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Away in a Manger

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Julie Giroux

(Arranged by Julie Giroux)


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General Info

Year: 2012(?)
Duration: c. 5:12
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Music Propria
Cost: Score and Parts - $65.00   |   Score Only - $17.00


Instrumentation

(Needed, please join the WRP if you can help.)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Over the years I have done many arrangements of this Christmas song, but I always kept it on the upbeat, cheerier side. Dennis Fisher, conductor of University of North Texas Symphonic Band, asked me to do a pretty arrangement o it, so I obliged him. The original song has no chorus and uses only three chords, which meant to me that there was going to be an awful lot of composition going into this arrangement. I tried to make it as beautiful ad poignant as the lyrics, and I added a small chorus section.

We hear two full verses, with the first rising to a minor conclusion and the second pushing upwards to a major one. I will admit it made me cry several times while working on it, which I knew it would.

A newborn baby in a manger asleep on the hay--how can that not pull on your heart strings?
I am very happy with the final outcome, but I told Dennis he doesn’t get to make any more
requests unless the original song has at least five chords in it.

-Program Note by arranger


Away in a Manger is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second] The two most-common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James R. Murray (1887).

The earliest known publication, in The Myrtle in 1884, ascribed the lyrics to German Protestant reformer Martin Luther, explicitly referencing his 400th birthday (which was in 1883). For many years this attribution continued to be made. However, this attribution appears to be false: the hymn is found nowhere among Luther's works. It has been suggested that the words were written specifically for Luther's 400th anniversary and then credited to the reformer as a marketing gimmick.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Commercial Discography


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • San Jose (Calif.) Wind Symphony (Edward Harris, conductor) - 14 December 2014


Works for Winds by this Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


References

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