“Agincourt” • Do You Know This Hymn?

VERY ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER at one point or another has fallen in love with the English hymn tune “Agincourt” (a.k.a. “Deo Gracias”). It was featured in Henry V, a 1944 movie by Sir Laurence Olivier. The Brébeuf harmonies for this piece remind me why I love this book so much—a truly masterful SATB harmonization: original, fresh, yet within reach. I especially love how the Bass Line walks in stepwise motion…sometimes a whole octave!  If you follow the link below (#536) and click “Bass,” you can see what I mean.

The Tenor line is quite challenging to sing correctly:

Important Notice:

You can hear individual voice tracks if you visit the Brébeuf website; scroll to #536.

HEN I WAS AT THE CONSERVATORY, I had to memorize difficult works by Chopin, Mozart, Bach, Prokofiev, Schumann, and others. Yet, I was nothing compared to some of the students there. Indeed, I would not have dared attempt certain pieces, such as Liszt’s Feux Follets, or Chopin’s Op. 26 No. 6 Etude. Often, I would discuss interpretations with the other students. One girl from China—I can’t recall her name, but she was excellent—had studied with Ruth Slenczynska. I was discussing certain ideas I had about Chopin’s Ballade in Ab Major, and I insisted my interpretation was the correct one. Then she made a comment that haunts me to this day: “Jeff, having ideas is one thing; executing them is something else.”

On the one hand, it is good to have dreams and aspirations. On the other hand, we must face reality. AGINCOURT is a good example. A choirmaster quickly learns this is not an easy piece to sing well with a congregation. Therefore, it must be approached with caution. We may desire to do this piece. We may desire it greatly. Yet, we must never fail to ask: “How did it sound? Did it work?”  By the way, here’s how AGINCOURT looked in the 1936 “English Hymnal,” edited by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958), a student of Maurice Ravel (d. 1937):