I am leading the music at an ordination to the priesthood tonight, which is something I have not done in a number of years.
I have attended a few ordinations since then, however, and I have noticed something about the music at the consecration of the priest. This part of the liturgy begins with specific music. The rubrics of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) require one of two hymns to be sung here: the Veni Creator Spiritus, or the Veni Sancte Spiritus.
The hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, or the hymn, Veni Sancte Spiritus, is sung.
Specific hymns are mentioned in the rubrics sparingly, other instances being Palm Sunday (“All glory, laud, and honor”) and Good Friday (“sing my tongue, the glorious battle”), though neither of these is required.
It is worthwhile to note several things about this:
- There are only two options, and both are named in the rubric (unlike Palm Sunday or Good Friday, nothing else may be sung instead).
- Both hymns are associated with the Day of Pentecost: Veni Creator Spiritus is a proper hymn sung at Terce and Vespers; Veni Sancte Spiritus is a sequence for the Mass.
- The rubric requires that a hymn be sung, but it does not specify who sings it.
There are certainly options for both hymns in congregational resources in the Episcopal Church. But if we parse the rubric a bit, perhaps this does not preclude one of the hymns from being sung by the choir alone, or perhaps by a cantor? Indeed, the traditional plainsong melody of Veni Creator Spiritus sung in the original Latin could be sung by a choir or a solo cantor.
It has been my experience at every ordination I have attended in the Episcopal Church that the music sung here is invariably Veni Sancte Spiritus by Jacques Berthier (1923-1994) from the Taizé Community. For better or for worse, this is undoubtedly music of its time and place. But the only words that end up in the mouths of the congregation is the three-word refrain "Veni Sancte Spiritus." More often than not, in my experience, the optional cantor parts (which provide the remaining words of the hymn, in English) are omitted. If they are sung, they may not be clearly understood or even printed for the congregation to read. The effect is contemplative and can be a very spiritual invocation of the Holy Spirit for many. But is it rubrical? When the cantor part is left off, probably not.
The Hymnal 1982 provides three options for singing Veni Sancte Spiritus in English and in its fullness.
- Hymn 226 - Veni Sancte Spiritus. This is a traditional plainsong sequence in Mode 1 from the Dubliner Troper. The words begin, “Come, thou Holy Spirit bright,” a translation by Charles Price.
- Hymn 227 - Arbor Street. A snaking 20th century tune by William Albright that melds chromatic slithers with fifths and octaves. The words are also by Price.
- Hymn 228 - Webbe. An 18th century tune. The translation here begins, “Holy Spirit, font of light,” and is by John Webster Grant.
I genuinely like the first tune, but I think the latter are problematic for an ordination:
Hymn 227 (Arbor Street) is intentionally inaccessible. It is one of a handful of outlandish tunes by Albright that were included in the Hymnal 1982. I don't believe I've ever had occasion to use this tune. I do enjoy the Albright tunes Albright (for Communion) and Petra (for Eastertide), both of which I've used with choirs and congregations.
Hymn 228 (Webbe)—and here's where my general feeling is perhaps shaped by always having sung the Taizé music at the consecration—is just too boring. This is a special moment in the liturgy and it seems to demand something to fit the moment. I just don't think this standard hymn is it. Maybe my prejudice is misplaced, but I think Hymn 228 could easily be tuned out as "just another hymn." The moment seems to demand something special.
That leaves us with Hymn 226 (Veni Sancte Spiritus). This tune is about a thousand years old, so it immediately links us with the longer tradition of the church. This plainsong sequence was first included in the Hymnal 1940. And, as is often the case, we've lost something from the Hymnal 1940 that can greatly benefit a congregation's participation in this hymn. A footnote at the bottom of this hymn in that hymnal reads: “The stanzas may be sung by alternating groups, changing at each repeat mark.” I was gratified to find this suggestion here, because it was an idea I had arrived at on my own when considering how this hymn might be sung.
The plainsong sequence Veni Creator Spiritus has unique phrases, but each one repeats. So the musical form for six stanzas could be rendered as AA BB CC DD EE FF. Some of the stanzas share common musical elements, but each one is distinct.
Rather than overwhelm a congregation with six different stanzas of different music, why not have the choir introduce each phrase of the hymn and have the congregation join in thereafter? So the choir would sing the first A (“Come, thou Holy Spirit bright”), and the congregation would join in for the repeat of A (“Come, protector of the poor”). I have added rubrics for “Choir” and “All,” also bolding the text that the congregation sings to add clarity.
The Hymnal 1940 prints repeat signs, but I think it's more clear for a modern congregation to simply follow a continuous line of music and not have to look back. The tradeoff, for avid music readers, is the inability to see at a glance that the music of each phrase is a literal repeat.
Here's a sample of what the congregation will sing from tonight:
I'm happy to share this with any colleagues who could use it. Please contact me if you would like a copy.
I also particularly enjoy the content of what we're singing about, especially in one of the hottest weeks of the year: “In our labor, be our aid; / in our summer cooling shade.”
This hymn also speaks to the winter months: “Bend the stubborn heart and will; / melt the frozen, warm the chill”
After the hymn invokes the extreme ranges in temperature on this planet, it culminates in a petition that involves the whole universe.
Grant us thy salvation, Lord, boundless mercy our reward, joys which earth and heaven entwine.
Labels: Gregorian chant, Hymn 226, Hymn 227, Hymn 228, Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982, ordination, Veni Sancte Spiritus
In short, no.
Nor could we celebrate Easter without the sun, for Easter requires both the sun and the moon.
The date of Easter, which is always different from year to year, is derived from the interaction of the earth's rotation around the sun (the vernal equinox), the lunar cycle (the full moon), and our calendar (Sunday).
And at first blush, maybe it seems a little weird that we need the heavenly bodies to tell us when to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
But Jesus Christ became incarnate on this very earth and under this same sun and this same moon, the "greater light" and the "lesser light" mentioned in Genesis 1:16.
A star in Matthew 2 heralds Jesus' birth, so is it incongruous that Christians would think to celebrate his resurrection by an annual astronomical calculation?
This year, the total solar eclipse on the Monday following the Octave of Easter (called Easter Week in the Book of Common Prayer) has sent my eyes and my thoughts heavenward.
How marvelous is it that, having done their annual dance leading up to Easter Day, the two converge for a spectacular and rare astronomic display on Eastertide's first "regular" day?
I might be reading too much into this. But it's hard not to when the Daily Office readings for this week give us this:
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. (I Corinthians 15:41)
Yes, each has a glory, and many will behold their glory on April 8, 2024.
But even in the face of the sheer spectacularity of a solar eclipse, scripture calls us to remember the nature of these created bodies and that they, too, shall pass away. In the little apocalypses in Matthew and Mark, the sun, moon, and stars all fail. In Revelation (and in many Advent Carol Services that include the music of Paul Manz), we are reminded that "…the [New Jerusalem] has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb." (Revelation 21:23).
Still, Christianity has proved we cannot resist these signs. Not in our keeping of calendars and feasts. Not in the Church's song.
And so I revisit here some thoughts on our sun and moon in song first published for the last great American solar eclipse in 2017.
It’s interesting to look closely at the processional cross used at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, St. Louis, and find both the sun and the moon peering out at you in the midst of the four Evangelists.
And why shouldn't they be on the cross of Christ? The date of Easter, the central mystery of the Christian faith, is determined by both the sun and the moon. It is the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox (see page 880 of the Book of Common Prayer).
And just as the sun and moon appear together on this church's cross, they often appear together in the Church's song.
St. Patrick (372-466) invokes these two bodies in his glorious hymn of praise to the Holy Trinity
I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven the glorious sun’s life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
Hymn 370 (all hymn numbers in this essay refer to the Hymnal 1982), translated by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)
A few centuries later, an anonymous office hymn for Vespers, “Caeli Deus sanctissimae” has the natural order of day and night as one of its themes. It’s second and third stanzas receive a glorious free translation from Anne LeCroy in the Hymnal 1982.
