Our Easter Tribute Bring

The coming of spring has often been associated with the resurrection of Jesus in Easter hymns, some of which we have seen here before. This year, the Second Sunday of Easter also coincides with Earth Day celebrations around the world, which makes this text particularly appropriate.

See, the land, bright Easter keeping,
Rises as our Maker rose.

Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,

Burst at last from winter snows.

    

Earth with heav'n above rejoices;

Fields and gardens hail the spring;

Hills and woodlands ring with voices,

While the wild birds build and sing.

    

Here, while heav'n and earth rejoices,

We our Easter tribute bring - 

Work of fingers, chant of voices,

Like the birds who build and sing.

Charles Kingsley, 19th cent.; alt.

Tune: SUSSEX (8.7.8.7.)

English folk melody;

arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

 

Charles Kingley (1819-1875) was a priest in the Church of England as well as a novelist, poet, historian, and social reformer.

 

The final stanza here, calling for an active response to the resurrection, might also be interpreted in our time as a call to action on environmental issues.  Another hymn by Kingsley, perhaps the one that best survives to our time, From thee all skill and science flow is also particularly resonant this weekend.

 

 

 

 

Nine Years Ago: Earth Day

 

Eight Years Ago: Adin Ballou

 

 



Cecil Frances Alexander

Today is the anniversary of the death of Irish poet Cecil Frances Alexander, who died in 1895. The date of her birth in 1818 is still unknown. She was born in Dublin to Elizabeth and John Humphreys, and began writing verse at an early age. 

Two of her earliest collections contain poetry that was later taken up by hymnal editors: Verses for Holy Seasons (1848) and Hymns for Little Children (1848). The latter collection was edited by the esteemed hymn writer John Keble, and went through sixty-nine editions before the end of the nineteenth century.  

In 1856, her poem "The Burial of Moses" appeared in the Dublin University Magazine (anonymously, for some reason). Alfred, Lord Tennyson declared that it was the only poem that he had read by a living author that he wished he had written himself.

She married the Reverend William Alexander in 1850. She was six years older than he, which was said to cause "great family concern," so the year of her birth was "adjusted," and many older sources claimed that she was born in 1823.  William became Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in 1867, and Archbishop of All Ireland in 1896 (after his wife's death).

Alexander's hymns still appear in modern hymnals, though most of the ones we still know were originally written for children (All things bright and beautiful, Once in royal David's city, There is a green hill far away). Today's hymn, for adults, originally appeared in Hymns (1852), published by the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, an organization that was largely responsible for sending Church of England missionaries to the American colonies in the eighteenth century, and remains active today as a publishing house.

Spirit of God, that moved of old
Upon the waters' threat'ning face,
Come, when our weary hearts are cold,
And stir them with an inward grace.

For you are power and peace combined,
All highest strength, all purest love,
The rushing of the mighty wind,
The brooding of the gentle dove.

Come, give us still your pow'rful aid,
And urge us to that higher place;
Nor leave the hearts that once were made
Fit temples for your quick'ning grace. 

Nor let us quench your sev’nfold light;

But still with softest breathings stir

Our wand'ring souls, and lead us right,

O Holy Ghost, the Comforter.

Cecil Frances Alexander, 1852; alt.

Tune: TRUTH FROM ABOVE (L.M.)

English folk melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1919

The score for the folk tune TRUTH FROM ABOVE, can be seen here, which may help you to better match the text with the tune, which I believe is a good combination.

English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1957), the arranger of this tune, was also born today, which also makes the match appropriate (to my mind, at least).  Originally sung with the carol of the same name, Vaughan Williams published his version in his Eight Traditional Christmas Carols (1919) and he had previously used the melody in his Fantasia on Christmas Carols (1912).

The memorial window to Mrs. Alexander below, at St. Columb's Cathedral in Derry, was dedicated in 1913. The left window represents Once in royal David's city, the center window, There is a green hill far away, and the right window, The golden gates are lifted up. 

(Photograph of the window is attributed to Andreas Franz Borchert)


Eight Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Eight Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Eight Years Ago: Healey Willan

Seven Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Six Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Four Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Saint Simon and Saint Jude

Today we mark the shared feast-day of Saint Simon and Saint Jude, the tenth and eleventh of Jesus' disciples listed in scripture. Tradition holds that they traveled together as evangelists to the Middle East, where they were martyred.

