Small Ensemble Piano,Voice - Level 2 - Digital Download SKU: A0.750865 Composed by Thomas Bracken 1876. Arranged by Brenndann Elliget MAGA 537. Patriotic. Score and parts. 25 pages. BJE Music #4322379. Published by BJE Music (A0.750865). God Defend New Zealand was written as a poem in the 1870s by Irish-born, Victorian-raised immigrant Thomas Bracken of Dunedin. A competition to compose music for the poem was held in 1876 by The Saturday Advertiser and judged by three prominent Melbourne musicians, with a prize of ten guineas. The winner of the competition was the Tasmanian-born John Joseph Woods of Lawrence, New Zealand who composed the melody in a single sitting the evening after finding out about the competition. The song was first performed at the Queen’s Theatre, Princes Street, Dunedin, on Christmas Day, 1876. [Wikipedia]This arrangement is for Brass Band in the Lower Key of F (Original in G) – If singing the words for more than one verse, accompaniment can be varied eg. Cornets and Horns only for one verse – as in the MP3 recording. There is also an optional piano part included.Grade = 2.5 Duration = 2:05 mins
