Ellacombe (Brass/Timp)

Audition of brass arrangement, including descant, to the hymn tune ELLACOMBE.

Despite it's anglicized name, this is a German tune that appeared first in a songbook written in 1784 for the Duke of Würtemburg. Intended for use in the court's Roman Catholic chapel, the text was Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern ("Hail Mary, clearest and brightest morning star"). It reappeared, with some accumulated changes, as ELLACOMBE in the 1868 supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern and applied to a children's hymn. The hymn 'The day of resurrection' is adapted from one of the eight Golden Canons for Easter, c. 750 in the Byzantine form of chant (kanon) developed by St. John of Damascus - the equivalent of Gregorian chant, and to whom the text is attributed -  at a time when the eastern and western churches were united.