By all your saints still striving,
For all your saints at rest,
Your holy name, O Jesus,
Forevermore be blessed!
For those passed on before us,
We sing our praise anew
And, walking in their footsteps,
Would live our lives for you.

We praise these two apostles,
Who sealed their faith today;
One love, one zeal compelled them 
To tread your sacred way;
May we, with zeal as earnest
The faith of Christ maintain,
And, bound in love as kindred,
At length your rest attain.  

We pray for saints we know not,
For saints still yet to be,
For grace to bear true witness
And serve you faithfully,
Till all the ransomed number
Who stand before the throne
Ascribe all power and glory
And praise to God alone. 

Horatio Bolton Nelson, 1864; alt.
Tune: GOSTERWOOD (7.6.7.6.D.)
English traditional melody; arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906



Seven Years Ago: Thou who sentest thine apostles

Six Years Ago: Let the church of God rejoice

Five Years Ago: When thou, O Christ, didst send the Twelve

Three Years Ago: Blessed feasts of blessed martyrs


P.S. One of these hymns, Let the church of God rejoice, is now available on Facebook (at "Conjubilant W. Song") for you to share.  It's appropriate for other saints' days as well, with a tune that deserves to be better-known.

Saint Thomas

Today's feast day of Saint Thomas usually gets swallowed up in the Christmas season, though they may be some churches named for him that celebrate the day this time of year.  Most likely Thomas is remembered on the Sunday after Easter, when the lectionary reading tells of his encounter with the risen Jesus, whose previous appearance to the disciples Thomas did not believe. (Though I never forget that none of the disciples believed Mary Magdalene's account a week earlier, so it hardly seems fair that Thomas is the only one branded as 'doubting' for the last two centuries.)

In art, Thomas is often depicted carrying a spear, since in some accounts he died of a spear-wound somewhere in Asia.

We have already seen the hymn that I consider the most perfect for the day, as over the last several years I have presented many individual hymns for the various saints on the church calendar. For the next year I am planning something a bit different for our commemorations of the saints.  The hymn below first appeared (in somewhat different form) in 1864, written by Horatio Bolton, Lord Nelson (grandnephew of the famous Admiral).  He wrote a general first and last stanza of praise, then several stanzas for individual saints that would be used as the second, middle stanza on each particular saint's day.  Bolton's text has been much altered over the years but this seems like a useful variation to use throughout the coming year.

By all your saints still striving,
For all your saints at rest,
Your holy Name, O Jesus,
Forevermore be blessed!
For those passed on before us,
We sing our praise anew
And, walking in their footsteps, 
Would live our lives for you.

Praise Thomas, your Apostle,
Whose short-lived doubtings prove
Your perfect two-fold nature,
The fullness of your love.
On all who wait your coming,
Shed forth your peace, O Lord,
And grant us faith to know you,
True God made flesh, adored.

We pray for saints we know not,
For saints still yet to be,
For grace to bear true witness
And serve you faithfully,
Till all the ransomed number
Who stand before the throne
Ascribe all power and glory
And praise to God alone.

Horatio Bolton Nelson, 1864; alt.
Tune: KINGS' LYNN (7.6.7.6.D.)
English melody; adapt. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

Note that Bolton slips in an Advent reference, "all who wait your coming" seasonably suitable to December 22.

The meter of 7.6.7.6.D  has proven quite popular over the years so we can try out several different tunes with this text over the coming year as we explore the various middle stanzas of the saints of the church.

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Today is the 140th birthday of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.  His home town of Down Ampney (in the Cotswolds) is planning a memorial concert of some of his works this evening.

He did not show any particular talent for composition at an early age, though he attended the Royal College of Music, studying with Charles Villiers Stanford. His first published piece, a secular song called Linden Lea, did not appear until he was thirty.  By the time of his death in 1958 he had compiled a very long list of compositions in nearly every possible form, from traditonal choral and instrumental works to scores for radio, film, and television.

Today's tune by Vaughan Williams first appeared in The English Hymnal (1906) which he edited and which contained many of hsi tunes and arrangements of English folk melodies.  This hymnal was extremely successful, adopted by many Anglican churches, and also very influential for future hymnal editors.  Not only many tunes of Vaughan Williams have survived, but also many of the text-tune combinations that were first matched in that book.

