Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus is a lovely Advent hymn. The text was written by Charles Wesley and has been used in Advent services regularly since it was written in the 1740s. The text is often set to many tunes but the one used in this version is Hyfrydol, This tune was written by Rowland Prichard about 100 years after Wesley's text and is used extensively in many hymnals but especially for this particular text. This arrangement is for 3-5 octave handbell choir, although it is unusual in that the 4 octave version does require the use of the F3 bell. Other than that this is a relatively simple, if thickly orchestrated, arrangement. There are three sections using different methods of music making, the first is regular ringing, the second is extensive marts and mart-lifts, and the third explores musical canon before bringing back the more traditional bell ringing styles.