Dear Lute Friends, The following may be of interest to one or two of you, if you ever have occasion to play for a church service.
For the last year and a half I have played lute (or recorder) at my wife's church. I began playing 16th-century repertoire during the offertory and communion but then thought that it would be nice to play something recognizably liturgical. After performing a number of pieces by Elias Reusner, I decided to attempt my own arrangements of some well-known hymns. Each arrangement includes a transcription of the organ part given in the hymnal at some point and a number of variations of my own composition. The choir director, who holds a doctorate in early music, has been pleased with these arrangements, and they have been very well received by the congregation (who were perhaps just practicing the virtue of charity). Sometimes the choir sings the hymn right after I have played the instrumental version, which works quite well, I think. You can find the complete tablature for the collection and the tablature for each individual piece as well as an mp3 recording of each arrangement at this link: [1]http://www.verseandsong.com/song/renaissance-lute/arrangements-of-ch urch-hymns-5/ . I wish I could say that I am happy with my recordings of these pieces, but they will at least give you enough of an idea of how they are supposed to sound to let you decide if you would like to give them a try. Click on an individual title to hear an mp3 of that piece, or use the playlist at the bottom of the page to listen to the entire collection without interruption. The collection consists mostly of Renaissance hymns, though one is much older and one more recent. Included are the following titles: Lobe den Herren (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty) Grosser Gott (Praise to the Lord, the Almighty) Nun danket alle Gott (Now Thank We All Our God) Hyfrydal (Love Divine, All Loves Excelling) Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Savior of the Nations, Come) Es ist ein Ros (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming) Wachet auf (Sleepers Wake) O Welt, ich muss dich lassen (O Food to Pilgrims Given) Herzliebster Jesu (Ah, Holy Jesus) Herzlich tut mich verlangen (O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded) Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands) Slane (Be Thou My Vision) Martyrdom (As Longs the Deer for Cooling Streams) I hope a few of you will find this music useful. If you do try any of these arrangements and notice something unmusical or have a better suggestion for a particular passage, please be so kind as to let me know. Best regards, Stephen Arndt -- References 1. http://www.verseandsong.com/song/renaissance-lute/arrangements-of-church-hymns-5/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
