Emanations of the Scared Harp for Tuba and Piano

Emanations of the Sacred Harp is a two-movement work for tuba and piano. The first movement, I. Morning Fantasy, is an eloquent fantasy beginning and ending with a quasi-improvisatory setting for the central hymn tune “The Morning Trumpet.”

The second movement, II. Reeling Chester, begins with an introductory fragment and then a complete statement of “Chester” in the tuba, clothed in a polyphonic texture in the piano and evoking the energy and drive of the early New England style. The counterpoint then becomes the subject of a fugue that weaves “Chester” into its fabric along with another fugue, reels and more hymns.  It is based on five hymn tunes primarily from the First New England School of Composers of the Revolutionary and Federalist Periods.  The hymns are “How Firm a Foundation,” “The Morning Trumpet,” “Jordan,” “Morning Hymn” and most prominently, William Billings’ “Chester.”