"Herr Jesu Christ, dich" (TLH #3)

This is in 6/4, which gave me a bit of trouble.  In particular, the transition between the two verses is a bit shaky.

In TLH, the title of the tune is given as "Herr Jesu Christ, dich," and the title of the original German text is "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend."  For this same hymn ("Lord Jesus Christ, Be Present Now") in LW (#201) and LSB (#902), the title of the tune is "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend," so I'm tagging both.

"Have No Fear, Little Flock"

A couple months ago, I happened to think of "Have No Fear, Little Flock," and I realized that there are some connections between the text and the tune (titled just "Little Flock").

The first musical phrase ascends:

In the third verse, the text sung to that phrase is "Praise the Lord high above," and in the fourth, "Thankful hearts raise to God."  The phrases deal with height and raising, which the musical ascent represents.

The text for the second half of the third verse is "For He stoops down to heal you, / Uplift and restore you."  For both of these phrases, there are melodic representations.  "For He stoops down to heal you" is sung to a descending phrase:

And the two syllables of "Uplift" (the first two notes in the phrase) form a rising sixth (Eb to C):

LSB #367 "Angels from the Realms of Glory"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Luke 2:8-17; John 1:4-5, 9, 14; Luke 2:25-38; Matthew 2:1-11

Luke 2:8-17:  "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'

"When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.'  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child."

John 1:4-5:  "In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

John 1:9:  "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world."

John 1:14:  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Luke 2:25-28:  "Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.  And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God..."

Matthew 2:1-11:  "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?  For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'

"Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying 'Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.'  After listening to the king, they went on their way.  And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.  Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh."

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The text is public domain:

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o'er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation's story,
Now proclaim Messiah's birth. 

Come and worship, come and worship;
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Shepherds in the field abiding,
Watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing,
Yonder shines the Infant Light. 

Come and worship, come and worship;
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations,
Ye have seen His natal star. 

Come and worship, come and worship;
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

Saints before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear. 

Come and worship, come and worship;
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

All creation, join in praising
God the Father, Spirit, Son,
Evermore your voices raising
To the eternal Three in One. 

Come and worship, come and worship;
Worship Christ, the newborn King.

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The Biblical references in this hymn are pretty clear-cut.  The first Luke text (2:8-17) is the basis for the first two verses, save for the line "Yonder shines the Infant Light" in the second verse, which comes from the three citations from John.  The first two citations mention light, and the third says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."  These are combined into "the Infant Light" in the hymn, although "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" is referenced elsewhere too (in the refrain's "the newborn King," for instance).

The third verse (the magi's visiting Jesus) comes from Matthew 2.  The John texts that mention light seem to be hinted at again with the line "Brighter visions beam afar," although this could also just be the "natal star."

The fourth verse comes from the second citation from Luke 2 (verses 25-28).  The hymn has the plural "Saints before the altar bending," but the cited verses mention only Simeon.  The plural refers to Simeon and Anna, who's mentioned in verses 36-38: "And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.  She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.  She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.  And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem."

The description "Watching long" in the hymn suggests old age.  It's implied that Simeon is elderly because he "would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ," but Anna's age of eighty-four years is specifically given.  Because she "did not depart from the temple" and worshipped "night and day," that description of "watching long" might actually apply to her more readily than to Simeon.

"Take My Life and Let It Be"

Archival post from 7 September 2016

For the last couple weeks, I've been watching Worship for Shut-Ins religiously (pun intended).  One of the hymns in this week's service was "Take My Life and Let It Be," and as I listened to it, I noticed that in the final phrase there's usually a melisma that emphasizes a specific word in the text.  I referenced my hymnal and found that "Take My Life and Let It Be" is included with two melodies, "Patmos" (LSB #783) and "Hendon" (#784).  The melismas I noticed are present only when the text is sung to "Patmos."  Here's the phrase:

In the first verse, that melisma corresponds to "flow," so movement is implied musically.  In the second, it acts as musical elaboration for "beautiful" in the text.  In the third, there's an extra syllable for "messages," so the melisma further demonstrates how "my lips" (from the previous line) are "filled" with God's word.  I'm not sure if there's a clear extra-musical meaning for that melisma in the fourth or fifth verses, but in the sixth, it sort of musically underlines the "only" in "Take myself, and I will be / Ever, only, all for Thee."  It emphasizes the exclusivity of that dedication of the self to God (and also brings the First Commandment to mind).

At the bottom of the page in my hymnal, Frances R. Havergal is credited with the text and William H. Havergal with the tune ("Patmos").  I did some research, and apparently they're father and daughter.  It seems that either the text was written to the music or the music was written to the text, which is probably why those eighth notes and resulting melismas combine so well to produce these emphases.  Like I mentioned above, they aren't present when this text is sung to "Hendon" (written by Henri A. C. Malan).

"Gott sei Dank" (TLH #2)

I'm familiar with this tune from LW and LSB, but it's slightly different in TLH.  There are quarter notes in a few places where the LW and LSB versions have eighth notes.

