Words: F.Pott [1832-1909] Music: E.G. Monk[1819-1900]
This arrangement was made for a large church community, where the congregation would continue singing regardless of what the choir, organ and instrumentalists assaulted them with. Some of them regarded it as pitched battle in which they were determined to win. That’s the spirit! This enabled the choir to sing all sorts of counter-melodies against the main tune. That is what you have on verses 2 & 4 of this arrangement. And then a soaring descant on the last verse. Do not use this arrangement if you have a small congregation who can’t do battle against the choir and organ with fortitude. They will only belly ache. The intro is a wee bit tricky as is the postlude at the end. But then I had some very tricky organists who could do this sort of thing with their eyes shut so to speak. You might want to simplify, or make up your own.
Alas, the last time this arrangement was performed was in Bristol Cathedral way back in the 1990s. There was a capacity congregation and Berj’s Blast Band together with the magnificent Cathedral Walker Organ did the business. The congregation were quite stunned. They didn’t know what had hit them. Mercifully we were not attacked or assaulted on the way out.