Quarto die qui flammeam solis rotam consituens, lunae ministras orini vagos recursus siderum, Ut noctibus vel lumini diremptionis terminum, primordiis et mensium signum dares notissimum:
for you the dazzling star shines forth which in its gleaming path declares the wonders of your glorious power, And beckons us to worship you. The day departs, the evening stars serenely light the darkening sky; the moon with cool reflected glow will bring the silences of night.
Hymn 31 and 32. (I find the hymn tune Dunedin at Hymn 31 particularly irresistible with these words.)
The sun and the moon provided great inspiration to another beloved Christian figure and hymn writer St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voices, let us sing: Alleluia! Alleluia! Bright burning sun with golden beams, pale silver moon that gently gleams,
Hymn 400, tr. William H. Draper (1855-1933), alt.
Episcopalians get to enjoy not one, but two translations of St. Francis’s marvelous text. A less commonly sung version by Howard Chandler Robbins (1876-1952) is found at Hymns 406 and 407. I have a great fondness for the hymn texts of Robbins, who was a Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.
My Lord be praised by brother sun who through the skies his course doth run, and shines in brilliant splendor: with brightness he doth fill the day, and signifies thy boundless sway. My Lord be praised by sister moon and all the stars, that with her soon will point the glittering heavens. Let wind and air and cloud and calm and weathers all, repeat the psalm.
There’s so much to admire in this language! “Signifies” – who knew that could be such a musical word? And in the moon stanza: the use of the verb “point”. The final sentence contains a chain of natural elements culminating in the peculiar “weathers”. There is much to savor here.
And the Calvin Hampton hymn tune “Lukkason” at Hymn 407 has much to recommend it.
John Mitlon (1608-1674) dresses up these spheres with some nifty descriptions in an often overlooked paraphrase of Psalm 136.
He the golden-tressèd sun caused all day his course to run: The hornèd moon to shine by night, mid her spangled sisters bright:
Hymn 389
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) has a particularly florid paraphrase of Psalm 19:1-6
The unwearied sun from day to day does his Creator’s power display;
And in the second stanza he begins with the moon:
Soon as the evening shades prevail, the moon takes up the wondrous tale, and nightly to the listening earth repeats the story of her birth:… and it concludes gloriously with stars and planets.
whilst all the stars that round her burn, and all the planets in their turn, confirm the tidings, as they roll and spread the truth from pole to pole.
Hymn 409
Isaac Watts (1674-1748), the “Father of English hymnody,” included the sun and the moon in several of his hymns.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day; the moon shines full at his command, and all the stars obey.
Hymn 398
Growing up in the Presbyterian church, it seemed as though we sang “Jesus shall reign” every other week! And yet, I still never tire of it.
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun doth his successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Hymn 544
Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) is the author of that beloved Anglican hymn text “Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,” with that achingly glorious concluding stanza
Angels, help us to adore him; ye behold him face to face; sun and moon, bow down before him, dwellers all in time and space”
Hymn 410
The familiar hymn "Fairest Lord Jesus" begins with earthly comparisons (Jesus, of course, outshines them all), and then reaches heavenward to drive it's point home.
Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling, starry host: Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, than all the angels heaven can boast.
Hymn 383, German composite; tr. pub. New York, 1850, alt.
Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917), wrote an enduring hymn of thanksgiving for creation, “For the beauty of the earth” when he was twenty-nine years old.
For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light,
Hymn 416.
Some marvelous twentieth-century texts have looked heavenward as well. In the era of space exploration, some of these texts take on a more “scientific” feel.
One of my very favorite hymns, which we don’t sing often enough is "Creating God, your fingers trace". The phrase “farthest space” could only appear in the age of space exploration when congregations could really conceive of what that might mean.
Creating God, your fingers trace the bold designs of farthest space; Let sun and moon and stars and light and what lies hidden praise your might.
Hymns 394 and 395, Jeffrey Rowthorn (b. 1934)
Labels: Easter, Hymnal 1982, hymns, science and nature
Many Episcopal organists, myself included, cannot resist a nod or two toward “Reformation Day” when Sunday falls on October 31. Lutherans celebrate this day when, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg.
Did you know? Not many people are familiar with all 95 Theses. For instance, did you know that Thesis 47 is actually about the superiority of mechanical-action organs? Luther preferred them to electric-action.
Maybe I’m more inclined than some to do this; I served as organist for a Lutheran congregation for two years in graduate school.
But truth is there’s never a bad time for Episcopalians all to express some appreciation to Luther and the hymn tradition that sprung up with the Reformation. Our Hymnal 1982 is indded indebted to this hymn tradition.
Hymn 688: “A mighty fortress is our God” is sometimes dubbed “The Battle Hymn of the Reformation,” but it turns out that’s not really how Luther thought of it at all.
Read: Hymn of the Week: October 31 - Hymn 687/688: “A mighty fortress is our God” on the Diocese of Missouri website.
Labels: Hymn 687/8, Hymnal 1982, Martin Luther
Songs in the Desert (songsinthedesert.org) is a collaborative conversation about Christian hymns which comes out every weekday in Lent.
Each episode is around five minutes and comes from a different contributor.
This was the final week of the project for this year, and I am so deeply grateful to everyone who submitted episodes and who listened to the podcast.
This week, we heard episodes on
- The Feast of St. Joseph - David Ouzts, Minister of Music and Liturgy at Church of the Holy Communion, Memphis, Tenn., on "By the Creator, Joseph was appointed," a hymn specifically included for the Feast of St. Joseph in the Hymnal 1982.
- Tuesday - Alec Peters, a member of West Raliegh Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, N.C., on "What wondrous love is this".
- Wednesday - Suzanne Daniel, Organist and Choir Director at Grace, Yorktown, Va., on "A stable lamp is lighted".
- Thursday - The Rev. Ian Lasch, Associate Rector at St. Peter's, St. Louis, Mo. and co-host of the podcast "All Things Rite & Musical", on "Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle".
- Friday - Westley Hodges, Director of Music at the Annunciation of Our Lady, Gurnee, Ill. and co-editor of Church Music Forward, on "Now let us rise and hymn the grace".
If you would, please take two minutes to complete our Songs in the Desert listener survey. We'd love to know what you've thought of this project.
Many have asked what's next for Songs in the Desert. Based on the positive response and strong interest in our Lent 2018 podcast, we are definitely planning to return next Lent. But we're open to other ideas (and assistance!) too! Get in touch via the survey, or just email David Sinden at dsinden@gmail.com
Labels: Hymnal 1982, Lent, Songs in the Desert
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Episcopal Church,
If you're like me, there's a word you've been singing incorrectly every All Saints' Day.
In stanza 2 of William Walsham How's brilliant hymn "For all the saints", the The Hymnal 1982 appears to be in error.
Most hymnals have it as:
"thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light."
But the Hymnal 1982 renders it "the one true Light."
I hesitate to point this out to everyone, except, wait, no I don't.
And on one of the Principal Feast Days of the Episcopal Church, it behooves us to get it right. Doesn't it?
So, what does it matter? "The one true light" versus "their one true light"?
It seems to me that given a choice most Episcopalians would vastly prefer the second phrase!
But the words appear as "the one true light" not only in the Hymnal 1982 but also in its predecessor, the Hymnal 1940. You can also find the same phrase in the Hymnal 1916.
In the Hymnal 1871 it was rendered "the Light of light". This was about seven years after the hymn was first published.
It is in the successor to the 1871 book, the Hymnal 1892, that the change to "the one true Light" first appears in an Episcopal hymnal (view it here).
So why the reason for the change? Was this a mistake that was made in 1892 and never corrected?
And what were Bishop How's original words anyway? Hymns seem to take a while to "settle" sometimes. It's worth noting that the familiar Christmas hymn "Hark! the herald angels sing" emerged from Charles Wesley's pen with the almost unrecognizable first line "HARK how all the Welkin rings".
Despite the text given within the body of the Wikipedia article for this hymn, "For All the Saints", it seems likely to me that the original phrase was "Light of light." (The image accompanying the article includes this phrase).
A cursory examination of images on Hymnary.org reveals that at mid-century, most hymnals were split between "Light of light" and "their one true light"
In any case, the phrase "the one true light" in Episcopal hymnals since 1892 seems to be an outlier.
