Come Let Us Anew (Charles Wesley)

Subject: Come Let Us Anew (New Year)
From: Artful Codger
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 01:02 PM

"Come Let Us Anew" is a New Year's song. It was discussed briefly in the thread Lyr Req: Amazing Grace 'disrobed' stanza (http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=42108#612026). The text was written by Charles Wesley to commemorate New Year's Day, 1750, so presumably he wrote it in 1749. A setting for the song can be found in the shape-note collection Harmonia Sacra (1851), 232t (http://harmoniasacra.org/232t.html), where it bears the tune title "New Year". A four-part MIDI may be heard at that page but, as is typical with MIDIs of shape-note songs, it may be a difficult to pick out the melody, which is in the third (tenor) part. An expanded version of the song can be found in the Mormon hymnal Songs of Zion.

You can hear a modern reworking for choir on YouTube, sung by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rgm5gjc4gc
This setting uses quite a slow pace and recasts the tune in duple meter.

I've worked up a non-religious/spiritually-unaffiliated version, by slightly modifying a few verses from these sources and adding a couple verses of my own. If you'd like the words, ABC notation or PDF score of my version, PM me with your email address. I provide the melody line only, since the Harmonia Sacra page provides all four parts (should you need them); for most, unison or impromptu harmony should fill the ticket.