God be with you till we meet again;
May God's counsels guide, uphold you,
With the sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
When life’s perils thick confound you;
Put Love's arms unfailing round you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
'Neath God's wings protecting hide you;
Daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
Keep Love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threatening wave before you;
God be with you till we meet again.

Jeremiah E. Rankin, 1880; alt.
Tune: RANDOLPH (9.8.8.8.)
Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

You may have sung this text to a rather different tune.  Author Jeremiah Rankin first published it in the American collection Gospel Bells (1880) where it was set to a gospel song tune (with a refrain "Til we meet at Jesus' feet") by William G. Tomer.  Rankin's text was written as a closing song for worship, based on "good-bye," which derives from "God be with you."  There are at least four additional stanzas which I have never heard sung.  One of these is this original final stanza:

God be with you till we meet again;
Ended when for you earth’s story,
Israel’s chariot sweep to glory;
God be with you till we meet again.




Four Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Four Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Four Years Ago: Healey Willan

Three Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Two Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

The Feast of Pentecost

This ancient hymn for the day of Pentecost is used as a processional in many places, though it's not for everyone. The musical setting is a bit more complex than a standard hymn, beginning with a refrain and proceeding to two different, alternating melodies for the stanzas.

Refrain:
Hail thee, festival day!
Blest day that art hallowed forever;
Day when the Holy Spirit
Shone on the world with God's grace.

Lo! in the likeness of fire,
On them that await her appearing,
She whom the Lord foretold,
Suddenly, swiftly, descends.
Refrain

Down from the heavens she comes
With her sev'nfold mystical off'ring,
Pouring on all human souls
Infinite riches of God.
Refrain

Hark! in a hundred tongues
Christ's own, the chosen Apostles,
Preach to a hundred tribes
Christ and his wonderful works.
Refrain

Praise to the Spirit of life,
All praise to the Fount of our being,
Light that dost lighten all,
Life that in all dost abide.
Refrain

God the Almighty, who fillest
The heav'n, the earth and the ocean,
Guard us from harm without,
Free us from evil within.
Refrain

God, who art Giver of all
Good gifts and lover of concord,
Pour thy balm on our souls,
Order our ways in thy peace.
Refrain

Venantius Fortunatus, 6th cent.;
tr. Gabriel Gillett, 1906; alt.
Tune: SALVE, FESTA DIES
Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

The original Latin text Salve, festa dies (Hail thee, festival day) by Venantius Honorius Fortunatus is much longer, and there are other modern hymns also taken from it for Easter and Ascension. It became popular in his time and stanzas were added by others over time. In fact, much of this Pentecost text is apparently not by Fortunatus, but derives from a later medieval version used as a Pentecost precessional in York.


Three (Liturgical) Years Ago: The Feast of Pentecost

Two (Liturgical) Years Ago: The Feast of Pentecost

One (Liturgical) Year Ago: The Feast of Pentecost

One (Calendar) Year Ago: Harriet Martineau

Hymns in the News

Even here you cannot escape the Royal Wedding Mania that has infected much of the world for the last few weeks. Today the music that will be sung and played during tomorrow's service at Westminster Abbey was announced to the media.

However, the broader and more long-range importance of the wedding music chosen by Kate and Wills will be understood by church musicians everywhere, because brides will want some of the same selections for their own ceremonies this summer and for years to come. The Prince of Denmark's March by Jeremiah Clarke became the fashionable processional after its appearance at the 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana. Somehow I do not see I was glad, an anthem by C.H.H. Parry, and tomorrow's processional, becoming equally popular (how many weddings today have a choir?), but the Fantasia on 'Greensleeves' of Ralph Vaughan Williams might be heard more often.

(That said, I will be singing in a wedding this Saturday, but the musical couple are two section leaders of our church choir, and the groom has composed the music for the Anglican chant to which we will sing the psalm. But I doubt they would have chosen I was glad for their processional, either, even if they had known about this.)

So tomorrow's hymns, like the rest of the music, will be British.

Guide me, O thou great Redeemer is assumed to be a tribute to Diana, at whose funeral it was sung.

Love divine, all loves excelling will be sung to BLAENWERN, as it often is in the UK and rarely is in the US.