As we approach the "Hymnal 2024" do we want to choose the older phrase, "their Light of light", the more ubiquitous "their one true light", or simply preserve the uniquely Episcopal "the one true light"?
What do you think? Discuss.
I've surely heard this hymn in recording dozens of times, but it wasn't until hearing the broadcast of this week's Evensong from Salisbury Cathedral that I really noticed the discrepancy.
Labels: Hymn 287, Hymnal 1982, William Walsham How
At rehearsal tonight someone asked a question about Hymn 307 in the Hymnal 1982: is it supposed to be "thou art here" or "thou are here?". The hymnal prints it both ways at the conclusion of stanza 2.
There are little inconsistencies like this all through the hymnal. Some are musical, some are textual. Some occur in early editions but are fixed in later ones. But it's like a big scavenger hunt figuring out where they are and what the correct answers are.
Isn't it time we had a centralized location for all these things we've learned about this hymnal in its 32 year history?
I think so.
That's why I hope you'll join me in helping to create a Hymnal 1982 Errata.
What mistakes have you found? What do other Episcopal choirs (and congregations, ack!) need to know about?
Let's work together on a list.
It will live as a Google Document until we feel like it might be ready for more formal distribution.
Please add your suggestions in the comments below, or send me an email (dsinden@gmail.com)
You can view the current version of the document here: Hymnal 1982 Errata (Google Doc)
Labels: Hymnal 1982
The total solar eclipse in the United States on Monday, August 21 will be quite an event. And it’s one that seemingly everyone is already talking about.
Why is this astronomical event such a big deal to us? I mean, we live in an age when we can carry around supercomputers in our pockets. (And these same supercomputers can tell us exactly how much of the eclipse we’ll be experiencing based on our precise location).
Are we really going to look up from our smartphones and gaze heavenward on Monday?
Well, if and when we do, we’ll be joining in one of those great human acts: pondering the mystery and majesty of the natural world.
For centuries, Christians have had a tendency to look up to these celestial bodies in their song. They are part of our world and part of God’s creation. Their movement orders our days and our lives and therefore our worship of almighty God. So, let's take a look at some of the hymns found in the Hymnal 1982.
It’s interesting to look closely at the processional cross used at St. Peter’s, St. Louis, and find both the sun and the moon peering out at you in the midst of the four Evangelists.
And why shouldn't they be on the cross of Christ? The date of Easter, the central mystery of the Christian faith, is determined by both the sun and the moon. It is the Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox (see page 880 of the Book of Common Prayer).
St. Patrick (372-466) invokes these two bodies in his glorious hymn of praise to the Holy Trinity
I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven the glorious sun’s life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
Hymn 370 (all hymn numbers in this essay refer to the Hymnal 1982), translated by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)
A few centuries later, an anonymous office hymn for Vespers, “Caeli Deus sanctissimae” has the natural order of day and night as one of its themes. It’s second and third stanzas receive a glorious free translation from Anne LeCroy in the Hymnal 1982.
Quarto die qui flammeam solis rotam consituens, lunae ministras orini vagos recursus siderum, Ut noctibus vel lumini diremptionis terminum, primordiis et mensium signum dares notissimum:
for you the dazzling star shines forth which in its gleaming path declares the wonders of your glorious power, And beckons us to worship you. The day departs, the evening stars serenely light the darkening sky; the moon with cool reflected glow will bring the silences of night.
Hymn 31 and 32. (I find the hymn tune Dunedin at Hymn 31 particularly irresistible with these words.)
The sun and the moon provided great inspiration to another beloved Christian figure and hymn writer St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voices, let us sing: Alleluia! Alleluia! Bright burning sun with golden beams, pale silver moon that gently gleams,
Hymn 400, tr. William H. Draper (1855-1933), alt.
Episcopalians get to enjoy not one, but two translations of St. Francis’s marvelous text. A less commonly sung version by Howard Chandler Robbins (1876-1952) is found at Hymns 406 and 407. I have a great fondness for the hymn texts of Robbins, who was a Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York.
My Lord be praised by brother sun who through the skies his course doth run, and shines in brilliant splendor: with brightness he doth fill the day, and signifies thy boundless sway. My Lord be praised by sister moon and all the stars, that with her soon will point the glittering heavens. Let wind and air and cloud and calm and weathers all, repeat the psalm.
There’s so much to admire in this language! “Signifies” – who knew that could be such a musical word? And in the moon stanza: the use of the verb “point”. The final sentence contains a chain of natural elements culminating in the peculiar “weathers”. There is much to savor here.
And the Calvin Hampton hymn tune “Lukkason” at Hymn 407 has much to recommend it.
John Mitlon (1608-1674) dresses up these spheres with some nifty descriptions in an often overlooked paraphrase of Psalm 136.
He the golden-tressèd sun caused all day his course to run: The hornèd moon to shine by night, mid her spangled sisters bright:
Hymn 389
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) has a particularly florid paraphrase of Psalm 19:1-6
The unwearied sun from day to day does his Creator’s power display;
And in the second stanza he begins with the moon:
Soon as the evening shades prevail, the moon takes up the wondrous tale, and nightly to the listening earth repeats the story of her birth:… and it concludes gloriously with stars and planets.
whilst all the stars that round her burn, and all the planets in their turn, confirm the tidings, as they roll and spread the truth from pole to pole.
Hymn 409
Isaac Watts (1674-1748), the “Father of English hymnody,” included the sun and the moon in several of his hymns.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day; the moon shines full at his command, and all the stars obey.
Hymn 398
Growing up in the Presbyterian church, it seemed as though we sang “Jesus shall reign” every other week!
Jesus shall reign where’er the sun doth his successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.
Hymn 544
Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) is the author of that beloved Anglican hymn text “Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,” with that achingly glorious concluding stanza
Angels, help us to adore him; ye behold him face to face; sun and moon, bow down before him, dwellers all in time and space”
Hymn 410
The familiar hymn "Fairest Lord Jesus" begins with earthly comparisons (Jesus, of course, outshines them all), and then reaches heavenward to drive it's point home.
Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling, starry host: Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, than all the angels heaven can boast.
Hymn 383, German composite; tr. pub. New York, 1850, alt.
Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917), wrote an enduring hymn of thanksgiving for creation, “For the beauty of the earth” when he was twenty-nine years old.
For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light,
Hymn 416.
Some marvelous twentieth-century texts have looked heavenward as well. In the era of space exploration, some of these texts take on a more “scientific” feel.
One of my very favorite hymns, which we don’t sing often enough is "Creating God, your fingers trace". The phrase “farthest space” could only appear in the age of space exploration when congregations could really conceive of what that might mean.
Creating God, your fingers trace the bold designs of farthest space; Let sun and moon and stars and light and what lies hidden praise your might.
Hymns 394 and 395, Jeffrey Rowthorn (b. 1934)
Labels: Hymnal 1982, hymns, science and nature
For the last several years I've always sat up a little straighter when I hear the opening hymn at the annual Meditation on the Passion of Christ from St. John's, Cambridge. (link to 2016 service webcast).
The organ is blaring, the voices are full, the sound is thrilling. And no small part of it is the harmonization from the English Hymnal which is by J. S. Bach.
The hymn is "All glory, laud, and honor", which we all know well. Probably too well, even though we only get around to it once a year. Probably part of my reaction to this sound from St. John's is that the character is somewhat different from the Teschner/Monk harmonization in the Hymnal 1982.
The harmony is, well... it's more Bach, of course. There's more drama in the bass line; there are more leading tones. It's more visceral. There's more soul. Or something.
So, this year we're trying the English Hymnal harmony. I finally buckled down to edit the Hymnal 1982 words and melody (note that it is slightly different than the way the tune appears in the English Hymnal) to utilize utilise the English Hymnal harmonies.
And, as a small offering to the Church, it's available to you just in time for Wednesday or Thursday night choir rehearsal to try it out. Enjoy.
Hymn 154: "All glory, laud, and honor" with English Hymnal harmony (PDF)
Labels: Bach, English Hymnal, Holy Week, Hymn 154, Hymnal 1982, Palm Sunday
Really the word "hymn" refers to the words. But for most people the music comes to mind just as quickly, if not more so.
