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Download an MP3 file of a MIDI demo of "Of fhe Father's Love" from this work.
Download an MP3 file of "Of fhe Father's Love" from this work performed by the Lenoir-Rhyne String Quartet.
Download a PDF file of the full score of this composition.
Parts are available upon request. Please write to music@gwynethwalker.com with performance inquiries.
"Of the Father's Love" was commissioned in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Grace Chapel at Lenoir-Rhyne University: 2014-2024; Premiered on November 30, 2023 in Grace Chapel at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, NC
In creating this arrangement of Divinum Mysterium ("Of the Father's Love Begotten"), the composer has maintained the rhythmic flexibility of the plainsong through the use of mixed meters. Therefore, the theme appears in 4/4, 7/8, 11/8 and 3/4 patterns.
The first verse is presented in solo theme vs. tutti accompaniment texture. This sparseness represents the simplicity of the plainsong.
After a newly composed middle section, the theme returns in florid and full style, with the upper strings harmonizing the melody, and the Cello providing an arpeggiated underpinning. The ending is triumphant.
.from the quiet mystery to the grandeur of the Father's Love.
A Winter Rose is based on the 15-century German hymn, Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming (Es ist ein Ros'). Delicacy and simplicity of texture are foremost in this music. Harmonies are sparse. The melody floats over changing meters. This is a pure, unbounded rose.
A newly-added element to this arrangement is the introductory section of descending patterns. These may suggest the light of God coming to earth at The Child's birth.
Within the song itself, the extended 4/2 measures present the syncopated theme in Viola over a scale of even quarters in Cello. These lines work against each other, and then resolve quietly at the end.
In the closing section, the lower strings recap the theme, while above, Violin 1 plays filigree 8th-note patterns marked with the delicacy of a Rose in Winter.
Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air.
As the story tells us, among the choir of angels was one, young angel - a "Chorister-in- Training." When she heard her elders sweetly singing o'er the plains, she joined in with her voice of youthful exuberance. This is her song. Gloria! Gloria! In excelsis Deo!
Notes by the composer