you for that. I have made of it a fanfare in the English romantic style.” I’d like to write back to him, saying: “If this is your first assignment, then I’m very much looking forward to seeing what follows! Wonderful.”

Pay close attention to the staccato and marcato notation. This makes the legato lines even more beautifully pronounced. In bar 17, a leading stop is used for the melody. In bar 25, the hands switch between keyboards. The first theme starts for the second time in bar 29. At bar 45, you can switch to bar 79 at your own discretion, and in bar 67, the first theme starts for the third time. This now ends slightly differently.

I enjoyed this work very much, and we hope that you do too. If you play this on Christmas Day, your congregation will certainly want to sing along!

On behalf of the management and staff of Johannus, I wish you a blessed Christmas.

Warm regards,

André van Vliet