Description
This arrangement for voice, violin, and piano was commissioned by Salonnières as part of their album Home: Sacred American Songs. Lyricist Joseph Swain was English, but the American tune was sufficient to qualify it for the album!
Many types of dulcimers are found around the world, but I chose to use some musical ideas from the Appalachian dulcimer to emphasize the song’s American roots. There’s a strong use of drone, a pizzicato passage mimicking plucked dulcimer strings, and several fiddle-esque melodies in the violin part.
The piece is now available for four different voice parts and with viola and cello transcriptions of the violin part included, making it performable for many more musicians.
An instrumental duet edition of this piece (violin, viola, or cello with piano) is also available.