Jerusalem (And did those feet in ancient times), also composed by Parry, is one of those songs that the British consider a hymn, but not everyone else does. (The corresponding "hymn" at Charles and Diana's wedding was I vow to thee, my country).

You could dismiss the hymn selections as no more than interesting trivia (like the fact that the other hymn in the 1981 royal wedding was Christ is made the sure foundation) but remember that they will be heard tomorrow by millions of people around the world. Some may even be singing along.

Paul Gerhardt

Lutheran pastor and hymnwriter Paul Gerhardt was born today in 1607 near Wittenburg in Germany. He enrolled in the university there in 1628, where one of his most influential instructors, Paul Röber, often used hymns as sermon texts and encouraged their instructional use.

At this time, the destructive Thirty Years War was raging in Germany (it's estimated that the population of Germany declined by thirty percent during those years) and due to its disruption Gerhardt was not ordained and assigned to a parish until 1651, when he settled in Mittenwalde, southeast of Berlin.

Gerhardt could not avoid the religious conflict between the Lutherans and the Reformed Church, which eventually led to his losing his position since the secular authorities supported the other side. Ironically, by that time his hymns were already sung and loved by both the Lutheran and the Reformed sides.

After his death, his hymns were published in a collected edition edited by his son, and a collection translated into English by John Kelly, Spiritual Songs of Paul Gerhardt, appeared in 1867, though many of his texts had previously been translated by various poets.

This text, O du allersüsste Freude, comes to us through a translation by John Christian Jacobi which was then adapted by Samuel Longfellow in the Unitarian Book of Hymns (1848).

Holy Spirit, source of gladness,

Come in all your radiance bright;

O’er our weariness and sadness

Breathe your life and shed your light!

Send us your illumination,

Banish all our fears at length;

Rest upon this congregation,

Spirit of unfailing strength.

Let that love which knows no measure,

Now in quickening showers descend,

Bringing us the richest treasures

We can wish or God can send.

Hear our earnest supplication,

Every struggling heart release;

Rest upon this congregation,

Spirit of untroubled peace!

Paul Gerhardt, 1648;

tr. John C. Jacobi, c.1725;

adapt. Samuel Longfellow, 1848; alt.

Tune: SHIPSTON (8.7.8.7.)

Traditional English melody,

arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

The chaotic times that Gerhardt lived through, as well as the disruption of his professional life and the deaths of his wife and four of five children, led him to be described as a "theologian sifted in Satan's sieve," an inscription written on a full-length portrait painted after his death in the church at Lübben.

Three Years Ago: Gregory the Great

Two Years Ago: Paul Gerhardt

One Year Ago: Robert Lowry

By a Road Before Untrod

For a Sunday celebration of the Ascension (probably larger than a Thursday one) a somewhat grander hymn might be in order. This eighth century text by scholar and historian the Venerable Bede, Hymn­um can­a­mus Dom­i­no, is matched with a familiar tune from eight centuries later. Somewhere today I'm sure it's being sung.

A hymn of glory let us sing
New songs throughout the world shall ring
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Christ, by a road before untrod
Ascends unto the throne of God.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The holy apostolic band
Upon the Mount of Olives stand
Alleluia, Alleluia!
With all Christ's followers they see
Jesus’ resplendent majesty
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

To whom the angels drawing nigh,
“Why stand and gaze upon the sky?”
Alleluia, Alleluia!
“This is the Savior,” thus they say.
“This is his noble triumph day.”
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

“Again you shall behold him so,
As you have this day seen him go.”
Alleluia, Alleluia!
“In glorious pomp ascending high
Up to the portals of the sky.”
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Jesus, our Joy and strong Defense,
Grant us our future recompense,
Alleluia, Alleluia!
So shall your grace and mercy be
Ours throughout all eternity,
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Venerable Bede, 8th cent.
tr. Benjamin Webb, 1852; alt.
Tune: LASST UNS ERFREUEN (8.8.4.4.8.8.4.4.4.4.4.)
Geistlische Kirchengesang, 1623
harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

The Magnitude of Meekness (Day One)

Advent's waiting is over and the first day of Christmas is here. I hope it is a joyful and grateful season for everyone who visits here.

