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

Friday, August 24, 2018

"O Christ, Who Called the Twelve"

Early this year, one of the hymns I sang in church was "O Christ, Who Called the Twelve" (sung to the tune "Terra beata" [Latin: "prosperous earth"]).  I noticed two small things about it.

The first two lines are "O Christ, who called the Twelve / To rise and follow You," sung to this musical phrase:


"To rise" is sung to an ascending phrase with a melisma (E F# G), so there's a musical representation of that "ris[ing]."

The third verse ends with the lines "And help us climb the lonely hills / Where love is crucified."  The second of these two lines is sung to this phrase:


There's a cross inscription to represent "crucified."