Fantasy on Ton-y-Botel
PROGRAM NOTES
Fantasy on Ton-y-Botel (1989)
Composed for Wallace Hard
Phillip Magnuson

Viola and piano (or organ)
Viola and strings (1990)


Fantasy on Ton-y-Botel is a set of variations on "Ebenezer", a hymn tune composed by Thomas J. Williams (1869-1944). This famous melody is also known as "Ton-y-Botel" ("tune in a bottle") from a legend that it was found on a Welsh beach in a bottle.

This melody is best known as "Once to Every Soul and Nation", text by James Russell Lowell (1819-1891).