You may recall that last year we had some discussion here about the dozen or so Christmas carols and hymns that “everyone” agrees should be sung during the season. Hymnblogger and commenter Leland even listed them at one of his blogs. I also happened to post one that I thought was just a bit obscure and everyone told me that, of course, they knew it after all.

So, a challenge of sorts. There are twelve days of Christmas, as everyone knows. I'm going to try for one hymn of carol each day, but not necessarily one of the dozen de rigueur (or what would be left for next year?). Over the years, hundreds of text writers and composers have written carols and hymns for Christmas only to see them ignored for the popular standards. Look through any older hymnal and you'll probably see Christmas selections you've never heard before. Look through any newer hymnal and you'll find things you'll probably never sing. Maybe I'll pick some of those discarded pieces up and dust them off over the next several days.

There will be some favorites interspersed, so you needn't go off and ignore me for the next while if you're not a fan of the obscure. I do hope that anything I refurbish will have something worthwhile about it (even if you don't agree). And, after writing about the Bishop of Croydon the other day, I have to watch out for the scourge of sentimentalism.

English poet Christopher Smart, from whose poetry a few hymns have been derived, is certainly not sentimental in any way. This Christmas text explores the contradictions of the Incarnation; the Promised One of the ancient prophets coming to earth not as a mighty conqueror but as a human baby. And yet, the power is present. God who made the earth has come among us on this day.

Where is this stupendous stranger?
Prophets, shepherds, kings, advise;
Lead me to my Savior's manger,
Show me where the Christ-child lies.

O Most Mighty! O Most Holy!
Far beyond the seraph's thought:
Art thou then so weak and lowly
As unheeded prophets taught?

O the magnitude of meekness!
Worth from worth immortal sprung;
O the strength of infant weakness,
If eternal is so young!

God all-bounteous, all-creative,
Whom no ills from good dissuade,
Is incarnate, and a native
Of the very world God made.

Christopher Smart, 1765; alt.
Tune: SUSSEX (8.7.8.7.)
English folk melody
arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

Smart's original second line was “Swains of Solyma, advise,” but that name for Jerusalem was probably outdated even in his time. The tune SUSSEX we have seen before, one of the folk tunes arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams for his English Hymnal.

As you can imagine, I rarely get to sing this one. But I keep hoping for its rediscovery.


One Year Ago: With the Oxen Standing By

Witness to the Coming Light

Another important part of the Advent season is the story of John the Baptist, the second cousin of Jesus. John's was an unexpected birth, as told in Luke 1:5-24. His father Zechariah received a visit from the angel Gabriel to announce the birth and foretell some of the child's destiny. Elizabeth, his mother, was in the midst of her pregnancy when her kinswoman Mary came for a visit, to tell of her own angelic visit and another coming child. In Luke 1: 39-45, we hear that Elizabeth's yet-unborn child “leapt in her womb” at hearing Mary's greeting.

These aspects of John's story, are incorporated into this Latin hymn from the eighth century (Praecursor altus luminis) written by the Venerable Bede, a scholar and writer known more for his historical and theological writings than his handful of hymns. It was translated by John Mason Neale and first appeared in his Hymnal Noted. (1854).

The great forerunner of the morn,
The herald of the Word, is born:
And faithful hearts shall never fail
With thanks and praise his light to hail.

With heavenly message Gabriel came,
That John should be that herald’s name,
And with prophetic utterance told
His actions great and manifold.

John, still unborn, yet gave aright
His witness to the coming Light;
And Christ, the Sun of all the earth,
Fulfilled that witness at his birth.

But why should mortal accents raise
The hymn of John the Baptist’s praise?
Of whom, or e’er his course was run,
Spake God unto the Promised One?

“Behold, my herald, who shall go
Before thy face thy way to show,
And shine, as with the day-star’s gleam,
Before thine own eternal beam.”

All praise to our Creator be,
All praise, eternal Christ, to thee,
Whom with the Spirit we adore
Forever and forevermore.

the Venerable Bede, 8th cent.
tr. John Mason Neale, 1854; alt.
Tune: HERONGATE (L.M.)
English traditional melody
arr. Ralph Vaughan WIlliams, 1906

The window below is in St. Thomas's Church in Colnbrook, Berkshire, showing Elizabeth and her young son John. The banner around her depicts her most famous quotation, spoken to Mary at the great news: Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Little John is carrying the sign Vox clamantis in deserto (a voice crying in the wilderness).




