Lift Up Your Heads
for SATB chorus with assembly, organ, and oboe
text by Susan R. Briehl
tune (WEST LEESTAD) and arr. by ZMH
Augsburg Choral Hymn Series
Augsburg Fortress 9781506408736
Lift Up Your Heads/WEST LEESTAD was commissioned in 2013 by the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University as the inaugural hymn in their Christus Rex Hymn Commission Series. The series extends the church's rich treasury of congregational song by commissioning poets and composers to craft new texts and tunes to supplement those days, seasons, and occasions for which the number of existing hymn choices is slim. Lift Up Your Heads was written with the pericopes of Easter 2C in mind, but is useful on many occasions, especially in relationship to Baptism and Communion.
This concertato setting was written to expose Lift Up Your Heads to a broader audience. The choir sings the second and third stanzas independently, and the assembly joins on the first and fourth stanzas.
