Lord, You Have Formed Me

Composer Hal H. Hopson
Text George Herbert
Voicing SATB, solo, and organ
Church Season Lent, Ash Wednesday
Topics Redemption, Creation
Length 2' 15" Price $0.95 (U.S.) Released 3/93
Catalog no. 418-616 Difficulty Moderately easy
Order now!

Reviews
"This piece is one in a series of settings using texts by George Herbert and should work quite well with any size SATB church choir. The soloist, either a soprano or tenor, must sing several high fs. The ranges of the choral parts lie within a very comfortable tessitura. The text would be most appropriate for Trinity Sunday but also could be used as a general anthem. The lovely organ part utilizes a solo stop (solo flute, soft reed, or sesquialtera) against a gentle, steady-moving chordal accompaniment. The choral writing allows for dynamic movement and phrase stretching. It could work well as a training piece for a high school choir in need of improving its legato singing." ­Choral Journal, April 94

"Lord, You Have Formed Me was intended for Trinity Sunday. It is an anthem for soloist and choir. It has a wonderful sound."­Modern Liturgy, May 1994.

"I like Hal Hopson's setting of 'Lord, you have formed me' for many of the same reasons: the choral writing is interesting without being problematic and the piece is effective without being obvious. A good soloist is called for, and if there's a soprano or a tenor in your choir who seems to get all the best lines, this will be good news to the patient mezzo or baritone: the range is a tenth, d to f. Because Hopson has chosen to focus on the penitential and atonement aspects of the text, I would be more inclined to use this during Lent or even on Ash Wednesday; a Trinity Sunday piece it isn't!" ­AAM Journal, Dec. 1994

Description The chorus alternates with a soloist, and together make for a well-balanced and interesting anthem.

Anthem Text
Lord, you have formed me out of mud,
and have redeemed me by your blood,
and sanctified me to do good.

Lord, you have formed me out of mud,
and have redeemed me by your blood,
and sanctified me to do good.

Purge all my sins done heretofore:
for I confess, I confess my heavy score,
and I will strive to sin no more.

Enrich my heart, my mouth in me,
with faith with hope, with charity,
that I may rise and rest in thee.

Text: George Herbert