One (Liturgical) Year Ago: Our Refuge and Our Great Reward

One (Calendar) Year Ago: William Walsham How

The Feast of All Saints

This year All Saints' Day falls on a Sunday, meaning that it may be celebrated in more churches than usual (though many places simply observe it on the Sunday nearest November 1). This hymn will undoubtedly be sung by many congregations around the world today, probably as the opening hymn of the service. My own choir will sing this in the “long procession,” the figure-eight path around the sanctuary reserved for special occasions, so it's good this hymn is a long one. In An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (2002), editor J.R. Watson says: The hymn's length is there for a purpose; it allows the mind to dwell on the arduous struggle and its final end in glory.

For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
Thou, in their loneliness, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

O may thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The host of glory passes on its way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
They sing to Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

William Walsham How, 1864; alt.
Tune: SINE NOMINE (10.10.10.4.4.)
Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

This hymn by William Walsham How first appeared in an 1864 collection called Hymns for Saints' Days, and Other Hymns by a Layman (the layman was Horatio Bolton Nelson, not How, who was then a priest and later a bishop in the Church of England). There are three additional stanzas (originally the third, fourth, and fifth) which are not often printed in modern hymnals.

For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to thee:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be thy Name adored.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, thee we glorify.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

Though this hymn is generally linked with All Saints' Day it has also been sung on individual saints' days. In some early printings of the hymn, instructions indicated that one of these three stanzas could be sung depending on the status (Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr) of the saint being commemorated.

How's text first appeared with music in the Sarum Hymnal (1868), where, as I've mentioned before, it was matched to a tune by Joseph Barnby, also called SARUM, which survived well into the twentieth century. Church Hymns (1874), interestingly, sets it to an Anglican chant tune. Charles Villiers Stanford wrote the tune ENGELBERG for this text in the 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, which might have caught on, but two years later, Ralph Vaughan Williams's tune SINE NOMINE appeared in his English Hymnal. SINE NOMINE (literally, “without a name”) is thought to suggest the thousands of saints whose names are unknown to us.

SINE NOMINE did not catch on immediately, but by the mid-twentieth century it had generally come to be considered the standard tune for this hymn. Hymns Ancient and Modern resisted the trend, perhaps seeing The English Hymnal as their primary competitor, and matched For all the saints with four different tunes in their 1950 edition (including ENGELBERG and SARUM) but not with SINE NOMINE! However, by 1983, when their New Standard edition was published they finally conceded and used the Vaughan Williams tune, with no alternate suggestions.


One Year Ago: The Feast of All Saints

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, born today in 1872, is probably known by more people for his hymn tunes than for the many other forms of music he wrote. Unlike some of the youthful prodigies we have seen, most of his music was written after the age of thirty, though he had earlier studied with composers such as C.H.H. Parry and Maurice Ravel.

In addition to hymn tunes, his music for voice spanned from art songs and simple church anthems to longer choral works and eventually to four operas. This selection was not originally written as a hymn; it comes from his Five Mystical Songs (1911), which were set to texts of George Herbert, the seventeenth century British priest and poet. The tune of the first stanza of the song is used for all three in this adaptation.

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a way as gives us breath;
Such a truth as ends all strife,
Such a life as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a light as shows a feast,
Such a feast as mends in length,
Such a strength as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a joy as none can move,
Such a love as none can part,
Such a heart as joys in love.

George Herbert, 1633
Tune: THE CALL (7.7.7.7.)
Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1911

As predicted last year, we have seen a number of other Vaughan Williams hymn tunes and there are definitely more to come.

One Year Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

One Year Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

One Year Ago: Healey Willan

P.S. - this is post #300! Never really though about getting so far in a bit less than two years.

Isaac Watts

We have come around again to the birthday of the "Father of English Hymnody," Isaac Watts. Writer of more than 700 hymns, Watts has inspired much scholarship and commentary beyond what I customarily summarize here.

One aspect of his work that I find intriguing is his verse for teaching children. An important part of children's education at the time included lessons in correct behavior, and children would memorize verses to help in this training. One of Watts's most popular books, Divine and Moral Songs for Children (1715) contained a poem entitled "Against Idleness and Mischief" which began:

How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

This particular poem was so familiar to generations of schoolchildren that Lewis Carroll could satirize it in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland a hundred and fifty years later and know that his readers would understand the joke.

