Chorale Prelude on a Melody by Melchior Vulpius

Melchior Vulpius was a sixteenth century German composer of church music well known for the many tunes he wrote for Lutheran hymns. That which he composed for the great Easter Chroale 'Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron' is perhaps one of the most famous thanks to Henry G. Ley's 1925 setting of the tune to Francis Pott's words 'The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done'. As an eminent Anglican musician, it's this version which was probably best known to Healey Willan and thus became the inspiration for this majestic setting. Willan's musical voice is quite unique, paying homage to the sacred music of five centuries ago whilst embracing the style and harmonic language of the Romantic/post-Romantic period in which he lived.

Born in England, Willan began musical training at age eight, with studies at
St Saviour's Choir School in Eastbourne. He continued at St. Saviour's until 1895, when he began working as organist and
choirmaster at several London-area churches before emigrating to Canada in 1913. Willan became organist-choirmaster of Toronto's largest church, St Paul's Bloor Street, in 1914 and was appointed a lecturer and examiner in music at the university. Having established his reputation, Willan left St. Paul's in 1921 to become precentor of the church of St Mary Magdalene where he remained until his death. St. Mary Magdalene's, under Willan, became a North American mecca for choral and Anglican church musicians.

The recently released organ of Blackburn Cathedral is unusual for English cathedral instruments. The organ is immensely powerful, exquisitely voiced and helped by the glorious acoustic of the cathedral itself. Here, the powerful Imperial Trumpet takes centre stage before the piece builds to (almost) full organ for the final few bars.