Psalm 42 As Pants the Hart for S.A.T.B. Chorus, Tenor (or Soprano) solo, and Organ by Charles Ives 4-Part - Sheet Music

SKU: PR.342401970

ISBN 9781598064230. UPC: 680160606931. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. Key: F major. English.

The earliest of Ives’s many psalm settings, Psalm 42 (As Pants the Hart) was said to be premiered when the composer was 16, with sketches beginning several years earlier. The setting is a fairly traditional verse anthem with organ interludes and a vocal solo, illustrating Ives’s early mainstream writing, and occasional glimpses of the young composer’s penchant for surprise. Duration 3’30.
Charles Ives set psalm texts in sixteen of his works. Psalm 42 (As Pants the Hart), the earliest known, was composed possibly in 1 888 but more likely 891-92. The conflicting data suggests it was sketched over the years and finally composed in earnest 1 891-92. Ives indicates on one of his work-lists that it was composed with “father’s help.” Two three-page ink scores survive in Charles Ives’s hand; the second score has an added organ interlude for mm. 20-24. Much of the organ pedal line is incomplete and is reconstructed (in cue-sized notes) for this edition.In Ives’s diary of early performances, “As Pants the Hart” is listed as the anthem for Sunday, April 1 2, 891 at the Danbury Baptist Church. (On the first score Ives noted “Methodist Ch Jn[?] 1 887.”)A hymn using the Psalm 42 text must have existed in one or more hymnals used in Danbury’s churches during the 1 890s. Ordinarily, it is sung to the tune MARTYRDOM (L.M. 8.6.8.6.) by Hugh Wilson (late 1 8th century, adapted by Robert Archibald Smith, 1825). It can also be sung to a host of others, including SPOHR (L.M.).The Kirkpatrick and Sinclair catalogues in their print versions identify the Nathan Tate (1652-1715) and Nicholas Brady (1659-1726) text (originally appearing in A New Version of the Psalms of David, 1 696) as verses , 2, and 5, but Ives’s setting is actually a mixture of verses 5 and 11 . It is possible that Ives set the text from memory even at this early time.