Adeste Fideles reharmonization
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Wow... what an exchange going on here. Even if some of us don't like the copyright laws, we're still bound by them.

    And with so many requests for free stuff lately that have ended up costing the original posters and all of the responders so much more in time than the, like, $2.98 it would have cost them to just purchase what they were looking for... I am forced to add to our repertoire:

    image
    Thanked by 7Adam Wood Gavin chonak Ally Jeffrey Tucker Ben Casavant Organist
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    So to get back to the beginning: folks, please recommend good harmonizations; if you can point to any on-line recordings, that would be very nice.

    Please observe any relevant copyrights. If a piece is protected, kindly do not post it here.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,202
    Here's a sound file of sketches for an arrangement of Adeste Fideles that I worked on a little while back. The two-part introductory stanza on the manuals is played over an ostinato "Adeste fideles" figure on the pedal/bass trombone, and the ostinato continues into the first stanza, initally accompanied for the first line before the organ drops out (except for the bass trombone ostinato). The second stanza is harmonized differently. The rest of the sketches aren't fit for human consumption, and the sound file itself is recorded at too slow a tempo for my current taste.
    Giffen-Adeste fideles sketch.mp3
    2M
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    This is my favorite thread ever.
    Thanked by 4Adam Wood AP23 Casavant Organist eft94530
  • ZacPB189ZacPB189
    Posts: 70
    I did a neo-renaissanse styled one. It's acapella, and in no way perfect, but you're free to look at it.
    Thanked by 1SkirpR
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    Get yourself a copy of "400 Last Verses." It isn't expensive and will be useful for anyone playing hymns who wants an alternative harmonization.
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    hartleymartin,

    400 Last Verses has been brought up before on this forum. I tried looking where people have said to look and haven't found it. Could you please give me a direct link of a product page for it?

    For now, I think I'm probably going to write my own reharmonization.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    Really, AP23, you give the impression of not knowing how to use the internet. Go to Google, type in "400 last verses", and you'll see the publisher's site.
    Thanked by 4Ally Gavin Adam Wood Casavant Organist
  • Ally
    Posts: 227
    400 Last Verses
    http://www.jwpepper.com/10038816.item#.UgujSy8o6M8
    Thanked by 1AP23
  • Ally
    Posts: 227
    Or here:
    http://www.mayhewbrodt.com/Store/Products/1000002971/Shop_Products/Organ/Hymns_Last_verse/400_Last_Verses.aspx

    (Seriously...)
    Thanked by 1AP23
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    Ally, thanks, but AP23 needs to learn the skill to look things up and be less helpless.
    Thanked by 10Adam Wood Ben ScottKChicago CHGiffen Jeffrey Tucker Liam Ally Spriggo Casavant Organist PaxTecum
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Ally, thanks, but AP23 needs to learn the skill to look things up and be less helpless.

    Thanked by 7Adam Wood Adam Wood Adam Wood Adam Wood Adam Wood Adam Wood Adam Wood
    Thanked by 9Gavin Ben CHGiffen Liam Ally Spriggo Andrew Motyka Casavant Organist PaxTecum
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    Seems awkward that the administrator is acting less helpful than a standard member.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,202
    Unfortunately for me, the initials AP remind me of one Archimedes Plutonium, a problematic individual on the internet who fancied himself a great mathematician but wasn't.
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    JW Pepper seems like a more trusted resource than that Mayhew site thing. Thanks, Ally.

    hartleymartin, That is pretty expensive.

    BTW, Adam Wood and chonak, I stated before that I looked it up and couldn't find it. And how did Adam thank his own comment, and 7 times!
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    Well, I've stated what they stand for. And know I discovered they also stand for Alex Peloquin, I like that better than Antiphons & Psalms.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,202
    I think I will take the time to make my own reharmonization

    Since you are not finding the help you seem to want here, this might be the best route to pursue.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Seems awkward that the administrator is acting less helpful than a standard member.


    AP23 - how helpful do you need us to be? Should one of us purchase the book and mail it to you? Do you need me to come to your party and play a reharmonization myself?

    Honestly. We're all trying walk a thin line between charitable and rudely annoyed. Could you really (REALLY?!) not find a way to purchase 400 Last Verses yourself? Really? Are you completely incapable of finding or purchasing any material? Do you expect things to not only be free, but also sent directly to your inbox? Do you really need to "bump" your own thread, as if the only reason nobody has personally engraved a new edition of precisley what you need and mailed it you is that people can't see a thread that four posts from the top of the page and so it would be helpful to make sure it is at the VERY top of the page? Do you need to mention it in other threads to make sure no one is ignoring your INCREDIBLY URGENT need for Christmas music in August?
    Thanked by 5Liam Ally chonak Spriggo Casavant Organist
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    No to everything.

    This thread was started with the assumption that one of the most popular Christmas hymns would have a public domain reharmonization. It has become very obvious it doesn't that any of you know about. I have decided now to make my own reharmonization.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    I have decided now to make my own reharmonization.

