Holly and the Ivy / Dona Nobis Pacem

Composer: Traditional

Arranged and Transcribed: Mark Alan Wade

Range: 15/14 E3 to E6 with modifications for smaller instruments

Difficulty: Intermediate

Copyright: © 2019 by Mark Alan Wade

Information about this piece…

The melody of The Holly and the Ivy is only eight measures long – not a lot of material to work with. I composed an introduction that comes back as an interlude between verses and eventually morphs into Dona Nobis Pacem. After going through several transformations in G major and E minor, a melodic sequence on the end of The Holly and the Ivy leads us into Dona Nobis Pacem in E major. Then The Holly and the Ivy returns triumphantly in A major to end the piece. As written, this arrangement takes approximately two and a half minutes to perform.

You can watch a video of this arrangement by clicking here.