Saw You Never in the Twilight

This Christmas work has a poignant text and gentle mood throughout. With very little actual three-part music and a simple accompaniment on two staves for the organ, this is a very useful work for small church choirs. Unison men have one verse without the women singing. Lovely music.
The Diapason
2006

From this vantage point, I am hard pressed to tell what available repertory we lost from The Hymnal 1940, except the text of Austin Lovelace’s Saw You Never in the Twilight and the Noel that went with it. Performance o fhtis newly composed tune will at least recover the poetry. From the pen of a highly interesting composer, this piece is so “right” that SATB choirs should use it as well. The gapped melody is sparely elegant, reminiscent of Anglo/American folk tunes. The easily learned accompaniment provides a minimal use of chordal color to support and maintain the tune throughout and, thankfully, does not revert to the deadly use of key transposition.
Monte Mason
AAM Journal
October 8, 2005