Sonate C-Dur - God Of Nations

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

What does that mean now?
I won't keep you in suspense any longer .... This is Maori, and these are the indigenous people of?? ..... Right, New Zealand.
God Defend New Zealand is - on a par with God Save the King - one of New Zealand's national anthems.
The English lyrics were written by Thomas Bracken (1843-1898). The melody was composed in 1876 by John Joseph Woods (1849-1934).
On official occasions, only the first verse is sung (first in Māori, then in English).
The Māori version, however, is not a direct translation of the English version.

Almost 30 years ago I already set the anthem in 4 voices. Now the score has fallen into my hands, and I have completely revised the hymn setting, correcting obvious setting errors. The hymn is actually sung in C major, presumably "hummed" by amateur singers an octave lower. Tenors and sopranos are pleased with the high notes, the 2 bowed G is no particular challenge for them. Due to the height of the melody line, I have good prerequisites for a lively and contrapuntal song setting, melodies in lower registers make setting to 4 voices incomparably more difficult.

My composition is in 3 parts in the pattern with which you are familiar. Song movement, trio and fugue. Since the trio is not a simple 3-part movement and it goes more in the direction of a free composition, I have also placed the song movement between the trio and the fugue in order to draw the bow back to the beautiful melody by John Joseph Woods. It is therefore heard 3 times.
The fugue for 4 voices is expansive, requiring a total of 3 attempts, with a splendid coda concluding it. I love the chord progression G major and D minor very much, it is heard several times in the coda.
The movement ends with the full Mascioni organ in Azzio.

I hope you will now enjoy my composition!