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

Friday, February 4, 2022

"We All Believe in One True God"

Last year, I found a number of features to note in "We All Believe in One True God" (LSB #954) sung to the tune "Wir glauben all' (Chant)."  Here's the first phrase:


The first verse begins, "We all believe in one true God"; the second, "We all believe in Jesus Christ"; and the third, "We all confess the Holy Ghost."  In each, "all" is sung with a melisma (A G A E F), musically giving a sense of entirety.

The fourth musical phrase:


In the second verse, the text here is "Source of ev'ry grace and blessing."  "Blessing " is sung with a melisma (D C D), giving a sense of number for that "ev'ry."  In the third verse, the text is "Comforts us beyond all telling."  "Telling" is sung with the same melisma, giving a sense of the entirety of "all."

The ninth phrase:


In the second verse, the text here is "Was crucified for all our sin."  "Sin" is sung with a melisma (spanning nearly an octave:  C B A G F E D), giving a sense of the entirety of "all."  In the third verse, the text is "All flesh shall rise, and we shall be."  Here, "flesh" is sung with a melisma (F ED C), giving a sense of "all."  There's also a temporal merism here in the first verse:  "He careth for us day and night."