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

Friday, March 6, 2020

"God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It"

On two different occasions last year, I found a couple things to write about in "God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It," sung to the tune "Bachofen."

In the first verse, the fifth line is "Do I need earth's treasures many?" sung to this phrase:


"Treasures" is sung with a melisma (Bb A G), musically giving a sense of amount ("many").

The third line of the third verse, directed to Satan, is "Drop your ugly accusation," sung to this phrase:


"Drop" is sung with a melisma and to a descending pair of notes, so although it's only a small interval (F E), there's a musical sense of its meaning.  There's a similar feature for "accusation," the thing to be "drop[t]" (if only metaphorically):  it's sung to a descending group of notes (A G F E C), emphasized with a melisma.

The sixth line of the third verse, still directed to Satan, is "All your might has come unraveled," sung to this phrase:


"All" is sung with a melisma (G A), musically giving a sense of entirety.