String Orchestra Music, Medium Difficulty:

Love and Joy - A Setting of "Here We Come A-Wassailing" for Strings

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The Composition

Love and Joy is a setting of the traditional English carol Her We Come A-Wassailing.  Although a carol, the setting treats the source material as a secular folk song.  

Form:     Measures 1-12 is an introduction splits fragments of the melody from the harmony.

    Measures 13-26 continues the fragments with a call and answer between viola and cello/bass. 

    Measures 27-35 brings the melody fragments together in violin over pizzicato harmony.

    Measures 36-46 is the most traditional setting of the “love and joy” section in the piece. 

    Measures 47-65 features a minor version of the “here we go a-wassailing” melody over an ostinato loosely based on a retrograde version of the melody rhythm, and the first five notes of a blues scale. 

    Measures 66-70 transitions back to the “love and joy section with the violin 1 returning the “here we go a-wassailing” rhythm from retrograde. 

    Measures 71-81 is the full tutti return of the “love and joy” melody with semi-functional harmony until measure 79 when the piece is finally traditionally harmonized. 

    Measures 82-87 is the coda which features a shortened return to the introduction material. 

 

Skills

Meters: 4/4, 3/4, 6/8

Keys: D Major, b minor, D blues (first 5 notes)

Techniques:

    • Hook bow
    • Pizzicato
    • Optional 4th position shifting for violin 1
    • 16th notes, when used, are always move diatonically in order by scale degree without skips.

Melody: At some point in this piece every instrument gets to play the melody for lead line.

 

Instrumentation

Violin I

Violin II

Viola

Cello

Bass