Naylor, arr. Warwick: How shall I sing that majesty (Coe Fen)
Saturday 6 September 2008
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Ken Naylor arr. Alistair Warwick:
How shall I sing that majesty
Description
SATB arrangement and descant for the popular hymn
"How shall I sing that majesty" sung to the tune Coe Fen.
Suitable for Music Sunday, choral festivals or any celebration of music in worship.
SATB choir (with divisions) and organ
"splendid arrangement … I feel sure many choirs (and congregations) will enjoy it."
Martin Neary
Difficulty level: ***
This moderately-difficult piece in four verses is available as a printed choral leaflet.
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This choral arrangement was made for, and first sung at, the RSCM 2006 Scottish Triennial Festival at St Michael's, Linlithgow on 4 November 2006. It was featured in a choral-reading session with David Briggs, formerly of Gloucester Cathedral, at the 12th Annual East Carolina Religious Arts Festival held from January 24-26, 2008.
Over 700 copies have been bought by choirs in Europe and North America.
There has also been a significant increase in sales due to the hymn being sung on BBC Sunday Worship on 13 January and BBC Songs of Praise on 20 January 2008.
Notes on the piece
This arrangement by Alistair Warwick of the wonderful hymn tune Coe Fen by Kenneth Naylor (1931–91) – formerly music master at the Leys School, Cambridge – provides a descant and sets the middle verses as a singable four-part choral version from the original (up to seven-part) organ texture. Verse two can be sung without organ if desired.
The hymn can, of course, be sung in unison without any choral contributions (the original organ part is included); indeed, the assembly is encouraged to sing the melody throughout. Although the music is copyright (see "notes" about the use of this work), the text is in the public domain, so the words can be freely copied for use by your congregation.
Between each verse there is a short link by the organ, except after verse two where the heavenly "alleluias" are echoed by an optional semi-chorus:
Throughout the arrangement use is made of elements of Naylor's writing – especially the three-note motive "Eb G F" (the first three notes of the melody) – in order to bind it to the original.
For verse four there is a sensitively understated descant to suit the text. Although six bars specify a double descant, it will work equally well with just the upper descant line.
Here is the final part of the descant:
About the text
This inspiring text – especially, but not exclusively, for church musicians – by the Puritan writer John Mason has taken almost 300 years to be wedded to a worthy tune (although the Third Mode Melody is a fine tune, the partnership isn't quite right!).
Although this hymn has only entered the hymnody canon fairly recently, the text is treated in different ways: some books have only three verses for this hymn, conflating verses two and three, while others have a different arrangement of the text in these two verses. The solution offered here seems logical and to represent the author's intentions (see "The text" for the complete text).
John Mason was born c. 1645 in Irchester, Northamptonshire, England (baptised in March 1646), and died 1694 at Water Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England (buried 22 May).
The text of 'How shall I Sing' appears as part of the first hymn in Mason's Spiritual Songs; or, Songs of Praise to Almighty God upon Several Occasions (1683). The original hymn, in praise of God, was based partly upon Psalms 103 (104) and 138 (139).
J.R. Watson's An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (OUP, 2002) [1], with a foreward by Timothy Dudley-Smith, draws comparisons with Samuel Crossman's hymn 'My song is love unknown', saying that they are both asking the same questions, but in different ways:
My song is love unknown / How shall I sing?
What may I say? / Who am I?
1. See pages 111-13 in Amazon's Book Preview for more background to this hymn text
Reviews
"splendid arrangement … I feel sure many choirs (and congregations) will enjoy it."
Martin Neary
"Your edition fits my needs perfectly. Thank you so much for the edition and your prompt service!"
Mary, Pennsylvania, USA
Printed choral leaflets (octavo size)
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Privacy policy
Special arrangements for sublicensing
Since this arrangement of Coe Fen is made under licence, by permission of Oxford University Press, any requests for sublicensing should be made directly to OUP (this includes inclusion in any other publication, recording, broadcasting, or public performance outside worship); however, we would also be grateful if you copy your email to us.
To enable us to receive the appropriate royalties from further use of this work, please ensure that you make clear in any negotiations with OUP that it is this arrangement that you wish to use, quoting "Naylor, arr. Warwick: Coe Fen, published 2006, The Art of Music".
The text
1 How shall I sing that majesty
which angels do admire?
Let dust in dust and silence lie;
sing, sing, ye heavenly choir.
Thousands of thousands stand around
thy throne, O God most high;
ten thousand times ten thousand sound
thy praise; but who am I?
2 Thy brightness unto them appears,
while I thy footsteps trace;
a sound of God comes to my ears,
but they behold thy face:
They sing, because thou art their sun;
Lord, send a beam on me;
for where heaven is but once begun,
there alleluias be.
3 Enlighten with faith's light my heart,
inflame it with love's fire,
then shall I sing and take my part
with that celestial choir.
I shall, I fear, be dark and cold,
with all my fire and light;
Yet when thou dost accept their gold,
Lord, treasure up my mite.
4 How great a being, Lord, is thine,
which doth all beings keep!
Thy knowledge is the only line
to sound so vast a deep:
thou art a sun without a shore,
a sun without a sphere;
thy time is now and evermore,
thy place is everywhere.
John Mason (1646–1694)
