"Westminster Abbey"

I recently got a set of Purcell's complete chamber music (which I have yet to listen to), and I realized that the only Purcell music I'm familiar with is Dido & Aeneas, a tune used in some film soundtracks, and this hymn tune (which is apparently adapted from something else he wrote).  So I thought I'd do that this week.

I recorded this about a year ago, but that was the Hymnal Supplement 98 arrangement.  This is one verse of the Lutheran Worship arrangement (#186) and one verse of the Lutheran Service Book arrangement (#519 [it's also #909 and #914]).  There's actually a difference in the main melody in the fourth musical phrase, which I hadn't noticed before.  A quarter note in the LW arrangement is a pair of eighth notes in the LSB arrangement.

"Arise and Shine in Splendor"

Last week, I transcribed the lyrics for "Arise and Shine in Splendor," and I noticed something about the first phrase.  In hindsight, it's obvious, but when sung to the melody "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen," the first part of the first line ("Arise and shine") ascends as if to musically represent the rising:

The same feature is present for the beginning of the fourth and fifth verses too:  "Lift up your eyes" and "Your heart will leap."

LSB #344 "On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 3:1-6, Isaiah 40:3

Matthew 3:1-6:  "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  "Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight."'  Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins."

Isaiah 40:3:  "A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'"

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The text is public domain:

On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of kings!

Then cleansed be ev'ry life from sin;
Make straight the way for God within,
And let us all our hearts prepare
For Christ to come and enter there.

We hail Thee as our Savior, Lord,
Our refuge and our great reward;
Without Thy grace we waste away
Like flow'rs that wither and decay.

Lay on the sick Thy healing hand
And make the fallen strong to stand;
Show us the glory of Thy face
Till beauty springs in ev'ry place.

All praise, eternal Son, to Thee
Whose advent sets Thy people free,
Whom with the Father we adore
And Holy Spirit evermore.

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The first verse is clearly from the Matthew text.  The first two lines of the second verse ("Then cleansed be ev'ry life from sin; / Make straight the way for God within,") is an extension of either the Matthew text or the Isaiah text that it quotes, specifically: "make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

There don't seem to be any other specific Biblical references in the rest of the text.  However, where the Lutheran Service Book has "Show us the glory of Thy face," Lutheran Worship has "Oh, let your face upon us shine," echoing the Aaronic blessing: "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26)

"St. George's, Windsor"

I recently wrote about a feature that "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise" has when sung to "St. George's, Windsor," so I thought I should record that for this week's tune.  As usual, it's one verse of the Lutheran Worship arrangement (#88) and one verse of the Lutheran Service Book arrangement (#394), although I think they're the same except for the last two lines.

"Songs of Thankfulness and Praise"

Earlier this week, I transcribed "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise" (I'm a lot further along in transcribing the hymns than I am in writing about their Biblical referents), and I noticed something about the second line:

The end of the line "Jesus, Lord, to Thee we raise" ascends (when sung to the tune "St. George's, Windsor," at least), so there's a musical representation of the (metaphorical) "rais[ing]."

Those first two lines are inverted so that the direct objects ("Songs of thankfulness and praise") actually come first.  The musical representation of raising becomes even more interesting because what is being raised are "songs," like the hymn itself.  It's a bit self-referential; with an ascending melody, the hymn describes raising songs.

LSB #343 "Prepare the Royal Highway"

Biblical citations: Isaiah 40:3-5, Matthew 21:1-11, Psalm 24:7-10, Isaiah 9:6-7

Isaiah 40:3-5:  "A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.'"

Matthew 21:1-11:  "Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, "The Lord needs them," and he will send them at once.'  This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 'Say to the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden."' The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.  They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.  Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!'  And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, 'Who is this?'  And the crowds said, 'This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.'"

Psalm 24:7-10:  "Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!  Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!"

Isaiah 9:6-7:  "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."

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The text is public domain:

Prepare the royal highway;
The King of kings is near!
Let ev'ry hill and valley
A level road appear!
Then greet the King of Glory
Foretold is sacred story:
Hosanna to the Lord,
For He fulfills God's Word!

God's people, see Him coming:
Your own eternal king!
Palm branches strew before Him!
Spread garments!  Shout and sing!
God's promise will not fail you!
No more shall doubt assail you!
Hosanna to the Lord,
For He fulfills God's Word!

Then fling the gates wide open
To greet your promised king!
Your king, yet ev'ry nation
Its tribute too should bring.
All lands, bow down before Him!
All nations, now adore Him!
Hosanna to the Lord,
For He fulfills God's Word!

His is no earthly kingdom;
It comes from heav'n above.
His rule is peace and freedom
And justice, truth, and love.
So let your praise be sounding
For kindness so abounding:
Hosanna to the Lord,
For He fulfills God's Word!

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The Biblical texts are pretty clearly divided into the verses here.  The Isaiah 40 text, with its "prepare the way of the LORD" and "the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain," is the basis for the first verse.  The crowd's shouting and strewing branches and cloaks in Matthew 21 is described in the second verse.  The opening gates in Psalm 24 are at the beginning of the third verse, and some of the attributes listed in Isaiah 9 appear in the fourth verse.

The first line of the refrain ("Hosanna to the Lord") also comes from the Matthew 21 text.

