"O dass ich tausend" (TLH #88)

"Away in a Manger"

A couple weeks before Christmas last year, I listened to an album of Christmas songs sung by Bing Crosby, and I noticed something about "Away in a Manger," which - of course - is also in the hymnal.

The third line of the first verse is "The stars in the sky looked down where He lay," sung to this musical phrase (the tune is also called "Away in a Manger"):

The phrase descends (diatonically and spanning a whole octave), as if musically representing the stars' "look[ing] down."

The phrase also portrays looking down in the second verse, where the text here is "I love Thee, Lord Jesus! Look down from the sky," although "Look down from the sky" spans only a fourth (F to C).

LSB #443 "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Matthew 21:15, Mark 11:1-11, Psalm 118:25-26

Matthew 21:15:  "But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' they were indignant..."

Mark 11:1-11:  "1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, 'Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Untie it and bring it.  3 If anyone says to you, "Why are you doing this?" say, "The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately."'  4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.  5 And some of those standing there said to them, 'What are you doing, untying the colt?'  6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.  7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.  8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.  9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, 'Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!'

"11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.  And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve."

Psalm 118:25-26:  "25 Save us, we pray, O LORD!  O LORD, we pray, give us success!

"26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!  We bless you from the house of the LORD."

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The text is public domain:

Hosanna, loud hosanna,
The little children sang;
Through pillared court and temple
The lovely anthem rang.
To Jesus, who had blessed them,
Close folded to His breast,
The children sang their praises,
The simplest and the best.

From Olivet they followed
Mid an exultant crowd,
The victor palm branch waving
And chanting clear and loud.
The Lord of earth and heaven
Rode on in lowly state
Nor scorned that little children
Should on His bidding wait.

"Hosanna in the highest!"
That ancient song we sing;
For Christ is our Redeemer,
The Lord of heav'n our King.
Oh, may we ever praise Him
With heart and life and voice
And in His blissful presence
Eternally rejoice!

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The text from Mark is the main source (appearing most obviously in the second verse), but the hymn's first verse is drawn from the text from Matthew.  The lines "To Jesus, who had blessed them, / Close folded to His breast" seem to refer to Matthew 19:13-15, where the disciples rebuke those who bring children to Jesus, but Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

As The Lutheran Service Book notes below the hymn, Hosanna is "a Hebrew word of praise meaning 'save us now.'"  This seems to be why Psalm 118 and its "Save us, we pray, O LORD!" is also cited.

"Antioch" (TLH #87)

I'd previously tried doing both parts on the bass clef, but recording both on bass guitar made the final sound too muddy.  For this recording, I experimenting with playing the higher of the two bass clef parts on guitar, which seems to have workt fairly well.

"On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry"

"On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry" was one of the hymns in an Advent service last year, and I noticed some musical mirroring of the text at the beginning of the fourth verse.  The first two lines are "Lay on the sick Thy healing hand / And make the fallen strong to stand," sung to these phrases from the tune "Puer nobis."*

"Thy healing hand" is sung to a descending group of notes (G F# E D), musically representing its being laid "on the sick."  In the same way (but in the opposite direction), "And make the fallen strong to stand" is sung to an ascending phrase (from A to D), illustrating that "stand[ing]" up after having "fallen."

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*The Lutheran Hymnal provides the full title of the tune: Puer nobis nascitur, which is "to us a child is born" (from Isaiah 9:6) in Latin.

LSB #442 "All Glory, Laud, and Honor"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 12:12-15, Psalm 118:26, Psalm 24:7-9

John 12:12-15:  "12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, 'Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!'  14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 'Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!'"

Psalm 118:26:  "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!  We bless you from the house of the LORD."

Psalm 24:7-9:  "7 Lift up your heads, O gates!  And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  8 Who is the King of glory?  The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!  9 Lift up your heads, O gates!  And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in."

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The text is public domain:

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

You are the King of Israel
And David's royal Son,
Now in the Lord's name coming,
Our King and Blessed One.

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

The company of angels
Is praising You on high,
And we with all creation
In chorus make reply.

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

The multitude of pilgrims
With palms before You went;
Our praise and prayer and anthems
Before You we present.

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

To You before Your passion
They sang their hymns of praise;
To You, now high exalted,
Our melody we raise.

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

As You received their praises,
Accept the prayers we bring,
O Source of ev'ry blessing,
Our good and gracious King.

All glory, laud, and honor
To You, Redeemer, King,
To whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

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The text from John is the main source, appearing in the second half of the refrain ("To whom the lips of children / Made sweet hosannas ring") and the verses (although some verses simply elaborate on the text).  "Now in the Lord's name coming, / Our King and Blessed One" in the first verse comes from both John 12:13 and Psalm 118:26 ("Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!").  "The King of glory" from Psalm 24 seems to be the source for "All glory, laud, and honor / To You, Redeemer, King" in the refrain, although - as a whole - the cited portion also describes Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.

