James Wilkinson: Diabelli-Contest 2016

Note about the score: This piece splits in up to six parts, but often splits into only four or five. In such cases, the "middle" voices who do not have their own part, Soprano II and Tenor II, should instead split evenly to sing Soprano or Alto and Tenor or Bass respectively.

About the piece: I composed the piece mostly in a pseudo-Palestrina style, to capture the prayerful nature of the text. I use an F Phrygian scale with an additional raised 3rd/lowered 4th. Normally I might be freely chromatic in my composing, but I purposefully abstain from using four notes not included in the scale, B, D, G, and E;
I utilize them later on the lines "When there was nothing..." and "There was the One Almighty God" as a way to emphasize those lines of text, as I feel they are the most important and require a more expansive use of harmony. I hope you enjoy it!