by Kile Smith | Mar 4, 2013 | American music, Anthem, Choral music, church music, Early Music, hymn
Written and published years ago, Come, Ye Sinners harks back to the music I’ve always harked back to, early American hymnody. The text is by the 18th-century Englishman Joseph Hart, the tune by the 19th-century American Benjamin Franklin White, one of the...
by Kile Smith | Dec 17, 2012 | Choral music, church music, hymn, liturgical music, Lutheran, new music
Thank you to Jackie and the choir of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Abington, Pa., for singing my hymn, Powers of Heaven yesterday. The hymn is a setting of an Advent text by the Rev. Dr. Michael Tavella at Holy Trinity. It was Vespers for this Third Sunday of Advent,...
by Kile Smith | Dec 10, 2012 | Choral music, church music, hymn, liturgical music, Lutheran, new music
Thanks to Musica Concordia for singing my hymn, Powers of Heaven, yesterday at St. Cecilia’s Church in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia. The hymn is a setting of an evocative Advent text by Michael Tavella; we’ve used it in church a few times already....
by Kile Smith | Nov 20, 2012 | Broad Street Review, Classical music, Composition, hymn, Piano music
[Reprinted with permission from the Broad Street Review under “Advice for aspiring composers: Stop all that strolling, and just stand still”] It looked like a black sparrow, except that it was slightly larger than a sparrow, and also there’s no such thing...
by Kile Smith | Oct 25, 2011 | Choral music, church music, Fleisher Collection, hymn, Lutheran
An exhilarating Sunday night at Holy Trinity Lutheran, where we held our Hymn Festival, exploring Martin Luther’s Seven Marks of the Church, through Lutheran hymns—so many hymns, and A Mighty Fortress nowhere in sight. Jackie once again put together a fantastic...
by Kile Smith | Aug 22, 2008 | church music, hymn, Music Composition, New Compositions, new music
The story goes that Stalin wanted a national hymn written and asked Shostakovich, “Will three months be enough time?” and that the composer answered, “Five days will do.” This is how I heard it. Shostakovich didn’t get the job, but I’ve often recalled the story...