Of course, a congregation needs both words and music to sing a hymn. Otherwise I guess they could just mumble some poetry together, or, alternatively, hum something for a while.
Note to self: write some intentionally wordless hymns. Approach publishers.
But sometimes a melody is written for words that so encapsulates their sentiment that the result is stirring, compelling, and nothing short of miraculous: a triumph of the great symbiotic art of hymnody.
Words
Walter Russell Bowie's two hymn texts are provocative and "have been judged as among the finest by an American author written in the first half of this century" (Hymnal 1982 Companion). They are "Lord Christ, when first thou cam'st to earth", and "O holy city, seen of John".
Walter Russell Bowie was a Social Gospel progressive who was baptized at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia in 1883 (just 21 years after Jefferson Davis was baptized there). He would serve as rector of the parish from 1911-1923. Just prior to assuming this rectorship, Bowie was asked for a hymn based on Revelation 21 by Henry Sloane Coffin for the collection Hymns of the Kingdom of God (1910). The result is "O holy city, seen of John".
One of Bowie's stanzas, however, seems not to have been handed down in most versions of the hymn. It appears in the original hymn text as stanza 2:
Hark, how from men whose lives are held more cheap than merchandise; from women struggling sore for bread, from little children's cries, there swells the sobbing human plaint that bids thy walls arise!
Music
I'm particularly fascinated with the connection between Howells and the marvelous words of Bowie because Howells is, quite simply, my favorite composer of twentieth century church music, and I was the organist of St. Paul's, Richmond for five years (2010-2015). It was a delight to relish this tune (and sing it often) in a parish so closely linked with Bowie.
I have written before about the two Herbert Howells hymn tunes for the both of the published hymn texts of Walter Russell Bowie (Bowie, Walter Russell - connection to Herbert Howells). Mostly, I wrote of my perplexity that the tune in the Hymnal 1982 for Bowie's "Lord Christ" is in a major key (Hymn 598)! But today, on Howells's birthday, no less, I want to turn to the other tune, SANCTA CIVITAS.
Howells's tune, written in 1962, is extraordinary. In fact, Erik Routley, the prolific church music scholar, names it one of "Six Great Moments in Twentieth-century Hymn Music"
- Vaughan Williams's KING'S WESTON, found at Hymn 435 (this article refers to hymns in the Hymnal 1982)
- Cyril Vincint Taylor's ABBOT'S LEIGH, found at Hymn 523
- A tune by Jean Langlais: DIEU NOUS AVONS VU TO GLOIRE (um, does anyone know this one?)
- Herbert Howells's SANCTA CIVITAS, found at Hymn 582 (but not completely)
- Michael Dawney's FELINFOEL (yeah, no idea about this one either)
- And Richard Dirksen's VINEYARD HAVEN, found at Hymns 392 and 557
Tangent: Routley's work on hymns is always provocative. Of the six he names three are "bestsellers", one is mostly hiding in plain sight (Howells), and two of them I've never heard, nor can I find. There's more here to research, as always!
Howells's name for the tune, SANCTA CIVITAS, is Latin for "Holy City," making the text-tune connection clear. But more than that, the name is surely a reference to the large choral work by Vaughan Williams with that name. It was, after all, a close encounter with Vaughan Williams himself at the 1910 Three Choirs Festival that set Howells firmly on the path of being a composer.
Howells manages the melodic modality masterfully, with the music meandering from D minor to an F Major finish. The intervening notes between stanzas (they are in the original hymn but, most unfortunately, edited out of the Hymnal 1982) raise the Tonic to the Mediant so that the successive stanza can fall into place without a hitch.
There is what I believe to be an intentional seamlessness to the hymn accompaniment that arises when these inter-stanza passing tones are used (as in the wonderful recording from St. Clement embedded above). This is up to interpretation, to some degree. I can find another recording that does not treat the accompaniment this way.
If the "seamless" approach is what Howells had in mind, this is by no means a new technique, though it is an innovation on it. Think of the hymn tune ENGELBERG, written by Stanford, Howells's mentor, in 1904. The single, solitary "thump" allows the hymn accompaniment to be continuous, which has the affect of somewhat blurring the line between the strophic hymn form and something through-composed. And this is, in fact, the common modern-day performance practice with this tune. Howells's innovation is to simply expand that pedal thump into a treble "doo-doo" — which, incidentally, builds more time into the "join" between the stanzas for a breath but without making the interlude needlessly fussy.
Still with me? Good, because we haven't even brought up the final stanza yet. Howells gives this text the full treatment with a slightly altered harmonization and supremely musical descant. Not a single note is wasted, and the sopranos' expertise is fully demanded — this is not a trivial sing! But the result, to my ear, is so completely and utterly thrilling.
A melody of great sweep and dignity, with a descant for the final verse [sic] which gives the impression of having been conceived along with the tune and of being a natural efflorescence of it.English Church Music, Royal School of Church Music, 1965
Consider the final stanza and the city that rises "in the mind of God". It is of divine imagination. And this inspired descant catches our souls and flings them heavenward where we chance to dream of things eschatological and that poorly-understood sentiment in the Lord's Prayer "thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven".
The unchurched Howells finds a way to join what we would call Bowie's Anglo-Catholic Socialism if he weren't in fact a Southern Churchman Social Gospelist.
Another thing that is lost in our modern hymnals is editorial direction. Howells, who never fails to give descriptive language, here gives "With warmth, but moving easily". I can't quibble at all with the St. Clement recording above, but I do want to note that it is a choral recording. I think that for a full congregation, the organ will want to provide a bit more "fire" for the warmth. The word "ardente" from the anthem "Like as the hart" comes to mind.
I suspect that, for many parishes, this tune is hiding in plain sight. If we did a survey I think we would find that the American tune on 583 is sung for these words more than 582. And there is precdent for a Howells tune having a slow start. MICHAEL first appeared in The Clarendon Hymnal in 1936 and was neglected for over thirty years. Though it doesn't appear in Routley's "Six Great Moments", it doesn't need to. It exploded in popularity, and it now has a Triple Platinum Hymnal hanging in its living room.
But perhaps SANCTA CIVITAS tends to be overlooked because the Hymnal 1982 doesn't present the hymn tune as Howells intended.
We can fix this.
I implore you in choirs and on organ benches: buy this hymn from Novello, or play it out of Hymns Ancient and Modern.
Your congregations will allow you two little extra notes, I promise.
And Howells wants it that way.
Labels: Dirksen, Engelberg, Henry Sloane Coffin, Howells, hymn, Hymn 392, Hymn 523, Hymn 557, Hymn 582, Hymn 598, Hymnal 1982, Langlais, Routley, St Paul's (Richmond), Stanford, Walter Russell Bowie
Labels: church music, Episcopal, Hymnal 1916, Hymnal 1982, Ray Glover
The 1982 hymnal is now 33 years old, and language, musical taste and theological emphasis has changed profoundly over those years.
So begins the "Explanation" section of resolution D060 of the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church which wrapped up in Salt Lake City this past weekend.
Judging books by their covers
When I was walking into Episcopal chapels and churches for the first time as a high schooler (occupational hazard for a young organist) I did notice the name of the hymnal, and I thought it was a bit odd -- it was strange and too specific.
I remembered well the lovely blue hymnals that the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) produced in 1990. The color, logo, gold embossing -- they were new, yet timeless. They were a welcome update to the dusty maroon The Hymnbook that had littered the pews since 1955. Thirty-five years seemed a decent time to wait for that nice, classic update. But unless you were there for that, you wouldn't really know from the cover of the hymnal when it came out.
In the Episcopal Church the date is stamped right there on the cover.
First there's the definite article, then there's a description of the what the book is, and then there's a year: 1982.
But here's the thing about that date on the cover: that's when General Convention approved the texts of the book, not it's publication date. Even before that 1982 gathering, the chair of the hymnal committee, Raymond F. Glover, knew that it would take more time to finalize and publish the book.
it will take the Commission another three years to prepare music editions. Clover [sic] said he foresees publication of pew and accompaniment editions by the Church Hymnal Corporation late in 1985.Proposed Texts for Revised Hymnal Submitted, Episcopal News Service, 23 July 1982
And wouldn't you know it, he was right! The book bears a copyright date of 1985.