"Lasset uns mit Jesu ziehen"

The first verse is the Lutheran Worship arrangement (#381), and the second verse is the Lutheran Service Book arrangement (#685), but I think there's only one phrase in the harmony part that's different.

LSB #342 "What Hope! An Eden Prophesied"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Isaiah 11:1, 6-10, 12-16

Isaiah 11:1:  "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit."

Isaiah 11:6-10:  "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.  The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.  They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.  In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples - of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious."

Isaiah 11:12-16:  "He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.  The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.  But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east.  They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.  And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals.  And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt."

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The first verse ("Where tame live with the wild; / The lamb and lion side by side, / Led by a little child!") comes from Isaiah 11:6-10.  The second verse comes from Isaiah 11:1; to some degree, it even keeps the parallel structure:  "A shoot will sprout from Jesse's stem, / A branch from David's line."

The third and fourth verses seem to come from Isaiah 11:12-16, although - unlike the other two texts cited - there isn't a strong similarity as far as specific words and phrases.  "He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel" seems to be the origin of "by His death a dying world / Would rally to the cross" in verse three.  Jesus' leading His people to "Lost Paradise restore[d] / Lead[ing] past the angel's flaming sword" (in verse four) certainly resembles the end of Isaiah 11:12-16.

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The beginning of verse three ("As banner of God's love unfurled, / Christ came to suffer loss") has some resemblance to Song of Solomon 2:4:  "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love."  Both mention banners of love.  I'm not sure if there's a real connection here or if it's just that the language is similar.

"The angel's flaming sword" in verse four is from Genesis 3:24:  "He [God] drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life."  While there's a single angel in the hymn but multiple angels (cherubim is the plural) in Genesis, this is clearly a passage that the hymn references.  The titular first line further evidences this:  "What hope!  An Eden prophesied."  However, rather than the actual Eden in Genesis, the hymn describes the "Lost Paradise restore[d]."

"Vater unser"

Mendelssohn's birthday was a few days ago (3 February), and while listening to his Op. 65 Organ Sonatas, I recognized a melody in No. 6.  I did some research and discovered it's "Vater unser," so I thought I'd do that tune this week.  This is the usual one-verse-of-one-arrangement-one-verse-of-an-other (LW 341, LSB 766).

"The Man Is Ever Blessed"

In church this week, one of the hymns was "The Man Is Ever Blessed" (LSB #705).  I noticed something about the rhyme scheme in verses 1 and 4.

Verse 1:

The man is ever blessed
Who shuns the sinners' ways,
Among their counsels never stands,
Nor takes the scorners' place,

Verse 4:

Not so the wicked race,
They no such blessings find;
Their hopes shall flee like empty chaff
Before the driving wind.

These are the only two verses (of six) where the two rhyming lines are both about the wicked (either directly or, in the case of the first verse, how the righteous man avoids the ways of the wicked).  Significantly, these lines have imperfect rhymes.  "Ways" doesn't really rhyme with "place," and while "find" and "wind" look like they would rhyme, they don't.

The rhymes here indicate the imperfection of the wicked.  The righteous have perfection through their faith in Christ's death for their sins, and - accordingly - the rhymes in the stanzas that describe them are perfect rhymes (in verse 2 "delight" rhymes with "night," and in verse 3 "root" rhymes with "fruit").  But the wicked are left with their imperfection.

LSB #340, 341 "Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates"

Hymns #340 and #341 have different tunes but the same text, so I'm combining them into one post.

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Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Psalm 24:7-10, Isaiah 60:4-5

Psalm 24:7-10:  "Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!  Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this King of glory?  The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory!"

Isaiah 60:4-5:  "Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.  Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you."

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The text is public domain:

Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!
Behold, the King of glory waits.
The King of kings is drawing near;
The Savior of the world is here.
Life and salvation He doth bring;
Therefore rejoice and gladly sing.
To God the Father raise
Your joyful songs of praise.

A righteous Helper comes to thee;
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress.
The end of all our woe He brings;
Therefore the earth is glad and sings.
To Christ the Savior raise
Your grateful hymns of praise.

How blest the land, the city blest,
Where Christ the ruler is confessed!
O peaceful hearts and happy homes
To whom this King in triumph comes!
The cloudless sun of joy is He
Who comes to set His people free.
To God the Spirit raise
Your happy shouts of praise.

Fling wide the portals of your heart;
Make it a temple set apart
From earthly use for heav'n's employ,
Adorned with prayer and love and joy.
So shall your Sov'reign enter in
And new and nobler life begin.
To God alone be praise
For word and deed and grace!

Redeemer, come and open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
O enter with Thy grace divine;
Thy face of mercy on me shine.
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won.
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.

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The first line of the first verse ("Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!") is obviously from the Psalm text, and the rest of the hymn expands on that idea.

I can't really find anything in the hymn text that specifically points to the Isaiah text that's cited, although lines like "Life and salvation He doth bring," "How blest the land, the city blest, / Where Christ the ruler is confessed! / O peaceful hearts and happy homes / To whom this King in triumph comes!" and "new and nobler life" might be extensions of "the abundance" and "the wealth" mentioned in Isaiah.

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The line "Thy face of mercy on me shine" in the last verse hints at the Aaronic blessing:  "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-26).  However, that Numbers text isn't listed in the hymnal.