"Belmont"

It'll be a while before I have a place in my scheduled posts for it, but eventually I'm going to write about this tune, so I thought I might as well record it.

As usual, this is one verse of one arrangement (LW 416) and one verse of an-other (LSB 710), although I don't think they differ too greatly.

"O Sacred Head, Now Wounded"

A couple weeks ago (when it was actually still Lent), I transcribed "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" and noticed a small connection between the text and the tune to which it's sung ("Herzlich tut mich verlangen").

The second phrase of the tune descends:

and in the first verse, the text sung to that melody mentions a descent:  the sacred Head is "With grief and shame weighed down."

There are two different versions of "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" in the Lutheran Service Book.  The tune is basically the same, but the rhythms are different.  One (#449) is specified as "isorhythmic" where the other (#450) is "rhythmic."  For the notation above, I used the tune from #450, but the tune for #449 has a comparable feature.

LSB #353 "Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Zechariah 9:9, Luke 2:14, John 14:18, Matthew 25:31-34

Zechariah 9:9:  "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

Luke 2:14:  "'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'"

John 14:18:  "'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.'"

Matthew 25:31-34:  "'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."'"

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The text is public domain:

Jesus came, the heav'ns adoring,
Came with peace from realms on high;
Jesus came to win redemption,
Lowly came on earth to die;
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Came in deep humility.

Jesus comes again in mercy
When our hearts are worn with care;
Jesus comes again in answer
To an earnest, heartfelt prayer;
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Comes to save us from despair.

Jesus comes to hearts rejoicing,
Bringing news of sins forgiv'n;
Jesus comes with words of gladness,
Leading souls redeemed to heav'n.
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Hope to all the world is giv'n.

Jesus comes in joy and sorrow,
Shares alike our hopes and fears;
Jesus comes, whate'er befalls us,
Cheers our hearts and dries our tears;
Alleluia!  Alleluia!
Comforts us in failing years.

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The lowliness and humility mentioned in the first verse are from the Zechariah text, and since that's a prophecy of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, those New Testament accounts (Matthew 21:1-16, Mark 11:1-11, and Luke 19:28-40) are also relevant.

The line "Came with peace from realms on high" from the same verse seems to be from the Luke 2 text, which is an excerpt from the angel's announcement of Jesus' birth to the shepherds.

The lines "Jesus comes with words of gladness, / Leading souls redeemed to heav'n" from the third verse refer to the Matthew 25 text.

I don't think the cited text from John shows up in any specific line in the hymn; rather, I think the "I will come to you" part is what the hymn constantly returns to.  There are twelve phrases in which some form of "Jesus comes" appear:

1. Jesus came, the heav'ns adoring
2. Came with peace from realms on high
3. Jesus came to win redemption
4. Lowly came on earth to die
5. Came in deep humility
6. Jesus comes again in mercy / When our hearts are worn with care
7. Jesus comes again in answer / To an earnest, heartfelt prayer
8. Comes to save us from despair
9. Jesus comes to hearts rejoicing, / Bringing news of sins forgiv'n
10. Jesus comes with words of gladness, / Leading souls redeemed to heav'n
11. Jesus comes in joy and sorrow
12. Jesus comes, whate'er befalls us

It's not cited in the hymnal, but I think the lines "Jesus comes again in answer / To an earnest, heartfelt prayer" come from Philippians 4:6-7:  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  To some degree, it connects with an earlier line in the hymn:  "[Jesus] came with peace."

"Darwall's 148th"

I'd intended to do something related to St. George since to-day is St. George's day, but I already recorded "St. George's, Windsor" back in February.

In lieu of that, I pickt a short and simple one: "Darwall's 148th."  I did some research on this tune a year or two ago, and apparently it was written for the 148th Psalm, which - according to my lectionary - is the Psalm for this week, so there's a topicality to this anyway.

The tune is used for a couple hymns, but I lookt at "Christ Is Our Cornerstone" (LW 290, LSB 912).