Finding ourselves in the Hymnal
Less than a month after this report from the Episcopal News Service, I was born. So I guess you could say I've grown up with this hymnal, even though I didn't know it very well until I started working with it regularly at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lakewood, Ohio in 2002.
But boy do I love this hymnal. Let me count the ways.
There are beautiful Anglican hymns which I've also sung in other traditions. But in the context of Episcopal worship and use of the The Hymnal 1982 I understood them as the cornerstone of a great, living hymn culture. From the rising lines of "When morning guilds the skies," to the stately "Praise, my soul, the king of heaven," and the sublime "Come, labor on." Then I found the early American strands: "What wondrous love is this," the startlingly beautiful tune RESIGNATION ("My Shepherd will supply my need"), and the rustic, dry, pentatonic liquidity of BOURBON (found at hymns 147 and 675). There are twentieth century tunes, including those by Herbert Howells (MICHAEL and SANCTA CIVITAS) and Calvin Hampton (ST. HELENA, and DE TAR). There are really modern twentieth century tunes, like those of William Albright (PETRUS, ARBOR STREET, and the self referential ALBRIGHT). And some of the service music -- I'm looking at you Richard Felciano -- is almost post-modern.
But I digress. Which is easy to do. There's so much in this book -- 720 hymns, and that doesn't include the Service Music (or the Service Music Appendix, which is only in the accompaniment edition!). I know that we all have our favorites, and I suspect all of my church music colleagues have had great joy in discovering something new in this book.
We find ourselves in this hymnal while we lose ourselves in it. As Thomas Merton said, "art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."
There's plenty of time to talk about this hymnal. It's not going anywhere.
My point is that the more I dove into this book and the more I learned about the Anglican tradition -- it's scriptures (both biblical and non-), traditions, and reasons -- the more this book made sense. And as I worked in the church, I found that I could make more and more sense with the resources of this hymnal within the liturgy.
A Revisionist's Rationale
So let's circle back around to the Explanation for resolution D060, the resolution to Establish a Process for the Revision of the Hymnal 1982 that just passed at General Convention 2015.
The 1982 hymnal is now 33 years old, and language, musical taste and theological emphasis has changed profoundly over those years.
Well, I am the same age as the hymnal.
- Language: I still speak the same language I always have, even though I didn't know how to speak it at first. I learned from my parents, my teachers -- I am still learning. This very hymnal has helped shape some of my language. And yet, we know that our language falls short
Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air; it shines in the light;Hymn 388, Robert Grant (1779-1838)
- Musical taste: I love music. Some of my earliest musical memories are singing hymns in church (a particularly vivid memory of "Fairest Lord Jesus" comes to mind). My tastes haven't changed "profoundly". Many people I know haven't changed their musical tastes profoundly either. I'm not sure what that means -- especially in regard to a hymnal(?). I don't think it's a question of taste.
Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness,
wake your noblest, sweetest strain,
with the praises of your Savior
let his house resound again;
him let all your music honor,
and your songs exalt his reign.
Hymn 492, John Ellerton (1826-1893)
- Theological emphasis: I'm not fully qualified to talk about this. But let me just ask, are we still emphasizing Jesus in the Episcopal Church? Because I think this hymnal does a pretty darn good job of that. What about God and the Holy Spirit? Are we still emphasizing them? The Trinity? The saints? What about the sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist? It's all here.
I could quote the table of contents at this point, but I'll let you look that up yourselves. Try the front of the book.
I think this Explanation based on language, taste, and theology just begins way out in left field.
Couple this with the fact that a recent survey conducted by the Church Pension Group revealed that most people want hymnal revision.
I think the case for revision can be made, but I don't get it from the text of the resolution.
A Realistic Rationale
And yet, perhaps we just need to own up to the fact that the time has come to revise our hymnal. And one of the reasons may as plain as the light of the "day of radiant gladness". We stamped the date "1982" on the cover of this thing, so it was already "three years old" when it hit the pew racks in 1985. (The 1940 does not bear a date on it's cover.)
Let's look at all the dates for a moment, given that all Episcopal hymnals have an official "year".
| Year of Hymnal | Number of years since previous revision |
|---|---|
| 1789 | n/a |
| 1826 | 37 |
| 1871 | 45 |
| 1892 | 21 |
| 1916 | 24 |
| 1940 | 24 |
| 1982 | 42 |
| "2024" | 42 |
The average time that has elapsed between revisions is 32.167 years.
If we take the 42 years that elapsed between the 1940 and the 1982 as a modern model for revision, we would expect to see The Hymnal 2024.
The only time that the Episcopal Church has waited longer to revise was between the 1826 and 1871 hymnals.
One could look at these numbers, and the absence of an all out civil war at present, and suggest that it is high time we do this!
Since we're only coming up with a plan now, however, a plan that would be authorized at the General Convention of 2018 in Austin, Texas, and it may well be that we would take at least until 2027 to approve the book (and maybe publish it around 2030?).
Turning the Page
And so, even though we all have intensely strong feelings about this -- Lord knows I do! -- we press onward with our hymnal revision process.
This is a good thing. The benefit of hindsight lets us see the outliers in The Hymnal 1940, and with some conversation and discernment, I trust that the "Hymnal 2024" committee will also be able see those things that have not stood up well in the current book.
A note on music: I don't think that tastes have radically changed since 1982. I do think, as in the 1940 hymnal, some things made it in to the 1982 hymnal that were a bit more "fashionable" at the time than they are now. But there are some of these more "fashionable" things that, in my judgement, transcend their time period. This is called craftsmanship, and it's something to which all composers aspire.
Words: poetry must reign here. I think the Presbyterians, and to a greater extent the United Church of Christ, erred too much with their push toward "politically correct" hymnody.
I would have my suggestions for hymns in the new book. One might be the possibility that we include a little-known Howells tune for a well-known Advent hymn (and maybe even think about moving it to the Advent section of the book!). There are plenty of things we could borrow from Anglican currents and other more ecumenical eddies. A prime hope of mine is disseminating among the wider church the metaphysical text "How shall I sing that majesty" to the powerful COE FEN.
But the real joy in this revision process will be not what we leave behind, but what we discover. Just ask Bruce Neswick how old he was when he contributed his sweeping key-changer TOMTER to the 1982 collection. Will it be preserved in the new book? Perhaps, perhaps not. But we can be quite sure we will find something just as good that we've never sung before.
This post has been corrected because there is no P in TOMTER.
Labels: Albright, church music, Episcopal Church, Howells, Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982, Hymnal 2024, Neswick, Ray Glover
Please note that if you sing the hymn "Watchman, tell us of the night" at Epiphany, or at any other time of the year, that there is a very serious author/composer synergy available to you.
In the previous edition of the Episcopal Hymnal, the Hymnal 1940, the tune WATCHMAN is one of the two tunes paired with this text. This tune is fondly remembered by at least one parishioner in the parish where I presently serve.
The words are by John Bowring. The music is by Lowell Mason.
Bowring was born in 1792. Mason was also born in 1792.
Bowring died in 1872. Mason also died in 1872.
Clearly the similitude of lifespans is a strong argument for this text-tune pairing.
And this might be notable on its own, but that's not all.
If you sing the hymn "Where is this stupendous stranger?" to the hymn tune ST. THOMAS – as Ana Hernández suggests you do – you'll notice some more hymnodic synergy. (The text and tune are both included separately in the Hymnal 1982).
The tune ST. THOMAS is by John Francis Wade (1711-1786) and harmonized by Vincent Francis Novello (1781-1861). They have the same middle names, and they shared six years on earth.
Epiphany is January 6.
Coincidence? You decide.
Labels: Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982, hymns
There's some marvelous hymnody by a man named Godfrey Thring (1823-1903).
He is the author hymn 454 in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 "Jesus came, adored by angels". The original first line of this hymn is "Jesus came—the heavens adoring".
But this time of year I want to draw attention to his marvelous hymn for an Epiphany procession, "From the eastern mountains". The hymn is included in the English Hymnal of 1906. It contains numerous alliterative turns of phrase in the first part of the hymn.