How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!

Another one hundred and fifty years later, and it's now Carroll's satire that's better remembered than the original by Isaac Watts. However, there is another poem from Divine and Moral Songs for Children that we do still know -- now considered one of Watts's greatest hymns. There it was titled "Praise for Creation and Providence."

I sing the mighty power of God,
That made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad,
And built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained
The sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at God’s command,
And all the stars obey.

I sing the goodness of the Lord,
Who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures with a word,
And then pronounced them good.
God, how thy wonders are displayed,
Where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread,
Or gaze upon the sky.

There’s not a plant or flower below,
But makes thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow,
By order from thy throne;
While all that borrows life from thee
Is ever in thy care;
And everywhere that we can be,
Thou, God, art present there.

Isaac Watts, 1715; alt.
Tune: FOREST GREEN (C.M.D.)
English traditional melody,
arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

This hymn has endured some changes here and there over the last three hundred years, as have many of those of Watts and his contemporaries. Watts would still recognize his verse, though he might be surprised that the grownups have appropriated it from the children.

One of the speakers at this week's Hymn Society Conference included this text in his presentation and suggested that we sing it to the tune ELLACOMBE. You will not be surprised, perhaps, to hear that a roomful of three hundred people immediately broke into the four-part harmony without accompaniment or the printed music.

Now One Bread United

My countdown here is finished today with the final revelation -- my favorite hymn. I'm a bit sad that, due to the peculiarity of US copyright law**, I don't think I should reproduce it here. But here's a link to the original.

As the disciples, when thy Son had left them

Percy Dearmer, 1931
Tune: DIVA SERVATRIX (11.11.11.5.)
Bayeux Antiphoner, 1739

I've thought it was practically perfect since the first time I sang it many years ago, as it links the earliest followers of Jesus with us in the present day in a truly beautiful succession of poetic images. Unfortunately it is not widely known, especially in this country. My preferred tune (AD TUUM NOMEN, another French church melody) is also unavailable, the arrangement, if not the melody, also under copyright -- it appeared in the Reformed hymnal Rejoice in the Lord (1985).

Percy Dearmer was an Anglican priest (later Canon of Westminster Abbey) who worked with Ralph Vaughan Williams on both Songs of Praise (1931) and the earlier English Hymnal (1906). He translated hymns from Latin and also wrote several hymns of his own, in addition to writing several other books on religious and social justice topics.

I think that this hymn is probably considered insufficiently doctrinal (no "body and blood," for example) for some denominations. The sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, or whatever it may be called, is more than a "commemoration" to many. Also, it may be that the word "rehearsing" at the end of the first verse is problematic for some. Rehearsal implies "not ready for prime time" -- we don't "rehearse" the sacraments - we perform them! I don't think that's what Dearmer had in mind -- the first definition in some dictionaries is simply "to repeat." That's what the disciples did then and what we still do today. There may be another sense to it though; there are other communion hymns that talk about our rite being only a pale reflection of the heavenly Feast we will one day share (the "foretaste of the festal joy"). In this sense too, we are only "rehearsing" for that day.
At any rate, I am fairly sure that this hymn will not appear on the top 100 list at Semicolon. Of the rest of my own list below. we know that Number Three came in at Number Ninety-Nine, and Number Six came in at Number Eighty-Three. I also don't think that Numbers Four, Five, and Ten will appear at all, while Number Eight has a pretty remote chance. Numbers Two, Seven, and Nine should come up somewhere in the remaining sixty-seven, but I'll have to wait and see. This is not a great batting average (as if I knew anything about those!).

10. Jerusalem the golden

9. Abide with me, fast falls the eventide

8. Spirit of God, descend upon my heart

7. Crown thee with many crowns

6. O worship our God

5. The spacious firmament on high

4. Who are these like stars appearing

3. Glorious things of thee are spoken

2. Love divine, all loves excelling

1. As the disciples. when thy Son had left them

**It's by a British hymnwriter and editor, first appeared in a UK hymnal (Songs of Praise - 1931), and appears to be out of copyright in the UK (75 years after the author's death), but since the hymnal's publisher simultaneously published in the US, it seems that it won't be in the US public domain until 2026.