Description
It’s hard to pick a favorite hymn but this is definitely one of the best. The author of the poem “Lead Kindly Light” is John Henry Newman. As a young priest, he was traveling through Italy in 1833 when he became ill and unable to travel for several weeks. He battled through darkness, both emotional and physical until he was able to finally leave Italy on a small boat. While traveling however, fog set in and the boat could not move forward. During another week of darkness aboard the ship, Newman wrote the poem for this song. It always sounds like a prayer to me – a prayer asking God to lead us through all types of darkness we encounter in life and into the Savior’s light.
In my arrangement, the time signature has been changed from the original just a little bit. The piece begins in G Major and moves into Ab Major part way through. Minimal dynamics written in so I encourage you to play what you feel, as musically as you’d like.