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Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is a well known, very useful communion hymn. The text is a translation of the Liturgy of St. James by Gerard Moulin, and the music ("Picardy") is based on a French carol. This setting is for four-part unaccompanied choir, and makes use of very open harmonies and textures in keeping with the modal nature of the theme.
Each of the four voices gets a chance to sing the familiar melody, passing the theme around from verse to verse and sometimes from line to line. The four verses are presented as: an unaccompanied unison line; a contrapuntal setting; a hymn-like setting with the melody in the lower voices; and finally, a simple accompanied melody with a final Alleluia in five parts.
The music is not particularly challenging, either technically or artistically; this piece is meant as a way of making a unison hymn more interesting for both the choir and the congregation. A church congregation need not feel left out, and the melody is always present in one form or another throughout. This work is simple and straightforward, and is meant to be performed with a minimum of rehearsal time. It is a usable and useful hymn arrangement, taking little time and effort to learn and perform.