Unless stated otherwise, my source for hymn texts and tunes is The Lutheran Service Book.

Friday, March 10, 2017

"To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord"

When I transcribed "To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord" recently, I noticed a few connections between the text and one of the tunes to which it's sung.  In the Lutheran Service Book, it's paired with two tunes:  "Christ, unser Herr" (#406) and "Elvet Banks" (#407).  What I noticed is specific to "Christ, unser Herr."

There are two instances where lines about descents are sung to descending musical phrases.  In the the third verse, there's the line "The Father's voice from heav'n came down," in which "heav'n came down" is sung to the phrase Bb A G.  In the fourth verse there's the line "Upon the scene descending," describing the Holy Spirit, which descends almost in its entirety (from Bb to C):