GO NOW IN PEACE (Sleeth)

Composer: Natalie Sleeth

The beauty of GO NOW IN PEACE lies in its simplicity of melody and in the many possibilities of enhancing a performance with a variety of instruments. The hymn is a wonderful "little anthem" for a children's choir accompanied by elementary school instrumentalists. Use Orff instruments or try handbells for the repeated patterns. Sing altogether once, and on the repeat, sing this hymn as a three-part round; four parts are also possible if the round begins every two bars.

A respected author and composer of hymns, anthems, and rounds, Sleeth composed almost two hundred works for a variety of publishers from 1969 until her death. Educated at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, in 1952 she married Ronald E. Sleeth, a Methodist minister and homiletics professor; they resided in seminary communities in Nashville, Dallas, Evanston, and Denver. Sleeth published a devotional book, Adventures for the Soul (1987), which describes some of her compositions. She was the subject of the video Words and Music (1990). Some of her anthems were published as hymns in Songs for LiFE (1994).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

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