"New Wine in Old Wineskins": A Hymn Setting of Kathryn Ann Hill's poem.

A hymn setting of the poem "New Wine in Old Wineskins" by +Kathryn Ann Hill , from her book, To You It Has Been Given: The Parables of Jesus in Picture and Verse (Copyright  © 2011 Kathryn Ann Hill. Used by permission.), published by Lutheran Legacy, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 2011. The poem is based on Matthew 9:17, "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (NKJV)

I have been working the last few days on a musical setting of Kathryn Ann Hill's poem, "New Wine in Old Wineskins." The Youtube video of the hymn is above. I came across Ms. Hill's poetry in the magazine Gottesdienst and was very moved by it. I ordered the book of her poetic settings of the parables of Jesus called To You It Has Been Given. "New Wine in Old Wineskins" is one of the shorter poems, so I thought it would be a good place to start.

I have written jazz lead sheets and songs, one which made it into a movie, country western songs, piano rags, "movie" music (music for imagined movie scenes), radio jingles, and, in my college days, twelve-tone and avant-garde compositions. "The Miracle of Tire Vulcanizing", "Surinam Swings" and "A Bum Steer" are examples of my "aleatoric"  period. I think my composition teacher thought I wasn't being serious from the titles of these masterpieces.

But in the last few years I have been looking for ways to use the musical gifts God has given me in the  service of the church.

Recently I wrote an anthem for choir. I then thought about setting one of Kathryn Hill's poems to music in a hymn setting. I hope to do this with several more of Ms Hill's wonderful poems. She has graciously permitted me to publish her poem with my music on Youtube and my blog. You may order To You It Has Been Given at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kah1952. and see her other books there, too.

As with the Youtube videos in previous posts, this digital realization uses a generic choral sound to approximate the sound of a choir of singers. You won't  hear distinct articulations of consecutive notes on the same pitch. I hope that we will sing this in church, perhaps for Pentecost. If we do, I will post a video.