Choral Choir,Choral (SAB) - Level 3 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1389486
By Leonard Cohen. By Leonard Cohen. Arranged by Justin Matthew Starr. Contemporary,Pop,Rock,Standards. 16 pages. J M Starr Music #973074. Published by J M Starr Music (A0.1389486).
“Hallelujah” was originally released by Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen in 1984 on his album Various Positions. This composition, however, is one of the few in history that may be more well-known due to covers of the song than the original version. In 1991, John Cale did a cover of the song that removed the synthesizers, gospel choir, full band, and low, borderline-talking bass voice from Cohen’s original; and replaced it all with a bare-bones piano and tenor voice. It is not difficult to argue that this arrangement of the composition became the definitive version that all future covers would be based on: from Jeff Buckley’s stripped-down guitar and voice 1994 version, to Rufus Wainright’s piano and voice 2001 cover for the soundtrack to the motion picture Shrek, to k.d. lang, the a cappella group Pentatonix, and many, many more.
When I first arranged this song in 2010 for my 8th grade SAB choir, I did not know the John Cale version existed; rather, I started by transcribing the Rufus Wainright recording and then made it my own from there. My arrangement is melodically akin to the Wainright, but I added harmonies in various places throughout. Lyric selection was also a choice I had to me, as each version of the song contains a different number of verses. Cohen’s 1984 original had four, and then in 1988 he sang a live version with seven (supposedly he drafted over 80 different verses!). I decided to go with five. This allowed me to structure the song in a way that got feature and give the melody to: a Soloist(s) (verse 1), the Baritones (verse 2), the Altos (verse 3), the Sopranos (verse 4) and then the entire choir (verse 5). Over the years that I have performed this with my students, I couldn’t help myself from rocking out with little bluesy fills and licks in the final choruses, so I decided to write it in. I hope you, your students, and accompanist have fun with that!
