Threefold Amen (Orlando Gibbons)

**Martin Jonas** · Jan-10-2015, 2:33pm

Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625): Threefold Amen

Adapted from Gibbons' anthem "Great King Of Gods" for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, and sung at every British coronation since then.

This is an extremely brief piece of music, only nine bars (36 beats), performed very slowly. I was watching David Starkey's fabulous BBC series "Music And Monarchy" yesterday, and saw the special performance of the "Amen" they recorded for the series at Westminster Abbey (available to watch at the BBC website here -- not sure if this works outside the UK). Watching this, I wondered if this might work on mandolins, so I tried it today.

My instrumental arrangement for three mandolins, mandola (octave mandolin) and mandocello is based on the SAATB vocal score from ChoralWiki at:

http://www1.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/17/Gibbons-amen.pdf

S: 1890s Umberto Ceccherini mandolin
A1&A2: Mid-Missouri M-0W mandolin
T: Mid-Missouri M-111 octave mandolin
B: Suzuki MC-815 mandocello

I think this is surprisingly effective, played all-tremolo except for the mandocello which plays quarter notes throughout to mark the pulse.

Pictures are of coronations at Westminster Abbey.

Martin

**bratsche** · Jan-10-2015, 5:04pm

Very nice, Martin! I would've turned up the volume a wee bit more on the mandocello track, but that's just me (and a small nit-pick); I think the arrangement works very well!

bratsche

**JH Murray** · Jan-10-2015, 5:25pm

When you hear a piece frequently, like every week, it becomes rote and often loses its feeling. Thank you for giving this piece back its beauty.

**Martin Jonas** · Jan-10-2015, 7:38pm

Thanks for the comments, JH/bratsche!

Originally Posted by bratsche

Very nice, Martin! I would've turned up the volume a wee bit more on the mandocello track, but that's just me (and a small nit-pick); I think the arrangement works very well!

I can see where you're coming from -- my first mix had the mandocello higher, but I turned it down as I thought the regular quarter note pulse was too prominent and should be toned down as it's not in the original choral piece.

For comparison, I attach an MP3 with the mandocello 2dB higher in the mix.

Martin