"Salvator natus" (TLH #86)

"O Lord, How Shall I Meet You"

Last Advent, I noticed a small point about "O Lord, How Shall I Meet You."  The last line of the hymn is "And guide us safely home," sung to this musical phrase (the tune is "Wie soll ich dich empfangen," which I would translate from German as "How should I receive you"):

"Home" is sung to a D note, the tonic note (the "home" note) in D major, so there's a musical representation of this "home" too.

Looking at the hymn again recently, I noticed something about the line "My heart shall bloom forever" in the second verse, sung to this phrase:

"Forever" is sung with a melisma (A A G# A), and since it's stretched out, there's a musical sense of that long period of time.

Looking over the hymn in order to write this post, I found a few Biblical references that I'd missed when I wrote about them back in December 2016.  The third verse begins with the lines "I lay in fetters, groaning; / You came to set me free," which comes from Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound," which Jesus quotes in Luke 4:18.

The third verse ends with the lines "A glorious crown You give me, / A treasure safe on high / That will not fail or leave me / As earthly riches fly."  The "glorious crown" seems to come from a section of Revelation 2:10:  "'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.'" The final three lines use the same imagery that Jesus uses in Matthew 6:19-20: "'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.'"

LSB #441 "Ride On, Ride On in Majesty"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 12:12-16, Psalm 118:25-26, Zechariah 9:9

John 12:12-16:  "12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!'  14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written, 15 'Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!'  16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him."

Psalm 118:25-26:  "25 Save us, we pray, O LORD!  O LORD, we pray, give us success!

"26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!  We bless you from the house of the LORD."

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."

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The text is public domain:

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
Hark! All the tribes hosanna cry.
O Savior meek, pursue Thy road,
With palms and scattered garments strowed.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.
O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin
O'er captive death and conquered sin.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
The angel armies of the sky
Look down with sad and wond'ring eyes
To see the approaching sacrifice.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
Thy last and fiercest strife is nigh.
The Father on His sapphire throne
Awaits His own anointed Son.

Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.
Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain,
Then take, O God, Thy pow'r and reign.

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The text from John 12 is the main source for the hymn.  The other two texts cited just contain the same details.

The only other comment I have is that the "sapphire throne" in the fourth verse seems to come from Exodus 24:9-10:  "9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel.  There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness."

"Vom Himmel hoch" (TLH #85)

"Savior of the Nations, Come"

Now that it's Advent again, I can continue writing posts about features I noticed in Advent hymns last year.

In "Savior of the Nations, Come," the first line of the fifth verse is "God the Father was His source," sung to this phrase (from the tune "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland"):

"God" and "source" are both sung to a G notes, the tonic note of the tune (in G minor), so there's a mirroring between God as the "source" and the tonic note (the foundation) of the key.

The third line of the fifth verse is "Into hell His road went down," and - musically reflecting this going "down" - the melody (generally) descends:

The last line of the eighth verse (the last verse of the hymn) ends the doxology with "Now and through eternity," sung to this musical phrase (which is the same as the first phrase):

"Eternity" is sung with a melisma (Bb A G A G), and since the word is stretched out, there's something of a sense of that long period of time.

LSB #440 "Jesus, I Will Ponder Now"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Isaiah 53:3-6, John 3:16, Romans 12:1-2, John 4:19

Isaiah 53:3-6:  "3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.  6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one - to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

John 3:16:  "'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.'"

Romans 12:1-2:  "1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

1 John 4:19:  "We love because he first loved us."

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The text is public domain:

Jesus, I will ponder now
On Your holy passion;
With Your Spirit me endow
For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith
May the image cherish
Of Your suff'ring, pain, and death
That I may not perish.

Make me see Your great distress,
Anguish, and affliction,
Bonds and stripes and wretchedness
And Your crucifixion;
Make me see how scourge and rod,
Spear and nails did wound You,
How for them You died, O God,
Who with thorns had crowned You.

Yet, O Lord, not thus alone
Make me see Your passion,
But its cause to me make known
And its termination.
Ah! I also and my sin
Wrought Your deep affliction;
This indeed the cause has been
Of Your crucifixion.

Grant that I Your passion view
With repentant grieving.
Let me not bring shame to You
By unholy living.
How could I refuse to shun
Ev'ry sinful pleasure
Since for me God's only Son
Suffered without measure?

If my sins give me alarm
And my conscience grieve me,
Let Your cross my fear disarm;
Peace of conscience give me.
Help me see forgiveness won
By Your holy passion.
If for me He slays His Son,
God must have compassion!

Graciously my faith renew;
Help me bear my crosses,
Learning humbleness from You,
Peace mid pain and losses.
May I give You love for love!
Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heav'n above
Sing Your praise forever.

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The text from Isaiah (particularly Christ's suffering and the exchange of "with his stripes we are healed") appears in the first three verses, although the Passion accounts could also be cited for some details, especially in the second half of the second verse.

The fourth verse, specifically "Let me not bring shame to You / By unholy living," comes from the text from Romans.

"If for me He slays His Son, / God must have compassion!" at the end of the fifth verse is drawn from John 3:16.

Finally, "May I give You love for love!" in the last verse seems to come from 1 John 4:19:  "We love because he first loved us."

"Yorkshire" (TLH #84)