Text: Fanny J. Crosby
Language: English
Ensemble: SATB (div.), S solo
Accompaniment: Piano and Organ
Genre: General Sacred
Duration: 9.0 minutes
Page Count: 21
Catalog Number: NWC-115
Available from J. W. Pepper
Related titles in this style: Amazing Grace, Let Us Break Bread Together
Note:
Blessed Assurance is an epic arrangement in gospel style for choir, with a stellar soprano solo reaching up to high D flat, and piano & organ accompanying together. This arrangement puts into music notation a style that is typically improvised, making it possible for choirs everywhere to perform in a rousing gospel style, sure to inspire excitement in your congregation or audience and bring them to their feet. Ideal for celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and for choral festivals.
Blessed Assurance was commissioned and premiered in 1985 by the Riverside Church, NYC, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was broadcast nationally the following year during the inaugural celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday at Dr. King's own Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, conducted by Dr. Wendell Whalum. It has since become standard repertoire for that holiday. The Ocean Grove Choral Festival in New Jersey counted Blessed Assurance among its Top Ten Anthems of Festival History in 1997 and included the piece on its special fortieth anniversary CD that same year.
Note: this is different from the a cappella arrangement published by Oxford University Press, also by Nancy Wertsch.
Text:
Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
Text: Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915)
Tune: Phoeb Knapp (1839-1908)