Mendelssohn's Elijah has been a source of many a choral anthem for Sunday morning or classical concert, but many of the movements are adaptable to instruments as well.

This famous SSA trio is reworked for a trio of clarinets. It appears in the key written, D, which means it will sound one whole step lower. This puts the lowest clarinet in its deepest and richest range.

This piece would also work well for many other trios of identical treble clef instruments, however, it is too low for saxophones or flutes, and the phrasing marks are all wrong for string players. Others will find it a relatively easy and fun little piece to play.

The lyric is from Psalm 121:1-3, and Mendelssohn having lived a couple of hundred years ago, it is rendered in "King James" English.

+++

Lift thine eyes, oh lift thine eyes
Unto the mountains, whence cometh help.

Thy help cometh from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He hath said thy foot shall not be moved.
Thy Keeper shall never slumber.

+++

MP3 sound sample: entire piece (synthesizer/midi).



LIFT THINE EYES, from Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn, arranged by Tom Kirkland for clarinet trio, comes in a pdf file of 420K, with a two-page score, three one-page parts, and a license page, six pages in all. Performance time should be about 1:30.