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

Friday, April 30, 2021

"Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain"

The tune I recorded for Sunday was "Schwing dich auf," used for The Lutheran Hymnal #204 "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain."  When I initially lookt at the hymn, I noticed a small connection between the music and the text.  Here's the first musical phrase:


The hymn begins with the line "Come, ye faithful, raise the strain," and, as if to reflect that "rais[ing]," the line is sung to an ascending melody (spanning a whole octave, even).

This hymn also appears (as "Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain") in The Lutheran Service Book (#487), although the text is a bit different and sung to a different tune ("Gaudeamus pariter").  There's a similar feature in that version, but it's not as extensive as what's shown above, where the entire phrase ascends.