This arrangement of the traditional French hymn tune PICARDY applies a repetitive, meditative style for cello quartet. The first half features layered, contrapuntal accompaniments with sprinkles of dissonance as the melody trades between parts and octaves. The fourth verse introduces the second half with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ harmonization from The English Hymnal (1906). With this non-choral harmonization at the original pitch and key on cellos, the high melody is de-emphasized as the harmonic accompaniment splits across the dominant range and additional voices through double stops. Two additional repetitions drop the melody into each of the lower octaves while repeating altered portions of the same harmony parts.

Perform with quartets of one cellist per part for best results.