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

Friday, December 20, 2019

"Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes"

Last summer I recorded the tune "O Jesu Christ, mein's," used for TLH #64 "Jesus, Thy Church with Longing Eyes" (in the Advent section).  I noticed a small feature, specifically regarding the first musical phrase:


In the fourth verse, the text here is "Oh, come and reign o'er every land."  Because the text for the fourth verse is printed below the music staves, it's a bit unclear whether "every" is meant to be sung with three syllables or (as "ev'ry") with a melisma (G A B), but either articulation gives a sense of number.