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

Sunday, November 26, 2017

"Wie schön leuchtet" (TLH #23)


In The Lutheran Hymnal, "Wie schön leuchtet" is in Eb major, and while I think I've recorded hymn tunes in Eb major before, I raised this a half-step to E major, partially because I do prefer E major to Eb major but mostly because there's a low Eb in the bass part and a bass in standard tuning goes down only to E.

I also discovered that the rhythm in The Lutheran Hymnal arrangement is a bit different from the rhythm I'm used to from the arrangements in Lutheran Worship and The Lutheran Service Book.  Without even realizing it, the first few times I played through the TLH version, I was reading only the pitches, not the note values.