In the need of last minute ethnic Christmas music?

[imperialbari]

Many ensembles play for Christmas services. If you are in the need for an opening or some filler music, I have set several Danish hymns, among these 11 for the Christmas season, for 4 part ensembles. All uploaded except two are specifically Danish - the two others are Norwegian, but widely used in Denmark.

There are 9 compatible playing scores for each hymn. There are scores for

strings/C-concert brasses/double reeds (also for all Bass Clef instruments)
horns in F
Eb brasses/woodwinds
recorders
flute choir
Bb brasses in various permutations
Organ/keyboards + single line guitars
(no chord symbols, no percussion)

As long as all 4 parts are manned and good balance is ensured you can mix the parts as is fit for your ensemble. There are files with programme notes and with instructions on the distribution of parts.

It is possible to let low brass ensembles play the SATB parts in the right octave as the soprano line never goes higher than C an octave above the bass clef. The bass line may be played in the bass range by euphs/bassbone/bass tuba or in the contrabass range by contrabass tuba. There should be parts for any orchestra or band instrument including G alto flute and English horn.

The Danish hymns are organised by Church seasons and events here:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... %20salmer/

Don’t get afraid of the Danish words: there are translations to English for everything.

As I cannot afford server space, you need to join my download groups (like with my scale routines and my several other relevant brass scores).

Merry Christmas to TubeNet’ters all over the world.

[ger]

Performed your version of Kimer I Klokker several times last week. People like it.

[imperialbari]

You trigger these comments:

We have a real lot of Christmas hymns representing time since the Lutheran reformation in Denmark 1536 and up to Carl Nielsen (there may be newer ones, but they don’t come to my mind; a few are based on medieval pilgrim traditions and hence are Catholic). There are influences from Pietism and from the more liberal Grundtvig. My father was out of a liberal rural family, but we had more fundamentalist friends, so I have sung a very wide selection myself. Of course also those based on tunes from other countries, which however are not part of my project. The two Norwegian samples were set already when I realized their composer was an organist in Christania/Oslo some 150 years ago. But as I have picked only among my favourite hymns, I refused to discard them. Anyway the Danish and Norwegian cultures have been strongly intertwined for centuries and still are.

Parts of my education have been about learning to set hymns in the mainstream (pre-)baroque continental North European style and later on also in the style of J. S. Bach, so I know to read these settings. One of my strong biases is expressed in my project. In strict 4 part performances (one performer per part) I do not accept the leading note of a dominant chord voiced to go to the fifth of the tonic, which most often happens in the alto or tenor parts in the hymn book. I let the leading note go to the tonic, but I write a small divisi note to be used in larger ensembles.

The hymns from Romanticism are slightly foreign my personal style. Some of them are tasteless in my ears, a few have become my absolute favourites. And the one you mention, Kimer I Klokker, is my absolute favourite for the Christmas season. I transposed it for the male voices of my Faroese choir and performed it in Fuglafjör∂ur exactly 34 years ago. The tenors were excellent, and then I had two true basso profundo’s. Very unlikely figures: Hans and Peter were not young and they were very slim, but what a foundation an octave below the other basses.

Klaus

[Bignick1357]

Klaus You triggered this comment
This guy is putting his music out here for our use/enjoyment I dont think that this really had a lot to do along the lines of religous affiliation or the importance of said hymns. There is no need to be that snub when talking to some one doing a service to us all.

[imperialbari]

Please, please, please!

I am the one making this music available. The kind guy performing my favourite hymn last Christmas, made me comment on the background for my selections. No such selection can be done without biases, I just am open about mine.

I see I made a mistake by omitting my name in my original posting, but I couldn’t fool Wade by that.

Again: Merry Christmas to all of you!

Klaus

[Bignick1357]

I am sorry for the misunderstanding merry christmas to you too

[imperialbari]

All forgiven!

And here an acoustic oddity coming in handy, if one is in a pinch. The principle behind my suggestion basically is the same as in multiphonics: difference notes and additive (?) notes.

With traditionally set homophonic hymns it is possible to perform just the melody and the bass line and still get a sense of a full harmony. It takes a very exact intonation and a good sense of pure intervals, but it is certainly doable. When I first experienced this effect in playing duets with my trombone teacher, Svend Rasmussen, I was strongly impressed.

Actually the effect is strongest if the melody is taken an octave down or the bass line is taken an octave up, so that the interval between the two lines rarely exceeds an octave.

The effect is mostly blown, if 4 part music is performed by 3 monophonic instruments. By making one of the filler notes explicit the other becomes less audible. If one has only 3 players, then the parts to man usually are STB. If playing from a score, the player on the tenor line ideally should play the alto note of the cadential chords, if that note is the third of the chord.

And as I write in my instructions for the hymn project, I disagree with the general approach of brass quintets in playing four part hymns: trumpets on soprano and alto, horn on tenor, and trombone plus tuba in octaves on the bass line, Trumpets always can use rests in quintet programmes. Let one rest or let one play the melody an octave up on piccolo in a few verses. The horn often is too weak on tenor, but it is brilliant on alto. The trombone is a marvellous tenor. Very few tubists are unable to hold their own on the bass line. For me the guiding factor in the choice between playing the bass line in the 8’ or in the 16’ range is the tuba played. F tubas always should go for the 8’ option. CC and BBb tubas always should go for 16‘. Eb tubas may go either way depending how low the bass line descends.

Klaus