Tag: Tenor Saxophone

076.GloryBeToJesus

Please turn to number 76 and join with the clarinets in “Glory be to Jesus”.

Number: 76
First Line: Glory Be to Jesus
Name: CASWALL.
Meter: 6 5, 6 5.
Tempo: Slowly and reverently
Music: Friedrich Filitz, 1804-76
Text: Italian, XVIII cent.
Tr. Edward Caswall, 1814-78

Clarinet Arrangement:076.GloryBeToJesus

Huh, that’s one of the prettier hymns I’ve done in a while.

The name is from the translator of the text, Edward Caswell, who was an Anglican who converted to Catholicism. So, yeah, a little weird that it’s in a Lutheran Hymnal. But there you go.

Edward Caswall, CO, (15 July 1814 – 2 January 1878) was an Anglican clergyman and hymn writer who converted to Roman Catholicism.

He was born at Yateley, Hampshire on 15 July 1814, the son of Rev. R. C. Caswall, sometime Vicar of Yateley, Hampshire.[1]

Caswall was educated at Marlborough Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1836 with honours and later proceeded to Master of Arts. He was curate of Stratford-sub-Castle, near Salisbury, 1840–1847. In 1850, his wife having died the previous year, he joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri under future Cardinal Newman, to whose influence his conversion to Roman Catholicism was due.

He wrote original poems that have survived mainly in Catholic hymnals due to a clear adherence to Catholic doctrine. Caswall is best known for his translations from the Roman Breviary and other Latin sources, which are marked by faithfulness to the original and purity of rhythm. They were published in Lyra Catholica, containing all the breviary and missal hymns (London, 1849); The Masque of Mary (1858); and A May Pageant and other poems (1865). Hymns and Poems (1873) are the three books combined, with many of the hymns rewritten or revised. Some of his translations are used in the Hymns Ancient and Modern.[2] His widely used hymn texts and translations include “Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthem Rise”; “Come, Holy Ghost”; “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee”; “When Morning Gilds the Skies”; and “Ye Sons and Daughters of the Lord”.[3]

Of course, if you know anything about me, if something is extremely pretty, I can’t resist messing with it. So I doubled the tempo, swung the quarter notes, and played it on Soprano and Tenor Saxophones.

Sax Quartet Version:

059.HarkTheVoiceOfJesusCrying

Please turn to number 59 and join with the Saxophones in, “Hark! The Voice of Jesus Crying”.

Number: 59
First Line: Hark! The Voice of Jesus Crying
Name: JESU.
Meter: 8 7, 8 7. D.
Tempo: In moderate time
Music: Gustaf Düben, 1671-1730
Text: Daniel March, 1816-1909

You would think, from the first line that Jesus would be sad about something, but actually it is more of a shout or call.

Hark! The voice of Jesus Crying,
‘Who will go to work today?
Fields and harvests waiting,
Who will bear the sheaves away?’
Loud and long the Master calleth,
Rich reward he offers free;
Who will answer gladly saying,
‘Here am I; send me, send me?’

If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
You can say he died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked
With the judgement’s dread alarms,
You can lead the little children
To the Savior’s waiting arms.

Let non hear you idly saying,
‘There is nothing I can do,’
While the souls of men are dying,
And the Master calls for you:
Take the task he gives you gladly,
Let his work your pleasure be;
Answer quickly when he calleth,
‘Here am I; send me, send me.’

Kind of a weird, inspirational, aspirational, aphorism of a hymn.

Anyway, for some reason, I felt like this tune was more of a “Saxophone” kind of tune, than a clarinet kind of tune. Something about the harmonies.

Sax arrangement: 059-harkthevoiceofjesuscrying

Doubled each part, two times through. Audacity “Medium Room” Reverb Effect.

Red Service Book and Hymnal
Red Service Book and Hymnal

untethered

Sometimes when I get frustrated with my ability to play the right notes, I play the left ones.

And sometimes I even get out the old Bundy II Tenor Saxophone I’ve had since grade school and attempt to raise the dead.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/279478564″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]