"O God of Light"

I noticed a couple small features in "O God of Light," sung to the tune "Atkinson."  Here's the second musical phrase:

In the fourth verse, the text here, describing the "summons You are sending" from the previous line, is "Through all the earth, to ev'ry land and race."  The notes to which "Through all the earth" is sung encompass an octave (D B G D), and this span provides a sense of the entirety of "all."  (The previous line has the same feature, with "To all the world" sung to the same four notes.)  "Land" is sung with a melisma (A G), musically giving a sense of the breadth of "ev'ry."

LSB #644 "The Church's One Foundation"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Ephesians 2:20; 4:4-6; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; Revelation 7:14b-17

Ephesians 2:20:  "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone"

Ephesians 4:4-6:  "4 There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

1 Corinthians 10:16-17:  "16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."

Revelation 7:14b-17:  "And he said to me, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

"15 'Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'"

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The text is public domain:

The Church's one foundation

Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;

She is His new creation

By water and the Word.

From heav'n He came and sought her

To be His holy bride;

With His own blood He bought her,

And for her life He died.

Elect from ev'ry nation,

Yet one o'er all the earth;

Her charter of salvation:

One Lord, one faith, one birth.

One holy name she blesses,

Partakes one holy food,

And to one hope she presses

With ev'ry grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder

The world sees her oppressed,

By schisms rent asunder,

By heresies distressed,

Yet saints their watch are keeping;

Their cry goes up, "How long?"

And soon the night of weeping

Shall be the morn of song.

Through toil and tribulation

And tumult of her war

She waits the consummation

Of peace forevermore

Till with the vision glorious

Her longing eyes are blest,

And the great Church victorious

Shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth has union

With God, the Three in One,

And mystic sweet communion

With those whose rest is won.

O blessèd heav'nly chorus!

Lord, save us by Your grace

That we, like saints before us,

May see You face to face.

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Ephesians 2:20 appears in the first two lines:  "The Church's one foundation / Is Jesus Christ, her Lord."  Ephesians 4:4-6 may figure into this too, but this passage (specifically verse 5) appears more clearly in the hymn's second verse:  "Her charter of salvation: / One Lord, one faith, one birth."

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 appears in the line "Partakes one holy food" in the second verse and in the lines "Yet she on earth has union / With God, the Three in One, / And mystic sweet communion / With those whose rest is won" in the last verse.

Revelation 7:14b-17 seems to be referred to at the end of the fourth verse:  "Till with the vision glorious / Her longing eyes are blest, / And the great Church victorious / Shall be the Church at rest."

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"She is His new creation / By water and the Word" in the first verse seems to come from 2 Corinthians 5:17:  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

"With His own blood He bought her, / And for her life He died" at the end of the first verse bears some resemblance to 1 Peter 1:18-19:  "18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

The second half of the third verse ("Yet saints their watch are keeping; / Their cry goes up, 'How long?' / And soon the night of weeping / Shall be the morn of song") combines elements from various Psalms.  The question "How long?" appears in Psalm 13:1-2 ("1 How long, O LORD?  Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?  2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day?  How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?") and in Psalm 74:10 ("How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?  Is the enemy to revile your name forever?").  The image of keeping watch until the morning appears in Psalm 130:5-6 ("5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.").  The contrast between "night of weeping" and "morn of song" is similar to Psalm 30:5b ("Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.").

The "blessèd heav'nly chorus" in the last verse seems to come from Revelation 7:9-10:  "9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"

The lines "That we, like saints before us, / May see You face to face" at the end of the last verse come from 1 Corinthians 13:12:  "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

"St. Savior"

As with the last tune I did for this project, this appears in only one of the three hymnals I've been using (The Lutheran Hymnal #434).  I transposed it from Bb major to C major and went through the arrangement twice.

"Erhalt uns, Herr" (TLH #265)

I recorded this tune about a month ago, and to make this recording different, I used a faster tempo (maybe a bit too fast).  I also transposed it from E minor to G minor.  I'd hoped that this would make it a bit easier to play, but I still had some difficulties.  It would have been better to transpose it down to D minor, but then the bass part would be too low.