- wise men in their wisdom
- deep devotion
- There their
- lowly lay
- Light that led
- onward on their way
- lowly lain
With this much wordsmithing early on, the familiar "Jew and Gentile" and "heavenly home" really lose their punch. But the double whammy "nor sin nor sorrow" gives a final zing.
It's fun writing, I've never been to a service where it has been sung, and it matches marvelously to the Vaughan Williams tune KING'S WESTON.
From the eastern mountains, pressing on, they come, wise men in their wisdom, to his humble home; stirred by deep devotion, hasting from afar, ever journeying onward, guided by a star. There their Lord and Savior meek and lowly lay, wondrous Light that led them onward on their way, ever now to lighten nations from afar, as they journey homeward by that guiding star. Thou who in a manger once hast lowly lain, who dost now in glory o'er all kingdoms reign, gather in the heathen who in lands afar ne'er have seen the brightness of thy guiding star. Onward through the darkness of the lonely night, shining still before them with thy kindly light. Guide them, Jew and Gentile, homeward from afar, young and old together, by thy guiding Star. Until every nation, whether bond or free, 'neath thy starlit banner, Jesus, follows thee. O'er the distant mountains to that heavenly home, where nor sin nor sorrow evermore shall come.
Labels: English Hymnal, Epiphany, Hymnal 1982, hymns, Thring, Vaughan Williams
It is not the place of this blog to add anything substantial to the discussion of the recent events at General Theological Seminary in New York City (see today's New York Times for an overview of the situation: "Seeking Dean’s Firing, Seminary Professors End Up Jobless")
But we would be remiss if we did not at this occasion quote the Rt. Rev. Euguene Sutton, Bishop of Maryland and his sermon to the Annual Conference of the Association of Anglican Musicians this summer.
My brothers and sisters, this bishop believes that our parishes need to focus more on their community’s worship as the vehicle for the kind of evangelism that works for us. The problem for the Episcopal Church is not that we are neurotically and unhelpfully fixated on music and liturgy. Rather, the problem for us from an evangelical and church growth stance is that we are not focussed enough on our worship.
This seems to pair well with the perspective of Derek Olsen on the situation at General Seminary:
One of the points of controversy regards the current Dean’s approach to the liturgy and his alteration of this fundamental schedule. Apparently in the name of relevance he has cut this schedule back: there’s no Morning Prayer on Monday and Thursday, there’s no Eucharist on Wednesday or Friday (or Saturday or Sunday). Medievalists and those with a grounding in classical Anglican liturgy will, no doubt, note the irony of skipping Eucharists on Wednesday and Friday…What’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is that this pattern teaches our future clergy that their spiritual obligations can be altered and shifted if they conflict with more important things. Of course, as time goes by, life interferes more and more until the very idea of an obligation is dispensed with in the name of efficiency and—I suppose—relevance.
It should be noted that one of the faculty members in question is the noted church musician David Hurd, whose work is found throughout the Hymnal 1982
It should also be noted that the hymn tune GENERAL SEMINARY takes its name from General Theological Seminary and was composed by former professor David Charles Walker. It is found at Hymn 382 to the words "King of glory, King of peace".
Labels: David Charles Walker, education, General Theological Seminary, Hurd, Hymnal 1982, hymns, NYT
We have noted previously on the blog (see flower - summer's) the seldom sung stanza of "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven", that marvelous paraphrase of Psalm 103.
Wikipedia tangent: By the way, did you know that "Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" has its own Wikipedia article? How many other hymns have this distinction? This is a notable hymn, apparently, having been sung at "the 1947 royal wedding of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh." One assumes that the stanza in question was included then.
The time has come to actually sing this, I think. It's about that time of year, of course, the autumnal equinox falling on Tuesday, September 23 this year.
We're editing that Hallelujah to "Alleluia" so that it matches the Hymnal 1982.
The stanza serves the hymn, we think, with only a little kink in the syllabification being the line that begins "Our God . . ." That "Our" gets a little too much emphasis for our taste.
There are also musical/choral reasons for singing it.
John Goss's setting provides
- organ accompaniment for unison singing, intended for the first stanza
- Four parts
- A (softer) organ accompaniment for unison singing of treble voices (st. 3 in the Hymnal 1982, but note that Goss's indication for trebles is not included).
- A different accompaniment for unison singing for the final stanza.
Singing the "Frail as summer's" stanza as st. 4 allows the replication of the four part version of the harmony, which adds a very nice symmetry to the hymn, we find.
But this stanza is not included in any hymnals that we can find. Do you know of one that uses it?
Frail as summer’s flower we flourish,
Blows the wind and it is gone;
But while mortals rise and perish
Our God lives unchanging on,
Praise Him, Praise Him, Hallelujah
Praise the High Eternal One!
Henry F. Lyte
Labels: Goss, Henry Francis Lyte, Hymnal 1982, hymns, Psalms, weather
This article, written by Dale Adelmann, Canon for Music at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta is still available in PDF format on the Cathedral's website in the August 3, 2014 edition of the Cathedral Times.
Have you ever thought about the fact that, after the Bible itself, our hymnal is the richest collection of Christian texts we have at our disposal?
We have no greater anthology of Christian poetry for use in worship. Whether you sing or not, I encourage you to open the hymnal—as you await the beginning of the service, and during worship—to read the texts we are singing. Our hymnal is an astonishing treasure-trove of Divine revelation in verse—from the simplest truths to the most profound mysteries—through the musings, admonitions, prayers, and praises of nearly every generation of Christians who have gone before us, as well as our own.
Music aside, if you check out the fine print underneath every hymn, you may be surprised to notice that, for instance, the text we are currently singing at the breaking of the eucharistic bread is attributed to Thomas Aquinas. And that some of the Christmas carols you love most have been sung by Christians for 200, or 500, or 1700 years. The Hymnal 1982 contains words penned by some of history’s greatest poets, even one hymn by a living Pulitzer Prize winner. Did you know that the texts to several of your favorite Easter hymns have been sung by Christians (albeit in Latin, and obviously to other music) for 1500 years? We live in the only age in history that has ready access to the profound poetry and hymnody of every previous generation. We also live in a time when newly composed hymnody, both texts and tunes, has flourished as it has in only a very few other generations before us. Those two facts provide immense potential for our spiritual enrichment, and they also pose significant challenges for the Church.
“none of us will live so long that the Holy Spirit will run out of unexpected words and music to inspire us”
It is a fundamental tenet of my own life pilgrimage that, like life itself, a vibrant faith should always be dynamic rather than static. This core belief also governs my approach to music, to text, and to music-making. I have been working full-time with the “new” Episcopal hymnal for several decades, yet rarely a week goes by that I do not discover something profound that seems “new” to me. If there is wisdom to be gleaned from that realization, I suspect it is that none of us will live so long that the Holy Spirit will run out of unexpected words and music to inspire us, or the ability and will to open our eyes and ears to something more of “the beauty of holiness.” The question might be, will we be open to receive it?
Of course I hope you will read and sing the hymns, whether you think you have much of a voice or not. Why? Well, the answer to that would fill books, but one of the many reasons we sing is because singing texts helps us to remember them. I enjoy a great preacher as much as anyone, but as the old quip goes, when was the last time you left church humming the sermon? Throughout Judeo-Christian history, singing holy texts has been one of the ways that people who seek God have learned and internalized their faith. God's self can be revealed in more ways than we can begin to name or imagine, and one of those ways (interestingly, in nearly every religion known to humankind) has always been through singing sacred words.
I invite you to discover the hymnal. Where else are you likely to receive a 1500-year-old text message?
Dale Adelmann
Canon for Music
As an afterward to this, it may interest readers to know that Church Publishing offers a book that contains only the words (not the music) of The Hymnal 1982. It is called Poems of Grace.
Labels: Cathedral of St Philip (Atlanta), Dale Adelmann, Hymnal 1982, hymns
In Christmastide 2013/14 this blog undertook an analysis of all the Christmas hymns in the Episcopal The Hymnal 1982, focusing especially on those hymns that are the least commonly sung and the reasons for their popularity or lack thereof.
