Chorale Prelude on "Martyrdom" (As pants the hart)

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 "Martyrdom" is the 2nd piece in the 2nd set of Chorale Preludes, first published in 1916. The score is attached below, and the piece begins on page 8. A photo of Parry is also attached.

Written in a flowing A major, and marked "Andantino," this prelude is one of those pieces that is much harder than it sounds. The accompaniment is written almost entirely in "6ths", and the hands often "double each other" in octaves. The accompaniment is derived from the melody, and this small work again demonstrates the mastery of Parry's writings.

This hymn, while not strictly a Passiontide (or even Lenten) hymn, is often sung during this season. The text is from a "New Version of the Psalms of David" (1695), and is a paraphrase of Psalm 42.

The melody is by Hugh Wilson (1764-1824), which was adapted and harmonized by Robert Smith (1780-1829).

The text of the first verse is as follows:

As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for thee
And thy refreshing grace.