The Welsh tune ASH GROVE is most frequently associated with the text Let All Things Now Living. It can be used as service music throughout the year, but for some has a favorite place on World Communion Sunday and at Thanksgiving.
Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
to God the Creator triumphantly raise,
who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
God’s banners fly o’er us; God’s light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night,
till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into light.
This arrangement of the ASH GROVE has challenged ringers at Distinctly Bronze (both East and West) and at the Bay View Week of Handbells, among other places. Its notoriety stems from its being written in 11/8, leading to texts such as “I am not an octopus!” from ringers to the composer (we still are all friends, by the way).
An unexpected side effect has been that some number of ringers who’ve played it hear the normal 4/4 rendition of the hymn Let All Things Now Living, and think to themselves, “Well, that’s not right.”
The premiere performance of this piece was at Distinctly Bronze West 2010. There was a gap in the repertoire list, and a friend suggested it to conductor Jason Wells. As they say, the rest is history.
Let All Things Now Living is published by From the Top Music.
