Скачать или смотреть ALL MY HEART THIS NIGHT REJOICES (SATB) - Matt Hill

I have always loved the first verse of the Paul Gerhardt poem, and found inspiration there to compose an unaccompanied selection for an adult choir under my direction as we celebrated our fifth-annual Christmas Fanfare production in 2013. While the rest of the poem is lovely, I chose to use text from the Gospel of Luke to more completely tell the story, and to allow for a celebration of "Alleluia" in the midst of the otherwise reverent and holy text.

While composed for an adult choir, the piece works well for high school and university-level ensembles as well. I encourage rich, warm tone to create a sense of awe as the story unfolds. Each new iteration of the refrain should be equally more reverant and joyful until we reach the final statement of "Christ is born!" in three closing phrases. The final cadence on the IV chord is intentional, as the birth is only the beginning of the story, which ends at Easter.

The piece works quite well in moderately-reverberant acoustics, but can be equally successful in more 'dry' rooms if the choir is a little closer together. Consider different formations (semi circle, quartets, etc.) and find one that works well for your choir. If you sing in sections, consider a small separation between the SA and TB sections to create some visual interest in the places where each pair has melodic material on their own.