I've recorded this one before, but that was last September, before this project's current incarnation.

"No Tramp of Soldiers' Marching Feet"

One of the hymns sung in church on Palm Sunday was "No Tramp of Soldiers' Marching Feet," and while I was singing it, I noticed something about one of the phrases.  The text is sung to the tune "Kingsfold," and the end of the second phrase of that melody descends:

In the third verse, the text sung to this melody is "The palms, how soon laid down!"  The descending melody there is a musical representation of that laying down.  Furthermore, "soon" is sung to that second pair of eighth notes, and that melismatic pronunciation (two syllables instead of just one), with the second note lower than the first, expedites the descent.

LSB #352 "Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Acts 3:24-26, 13:32-33; Luke 24:27

Acts 3:24-26:  "'And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.  You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, "And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed."  God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.'"

Acts 13:32-33:  "'And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you."'"

Luke 24:27:  "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself."

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The text is public domain:

Let the earth now praise the Lord,
Who has truly kept His word
And at last to us did send
Christ, the sinner's help and friend.

What the fathers most desired,
What the prophets' heart inspired,
What they longed for many a year,
Stands fulfilled in glory here.

Abram's promised great reward,
Zion's helper, Jacob's Lord -
Him of twofold race behold -
Truly came, as long foretold.

As Your coming was in peace,
Quiet, full of gentleness,
Let the same mind dwell in me
Which is Yours eternally.

Bruise for me the serpent's head
That, set free from doubt and dread,
I may cling to You in faith,
Safely kept through life and death.

Then when You will come again
As the glorious king to reign,
I with joy will see Your face,
Freely ransomed by Your grace.

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The first verse comes from the Acts 13 text.  The hymn renders "what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus" as "the Lord / Who has truly kept His word / And at last to us did send / Christ..."

The second verse seems to come from the Luke text.  In the Luke text, Jesus interprets what Moses and the prophets wrote "concerning himself," and the hymn verse mentions the same thing: that the fathers (which I'm assuming refers to the patriarchs) and the prophets "longed for" Jesus, who is "fulfilled in glory here."

The third verse, specifically "Abram's promised great reward," seems to come from the Acts 3 text, which also mentions "the covenant that God made with your fathers, ... to Abraham."

The rest of the verses don't seem to reference specific Biblical texts, aside from "Bruise for me the serpent's head" in verse five.  It's not listed among the citations in the hymnal, but this is from Genesis 3:15.  God says to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

"Ewing"

This isn't particularly Easter-specific, but over the course of the Lenten services, there was a theme hymn ("The Fruit of Love Once Blooming") that was sung to this tune.  It was still in my head this afternoon, so I thought I'd record it.

As usual, it's one verse of one arrangement (LW 309) and one verse of an-other (LSB 672).

Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244

Over the last few months, I've been listening to Bach's St. Matthew Passion with some regularity.  When I listened to it a couple weeks ago, I noticed something about the Words of Institution, specifically "Trinket Alle daraus":

(notation found here)

In English, this section is rendered as "Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood."  In the German, there's a melisma for "Alle."  Because it's sung to a variety of pitches, there's something of a musical representation of the breadth of that "all."

LSB #351 "Creator of the Stars of Night"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Colossians 1:13-17, John 1:1-4, Malachi 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Colossians 1:13-17:  "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

John 1:1-4:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men."

Malachi 4:2:  "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.  You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall."

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17:  "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."

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The text is public domain:

Creator of the stars of night,
Thy people's everlasting Light:
O Christ, Redeemer, save us all
And hear Thy servants when they call.

Thou, grieving that the ancient curse
Should doom to death a universe,
Hast found the healing, full of grace,
To cure and save our ruined race.

Thou cam'st the Bridegroom of the bride,
As drew the world to eventide,
The spotless Victim all divine
Proceeding from a virgin shrine.

