Advent Voluntary
an organ voluntary which combines Wachet Auf and the Match of the Day theme
- Duration flexible
Composer's note (November 2022)
This piece makes use of the melody of the Advent Lutheran chorale Wachet Auf ("Wake, O wake" or "Sleepers, wake") written by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) and the theme tune to Match of the Day, composed in 1970 by Barry Stoller. I felt that these two should be combined to form a suitable Advent Voluntary this year. To explain the context and connection for anyone outside the UK, or anyone reading this in the future: in November and December 2022 the liturgical season of Advent and the World Cup Finals are almost exactly contemporaneous. This has never happened before - usually the World Cup is played in June and July, but this time FIFA officials were paid lots of money to hold the competition in Qatar. Admittedly Stoller's tune has no direct connection with international soccer, but it is, for the vast majority of the British population, undoubtedly the "tune of football". It gave me immense joy putting this piece together, and I hope you will enjoy it too, as a listener or as a player.
"Match of the Day" composed by Barry Stoller, copyright © RAK Publishing Limited (100%) - used by permission.