Comfort Ye (Goudimel Dances)

For band, based on a tune by the Renaissance composer Claude Goudimel
Length: 7:00
Difficulty rating (I-VI): IV

Listen to a MIDI realization on Soundcloud.

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• Score: $5.00; set of parts: $20 (for reproduction rights; additional charge for hard copies)

It’s been my privilege in recent years to become acquainted with two gifted siblings from one remarkable family—the Formidonis, of Claremont, New Hampshire. I got to know the older sibling, Dan, in my composition studio; the younger, Julie, was a student in my music theory classes, and was our family’s “go-to” babysitter throughout her college career. Both Dan and Julie served as organists at the Episcopal church I attend—through this connection, I’ve also gotten to know their parents, Roger and Ginny, and their older sister Maggie, a talented artist and educator, through their frequent visits at holidays and for other special services. I admire Roger and Ginny greatly for creating and raising three amazing people—the kind of people I hope my own children become as they grow up.

One Advent, Julie played a particularly stirring, up-tempo rendition of a hymn tune by the 16th Century French composer Claude Goudimel, setting a paraphrase of text from the book of Isaiah. This text is perhaps best known in its setting by Handel from the beginning of Messiah, “Comfort Ye My People.” Goudimel’s tune features some typically playful Renaissance time signature shifts, and remained stubbornly stuck in my head for weeks after Julie played it—inverting itself, stating itself backwards and forwards, and generally leading me to think about our current Age of Anxiety and where and how we can find comfort in the midst of it.

That temporary obsession led to Comfort Ye, which is dedicated to the Formidonis, with deepest thanks for the privilege of getting to know and teach their children—in this case, particularly Julie, as she graduates from college and moves on to the wonderful things that await her.