At whose dread name, majestic now,
All knees must bend, all hearts must bow;
All things celestial Thee shall own,
And things terrestrial, Lord alone.

O Thou, whose coming is with dread
To judge the living and the dead,
Preserve us from the ancient foe
While still we dwell on earth below.

To God the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit, Three in One,
Praise, honor, might, and glory be
From age to age eternally.
Amen.

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The first verse seems to come from the Colossians and John texts cited.  Where they say, "All things" were created by God, the hymn just specifies "the stars of night."  Both texts also mention God as light (although the Colossians text does it a bit by opposites, saying that God has delivered us from darkness).

The Malachi text seems to be present in the second verse, specifically "Thou... Hast found the healing, full of grace, / To cure and save our ruined race."  Both mention healing.

The second-to-last verse ("O Thou, whose coming is with dread...") comes from the Thessalonians text.  To that text's mention of the second coming, the hymn adds the judgement of the living and the dead and a plea to "preserve us from the ancient foe."

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The lines "At whose dread name, majestic now, / All knees must bend, all hearts must bow" in the fourth verse comes from Philippians 2:10:  "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."  However, this isn't cited in the hymnal.

"Ellacombe"

I usually record these the same day I post them, but since I'm going out of town to-day, I recorded this one in advance.  And because of that, I thought I'd try something I wanted to do for awhile: I recorded the bass part too.  I can pretty easily divide the melody from the harmony part in the treble clef as I'm playing, but apparently this ability doesn't extend to bass clef.  It's almost entirely double stops, so I copied it out and divided it into two parts.  I recorded both, but all four tracks together sounded too messy, so I ended up using only one (the one with the lower notes).

As usual, this is one arrangement from Lutheran Worship (#106) and one arrangement from the Lutheran Service Book (#443).

"Come to Calvary's Holy Mountain"

A couple weeks ago, I transcribed "Come to Calvary's Holy Mountain," which reminded me of something I'd noticed awhile ago and needed to get around to writing about.

This is just a small point, but - when the text is sung to the tune "Naar mit öie" - the line "Sinners, ruined by the fall" descends.  Here's the melody for that line:

There's a fall in the text, and a literal fall in the tune.  The melody there spans an octave (D to D).

LSB #350 "Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 20:28, Matthew 21:5, 1 Timothy 2:6, Psalm 49:7-8, Revelation 5:9

Matthew 20:28:  "'Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'"

Matthew 21:5:  "'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."'"

1 Timothy 2:6:  "[Jesus Christ], who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time."

Psalm 49:7-8:  "Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice."

Revelation 5:9:  "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.'"

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The text is public domain:

Come, Thou precious Ransom, come
Only hope for sinful mortals!
Come, O Savior of the world!
Open are to Thee all portals.
Come, Thy beauty let us see;
Anxiously we wait for Thee.

Enter now my waiting heart,
Glorious King and Lord most holy.
Dwell in me and ne'er depart,
Though I am but poor and lowly.
Ah, what riches will be mine
When Thou art my guest divine!

My hosannas and my palms
Graciously receive, I pray Thee;
Evermore, as best I can,
Savior, I will homage pay Thee,
And in faith I will embrace,
Lord, Thy merit though Thy grace.

Hail! Hosanna, David's Son!
Jesus, hear our supplication!
Let Thy kingdom, scepter, crown,
Bring us blessing and salvation,
That forever we may sing:
Hail! Hosanna to our King.

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Four of the five cited texts mention a "ransom," but because of the resemblance between "Open are to Thee all portals" and "Worthy are you... to open its seals" it seems that the Revelation text is the primary referent.

The third and fourth verses - with their calls of "Hosanna" and the mention of palms - hint at Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem (which the Matthew 21 text, quoting Zechariah 9:9, precedes), but they're more than mere references.  It's more like the hymn uses that imagery in describing current "homage" paid to Christ.

"Munich"

This tune is used with a couple texts in each hymnal, but I used the arrangements for LW 366 and LSB 658.