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This Sunday, the choir are singing a hymn-anthem by Healey Willan “Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates.”

As I went through the text, I couldn't help but notice all the “extra” words included in the Willan anthem. The text in the Hymnal 1982 is very familiar to me, but I wondered what the source of all the extra verses was.

In the Chorale Book for England, Catherine Winkworth writes stanzas of eight verses each in her English translation. The first four verses work as Long Meter (8.8.8.8), the final four verses are a more unusual meter of 8.8.6.6, so setting the entire hymn works perfectly with the chorale Macht hoch die Tür (8.8.8.8.8.8.6.6), but changes have to be made if it is set to the long meter, Truro.

There is something exuberant about the shorter phrase lengths at the end of this chorale. The sense of the hymn can be gleaned from the version in the Hymnal 1982, but in addition to all the lost text, the joyful effect of whittling down to these final two phrases is lost in translation.

The change that was made in the version in the Hymnal 1982 version (Hymn 436) is that much of each original stanza is ommited, so that everything fits into 8.8.8.8 meter. In the version below, I have bolded the sections from the original that are omitted in the Hymnal 1982 version.

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates,
Behold the King of glory waits;
The King of kings is drawing near,
The Saviour of the world is here;
Life and salvation doth He bring,
Wherefore rejoice and gladly sing:
We praise Thee, Father, now!
Creator, wise art Thou!

The Lord is just, a Helper tried,
Mercy is ever at His side,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His sceptre, pity in distress,
The end of all our woe He brings;
Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:
We praise Thee, Saviour, now,
Mighty in deed art Thou!

Oh blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the Ruler is confest!
Oh happy hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless Sun of joy He is,
Who bringeth pure delight and bliss:
O Comforter Divine,
What boundless grace is Thine!

Fling wide the portals of your heart,
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for Heaven's employ,
Adorn'd with prayer and love and joy;
So shall your Sovereign enter in,
And new and nobler life begin:
To Thee, O God, be praise,
For word and deed and grace!

Redeemer, come! I open wide
My heart to Thee,--here, Lord, abide!
Let me Thy inner presence feel,
Thy grace and love in me reveal,
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won!
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.

As you can see, portions of the fourth and fifth stanas become joined to make the concluding stanza in the Hymnal 1982 version.

So come, my Sovereign; enter in!
Let new and nobler life begin;
thy Holy Spirit guide us on,
until the glorious crown be won.

Labels: Catherine Winkworth, Healey Willan, Hymn 436