Wayfaring Stranger (2006)
for SATB chorus, soprano solo, and chamber ensemble, 3 minutes
Instrumentation
for solo violin, violin, viola, cello, contrabass, 1 percussion
Also available for chorus and piano
Based on an American folk tune, this setting was commissioned by the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University for its 2006 President’s Festival of the Arts.
Listen
Wayfaring Stranger (excerpt)
Program Notes
This beautiful, melancholy, and otherworldly Appalachian folk melody has long been a favorite of mine. Several years ago, I set this tune in a piece entitled Mountain Sunday, for two violins and voice; the present setting, scored for chorus with soprano solo, strings, piano, and percussion, allows the melody to be heard to full advantage.
The title of the song (which is not necessarily a hymn or church tune) reflects the traditional Christian view of the believer’s time on earth as a journey through a foreign country, a pilgrimage on the way to his true home, heaven.
—Andrew Earle Simpson