What Wondrous Love Is This

"What Wondrous Love Is This" is an American folk hymn that became popular during the early 1800s. It was first published in 1811 in the various hymnbooks that came out during the Second Great Awakening with various lyricists credited. Many publications attributed the song's tune to "The Ballad of Captain Kidd," a popular, though much older, song and tune at the time. Earlier versions of the text are slightly different, but as with many folk tunes, it is difficult to tell which transcriptions are regional variants and which are errors by the transcriber. This arrangement of the tune by Mark Lewis is for a cappella Ensemble. All four voice parts are featured for a verse with different accompaniment each time. There are key changes to better place the melody in the ranges of each voice and there are moving notes in many background voices through most of the piece. As with many of Mark's arrangements, the outer voices will be pushed towards the extremes of their ranges even though the notes and rhythms are not incredibly difficult. Most intermediate choirs should enjoy performing this piece.