    I need you to release that into the public domain. Also, I need you to transpose it into F and email it to me.
    Thanked by 1Liam
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    No.
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    How about C#? Minor!
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    And I can add some jazzy dissonant Peloquin embellishments while I'm at it!
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    Adam,

    Do you ever use anything by Peloquin?
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,124
    To AP23

    I suspect the reasons there's not much in the public domain that's electronically available for reharmonizations is that reharmonizing was typically expected to be part of the basic craft of a church organist for generations (that is, pride in the craft was such that it was expected you would do your own), and a commercial market for reharmonizations didn't fully develop until the period still covered by copyright laws.

    If you are miffed here, understand that you've actually not been treated as a troll, by only responded to in kind to your own tone; it's a socialization technique of mirroring. Musicians are not the only professionals who use this technique with other members of their guild. People here can be very helpful to strangers, when the strangers have less of a sense of demand, entitlement and expectation.
    Thanked by 5Ally Adam Wood CHGiffen Spriggo Casavant Organist
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    Thank you. I picked up some of that after this thread.
  • Ally
    Posts: 227
    Thanks guys, I get that he should be able to search for it himself. Did it look like he was actually going to anytime soon? No.

    I stated before that I looked it up and couldn't find it

    Where did you look, AP23?

    Honestly. We're all trying walk a thin line between charitable and rudely annoyed.

    Thank you Adam.



  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Honestly. We're all trying walk a thin line between charitable and rudely annoyed


    Exactly.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    I stated before that I looked it up and couldn't find it.

    Yes. People find that puzzling.

    If that's the case, then you need somebody to assist you on site, watch you attempt the search, and see what sort of response you get.

    Or - you can do this more readily - try the same search on another computer: at a friend's house, at a library, etc., and see what you get.

    If you don't get the same results on your computer as elsewhere when you run a search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc., then look into whether your computer may have a virus infestation. Some forms of "malware" interfere with the process of web searching. If you don't have current anti-virus software on your computer, get that. There are free products available (e.g., "Avast" is just one of them).
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,993
    I have been using the David Willcocks arrangement for years, and haven't found anything I like better. On the 400 last verses, I looked at a couple of places that used to carry it, and they don't anymore. I don't think it is as available as it once was.
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    I noticed an admin edited one of my previous bumps. Please do not hack my comments.
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    Regarding Wilcocks,

    I did Google it everyone, and on the first page I only found recordings.

    CharlesW, since you use it, I'm not asking you to google it for me, but give me the link to where you purchased it.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    Yes, you bumped this thread six minutes after a previous comment.

    The admin reserves the right to add comments to a post. They will always be clearly marked to distinguish them from the user's comments.

    Specifically for AP23, since you've abused the process: do not bump threads. Do not cross-promote threads. If you do, I'll sink the thread, and your bumping will have no effect.
  • AP23AP23
    Posts: 119
    What's cross-promote, and how long is this in effect?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    OK, I see that AP23 has removed my comment from the bump-post on the previous page. That's enough bad behavior. Goodbye to AP23.
    Thanked by 6ScottKChicago Adam Wood Spriggo gregp Ben Casavant Organist
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,202
    Aw, and after I must have strenuously labored 72 hours minutes on the enclosed non-normal (re)harmonization, which even includes an introduction to the stanza. It has lots of juicy chords that eventually move to major happy-ness in the final phrase. Note that it is, however, copyright by the composer/arranger.

    One might consider printing it out on Charmin or Cottonelle, so that it might find some appropriate application.
    Giffen-Adeste fideles-nonnormal reharmonization.pdf
    48K
    Giffen-Adeste fideles-nonnormal reharmonization.mp3
    2M
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,224
    Whoa!
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    CHGiffen-
    That reharmonization would sound WAY better if it was sung with just intonation.
    Thanked by 5Andrew Motyka SkirpR Spriggo CHGiffen Casavant Organist
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Talk about bring up old jokes.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    THAT IS NOT A JOKE!!!
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,202
    labored 72 hours minutes

    Okay, maybe it was only 48 minutes. I was kind of wiped out when it was done and lost all track of the time.
    That reharmonization would sound WAY better if it was sung with just intonation.

    Justly or unjustly, from the intonation of your voice(?), are you trying to tamper with my temperament?
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,124
    All other temperaments being equal, well, just don't be mean.
    Thanked by 4Gavin CHGiffen Adam Wood Casavant Organist
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    I've been rather busy these past few days, but I managed to find 2 minutes to set this piece to music. Please note the strict copyright policy.
    rectoadeste.pdf
    135K
    Thanked by 3Adam Wood SkirpR Casavant Organist
  • Mad_Dan_EcclesMad_Dan_Eccles
    Posts: 51
    Sorry Matthew, but it's the same setting the lady in the pew behind me has been singing for at least thirty years, though she sings it about a quarter tone lower/higher and sometimes both at once
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood CHGiffen
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    What is this woman's name and address? and does she have legal representation?
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood Casavant Organist
  • Mad_Dan_EcclesMad_Dan_Eccles
    Posts: 51
    I'll pass on your concerns. Of course she may well be able to claim prior art, or lack thereof...
    Thanked by 2SkirpR CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,202
    My (re)harmonization might be best characterized as more-or-less parallel organ-numb ... for obvious reasons.
  • Heath
    Posts: 966
    For the record, this was one of the most entertaining threads in the history of the forum, and I'm sad that AP23 was banned. Great, great stuff in here.
    Thanked by 5Gavin matthewj Ben Casavant Organist eft94530
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