Viking Song
for TB choir and piano
Editorial Notes
This arrangement of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Viking Song” was created in 2025 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Tenor-bass choirs will take great delight in its evocative text and rousing rhythms, adapted from Coleridge-Taylor’s SATB part song. While Coleridge-Taylor published TTBB and two-part editions of the work himself, this arrangement adapts the best parts of each arrangement into a voicing that is an excellent fit for tenor-bass choirs. For groups with developing voices, optional parts with smaller noteheads have been added throughout the work where the original range may become problematic.
The score has been updated with modern notation practices, such as the addition of measure numbers, rehearsal letters, and beamed eighth notes. All articulations, tempo changes, phrase markings (in the right hand of the piano), and dynamic markings are exactly as they appear in Coleridge-Taylor’s original work. Editorial changes to the music include changing the time signature from cut time to 4/4, the removal of tied releases (measures 15, 31, 47, 63, 54, 68), and adding rests at the ends of phrases for singers to breathe (measures 6, 10, 22, 26, 42, 54, 58).
An optional anvil part has been created to add to the “clangs” of the choir. This can be played either on an anvil or a brake drum with brass or hard plastic mallets. Be sure to encourage the anvil player to listen and balance with the choir, and avoid playing so loudly that it covers the choir’s sound.
The piano part is largely the same as Coleridge-Taylor’s original, but the activity of the left hand has been reduced throughout. This serves to balance the piano with the voices by thinning the texture, and make it more like an accompaniment and less like an orchestral reduction. Conductors that wish to use the original accompaniment are encouraged to have their pianist play from Coleridge-Taylor’s original SATB arrangement, which has the same key changes and number of measures as this edition.
This arrangement of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Viking Song” was created in 2025 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Tenor-bass choirs will take great delight in its evocative text and rousing rhythms, adapted from Coleridge-Taylor’s SATB part song. While Coleridge-Taylor published TTBB and two-part editions of the work himself, this arrangement adapts the best parts of each arrangement into a voicing that is an excellent fit for tenor-bass choirs. For groups with developing voices, optional parts with smaller noteheads have been added throughout the work where the original range may become problematic.
The score has been updated with modern notation practices, such as the addition of measure numbers, rehearsal letters, and beamed eighth notes. All articulations, tempo changes, phrase markings (in the right hand of the piano), and dynamic markings are exactly as they appear in Coleridge-Taylor’s original work. Editorial changes to the music include changing the time signature from cut time to 4/4, the removal of tied releases (measures 15, 31, 47, 63, 54, 68), and adding rests at the ends of phrases for singers to breathe (measures 6, 10, 22, 26, 42, 54, 58).
An optional anvil part has been created to add to the “clangs” of the choir. This can be played either on an anvil or a brake drum with brass or hard plastic mallets. Be sure to encourage the anvil player to listen and balance with the choir, and avoid playing so loudly that it covers the choir’s sound.
The piano part is largely the same as Coleridge-Taylor’s original, but the activity of the left hand has been reduced throughout. This serves to balance the piano with the voices by thinning the texture, and make it more like an accompaniment and less like an orchestral reduction. Conductors that wish to use the original accompaniment are encouraged to have their pianist play from Coleridge-Taylor’s original SATB arrangement, which has the same key changes and number of measures as this edition.
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
In the smithy by the dark North Sea;
Is it Thor that is smiting with the hammer,
Is it Odin with the leather on his knee?
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
There are steel ships wanted on the sea!
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
and the flames of the forges leap.
Old Thor, with his red beard glowing,
Has his eyes on the furrows of the deep.
Clang, clang, clang on the anvil,
For the forge of the Viking may not sleep!
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
And the hammers of the island leap;
Britannia with her bright hair glowing,
Has her eye on the furrows of the deep.
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
For the blood of the Viking may not sleep!
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
On the margin of the soul-bright seal
Is it Odin that is watching in the shadow?
Is it Thor where the sparks fly free?
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
There are steel ships wanted on the sea!
In the smithy by the dark North Sea;
Is it Thor that is smiting with the hammer,
Is it Odin with the leather on his knee?
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
There are steel ships wanted on the sea!
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
and the flames of the forges leap.
Old Thor, with his red beard glowing,
Has his eyes on the furrows of the deep.
Clang, clang, clang on the anvil,
For the forge of the Viking may not sleep!
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
And the hammers of the island leap;
Britannia with her bright hair glowing,
Has her eye on the furrows of the deep.
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
For the blood of the Viking may not sleep!
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
On the margin of the soul-bright seal
Is it Odin that is watching in the shadow?
Is it Thor where the sparks fly free?
Clang, clang, clang, on the anvil,
There are steel ships wanted on the sea!