Piano Solo - Level 5 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.828246
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Arranged by Paul Thurmond. 20th Century,Christian,Classical,Sacred. Score. 5 pages. Paul Thurmond #4969035. Published by Paul Thurmond (A0.828246).
Tune: HYMN TO JOY
Use: Prelude
Hymn to Joy is the main theme of the last movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s most famous work, his Ninth Symphony, which premiered in 1824, only three years before his death. The tune has been paired with several different hymn texts, but the most popular one in most churches is Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.
Just six years later, around 1830, a young Polish composer living in Paris, Frédéric Chopin, composed his most famous work, the Nocturne in E-flat major. It’s a piece that’s beloved by pianists for its lovely melody set over a widely spaced accompaniment. The tune gets considerably more complex as it goes on.
My setting goes through the melody three times. The first and third sections are fast, and are built on a kind of arpeggio-pattern-with-a-melody-on-top that Chopin was fond of using. The slow section in the middle starts with a total ripoff of the opening of Chopin’s Nocturne; it’s even in the same key! Instead of Chopin’s melody, though, I use Beethoven’s, and develop the tune as Chopin did, beginning plainly, then becoming increasingly ornate.
This piece was a blast to write, and I hope you enjoy it, too.
