Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting

Subject: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: GUEST,Squeezer
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 04:16 PM

I'm going on a charity carolling pub crawl on Wednesday night with some friends, and Newton's HtHAS is one we would like to do. Although we all know the parts, having sung it together some years back, the sheet music with the words has been lost. Does anyone know which verses are usually sung to Newton's?

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: WindhoverWeaver
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 04:34 PM

HtHAS is not by John Newton, it is one of Charles Wesley's hymns. The usual setting is by Mendelssohn, I am not aware of one by Newton. Nor am I aware of any popular carol by Newton.

Wesley's original was slightly different, the current version is a revision made by George Whitefield.

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: BrendanB
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 04:44 PM

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: BrendanB
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 04:46 PM

I have got the sheet music for Newton's Hark....
If you PM me an email address I'll send it to you.

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: BrendanB
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 05:10 PM

The three verses sung are verse 1 then 'Christ by highest heaven adored....' Then 'Mild he lays his glory by....' Finish by repeating 'Hark the herald........newborn king.'

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: WindhoverWeaver
Date: 15 Dec 14 - 05:17 PM

Ah, after some more research, now I see: Who knew that when the OP mentioned "Newton" in relation to a hymn, the reference was to Wayne Newton, not John Newton!

I live and learn.

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 Dec 14 - 03:57 AM

Just listened to his version on YouTube. Can't understand why anyone would want to mess up a perfectly good Christmas hymn that way. Same tune (nearly), horrible electronic keyboard, original first verse, then only one more verse of totally jumbled up lines from verses 2 and 3.
Why not keep to the original unless the sheet music reveals something better?

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 16 Dec 14 - 04:23 AM

The OP says "we all know the parts, having sung it together" - which seems to indicate a choral arrangement, presumably the one by Mendelssohn.

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: GUEST,Squeezer
Date: 16 Dec 14 - 11:01 AM

BrendanB, thanks very much for your kind offer but I'm glad to say that a friend was able to supply the full score this morning.

TB, perhaps what you found on YouTube was Wayne Newton's effort at rendering (two possible meanings there) the setting to the well-known melody by Mendlessohn, which actually is not "the original". Mendlessohn wrote his tune for another purpose altogether. As with many another carol, there are a number of wonderful different versions of Hark the Herald Angels still surviving in the English tradition.

The setting I was after was introduced to me some years ago by friends who sing West Gallery. They knew it simply as "Newton's" or "St Paul's".

Merry Xmas to all

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 Dec 14 - 12:15 PM

Thanks Squeezer, I am suitably repentant, now having found a video clip of the Newtons setting (West Gallery) - surely nothing to do with the Wayne Newton mentioned by Windhover Weaver? Or the YouTube I listened to first.
Yes, it is a great setting: totally different from the better-known tune. Good luck and Merry Christmas to you too!

Subject: RE: Hark the Herald Angels - Newtons setting
From: BrendanB
Date: 16 Dec 14 - 12:22 PM

It is a great version. The choir I sing with use it every Christmas along with a few other West Gallery style carols. They are always well received. Don't know how Wayne Newton crept in here - I agree that his recording of the carol is an abomination.