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

Friday, April 27, 2018

"Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain"

One of the hymns in church recently was "Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain," sung to the tune "Gaudeamus pariter" (Latin: "we rejoice together").  The title line is sung to this musical phrase:


The notes to which "raise the strain" is sung ascend, so there's a musical representation of that "rais[ing]."

In the fourth verse, there's the line "His deep peace, which evermore," sung to this same phrase (although later in the verse).  The "peace" is sung to the first of those C notes, which is the lowest pitch in the phrase and even in the whole hymn (in the melody, at least), so while the "deep" of "deep peace" is a metaphorical description, there's a musical impression of it.