VENI EMMANUEL (SSAA chorus)

SSAA chorus and piano with optional organ. Fully orchestrated Concert Band or Orchestral parts available. 10 minutes. The band set of score and parts is available here on JW Pepper. The orchestral score and parts are available on rental from the publisher (jesseayers.com). A journey from darkness to brilliant light. Works well as a straight concert number with piano, but designed as an opening, solemn processional for a Christmas concert with chorus and orchestra (or band). For a departmental joint concert, this can be performed with the band AND orchestra AND chorus(es) by renting the string parts from the publisher (jesseayers.com), with the band and the orchestral winds & percussion playing from the band parts. This piece seeks to portray this progression from gloom to joy, opening very darkly, followed by the men's voices offstage yearning for hope. This is followed by successive statements of the Veni tune, while the choir literally moves from dark to light, as the singers process, bearing candles, from the rear of a darkened auditorium to the light of the stage. As with many settings of Advent and Christmas music, the composer has also quoted related material. During the processional, the orchestra segues from Veni to What Wondrous Love, a reflection on the Advent of Christ. At the end of the processional, as the women sing the second verse, the sopranos and first violins intone the carol What Child Is This? ( Greensleeves ) as a descant to the Veni tune. Since the music is moving from dark to light, the brightest moment of the O Come hymn, the four big chords that open the refrain with the text "Rejoice! Rejoice," is withheld until the closing bars. As the choir sings these words for the first time, the brass immediately sound a fanfare on Crown Him with Many Crowns , a reminder that the babe in the manger is the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.