Agreed, Charles. They so rarely line up with what I need them for that I have very little use for books like "200 Last Verses."

If someone like Richard Rice or our own @ryand put together one that would line up with something like Worship IV or St. Michael's Hymnal, I bet I'd have a lot more use for something like that.

Seemple!
Transpose the hymn to the key of your 'last verse'.
Or, improvise your own 'last verse'.

Well sometimes I just like to improvise. I think that some hymns shouldn't be changed, though, like Down Ampney. The harm is too good to be changed for a last verse.

Seemple but not so seemple.
1. Final verses are traditionally the ones where descants are unveiled.
2. Ergo, re-harmonize a preceding verse.
3. Perhaps new purveyors could sell their alternatives (including interludes?) as Finale/Sibelius files, thus streamlining the transposition issues.

1940 or die. all others retire quickly. I often improvise progressive harmonies but never for the final verse

I can get really exasperated when GIA has published one of the Proulx harmonizations that don't really sound so good to my ears. I wouldn't mind so much if they printed the traditional harmonization on another page.

Charles, your wish has been granted! In the accompaniment edition for Worship IV, we often included both traditional and alternate harmonizations (as well as alternate keys) for hymn tunes that appear more than once in the hymnal.

As much as I admired Richard Proulx, his harmonization of the tune ST. FLAVIAN was not a favorite of mine, especially his use of the flatted seventh chord in the penultimate measure (even though Proulx's harmonization was based on the original faux-bourdon setting.) Since ST. FLAVIAN appears twice in Worship IV, the tune is printed at #461 ("Lord, Who throughout These Forty Days") with Proulx's harmonization, and at #463 ("From Ashes to the Living Font") with the more standard harmonization.

Right now.

Adam is remembering this silly thread from three years ago:
Adeste Fideles reharmonization

(If you go to read it, please note that there are two pages of comments.)

I love that book! Often have to do a fancy modulation to get into the key and sometimes will transpose the whole hymn just so I can do his last versus!

Proulx harmonizations aren't nearly as bad as DeBryun harmonizations in OCP hymnals. His stuff can be just horrible to see or listen to.

Doneill's observation is very good. I would qualify it, though. Some Catholic congregations can sing really well, and, for them, there is no reason to hold back on imaginative hymn leadership from the organ. This can and does have the effect of making their singing even more confident and enjoyable as they take up the challenge and comprehend the interplay. This, of course, is not for many congregations, but there are those to whom it would be a boon. We hear so much about Catholics who won't (note I didn't say 'can't') sing that we are sometimes not aware that there are many who do, and do it quite well, thank you. At St Basil's Chapel here at Houston's UST I can and do do just about anything and the people sing all the better for it. When people realise that they are part of something really interesting that adds to their experience and makes the mass more glorious, they will respond. So, if some of you have congregations that sing well, make them sing even better with imaginative organ playing on ordinaries and hymns. They will like it and respond in kind. If your congregation don't sing well, then of course you need to take a more conservative course. The same goes for descants. People who really sing are not put off by them, but egged on in doing their part. Descants are thrilling. (A final thought: some people who fain to be confused irrationally choose to be confused and negative, are spoil sports, and just aren't going to cooperate - and some of them wear Roman collars.)