Bach composed the secular cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd BWV 208 in 1713. By far, the most famous and most performed movement is the ninth, Schafe k�nnen sicher weiden, more popularly known by its English name, "Sheep May Safely Graze." Bach scored the piece for soprano with two recorders and continuo, but others have since provided arrangements for myriad instrument combinations. Long an instrumental favorite at weddings, now even some churches include ?Sheep May Safely Graze? on their list of recommended music for marriage ceremonies. This arrangement is particularly effective in translating Bach?s music into a beautiful and quiet brass quintet composition. Horn in F and Trumpet 1 take turns with the melody, while Trombone and Tuba provide the basso continuo. Upper accompaniment is given to Trumpet 2 and, at various points, whoever else is not otherwise engaged?Trumpet 1, Horn in F and occasionally even Trombone. This arrangement was completed in 2017, and performance time runs about 4 minutes, 4 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. If you like this arrangement, don?t miss ?Andante Cantabile from String Quartet Op. 11,? ?Arabesque #1,? ?Chorale St. Antoni,? ?Clair de lune? and ?Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring).? For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

One of the best-loved gospel songs worldwide, ?How Great Thou Art? began as a nine-stanza hymn of praise, ?O Store Gud? (?O Great God?), written in 1885 by Swedish poet and lay minister Carl Gustav Boberg (1859?1940). In 1891 Boberg published the poem, accompanied by a Swedish folk melody, in Sanningsvittnet (Witness for the Truth), a weekly Christian journal of which he was editor. Today, the tune is commonly named ?Sanningsvittnet? in hymnals. From its Swedish origins, the text was translated to German in 1907, then to Russian in 1912. The Russian text became the basis for a translation to English by Stuart W. K. Hine (1899?1989), a British Methodist missionary who discovered it in 1931 while on mission in the Ukraine. Hine's work commonly contains four verses: the first two being a relatively close translation of stanzas by Boberg, and the latter two being original verses by Hine. Published in 1949, ?How Great Thou Art? gained great popularity in North America after George Beverly Shea began singing it in the Billy Graham evangelistic crusades in 1955. It has been named the #1 favorite hymn by respondents to various polls in both the United States and United Kingdom. �Copyright 2013 Todd Marchand / ConSpiritoMusic.com