This past September, I composed a new hymn tune GLOUCESTER CRESCENT (10 10. 10 10. D) for Ursula Vaughan Williams's fine text, A Hymn for St Cecilia ("Sing for the morning's joy, Cecilia, sing") and posted it here in another thread. Almost immediately, I made plans to compose, in addition to the straightforward hymn just finished, a more elaborate setting for choir and instruments, suitable for ceremonial or concert use. Most of this expanded setting was finished late this spring and early summer, and by the end of July the orchestration was finished, even as I awaited permission from The Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust to use the text (to which Ursula willed all copyrights upon her death in 2007). That permission was granted yesterday (Friday, August 3rd, coincidentally on my late sister's 83rd birthday) with some kind words by Hugh Cobbe, Director of the VWCT.

Here, then, is the full score of A Hymn for St Cecilia together with a (Finale generated) audio simulation of a performance. It is scored for SATB choir (with S & T descants/mini-choirs in the last stanza), flute, English horn, bassoon, horn in F, trombone, harp, and strings. Performance time is about 8 to 8.5 minutes. Although the choir in the final stanza is scored in four (SATB) parts, it may be advisable or even preferable for the choir (especially a smallish one) simply to sing the melody only, so as not to have the melody of the tune obscured by the S & T descants.

The work opens with a brief introduction which draws from the opening two lines of the tune. The first stanza unfolds in unison passages that alternate between men's and women's voices through the first four lines, then in four part unison for the remainder of the stanza, with the winds and strings providing both harmony and some ornamentation of the melody. After a brief instrumental bridge passage, the second stanza opens quietly, and although two descants contribute complexity (and lustre) to the final stanza, it is the second stanza that, with just four voices, has a more layered and lyrically detailed complexity. The very brief bridge passage between the second and final stanzas is for winds alone. The soprano and tenor descants in this final stanza soar above the melody, with the soprano ascending to a high B-flat and the tenor to high A-flat. After the climactic conclusion to the third stanza, the work closes with a quieter coda-like section that draws on music from the interlude after the first stanza as well as the introduction, utilising three lines of the final stanza, followed by a very quiet repeat of the first line of the text "Sing for the morning's joy, Cecilia, sing."

The attached full score PDF is formatted for legal (8.5in x 14in) paper, suitable for study, although a larger tabloid size (11in x 17in) conductor's score is also available for performance use. Instrumental parts have been extracted; also, a choral score with some sort of keyboard accompaniment/realization is in preparation and will be available soon.