SHARPTHORNE

Erik Routley (PHH 31) composed SHARPTHORNE in 1968 to be published as a setting for Bayly's text in the British supplementary hymnal 100 Hymns for Today (1969). SHARPTHORNE is actually a revision of another Routley tune, TIES CROSS, which was the setting for Bayly's text in the 1951 Rejoice, O People. Routley said SHARPTHORNE is "a sort of paraphrase in the minor key" of TIES CROSS. Sharpthorne and Tyes Cross are both villages in Routley's native county of Sussex, England.

SHARPTHORNE is a rugged tune (one of Routley's best!) with several repeated motives and sequences; it fits well with the stern prophetic message as interpreted by Bayly. The tune is best sung in unison. One way to sing it is to have a choir or soloist sing the first two lines of each stanza and have everyone sing the refrain line, at which time the organ should thunder its support! An even more dramatic performance can be arranged as follows: a soloist can walk among the aisles of the church singing the prophet's lines in stanzas 1 through 3, a choir can sing stanza 4, and everyone can join in on stanza 5.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook