"Old Hundredth" (TLH #14)

"Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure"

A couple years ago, I wrote a post about some musical features in "Jesus Has Come and Brings Pleasure," but when this hymn was featured on Worship Anew a couple weeks ago, I found a couple I'd missed.

The first line of the fourth verse is "Jesus has come as the King of all glory!" sung to this phrase from the tune "Jesus ist kommen, Grund ewiger Freude":

"All" is sung with a melisma (F Eb), giving something of a sense of entirety.

The same feature is present at the end of the fourth verse, where "all" in the line "Jesus has come! He, the King of all glory!" is sung with a melisma (F G) in this phrase:

LSB #560 "Drawn to the Cross, Which Thou Hast Blessed"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 12:32; Psalm 51:2, 17; Galatians 6:10

John 12:32:  "'And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.'"

Psalm 51:2:  "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!"

Psalm 51:17:  "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

Galatians 6:10:  "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

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The text is public domain:

Drawn to the cross, which Thou hast blessed

With healing gifts for souls distressed,

To find in Thee my life, my rest,

Christ crucified, I come.

Thou knowest all my griefs and fears,

Thy grace abused, my misspent years;

Yet now to Thee with contrite tears,

Christ crucified, I come.

Wash me and take away each stain;

Let nothing of my sin remain.

For cleansing, though it be through pain,

Christ crucified, I come.

And then for work to do for Thee,

Which shall so sweet a service be

That angels well might envy me,

Christ crucified, I come.

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The citations for this hymn are easy to distinguish.  John 12:32 appears in the first line.  Psalm 51:2 is the basis for the third verse, and Psalm 51:17 the basis for the second.  The hymn's fourth verse comes from Galatians 6:10.

"Kyrie, Gott Vater" (TLH #6)

"Son of God, Eternal Savior"

A couple weeks ago, Concordia Publishing House posted a verse from "Son of God, Eternal Savior" on Instagram:

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(The hymn is actually LSB #842.)

In my head, I sang this verse to the tune ("In Babilone"), and I noticed that the words "ever plead" in the line "For Your own will ever plead" are sung with melismas (A G F# | E D), giving a sense of duration.  Here's the musical phrase:

(A couple years ago, I wrote about a melisma in the title line.)

LSB #559 "Oh, How Great Is Your Compassion"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Titus 3:4-7, Ephesians 2:4-9, 1 Peter 1:3-5, 2 Corinthians 9:15

Titus 3:4-7:  "4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Ephesians 2:4-9:  "4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  8 For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

1 Peter 1:3-5:  "3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

2 Corinthians 9:15:  "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

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The text is public domain:

Oh, how great is Your compassion,

Faithful Father, God of grace,

That with all our fallen race

In our depth of degradation

You had mercy so that we

Might be saved eternally!

Your great love for this has striven

That we may, from sin made free,

Live with You eternally.

Your dear Son Himself has given

And extends His gracious call,

To His supper leads us all.

Firmly to our soul's salvation

Witnesses Your Spirit, Lord,

In Your Sacraments and Word.

There He sends true consolation,

Giving us the gift of faith

That we fear not hell nor death.

Lord, Your mercy will not leave me;

Ever will Your truth abide.

Then in You I will confide.

Since Your Word cannot deceive me,

My salvation is to me

Safe and sure eternally.

I will praise Your great compassion,

Faithful Father, God of grace,

That with all our fallen race

In our depth of degradation

You had mercy so that we

Might be saved eternally.

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The Biblical passages cited for this hymn are similar enough that it's difficult to see where (or if) the hymn draws from any one particular text over the others.  The first and last verses seem to point to the text from Ephesians a bit more, however; the line "In our depth of degradation" has some relation to "and raised us up with him" from verse 6.  The hymn's third verse seems to come more from the Titus text, which is the only one of these texts that mentions the Holy Spirit.  The beginning of the last verse ("I will praise Your great compassion") could be drawn from 2 Corinthians 9:15.

"Duke Street" (TLH #200)

Because it would feel wrong to play tunes from Easter hymns during Lent, I'm going to hold off on going any further into TLH and go back to do some of the tunes I skipt.

"Come, We That Love the Lord"

The first two lines of the first verse of "Come, We That Love the Lord" are "Come, we that love the Lord, / And let our joys be known," sung to these musical phrases from the tune "Marching to Zion":

"Joys" is sung with a melisma (C Bb), giving something of a sense of ebullience.  The text here in the fourth verse is "Then let our songs abound, / And ev'ry tear be dry."  "Songs" is sung with a melisma (C D) for a sense of "abound[ing]," and "tear" is sung with a melisma (C Bb) for a sense of "ev'ry."

The second half of the refrain is "We're marching upward to Zion, / The beautiful city of God," sung to these phrases:

"We're marching upward to Zion" is sung to a generally ascending melody, illustrating that "upward."

LSB #558 "Not unto Us"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Psalm 115:1, Ephesians 3:21, Philippians 3:8-9, Hebrews 11:13-16

Psalm 115:1:  "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!"

Ephesians 3:21:  "to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."

Philippians 3:8-9:  "8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith -"

Hebrews 11:13-16:  "13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.  14 For people who speak this make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.  15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.  16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city."

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The verses from Psalm 115 and Ephesians 3 appear primarily in the hymn's first verse ("Not unto us, not unto us be glory, Lord; / Not unto us but to Your name be praise"), but they're also at the beginning of the last verse.

The verses from Philippians 3 seem more to inform the hymn than be directly quoted or even paraphrased in it.  The hymn expresses "The surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" in its second and third verses.

Hebrews 11 shows up in a few places in the hymn's third verse, which uses words like "shepherded" and "led" to describe God's direction of this journey of "strangers and exiles on the earth."  It appears most clearly, however, in the final lines of the fourth verse:  "Abide with us till trav'ling days are over and done, / And pilgrim feet lead us home, Lord, to You."

"Easter Hymn" (TLH #199)

I couldn't play recorder fast enough to double the "alleluia"s in this, so it's just my regular instrumentation.

"Let Me Be Thine Forever"

Almost two years ago now, I found a few features in "Let Me Be Thine Forever," sung to the tune "Lob Gott getrost mit Singen."  Here are the fifth and sixth phrases:

In the first verse, the text here is "Lord, do not let me waver, / But give me steadfastness."  "Waver" is sung with a melisma (C B A), musically giving a sense of its meaning.  In the second verse, the text is "For Thou hast dearly bought me / With blood and bitter pain."  The second syllable of "bitter" is sung with an accidental (G#), giving something of a sense of its meaning.

The second verse ends with the lines "Let me, since Thou hast sought me, / Eternal life obtain," sung to these phrases:

"Life" is sung with a melisma (D C B), musically giving something of a sense of the duration of "eternal."

LSB #557 "Seek Where You May to Find a Way"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 6:68-69, Acts 4:12

John 6:68-69:  "68 Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.'"

Acts 4:12:  "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

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Acts 4:12 appears in the first two verses, mostly in the first half of each:

Seek where you may

To find a way

That leads to your salvation.

My heart is stilled,

On Christ I build,

He is the one foundation.

Seek whom you may

To be your stay,

None can redeem his brother.

All helpers failed;

This man prevailed,

The God-man and none other,

The text from John 6 could be cited for those verses too, but it (specifically "You have the words of eternal life") also seems to appear near the end of the fourth verse:  "You are my Lord; / Your precious Word / Shall guide my way."

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The first verse ends with the lines "He overthrows / All evil foes; / Through Him I more than conquer," and the fourth verse contains the lines "Not wealth nor pride / Nor fortune's tide / Our bonds of love shall sever," and these sections draw from Romans 8:37-39:  "37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."