Veni, Emanuel
Instrumental for Alto Flute, Trombone, Viola, and Piano
An instrumental version of a very old Latin Advent hymn; adapted from a melody found in various public domain sources.
I originally composed this as a vocal but decided my own particular version would be more effective as an instrumental. There may still be some postings of the vocal version on the internet, which I'll delete if I find them.
I hope this is pretty much finished, but it may need a little revision. The viola double stops are taken from a list of possible ones in a couple of standared orchestration books. The piano chords pretty much ignore standard music theory chord progression in favor of trying to sound desperately discordant without going over the edge into cacophony, except at the beginning and end where I try to maintain more innocuous close thirds and fifths. I haven't put this version elsewhere on the internet yet. I'd be grateful for comments on any aspect of the piece, though the most important thing is whether the piece is actually performable.
An mp3 audio file generated with software as a demo is on this site here: veniemanuelInstrumental.mp3
Pdf score with watermark here: veniemanuelInstrumentalDEMO.pdf
Thanks for any advice.
Update 21 November 2023: a mastered version of the audio file is now on SoundCloud.
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Please note that while this composition is based on a melody in the public domain, my adaptation of it is an original creative work under copyright.
For performance or recording permission, please see my permissions page.
Image: Edward Burne-Jones An Angel Playing a Flageolet
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