Category Archives: Themes

Engelberg

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Engelberg
The tune ENGELBERG was composed by Charles V. Stanford as a setting of the text “For All the Saints” by William W. How. The melody was published in the 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern with multiple musical settings. The melody is now most often associated with the lyrics “When in Our Music God Is Glorified” written by Fred Pratt Green.

See a list of other hymn tune themes here.

Videos:
Arthur Nobile, Jr. – Improvisation on ‘When in our Music God is Glorified’ – University Of Alabama
Tom Trenney – Improvisation on ‘ENGLEBERG’ – First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska

Ora La­bo­ra

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OraLabora

T. (Thomas) Tertius Noble composed ORA LABORA for the text “Come, Labor On” by Jane Laurie Borthwick’s when it was accepted in 1916 for inclusion in the Episcopal hymnal, on whose commission Noble served. ORA LABORA, which means “pray and work,” was also published in The New Hymnal of 1918.

Find a list of other hymn tune themes here.

Video:
Gerre Hancock – Hymn: Come, Labor On (Ora Labora) & Improvisation – St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue
bhigdaddymark – HYMN – Come Labor On (ORA LABORA) & Postlude – Cathedral of St. Luke, Orlando

Wondrous Love

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WondrousLove
This melody was first attributed to the 1701 English song “The Ballad of Captain Kidd”, thought it likely predates those words. The text “What Wondrous Love Is This” was first published with this tune in The Southern Harmony, a book of shape note hymns compiled by William Walker where the melody is identified as a popular old Southern tune. It is a modal tune.

See a list of other hymn themes here.

Videos:
Timothy Howard – Postlude on ‘Wondrous Love’ – Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Patrick A. Scott- First Station of the Cross (What Wondrous Love) – University Christian Church, Austin, Texas

Truro

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Truro
First published in Thomas Williams’s Psalmodia Evangelica, Truro is an anonymous tune, named for an ancient city in Cornwall, England, famous for its cathedral and for its pottery.

See a list of other hymn themes here.

Videos:
John Hosking – Improvisation on ‘Truro’ – St. Mary’s Church, Penzance
John Riley – Prelude on ‘Truro’ in the style of Vivaldi – Kenneth Jones organ in Loretto School Chapel, Musselburgh

Passacaglia

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The passacaglia originated in early seventeenth-century Spain, initially as an interlude between dances or songs. By the 1620’s, Italian composer Girolamo Frescobaldi transformed it into a series of continuous variations over a bass. The chaconne is a similar form, but because early composers were indiscriminate in their use of the two words, it is unclear what the difference might be between them.

While no order to the set of variations is prescribed, typically there would be an increase in complexity as the piece progresses. A sample progression might include:

  • Statement of the theme alone
  • Addition of a second voice
  • Addition of a third voice
  • Addition of a fourth voice
  • Eighth note motion (for a theme originally in quarters and halves)
  • Triplets
  • Sixteenth notes
  • Suspensions
  • Arpeggios

Following the model of Johann Sebastian Bach, many passacaglias now conclude with a fugue based upon the initial bass line melody. Composers may also choose to treat the bass as a melody, adding other transformations and modulations to further develop the theme.

Themes:
PassacagliaDMajor4
PassacagliaDMinor4
PassacagliaChromatic4
2005improvisation1
Pachelbel Canon:
PachelbelCanonTheme
Bach Passacaglia:
BachPassacagliaTheme

Also see La Folía.

Videos:
Marcel Dupré – Improvisation: Passacaglia – Cologne Cathedral
Marcel Dupré – Improvised Passacaglia
Paul Kayser – Passacaglia over ‘O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden’ – Dudelange, Luxembourg
Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard – Passacaille Improvisée sur un thème d’Escaich – Nantes, France
William Porter – Improvisation: Four Modal Variations on Salve Regina: IV (Introduction and Passacaglia)
Martin Sturm – Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue on a theme of Marie-Claire Alain – Seligenporten (DE)

Westminster Abbey

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WestminsterAbbey

The tune Westminster Abbey was composed by Henry Purcell who served as organist at Westminster Abbey from 1679 until his death at the age of 35 or 36 in 1695. He is buried near the organ at Westminster Abbey. The melody is most often associated with the text Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation.

See a list of other hymn and chorale themes here.

Videos:
Timothy Howard – Postlude on ‘Westminster Abbey’ – Pasadena Presbyterian Church
Philip Marshall – Improvisation on ‘Westminster Abbey’ – Lincoln Cathedral

Regina Caeli

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ReginaCaeli
One of four Marian Antiphons sung at vespers, this chant is normally used during the season of Easter.

See a list of other chant themes here.

Videos:
Eric Dalest – Improvisation on ‘Regina Caeli’ – Aubagne
Olivier Latry – Sortie on ‘Regina Caeli’ – Notre Dame, Paris
Pablo Márquez – Improvisation on ‘Regina Coeli’ – Nicolaasbasiliek, Amsterdam
Xaver Varnus – Improvisation on ‘Regina Coeli’ (1/2) – Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Frascati (Rome)
Xaver Varnus – Improvisation on ‘Regina Coeli’ (2/2) – Saint Peter’s Cathedral, Frascati (Rome)

Nicaea

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Nicaea

The tune NICAEA is named after the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) at which church leaders began to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity to oppose the heresies of Arius. The melody was composed by John B. Dykes for Reginald Heber’s text “Holy, Holy, Holy!” The two were first published together in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), and have been virtually inseparable ever since.

See a list of other hymn tunes here.

Videos:
Christoph Bull – Hymn Improvisation on ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ – First United Methodist Church in Round Rock, Texas
Patrick A. Scott – Improvisations on Nicaea – University Christian Church, Austin, Texas

Hautbois8 – Improvisation on ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ – St. Laurens, Rotterdam

Slane

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Slane
SLANE is an old Irish folk tune associated with the ballad ‘With My Love Come on the Road” in Patrick W. Joyce’s Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909). It became a hymn tune when it was arranged by David Evans and set to the Irish hymn “Be Thou My Vision” published in the Church Hymnary (1927). SLANE is named for a hill in County Meath, Ireland, where St. Patrick’s lighting of an Easter fire–an act of defiance against the pagan king Loegaire (fifth century)–led to his unlimited freedom to preach the gospel in Ireland.

See a list of other hymns and chorales here.

Videos:
Michael Joseph – Symphonic Improvisation on ‘Slane’:Minuet – St. Joseph Cathedral, Manchester, NH
Michael Joseph – Symphonic Improvisation on ‘Slane’:Finale – St. Joseph Cathedral, Manchester, NH