I'm pretty sure this is the first tune I've recorded a second time since re-configuring this project in November.  It was the first hymn tune I recorded in 2017 (it was actually the first piece of music of any sort that I recorded in 2017).  The titles of the tunes in LW and LSB are formatted in all caps (save for in the index), so - despite my knowledge of German - I neglected to capitalize "Dank" back in January.

"Eternal Father, Strong to Save"

A couple months ago, one of the hymns in the Worship for Shut-Ins Program for the Fifth Sunday of Easter was "Eternal Father, Strong to Save."  Between listening to it and then looking at the notation in my hymnal (where I found that the title of the tune to which it's sung is "Melita"), I found a couple things to write about.

The first two lines of the second verse are "O Christ, the Lord of hill and plain, / O'er which our traffic runs amain."  The melody to which the second line is sung has an arc, to musically describe that "traffic" travelling over the "hill," and then it levels out around G and F#, depicting the "plain":

To some degree, the breadth of this phrase also compasses the Holy Spirit's being "spread abroad the firmament" in the third verse.

The last two lines of the fourth verse are "Thus evermore shall rise to Thee / Glad praise from air and land and sea," and the melody for the first of these two lines ascends (as if to musically portray the "ris[ing]" of the "Glad praise"):

Furthermore, this phrase ascends chromatically (E to F to F# to G), which seems to make the ascent more obvious when the tune is heard.

LSB #366 "It Came upon the Midnight Clear"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Luke 2:13-14, Isaiah 9:4-5, Genesis 11:9

Luke 2:13-14:  "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'"

Isaiah 9:4-5:  "For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.  For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire."

Genesis 11:9:  "Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth.  And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth."

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The text is public domain:

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to all,
From heav'n's all-gracious king."
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heav'nly music floats
O'er all the weary world.
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hov'ring wing,
And ever o'er its babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

All you, beneath your heavy load,
By care and guilt bent low,
Who toil along a dreary way
With painful steps and slow;
Look up, for golden is the hour,
Come swiftly on the wing,
The Prince was born to bring you peace;
Of Him the angels sing.

For lo, the days have come to pass
By prophets seen of old,
When down into the circling years
Came Christ as was foretold.
His word of peace shall to the earth
God's ancient promise bring,
And all who take this gift will hear
The song the angels sing.

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The text from Luke is the main Biblical referent in the hymn, although it appears primarily in the first verse (and it's not in the third at all).  In the text, the angels say, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace...."  While the hymn has the speech more or less the same, it changes the angels' "saying" to singing.

The Genesis text appears in the second verse, but it's not a very involved reference.  It's just "the weary world['s]... babel sounds."

Instead of Luke, the third verse comes from the Isaiah text.  The hymn renders "the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor," as the more prosaic "heavy load" and "care and guilt."  The citation should extend to include verse six too:  "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."  It's only the first half of the hymn verse that's "dreary" and "painful."  The second half is "golden" because of Jesus' birth, and Isaiah 9:6 speaks about this too.  The hymn even calls Him "The Prince [who] was born to bring you peace," which is the same appellation ("Prince of Peace") given in Isaiah 9:6.

"Amazing Grace"

Archival post from 29 June 2016

Two week ago, "Amazing Grace" was one of the hymns I sang in church.  I noticed something about the last phrase in the third verse.  In both Lutheran Worship and the Lutheran Service Book, the tune ("New Britain") is in F major, and the note to which "home" in the line "His grave will lead me home" is sung is an F - the tonic or "home note."

In that phrase, there's a home both literally in the text and musically in the tune.

"Neander" (TLH #1)

One of the hymns in church this week was from The Lutheran Hymnal.  Although I have a copy, I'm not very familiar with it simply because it was before my time (Lutheran Worship was the current hymnal when I was growing up).  So I decided to go through it hymn by hymn (although I might skip some or change some keys to make them easier to play).  If nothing else, it'll make choosing a hymn to record easier; I just have to do the next one in sequence.

The first hymn is "Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty," which is one I know, but while it's paired with the same tune, TLH lists a different title ("Neander," apparently after Joachim Neander, its composer) from what LW and LSB have ("Unser Herrscher").  As before, I went through the arrangement twice (plus the "Amen" cadence that TLH has for apparently every hymn).

"All Christians Who Have Been Baptized"

A couple months ago, one of the hymns I sang in church was "All Christians Who Have Been Baptized," sung to the tune "Nun freut euch."  I noticed a couple instances where "forever" is sung with more syllables than it's spoken with.

The second line of the fifth verse is "And give God thanks forever!" sung to this musical phrase:

The end of the sixth verse is

Until that day when you possess
His glorious robe of righteousness
Bestowed on you forever!

The last of these three lines is sung to this musical phrase:

"Forever" is spoken with three syllables, but in these two phrases, it's sung to four (the last four notes in each phrase), so there's something of a musical representation of that long period of time.

