Rejoice
in the Lord alway ‘The bell anthem’ is one of the most popular of his anthems
of an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music, Henry
Purcell. The composer set Philippians 4:4-7 into music by taken the
French-influenced symphony anthem of Pelham Humfrey and added the solo
virtuosity of Italian opera and sacred concerto and gave to both his own
vigorous rhythmic character, which is so admirably suited to English
declamation.
Text of the Music: Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice
in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Let
your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be
careful for nothing;
but
in evrything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let
your requests be made known unto God.
And
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall
keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rather
than the regal dotted-rhythm march of the French symphonic overture, Purcell chose
to open this anthem with a “ground” bass, in five fold ostinato, that mimics a
descending peal of bells. The upper voices' passage work similarly evoke
tintinnabulation. You can hear the bells pealing both in the bass part and in
the intertwined upper parts where Purcell juxtaposes their joy to bittersweet
effect with some typically Purcellian harmonies. This Prelude also has some
wonderful writing for strings which is given further depth by the descending
scales of the theorbos.
READ: Myself I Shall Adore by G. F. Handel
A
trio of soloists then make their entrance by exposing the main text (“Rejoice
in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice!” -Philippians 4:4) their eight bars
of triple-time is taken up by the strings with a wonderful lyricism the
soloists repeat their eight bars followed by a very brief instrumental comment
that ends this section. The soloists urge that ‘your moderation be known unto
all men’ and the full choir makes its joyful entrance which the soloists
intersperse with ‘and again’ this call is taken literally by the
instrumentalists who repeat the Symphony in its entirety.
Purcell
here composes a dialogue between soloists and choir at the text “and again,” “again,”
“again I say rejoice.” Another complete "symphony" follows, and the
bass soloist at last presents a more “soloistic” passage as the text continues
in an exhortation to prayer. The bass solo which follows ‘Be careful for
nothing …‘ calls upon his listeners to engage in prayer and supplication
followed by some wonderfully reflective homophony in a slower duple meter for
the benediction at ‘and the peace of God which passeth all understanding keep
your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Watch
the Performance by “The Harmonious Chorale”:
Rejoice In the Lord Alway by Henry Purcell
The
strings echoed this idea but they are superceded by the trio choir return to
their triple time eight bar rendition of Rejoice in the Lord always …. The
anthem closes with a brief ritornello and the return of the refrain accompanied
by the trio choir’ cries of ‘and again’ in the order soloists, strings, choir.
Throughout
the work, Purcell carefully counterpoises not only instrumental ritornelli, but
a soli vocal refrain. The soloists for most of the anthem thus do not serve
their usual function of ornamented verse declamation, but rather act as a third
antiphonal concerto group. Rejoice in the Lord Always apparently achieved its
nickname the "Bell Anthem" at an early date: an eighteenth century
copy in the British Library calls it "Rejoice...with a Symphony imitating
Bells" and refers to an earlier tradition of the nickname.
Purcell
legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered
to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English
composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar.
Download The Music Score HERE
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