Table of Contents
Note that this series discussed hymns in declining order of popularity using a scale of 1 to 11 with 11 being unbelievably popular, 10 being the most popular, and 1 being the least popular.Part 1: Background, Methodology, Turning it up to 11: Incredibly popular Christmas hymns
Part 2: Level 10: The well-designed super-classics; Level 9: The sugary classics; Level 8: Other classics, but with tune issues
Part 3: Tier 7: Deeper cuts; Tier 6: A certain earthiness
Part 4: Code 5: Middle ground; Code 4: An oddball
Part 5: Region 3: Uncommon tunes for hymns already discussed; Region 2: The truly uncommon
Part 6: Area 1: The most uncommon; Conclusions
An index to the hymns by first line
Links to the Part of the series in which the hymn is discussed.| First line | Part | Score |
|---|---|---|
| A child is born in Bethlehem | Part 6 | 1 |
| A stable lamp is lighted | Part 4 | 5 |
| Angels from the realms of glory | Part 2 | 8 |
| Angels we have heard on high | Part 2 | 10 |
| Away in a manger | Part 3 | 7 |
| Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light | Part 4 | 4 |
| Christians awake, salute the happy morn | Part 5 | 2 |
| Dost thou in a manger lie | Part 6 | 1 |
| Duérmete, Niño lindo | Part 6 | 1 |
| From east to west, from shore to shore | Part 6 | 1 |
| From heaven above to earth I come | Part 4 | 5 |
| Go tell it on the mountain | Part 3 | 7 |
| God rest you merry, gentlemen | Part 2 | 9 |
| Good Christian friends, rejoice | Part 2 | 9 |
| Hark! the herald angels sing | Part 1 | 11 |
| In the bleak midwinter | Part 3 | 6 |
| It came upon the midnight clear (CAROL) | Part 2 | 9 |
| It came upon the midnight clear (NOEL) | Part 5 | 3 |
| Joy to the world! the Lord is come | Part 2 | 10 |
| Lo, how a rose e'er blooming | Part 2 | 8 |
| Love came down at Christmas | Part 4 | 5 |
| Now yield we thanks and praise | Part 6 | 1 |
| O come, all ye faithful | Part 1 | 11 |
| O little town of Bethlehem (ST. LOUIS) | Part 2 | 9 |
| O little town of Bethlehem (FOREST GREEN) | Part 2 | 8 |
| O savior of our fallen race (GONFALON ROYAL) | Part 3 | 6 |
| O savior of our fallen race (CHRISTE, REDEMPTOR OMNIUM) | Part 5 | 3 |
| Of the Father's love begotten | Part 3 | 7 |
| On this day earth shall ring | Part 3 | 6 |
| Once in royal David's city | Part 2 | 9 |
| Silent night, holy night | Part 1 | 11 |
| Sing, O sing, this blessed morn | Part 5 | 2 |
| The first Nowell the angel did say | Part 2 | 10 |
| The snow lay on the ground | Part 3 | 6 |
| Twas in the moon of wintertime | Part 3 | 6 |
| Unto us a boy is born | Part 3 | 7 |
| What child is this, who, laid to rest | Part 2 | 10 |
| While shepherds watched their flocks by night (WINCHESTER OLD) | Part 2 | 8 |
| While shepherds watched their flocks by night (HAMPTON) | Part 5 | 2 |
Labels: Christmas, Hymnal 1982, less familiar hymns
Christmastide has just come to end. And what better time to complete our look at the Christmas hymns in The Hymnal 1982? In particular, we will be looking at the less commonly sung hymns in the Christmas section. You may wish to start back at the beginning with part 1 of this series. There is also part 2 (hymns that score a 9 or a 10), part 3 (hymns that score a 6, 7, or 8), part 4 (hymns that score a 4 or a 5), or part 5 (hymns that score a 2 or a 3).
We're using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the least popular and 10 being the most popular. Here, in this last installment, we discuss those hymns that are truly the most uncommon in American Episcopal services: hymns that score only a 1 on the popularity scale.
Area 1: The most uncommon
I truly have never sung these, and I do not yet know of any parishes that have sung them.
- Hymn 77: "From east to west, from shore to shore". This hymn represents a gradual modification, both in words and tune, of the plainchant hymn "A solis ortus cardine". This is its first appearance in an Episcopal hymnal.
- Hymn 97: "Dost thou in a manger lie". A fifteenth century hymn matched with a fifteenth century tune. The second stanza is written from the point of view of Christ. The editors of The Hymnal 1940 recommended that this stanza be sung by a baritone soloist. This seems a bit suspect given that the infant Christ would presumably not have his voice change until puberty. This hymn was first included in the 1916 Episcopal hymnal.
- Hymn 103: "A child is born in Bethlehem". The oldest hymn to be awarded the lowest score for popularity, this text comes from the thirteenth century. It is probably best known in the a capella choral setting by Benjamin Britten ("A boy is born"), and not in this hymn setting.
- Hymn 108: "Now yield we thanks and praise". This hymn, by Howard Chandler Robbins, probably could be a little bit better known than it is. Robbins was a great hymn writer, his words naturally imbued with a sense of dignity and purpose, usually seem to me as if they should have already been written. They fill some gap which the church didn't realize had existed. There is a distinctive agelessness to his work, which includes the translation "Most High, omnipotent, good Lord" (Hymns 406/7), the somewhat paleo-futuristic composition "And have the bright immensities" (Hymn 459), and "Put forth, O God, thy Spirit's might" (Hymn 521, to which he also wrote the tune CHELSEA SQUARE). The chorale tune to which it is set, WAS FRAG' ICH NACH DER WELT, suits the words perfectly.
- Hymn 113: "Duérmete, Niño lindo"/"Oh, sleep now, holy baby" is the only fully bilingual hymn in The Hymnal 1982. It could very well be sung in congregations that draw more heavily on a Spanish-language repertory, but that may not necessarily be the case. Syllabification and visual underlay issues present problems (at least to my eye) for congregations who might attempt this hymn in English.
Conclusions
As is true of any slice of hymnody the full history of all these hymns is very rich. I'm more interested here in a reception history, which is a difficult thing to know without more data. I can only really speak to my personal experience with and impressions I have gained about this repertoire working as an Episcopal church musician for about a decade or so.
As someone who grew up outside of the Episcopal Church, I have surely missed some classic usages of these hymns. I am grateful for parishioners at a parish I served previously who alerted me to their fondness for "The snow lay on the ground". And since beginning this serial, I have learned more about historic usages of "Christians, awake, salute the happy morn", and "Sing, O sing, that blessed morn" on Christmas Day in various places. I still believe that these latter two hymns are falling out of favor -- and part of this may be the declining attendance at Christmas Day liturgies in many parishes.
There is a certain cultural weight with many of these hymns, some of them dating back for several centuries or more. Their inclusion in The Hymnal 1982 speaks to their worth, whether they are currently in rotation in a particular parish or not.
As with any portion of any hymnal, there are some hymns in this section that are not destined for a long life. And if certain of these hymns remain very uncommon in our liturgies for a long time it would be expected that they drop out of the next Episcopal hymnal -- if there even is such a thing, but that is another conversation for another time.
But we must be grateful to the '82 Hymnal committee for taking risks alongside those hymns that "must" be included. Our sacred musical life is much enriched, in my opinion, by the inclusion of "A stable lamp is lighted."
We must also thank them for including what we should know but have forgotten, like the simple joys of singing "Christians, awake, salute the happy morn" on Christmas Day, which I will seriously consider for the next 11 months as I work to plan music for Christmas 2014.
There are two interesting shifts that occurred in moving the Episcopal Christmas hymnody from The Hymnal 1940 to The Hymnal 1982:
Firstly, I wonder what psychological impact the "First Tune" and "Second Tune" distinction has in terms of a Christmas hymn's reception history. With the previous hymnal hymn singers could say regarding "It came upon the midnight clear", "Oh yes, I do like to sing Hymn 19. We use the Second Tune in my parish." In the present hymnal there is a dividing line between the two tunes. Today's Episcopalian might say, "Hymn 89 is a favorite of mine," and have no idea that the subsequent hymn in the book is very intimately related, and in fact, might be a pleasing alternative!
