Fughetta a5 on Engelberg

December 27, 2016

In my last post, I talked about dealing with some things that bothered me in the hymn tune called Engelberg, by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924). The aim of my arrangement was to correct the problems (as I saw them) while essentially maintaining Stanford's vision.

A couple of weeks after writing that arrangement, I decided it would be worthwhile to also write an introduction. As I mentioned before, five voices is an unusual number for a hymn setting (the normal number is four: SATB). So I chose to highlight this aspect of the hymn with a Fughetta in five voices. The manuscript is below.

The day after writing it, I was concerned by its length, and tried making it a little shorter. That is the writing you see in red pencil, (notice the two dates at the top). After trying out both versions, the original and the red pencil changes, I basically threw out my second thoughts and went with the original.

A few days later, I transcribed the manuscript into the computer, and made some small changes in the process. Most notably, the first voice enters with the full subject, which I had initially shortened. The final result is below. I didn't get a chance to record myself playing this. Instead, I made a recording with the Jeux d'orgues soundfont Hauptwerk and MIDI Tapper. I hope you like it.

The recording includes two verses and the Amen ending, shown below.

I admit what I wrote is a little bit long for a hymn introduction. It's just one idea, one approach. A shorter Fughetta using only the first half of the melody would probably be more effective. Maybe that's something to try later. Or maybe you should try it? Or a completely different approach? To continue learning means taking chances. Try something out and see what happens.

Best Regards,
Aaron