ANTHONY O'TOOLE
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Once in Royal David's City 

for Concert Band (Grade 4)

Commissioned by the St. Olaf Band for their 2017 First Sunday of Advent Service. This work is a setting of the Christmas Hymn 'Once In Royal David's City' -- the text was written in 1848 by Cecil F. Alexander and the tune (IRBY) was written to the text the following year by composer, Henry Guantlett. The melody written by Gauntlett is a strophic setting of the 4 stanzas of text; which means the same melody is sung with 4 different sets of lyrics. In my approach I decided to write music that went along with the poetry of the text which depicts the humble nativity scene and the maternal love of a mother for her child. 

The first section uses the first three notes of the cited melody and new material is created from these pitches setting the scene musically of a lowly stable, a "little child" and a "mother mild". The next section features the brass quintet playing the full tune of Guantlett's but in an understated way with simpler harmonies. In the next section I use the contours of the first melodic phrase but changed the pitches slightly, which builds to the next stanza which is triumphant and glorious -- "And our eyes at last shall see him." The music winds down revisiting the melodic ideas of the first section. 


 Once in royal David’s city 
stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby
in a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven
who is God and Lord of all,
and His shelter was a stable,
and His cradle was a stall:
with the poor, and meek, and lowly
lived on earth our Savior holy.
And our eyes at last shall see Him,
through His own redeeming love;
for that child so dear and gentle,
is our Lord in heav'n above,
and He leads His children on
to the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
with the oxen standing by,
we shall see Him, but in heaven,
set at God’s right hand on high;
when like stars His children crowned
all in white shall wait around.
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  • Home
  • Biography
  • Music
    • Band >
      • Grade 2-3 >
        • Anthracite
        • Industrial Complex
      • Grade 4 >
        • ...As it is in Heaven
        • The Beltway Breakdown
        • Frenetico
        • First Snow
        • Hung Aloft the Night
        • Longing
        • Metamorphosis
        • Once in Royal David's City
        • Pastorale
        • Pro Humanitate
      • Grade 5 >
        • The Battle Cry of Freedom
        • The Crossroads
        • Dash
        • Electrons Dancing
        • Fanfare to "The Hammer"
        • Latin Dance Movements
        • Now is the Time (A Song of Hope)
        • Prelude to Something Big
        • Uncommon Valor
        • Up
        • War Machine
    • Orchestra >
      • String Orchestra >
        • The Gardener
        • Locum Sacrum
        • Pastorale
        • Talcott Notch
      • Chamber Orchestra >
        • Divertimento
        • Fathom
      • Frenetico
      • Light up the Night
      • Now is the Time (A Song of Hope)
    • Brass Ensemble / Brass Band >
      • Brass Band >
        • DoubleThink
        • Frenetico
        • Kingsfold Variations
        • Syzygy
        • Saturnalia
      • A Beauty Untold
      • Concrete Waves
      • Elegy
      • Deep River
      • From Above
      • First Snow
      • The Golden Gate
      • Kingsfold Variations
      • Latin Dance Movements
      • A New Birth of Freedom
      • Phalanx
      • Theme & Variations on A Mighty Fortress
    • Chamber Ensembles >
      • Brass >
        • Brass Quintet >
          • A Christmas Fantasy
          • Quintet No. 1
          • Quintet No. 2
        • Ad Astra
        • Colloquy
        • Jam-Bourrée
        • Introit
        • Iridescence
        • Liturgical Suite
        • Pedal to the Metal
        • Zelienople Suite
      • Low Brass >
        • Quartet >
          • 2011: A Tuba Odyssey
          • Ascend
          • Bittersweet Memories
          • Cantus Firmest
          • FYEWZ
          • Passage to Atlantis
          • Scarborough Variations
          • Shake and Bake
          • The Summit
          • War Machine
          • War Tubas
        • Sextet - Ensemble >
          • Animal Style
          • Big Orange Sky
          • Blowfest
          • BLOWFEST II
          • Celebratio
          • Child's Play
          • DoubleThink
          • Journey Through Space
          • Partita No. 1
          • Preghiera
          • System
      • Strings >
        • Cadgwith Caper
        • Happy Birthday Fugue
        • String Quartet No. 1
      • Woodwinds >
        • The Catacombs of Callixtus
        • Chicken Scratch
        • Finzi's Brain
        • Flea Circus
        • Partita No. 4
        • Quintet No. 1
        • Silva Sanctum
    • Choral - Voice >
      • Our Heart
      • Longing
      • The Road to Twilight
    • Concerti & Solo >
      • Unaccompanied - Duet >
        • 3 Miniatures
        • BOOM!
        • Funky Lumps
        • Krump
        • Stages
        • Topaz
        • Xocotzin
      • Solo with Large Ensemble >
        • Coalescence
        • Concerto for Euphonium
        • Concerto for Marimba
        • Concerto for Tuba No. 1
        • Concerto for Tuba No. 2
        • Double Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Euphonium
        • Full Circle
        • HiJinks
      • Solos and Duos with Piano >
        • Chronicles
        • Full Blast
        • The Immortal Game
        • Partita No. 3
        • Sea Isle Rhapsody
        • Sonata for Euphonium
        • Sonata for Trumpet
  • Arrangements
  • Residencies / Engagements
    • 2015 Young Composer Mentor Project
    • Colorado State University - Pueblo
    • Fort Wayne, Indiana
    • Marywood University
    • Hiram College
    • Irvine Valley College
    • Tampa Metropolitan Youth Orchestra
    • Wabasha-Kellogg School District
    • Wake Forest University
    • 2017 Wisconsin All-State Band
    • Youngstown State University
  • Links
  • Contact