Review

John Bacchus Dykes
Eternal Father, Strong to Save "Melita": The Navy Hymn

Arranged by Scott Pappal

Brass Quintet: 2 B-flat trumpets (flugelhorn), F horn, trombone (euphonium), tuba (bass trombone)

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2020
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave… So opens the affectionately named “Navy Hymn.” Though it maintains an unofficial status as the US Navy’s hymn, it is widely performed at ceremonies commemorating a change of command, a civil servant’s retirement, or to honor the legacy of a fellow fallen shipmate. Scott Pappal’s arrangement for brass quintet brings new life to the hymn, exporting the thematic material from its traditional style into a graceful composition featuring more elaborate harmonies and countermelodies following a simple ABABCoda form.

Pappal’s arrangement features a modified brass quintet, written for fluegelhorn in B-flat (c-sharp1-g2), B-flat trumpet (d1-g2), horn in F (d1-a2), trombone (or euphonium) (d-g1), and tuba (or bass trombone) (BB-flat-f). The piece begins with a solemn statement of the complete melody for solo fluegelhorn before diving into new, transitional thematic material. Through this treatment, Eternal Father is beautifully lifted out of its typical hymnal form and elevated into a modern concert piece.

When the melody returns, it appears with a new harmonization that accentuates the melody using non-conventional tonal territories. In this second “A” section, a fluegelhorn descant sings above the trumpet melody, further elevating this simple hymn beyond its original form.

Though this is a beautiful arrangement of a meaningful work, one curious moment exists in the final measures. The final tonic chord contains both the seventh and the ninth scale degrees, with most instruments resolving in the usual way. However, the trombone resolves a B-flat, approached from the half-step above, up to D, a jarring and sudden jump. Resolving the trombone to B-natural instead of D, horn to an A instead of B-natural, and adding an F-sharp in the fluegelhorn beginning two beats sooner than written could potentially solve this issue.

The solo introduction in this arrangement simultaneously pays homage to the original music while serenely presenting the primary melodic material of the piece. While this arrangement is not overly difficult, its timbral and harmonic colors are both appealing and musically captivating.