Musical Works

Psalm C (100) Jubilate Deo set to an Anglican double chant by Peter Tranchell, typeset in two versions, for ATTBB or SAATB

Dazzling Darkness, an anthem by Peter Tranchell for tenor/baritone solo, ATBrBrBB choir and organ, written in October 1976. Words: James Cotter; music: Peter Tranchell.

Composed at the age of 20, while Tranchell was in hospital suffering from iritis, Nativitates is a dissonant and challenging work for organ in two movements.

Hamble Bridge, Peter Tranchell's setting of Hymn 636: May the grace of Christ our Saviour. Original unison setting, and an arrangement for SATB choir.

Peter Tranchell's Te Deum in E for AAAATTBB or SSAATTBB choir, piano, organ and two violins, written in 1974.

Peter Tranchell's SATBrB arrangement of Or Sus, Vous Dormés Trop is known to have been performed by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College at the Perse Feast, Friday 11 December 1987. The manuscript score states that the words and music are Anon c.1360.

Movements, composed in 1987, is one of Peter Tranchell's final works. It is scored for flute, viola, bassoon, harpsichord and piano, duration approx. 13 minutes.

Peter Tranchell's hymn tune CURDRIDGE LANE, to accompany O Holy City, seen of John, words by W. Russell Bowie

Peter Tranchell's Salonika Nights: Valse for solo piano is presumed to date from 1945-46. It’s a delightful salon-piece consisting of an eight bar introduction followed by four waltzes in different keys, after which the first is repeated.

The Sonatina for flute and piano was written for and dedicated to Henri and Juana Fromageot in May 1966. Juana later became a well-respected concert and recording pianist under the name Juana Zayas.

Tranchell's 1950 Organ Sonata, in four movements: I Prelude, II Scherzo, III Threnody (en petite passacaille), IV Finale

Peter Tranchell's Variations for String Quartet on Chopin's Prelude no. 7 (Op. 28). Seven variations and the theme.

Tranchell's piano transcription of The Remembrance Waltz, aka Souvenir d’un jour d’espoir, from his 1947 incidental music for Johnson Over Jordan (the 1939 play by J.B. Priestley).

A song for Men's voices by Peter Tranchell, based on a newspaper article about a story from Hungary, set to music in a Roma/Gypsy Folk style: 'Tired of his wife's nagging, Janos Dey, a Hungarian living at Debrecin, decided to frighten her by faking suicide...'

Wish Road, a hymn written by Peter Tranchell for Eastbourne College in 1950, later used in the anthem Fortunare Nos

8 songs for baritone and piano, with words from News of the World, 9th Aug 1953, and the Daily Telegraph, 8th or 10th Aug 1953

Peter Tranchell's 100-fold Amen. The work quotes several Amens and other works - see what you can find!

Peter Tranchell's Music for the service of Holy Communion: written for Fitzwilliam House, 1960, now published in a new arrangement by Geoffrey Webber for SATB choir and organ, with the gradual hymn "Lord, be thy word thy rule" (Tichfield).

An SATB unaccompanied setting of this Christina Rossetti's poem "Twist me a crown of wind-flowers"

Peter Tranchell's piano duet "Spring Rondo" (four hands one piano), composed in 1968, duration approx 2'45".

A dismissal or closing response for unaccompanied AATTBB or SATTBB choir. Duration 30 seconds.

A bidding anthem for SATTBBB, duration c.20 seconds.

A round for four men's voices, with hidden depths, paying tribute to the "bandy legged and contemptuously regarded" Professor Nicholas Staggins, Master of the King's Music and Professor of Music at Cambridge University.

This light song sets words from a newspaper article to music for unaccompanied ATTBB or TTBB choir. This could easily be arranged for SATBB.

A light song written in 1979, exposing the savagery of the rose garden. For SATBB or ATTBB choir.

An anthem for SSATB and  organ, piano or harmonium, composed by Peter Tranchell for the Wedding Service on 10 July 1982 of Jeremy Mark Davies and Catherine Hudson Wilks.

"O that our faith", (tune: Waltham Chase) a short setting of a text by Charles Wesley, for three voice parts and organ, written October 1971

An introit/anthem for ATBrBB or SATBB unaccompanied, the text from John 16:33.

"His first Mayweek", or, "The scholar's progress: a speculation with music in five scenes". For male and female soloists, male-voice chorus, and two pianos. Words and music by Peter Tranchell.

A double Anglican psalm chant by Peter Tranchell for ATB or SATB.

From the Caius Psalter, Chant 21A by "M.W. Scot-Higson", an anagram of Moscow Nights.

Twice A Kiss, an operetta in one act for seven soloists, piano and electronic organ, with libretto by Maurice Holt, was written for Peter le Huray and St Catherine’s College to perform in May Week in June 1955.

Seven Pieces in Alphabetical Order, for solo piano. Composed 1947, revised 1960. Duration c. 9 minutes.

Fortunare Nos was composed in 1986 for the wedding of one of Tranchell's students. It incorporates the hymn tune Wish Road originally written for Eastbourne College in 1950. The words are from a hymn by Henry J. Buckoll (1803-71) in Psalms and Hymns for Rugby School Chapel, 1850, and the Latin verse is a translation, presumably by Tranchell, of Verse 1.

An eyebrow-raising harmonisation, written 1988.

An excellent quadruple chant, well-known from the Psalms from St Paul's recordings where it's used for Psalm 103. Three typeset editions are published here.

Two (and possibly three) versions of this triple chant are found in the Cambridge University Library archive: 

• The earliest version (197-?) appears to be the triple chant for Psalm 127. ATBB & organ in C major.
• Then MS.Tranchell.3.68, the version for SATB & organ in E flat major. This version might be assumed to date from the period 1982-1989 when the Gonville & Caius College Choir added a soprano line.
• The archive also records MS.Tranchell.3.67 "For ATBB & organ in E minor [sic]. Photocopy of MS.Tranchell.4.86 with holograph revisions". Cataloguing error seems possible here, but we have not had a chance to check.

Double chant for Psalm 75 in A major, D flat, D or E flat, also used by St. Paul's for Psalm 102 in B flat major

The Libran Preces and Responses were composed in October 1972. We are publishing the original ATBrBB version and a transposed version for SATTBB.

Peter Tranchell's Sonatina for pianoforte (1949) is a little mysterious - Tranchell didn't mention it in letters home, and was at the time talking more about his piano concerto (which either never materialised or has been lost). The work is in five movements, duration approx. 15 minutes, and was dedicated to Jane Scott, later to become Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Four Voluntaries for Organ by Peter Tranchell (Pastorale, Fantasy, Prayer, Epilogue), first performed by Basil Ramsey (later to be Editor of The Musical Times and Choir and Organ) in 1952

"Heaven!", for voice and piano, was written in 1954 for performance in "Just as it Comes" at Trinity College, Cambridge. The lyrics are by Simon Phipps (Chaplain at Trinity College 1953-57 and Bishop of Lincoln between 1974 and 1987).