LSB #364, 365 "Away in a Manger"

Like "Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates," there are two different tunes for "Away in a Manger," but the texts are virtually the same [#365 has "bright sky" where #364 has just "sky"], so I'm putting #364 and #365 in the same post.

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Luke 2:7; Mark 10:14-16; Matthew 1:23, 28:20

Luke 2:7:  "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

Mark 10:14-16:  "But when Jesus saw it [His disciples' rebuking the crowd's bringing children to Him], he was indignant and said to them, 'Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.'  And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them."

Matthew 1:23:  "'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)."

Matthew 28:20:  "'... teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"

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The text is public domain:

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the [bright] sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus!  Look down from the sky,
And stay by my cradle till morning is night.

Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And take us to heaven to live with Thee there.

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The verse from Luke shows up in the descriptions of the setting in the first two verses of the hymn.  "In a manger" is the only specific description taken; it seems that "on the hay" and the presence of "the cattle" are extrapolations.

Jesus' being with us is the common thread in the two verses cited from Matthew, and this appears in the second and third verses of the hymn.  In the second, there's "stay by my cradle," and in the third, "Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay / Close by me forever...."

Jesus' blessing the children in the text from Mark is in the third verse of the hymn, specifically: "Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care."  His saying "for to such belongs the kingdom of God" and "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it" might have some bearing on the hymn's "take us to heaven."

"I'm But a Stranger Here"

Archival post from 30 April 2016

Last week in church, I sang "I'm But a Stranger Here," and I noticed something about the final phrase:

The hymn is in G major, and both "Heav'n" and "home" in that final phrase are sung to G notes, the tonic (or home note) of G major, so there's a musical feeling of returning home when both "Heav'n" and "home" are sung.

When I started this project, I made a point to separate the text from the tune because some texts are sung to different tunes and some tunes are used with different texts, but I think "I'm But a Stranger Here" is pretty firmly tied to "Heaven Is My Home," which is the tune it's sung to.  What I mean is that I think "I'm But a Stranger Here" and "Heaven Is My Home" were written for each other, since the title of the tune is a phrase in the text itself.

"Bradbury"

This tune isn't in LW, so this is twice through the LSB arrangement (#711).

"The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want"

I've been watching the One LSB Hymn a Week series on CPH's music-specific YouTube channel.  A couple months ago, one of the hymns was LSB #710 "The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want."

Good Shepherd Sunday was the week after that video was posted, and "The Lord's My Shepherd, I'll Not Want" was one of the hymns I sang in church.  Between those two encounters, I found a few things to write about it.

The hymn is sung to the tune "Belmont," whose second musical phrase descends diatonically from D to F#:

The text there is "He makes me down to lie," so the lying down in the text is represented in the music.

The two other things I noticed are melismas that emphasize certain words in the text.  The last line of the fourth verse is "And my cup overflows."  "Overflows" is only three syllables when spoken, but in the hymn, it's sung to four (indicated in red):

This extra syllable illustrates the bounty that God provides.  Like the cup that overflows, the word "overflows" itself has a surfeit of syllables.

The last two lines of the fifth verse (and the entire hymn) are "And in God's house forevermore / My dwelling place shall be."  Like "overflows," "forevermore" (indicated in red) is sung with more syllables than it's pronounced with:

Instead of four syllables, it has five, and that extra syllable helps to represent that long period of time.

LSB #363 "Silent Night, Holy Night"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Luke 2:7-16, Colossians 1:13

Luke 2:7-16:  "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

"And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  And the angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'

"When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.'  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger."

Colossians 1:13:  "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son."

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The text is public domain:

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heav'nly hosts sing, Alleluia!
Christ, the Savior, is born!
Christ, the Savior, is born!

Silent night, holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

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There are only two Biblical citations for this hymn, so finding where they appear in the text is pretty simple.  The Luke text is the main referent, with all three verses drawing from various portions of it.

Although there isn't a similarity as far as specific words, the verse from Colossians shows up in these lines in the third verse:  "Son of God, love's pure light / Radiant[ly] beams from Thy holy face / With the dawn of redeeming grace."  God's "ha[ving] delivered us from the domain of darkness" is inverted so that - rather than darkness - light is mentioned ("light... beam[ing]... With the dawn of redeeming grace").

"Of the Father's Love Begotten"

Archival post from 10 January 2016

Two weeks ago, for the first Sunday after Christmas, I sang "Of the Father's Love Begotten" in church.  I noticed something that I'd remarked earlier but had forgotten about: the fourth line of the first verse contains an inversion.  It's "He the source, the ending He."  The "is" is implied from the previous line, "He is Alpha and Omega."

While it seems that the line is inverted just so that it would rhyme with the previous lines ("Of the Father's love begotten / Ere the worlds began to be"), it also demonstrates the "Alpha and Omega" quality in a grammatical way.  "He" is at the beginning and the end of that line.

"Weil ich Jesu Schäflein bin"

Standard method of one verse of the LW arrangement (#517) and one verse of the LSB arrangement (#740).