Chorale Prelude on "Eventide" (Abide with me)

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 - 7 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad", and the hymn tune Repton, which sets the words "Dear Lord and Father of
Mankind".

He was director of the Royal College of Music from 1895 until his death and was also professor of music at the University of Oxford from 1900 to 1908. He also wrote several books about music and music history.

Some contemporaries rated him as the finest English composer since Henry Purcell, but his academic duties prevented him from devoting all his energies to composition.

Parry was a great lover of the music of Bach, and many of his works demonstrate this interest and mastery.

The Chorale Prelude on "Eventide" (Abide with me) is taken from his Second Set of Chorale Preludes, composed in 1915 and published by Novello in 1916. It treats the hymn as single phrases with interludes in between. Parry uses a interesting rhythmic figure to keep the line moving forward. Although this piece doesn't have too many registration changes, here too, there are a few "tricky" additions and/or subtractions.

Parry indicates the tempo as "Slow" and gives the MM mark at 72=quarter note, which is really quite fast. I have a thing about observing MM marks, but I slowed mine down to around 60. Even as is, it could probably go slower.

The score is attached below, and the piece begins on page 25. Also attached is a photo of C. H. H. Parry.