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

Monday, February 24, 2020

Messiah: No. 41 Let us break their bonds asunder

The text is from Psalm 2:3:  "'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.'"

Some of the "away"s in this section - like the "away" in No. 22 - also have large intervals between the two syllables (A to F, C to F, and D to Bb), to underscore the distance to which the yokes should be cast.


Later in the section, Handel sets "bonds" & "break" and "bonds" & "asunder" against each other, like the "deliver"s and "delight"s in No. 28.