The Wondrous Cross - Sarah MacDonald



Duration: 4'30"
Ensemble: Trebles organ
Grading: Easy/Medium
ISMNPartPriceQuantity
CMP315 Full score £1.50
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This piece was written in Holy Week 2021 for a girls' voices service at Ely Cathedral. As I was searching for repertoire, I realised that there was nothing obvious which fitted all the criteria: it needed to be for treble voices and appropriate for Passiontide; it needed to be straight-forward technically (we had very little rehearsal time for that service) as well as being reflective and sombre in mood, and crucially it had to be unaccompanied, as we do not use the organ during most of Holy Week. In my search, nothing ticked all of those boxes, so I decided to write something myself. The use of the familiar tune 'Rockingham' means that congregations can relate to it immediately, and the liberal use of repetition in the choral parts means that it is easy to learn very quickly, even with a children's choir, but it also adds to the meditative mood that I hoped to convey.

Suitable for Passiontide and Holy Cross Day (14th September).