John Ambrose Lloyd

It sounds like a coded message between members of a secret fraternity, doesn’t it? Nothing so scandalous, I’m afraid!

Groeswen is a magnificent Welsh hymn tune composed by John Ambrose Lloyd (1815-1874), often used for the hymn, ‘All my hope on God is founded’.  It was one of the hymns chosen by the minister for today’s church service. Now then, organists like to play a more elaborate arrangement for the last verse of a conventional hymn, and there are books published that consist solely of such ‘last verse’ settings.

The Organist’s Playtime

However, my own two ‘last verse’ books don’t contain a last verse setting for Groeswen. I couldn’t do much about it on the spot, but I decided I’d have to write one later on today so that I’d have a setting for another time.  I have added some minor inflections, along with chromaticism and some chordal suspensions.  It is within the capabilities of a competent organist – no need to be a virtuoso.

And now I’m sorry that we’ve already sung it, so I’ll have to wait until we next use the hymn before I can play it! (It’s just a midi-file from Finale, I’m afraid – you’re not listening to a real organist playing it on a real pipe organ!) I’m putting my ‘last verse’ on ArrangeMe, in case anyone else would like to use it.