Secondly, it seems that the distinction between "Christmas" and "Christmas Carols" made in The Hymnal 1940 is of interest. In this study, I have referred to everything in the Christmas portion of the 1982 hymnal as a "hymn", but we could still make the same distinction that the 1940 makes. This may be of some limited value, but it may also be irrelevant. Still, there are certain portions of the liturgy that clearly call for a "hymn", and others where "carols" would be more welcome.
Finally, it is very interesting to note, from a somewhat longer view provided by this study, the increasing calcification surrounding our Christmas hymnody.
This trend is not surprising given three factors: a precipitous decline in music education, the loss of recreational singing in our culture, and steadily declining numbers in the Episcopal church, both adherents and more so at the Average Sunday Morning. As musical knowledge and ability decreases in our culture, so does the ability to differentiate specific repertories: the shopping mall, the Christian denomination, the local parish church. Where "While shepherds watched their flocks by night" used to be sung to any number of tunes, circumstances have conspired to limit it to one (rather bland) tune.
Tradition speaks out with much greater force at the Church's principal feast days, and Christmas is no exception. The tradition of our Christmas hymnody, however, has been much more fluid than I think many people realize. With the advent of recorded music and a force-fed "secular soundtrack" to a "Christmas season" which begins the week after Halloween and terminates some time around 11:30 a.m. on Christmas Day, it is harder to create the kind of sonic and theological space that our Christmas hymnody used to enjoy.
Anyways, I'd love to chat more about this. Please do weigh in if you have thoughts. I'm going to think a lot more about these uncommon hymns, and this proposed ranking of hymn popularity as a whole. It probably all deserves a second look, sometime around Christmas 2023, perhaps.
Labels: Britten, Christmas, Howard Chandler Robbins, Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982, hymns, less familiar hymns
It's Christmas time. And what better time to take a look at the Christmas hymns in The Hymnal 1982? In particular, we will be looking at the less commonly sung hymns in the Christmas section. You may wish to begin with part 1 of this series, or get caught up on part 2 (hymns that score a 9 or a 10) or part 3 (hymns that score a 6, 7, or 8) or part 4 (hymns that score a 4 or a 5).
We're using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the least popular and 10 being the most popular. (On this scale we cranked it up to 11 for hymns which are unbelievably popular.) Here we at last get to those hymns that are truly uncommon in Episcopal services. Hymns that score a 2 or a 3 on our popularity scale.
Region 3: Uncommon tunes for hymns already discussed
Coming in at 3 on the popularity scale are two hymns we've already discussed sung to two less popular tunes.- Hymn 85: "O Savior of our fallen race" (CHRISTE, REDEMPTOR OMNIUM). While we could understand the occasional singing of this hymn to GONFALON ROYAL, it would be a rare congregation indeed that would sing this plainsong hymn on a Sunday morning in Christmastide. It would, however, work admirably at an Evensong or Compline service in this season.
- Hymn 90: "It came upon a midnight clear" (NOEL). First, I must fully disclose a great personal bias toward this tune. I really like it. And I greatly prefer it to the gross sentimentality of CAROL.
And a descant now in publication by Stephen Cleobury is a real favorite of mine (much better than that of his predecessor David Willcocks in this instance).
As a church musician in the American South, where the Arthur Seymour Sullivan tune FORTUNATUS holds such sway on Easter Day, it is an odd twist of fate that this Sullivan Christmas tune has not caught on at least in these parts.
The Hymnal 1982 Companion doesn't mince words; it simply states that this is the tune known by congregations in England. It was included first in The Hymnal 1940 and retained in the current hymnal.
Interestingly, in that earlier hymnal a First Tune and Second Tune were often provided for a hymn of the same number. This approach reinforced the notion that a "hymn" is really the words, while the associated tune is a more malleable thing. It was standard for the more "common" tune to be listed first. In The Hymnal 1940 NOEL is the first tune, while CAROL is the second. The current hymnal could be seen as reversing this preference with Hymn 89 (CAROL) serving as the "First Tune" and Hymn 90 serving as the "Second Tune".
As it is, I don't get the sense that this is sung by any congregations, the weight of association of CAROL with these words being too great.
Region 2: The truly uncommon
I have never sung any of these hymns, nor am I aware of any American congregations who have. (I would love to hear of any who have sung these.) They score a 2 on our scale.
- Hymn 88: "Sing, O sing, this blessed morn" is an orphan hymn. It comes from England, but it is not sung there. I don't think it's sung here either.
- Hymn 95: "While shepherds watched their flocks by night" (HAMPTON). This is an interesting tune, but I don't think it's caught on. It is nice to note that there is a continuing desire on the part of the Episcopal Church's hymnal editors to widen the melodic vocabulary for these words -- the alternative tune being CAROL in The Hymnal 1940.
- Hymn 106: "Christians, awake, salute the happy morn". Here is a hymn whose unpopularity in the United States seems a bit puzzling. As I write this, I have in mind the Sung Eucharist on Christmas Day at Westminster Abbey where this hymn was sung at the Entrance (see a PDF of the service leaflet). This is a brilliant choice for Christmas Day. Christians, awake! Even if you were up well past midnight the night before. Salute the happy morning (i.e., not the evening)! Rise to adore the Mystery of Love. Are you still wearing your pajamas?! etc.
The hymn is filled with marvelous turns of phrase as only John Byrom could compose. Byrom was "one of the more remarkable of the gallery of distinguished characters that the eighteenth century provides," claims Erik Routley in The English Carol.
The tune YORKSHIRE also seems eminently singable, though it is a bit long.
This hymn has a long pedigree in the Episcopal Church, the hymn being first published in 1871, and published again paired with the present tune only three years later.
Has it fallen out of favor?
It looks a bit overwhelming on the page, and this may be one reason it is not chosen. The Hymnal 1982 wisely stars stanzas 2 and 3, giving permission to omit them without ruining the logic and sense of the hymn. And indeed, the singing of four stanzas only (st. 1, 2, 5, & 6) is congruent with the practice at Westminster Abbey.
But I can also imagine a scenario in an Anglo-Catholic parish where the full length of this hymn would be just perfect for the ceremonial of an entrance rite replete with incense.
In hearing it sung and studying it for a few moments I am disappointed that I have not made its acquaintance until now.
Labels: Christmas, Cleobury, Hymnal 1940, Hymnal 1982, hymns, less familiar hymns, Routley, Willcocks
It's Christmas time. And what better time to take a look at the Christmas hymns in The Hymnal 1982? In particular, we will be looking at the less commonly sung hymns in the Christmas section. You may wish to begin with part 1 of this series, or get caught up on part 2 or part 3
We're using a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the least popular and 10 being the most popular. (On this scale, we cranked it up to 11 for hymns which are unbelievably popular.) Here we look at hymns that fall right in the middle, first the 5's, and then the one hymn we scored as a 4.
Code 5: Middle ground
- Hymn 80: "From heaven above to earth I come". It's a great little tune, but I don't think it's sung much in the Episcopal Church. With our Lutheran brothers and sisters, however, it's a different story. It ranks a 5 mainly due to ecumenical residue.
- Hymn 84: "Love came down at Christmas". The popularity of this hymn, at least in my experience, is on the rise. It's a newer text-tune pairing, originating from 1927. If memory serves, I've even heard this little tune in an instrumental version in the month of December on the public radio program Performance Today.
- Hymn 104: "A stable lamp is lighted". An even newer composition (new text, new tune, both by Americans) is found in this hymn. The author is a former Poet Laureate of the United States. One cannot help but be struck by the integrity of the elements of this hymn, and the synergy they have together. My sense is that while this is not yet universally popular in the Episcopal Church, it is adored by many in the congregations where it is known.
Code 4: An oddball
- Hymn 91: "Break forth, O beauteous heavenly light". This is a difficult one to rank, or to sing in a service. One problem: it's only one stanza. Where do you use it? The rich harmonization by Bach also requires it to be sung in parts for the full effect (more likely something done by a choir than a congregation). I don't really have any data on churches who have sung this congregationally. I'd be interested to hear from those who have, and where in the liturgy it falls.
Labels: Christmas, Hymnal 1982, hymns, less familiar hymns
©MMXVII Sinden.org: a site for fun and prophet