All Beautiful the March of Days ORIGINAL PIANO SOLO
Piano Solo - Digital Sheet Music

Piano Solo - Level 4 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.802903

Composed by Mike Carson. Concert,Contemporary,Sacred,Standards. Score. 5 pages. Mike Carson #4593617. Published by Mike Carson (A0.802903).

This new original music delights performers and listeners alike. The memorable melody and inventive arrangement, which is more "orchestrated" than arranged, fills the musical needs of pianists in worship services, weddings, or social settings.

Inspired by the charming hymn text of Frances W. Wile (1878-1939) the work begins with a gentle introduction, which exposes a four-note motif present throughout the piece. A melodic exposition is offered, followed by a subtle interlude transposition, featuring the persistent presence of the aforementioned four-note motif.

The next verse features the soaring melody, mingled with a lovely cascading accompaniment. The words of the poem at this point herald back in time to the season of "good will to men on earth."

The last verse is a benediction in a slower rubato. The tempo then begins to accelerate, and the piece finishes with the previous cascading accompaniment and a return of the repeating four-note motif.

"All beautiful the march of days, as seasons come and go;

The Hand that shaped the rose hath wrought the crystal of the snow;

Hath sent the hoary frost of Heav’n, the flowing waters sealed,

And laid a silent loveliness on hill and wood and field.

 

"O’er white expanses sparkling pure the radiant morns unfold;

The solemn splendors of the night burn brighter than the cold;

Life mounts in every throbbing vein, love deepens round the hearth,

And clearer sounds the angel hymn, "Good will to men on earth."

 

"O Thou from Whose unfathomed law the year in beauty flows,

Thyself the vision passing by in crystal and in rose,

Day unto day doth utter speech, and night to night proclaim,

In ever changing words of light, the wonder of Thy Name."

 

Frances W. Wile (1878-1939)

The text was written in 1912 at the request of a friend, William C. Gannett, who was helping compile a hymnal and wanted a winter hymn. Born in Bristol Valley, New York, Wile spent her later years in Rochester, New York, where she helped found the Women’s City Club.