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

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

"St. Petersburg"


Of the three hymnals I've been using for this project, this tune is in only The Lutheran Hymnal (#493).  My recording is twice through that arrangement.

I'm not sure this actually fits the conceit of this project (which is to record the tunes named after saints), but it was only after I'd recorded the tune that I started thinking about that.

Friday, September 16, 2022

"Lord of Our Life"

I wrote a post about "Lord of Our Life" a couple years ago, but while looking at the hymn again recently, I found an-other small point to note.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Iste confessor."  Here's the second musical phrase:


In the first verse, the text here is "Star of our night and hope of ev'ry nation."  "Nation" is sung with a melisma (C B A), and because there's an extra syllable and because each syllable is sung to a different pitch, there's a sense of that "ev'ry."

Wednesday, September 14, 2022

LSB #642 "O Living Bread from Heaven"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 6:35, 48-58; 1 Peter 1:18-19

1 Corinthians 11:23-26:  "23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.'  25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'  26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

John 6:35:  "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'"

John 6:48-58:  "48 'I am the bread of life.  49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.'
"52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'  53 So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.  57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.  Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.'"

1 Peter 1:18-19:  "18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

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The text is public domain:
O living Bread from heaven,
How well You feed Your guest!
The gifts that You have given
Have filled my heart with rest.
Oh, wondrous food of blessing,
Oh, cup that heals our woes!
My heart, this gift possessing,
With praises overflows.
My Lord, You here have led me
To this most holy place
And with Yourself have fed me
The treasures of Your grace;
For You have freely given
What earth could never buy,
The bread of life from heaven,
That now I shall not die.
You gave me all I wanted;
This food can death destroy.
And You have freely granted
The cup of endless joy.
My Lord, I do not merit
The favor You have shown,
And all my soul and spirit
Bow down before Your throne.
Lord, grant me then, thus strengthened
With heav'nly food, while here
My course on earth is lengthened,
To serve with holy fear.
And when You call my spirit
To leave this world below,
I enter, through Your merit,
Where joys unmingled flow.
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1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and the passages from John 6 (which overlap to some degree) are the main sources for the hymn and appear throughout.

1 Peter 1:18-19 isn't as clear.  The lines "For You have freely given / What earth could never buy" in the second verse, "My Lord, I do not merit / The favor You have shown" in the third verse, and "I enter, through Your merit, / Where joys unmingled flow" in the fourth verse seem to be the likeliest possibilities.

Friday, September 9, 2022

"How Great Thou Art"

Recently, I found a note from a few years ago about a couple features I'd noticed in "How Great Thou Art."  Both are in the third musical phrase of the tune "O store Gud":


In the second verse, the text here is "When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur," and in the fourth verse, the text is "Then I shall bow in humble adoration."  At the end of the first few words of each line ("When I look down" and "Then I shall bow"), there's a drop of a third (F to D, which is also the lowest pitch in the phrase), and this mirrors the descents of "down" and "bow[ing]."

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

LSB #641 "You Satisfy the Hungry Heart"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Psalm 81:16, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 10:2-4, 1 John 4:7-21

Psalm 81:16:  "But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

1 Corinthians 10:16-17:  "16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."

John 10:2-4:  "2 'But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  3 To him the gatekeeper opens.  The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.'"

1 John 4:7-21:  "7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

"13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world.  18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  19 We love because he first loved us.  20 If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  21 And this commandment we have from him:  whoever loves God must also love his brother."

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Psalm 81:16 forms part of the refrain.  The phrase "bread of life" in the last line comes from John 6:35.

John 10:2-4 appears in the first verse, and 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 is paraphrased in the third, but 1 John 4:7-21 isn't as clear.  The last line of the fourth verse says that the Lord "Comes in our hearts to dwell," which may come from the verses describing God's abiding in us (1 John 4:12-13, 15-16).  The fifth verse says, "Then selfless let us be, / To serve each other in Your name / In truth and charity," and this is a way of "lov[ing] one another" (1 John 4:7, 11, 21).

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

"St. Peter"


There are two different arrangements of this tune in Lutheran Worship.

The Lutheran Service Book #524, Lutheran Worship #279, Lutheran Worship #474, The Lutheran Hymnal #364

Friday, September 2, 2022

"O Trinity, O Blessed Light"

Last year, I noticed a small feature in "O Trinity, O Blessed Light" (Lutheran Worship #487).*  It's sung to the tune "Steht auf, ihr lieben Kinderlein."  Here's the third phrase:


In the first verse, the text here is "The fi'ry sun is going down," and the descent in the tune mirrors this "going down."


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*In The Lutheran Service Book, this hymn appears as "O Blessed Light, O Trinity" (#890), but it's sung to a different tune, and the translation of the first verse is different.

Wednesday, August 31, 2022

LSB #640 "Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 26:26-28, 1 John 1:7, John 10:17-18, 1 Corinthians 13:12

Matthew 26:26-28:  "26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.'  27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'"

1 John 1:7:  "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."

John 10:17-18:  "17 'For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.  I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.  This charge I have received from my Father.'"

1 Corinthians 13:12:  "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

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Only some of the stanzas are public domain:
1 Thee we adore, O hidden Savior, Thee,
Who in Thy Sacrament art pleased to be;
Both flesh and spirit in Thy presence fail,
Yet here Thy presence we devoutly hail.
4 Fountain of goodness, Jesus, Lord and God:
Cleanse us, unclean, with Thy most cleansing blood;
Increase our faith and love, that we may know
The hope and peace which from Thy presence flow.
5 O Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
May what we thirst for soon our portion be:
To gaze on Thee unveiled and see Thy face,
The vision of Thy glory, and Thy grace.
Amen.
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Matthew 26:26-28 appears throughout the first three verses.  1 John 1:7 (specifically "the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin") is in the fourth verse:  "Cleanse us, unclean, with Thy most cleansing blood."  1 Corinthians 13:12 appears in the fifth verse, although instead of the image of a mirror, the hymn uses an image of a veil.

It's not very clear where John 10:17-18 appears in the hymn.  My best guess would be the beginning of the third verse:  "Thou, like the pelican to feed her brood, / Didst pierce Thyself to give us living food."  This is the same idea as "lay[ing] down my life."

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

"St. Michael"


The arrangements in The Lutheran Hymnal and The Lutheran Service Book are the same except for a couple notes in the bass part that are in different octaves, and there are two different arrangements in Lutheran Worship.

The Lutheran Service Book #628, Lutheran Worship #388, Lutheran Worship #249, The Lutheran Hymnal #310.