Product Description
I have always loved this hymn, and one Sunday morning when I
had been called upon to write something lyric for our brass quartet (two trumpets in Bb, horn in F, and tuba), I went straight
for "It Is Well With My Soul". This arrangement tells in music the story of Horatio
Spafford and the circumstances under which he wrote the lyric for this
hymn. The piece opens with sounding of the
horn of Spaffords ship as she passes over the point at which Spafford's four
daughters were lost. The first verse builds dramatically as the lyric comes to Spafford and ends with the lovely
chorus. The next section is based on the third stanza of the hymn in which Spafford writes, "My sin, not the part, but
the whole, is nailed to the cross" The
horn gets the melody, evoking the sound of Spaffords own voice, and the other
instruments vividly paint the hammering of the nails.
However, as Spafford moves into the chorus, the harmony becomes dark and
uncertain as Spaffords grief overwhelms him; his faith wavers as he tries to believe what he is writing.
Then, the melody transfers to the trumpet as Spafford is answered by the
higher voice from above-his daughters assuring him that, yes, it IS well, it is
well. The piece then ends with a
peaceful statement of the chorus, evocative of the rolling sea and Spaffords
soul at peace. This piece can be played by a student ensemble; the primary challenge is in achieving the level of expression and emotion required to pull off a piece like this.
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.