"Spread the Reign of God the Lord"

Last year, I noticed a detail in "Spread the Reign of God the Lord," sung to the tune "Gott sei Dank."  Here's the third phrase:

In the first verse, the text here, describing where the reign of God is to be spread, is "Ev'rywhere His creatures call."  "Ev'rywhere" is sung with a melisma (G C B A), and each syllable is sung to a different pitch.  Both of these features provide a sense of breadth.

LSB #643 "Sent Forth by God's Blessing"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Luke 8:39, Colossians 3:17, Numbers 6:26, 1 Corinthians 10:16

Luke 8:39:  "'Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.'  And he [the formerly demon-possessed man] went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him."

Colossians 3:17:  "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Numbers 6:26:  "the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

1 Corinthians 10:16:  "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?"

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"God's blessing" in the first few lines ("Sent forth by God's blessing, / Our true faith confessing, / The people of God from His dwelling take leave") seems to refer to Numbers 6:26.  The situation the hymn describes is the same as what's in Luke 8:39.

Colossians 3:17 appears at the beginning and end of the second verse ("With praise and thanksgiving / To God ever-living, / The tasks of our ev'ryday life we will face" and "Then may all the living / With praise and thanksgiving / Give honor to Christ and His name that we bear").

1 Corinthians 10:16 seems to appear in the line "With Your feast You feed us" in the second verse.  Shortly after this is the line "Unite us as one in this life that we share," which bears some resemblance to 1 Corinthians 10:17:  "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."

"St. Petersburg"

Of the three hymnals I've been using for this project, this tune is in only The Lutheran Hymnal (#493).  My recording is twice through that arrangement.

I'm not sure this actually fits the conceit of this project (which is to record the tunes named after saints), but it was only after I'd recorded the tune that I started thinking about that.

"Herzlich tut mich" (TLH #264)

"Lord of Our Life"

I wrote a post about "Lord of Our Life" a couple years ago, but while looking at the hymn again recently, I found an-other small point to note.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Iste confessor."  Here's the second musical phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "Star of our night and hope of ev'ry nation."  "Nation" is sung with a melisma (C B A), and because there's an extra syllable and because each syllable is sung to a different pitch, there's a sense of that "ev'ry."

LSB #642 "O Living Bread from Heaven"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 6:35, 48-58; 1 Peter 1:18-19

1 Corinthians 11:23-26:  "23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, 'This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.'  25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'  26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

John 6:35:  "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'"

John 6:48-58:  "48 'I am the bread of life.  49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.'

"52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?'  53 So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.  57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died.  Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.'"

1 Peter 1:18-19:  "18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

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The text is public domain:

O living Bread from heaven,

How well You feed Your guest!

The gifts that You have given

Have filled my heart with rest.

Oh, wondrous food of blessing,

Oh, cup that heals our woes!

My heart, this gift possessing,

With praises overflows.

My Lord, You here have led me

To this most holy place

And with Yourself have fed me

The treasures of Your grace;

For You have freely given

What earth could never buy,

The bread of life from heaven,

That now I shall not die.

You gave me all I wanted;

This food can death destroy.

And You have freely granted

The cup of endless joy.

My Lord, I do not merit

The favor You have shown,

And all my soul and spirit

Bow down before Your throne.

Lord, grant me then, thus strengthened

With heav'nly food, while here

My course on earth is lengthened,

To serve with holy fear.

And when You call my spirit

To leave this world below,

I enter, through Your merit,

Where joys unmingled flow.

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1 Corinthians 11:23-26 and the passages from John 6 (which overlap to some degree) are the main sources for the hymn and appear throughout.

1 Peter 1:18-19 isn't as clear.  The lines "For You have freely given / What earth could never buy" in the second verse, "My Lord, I do not merit / The favor You have shown" in the third verse, and "I enter, through Your merit, / Where joys unmingled flow" in the fourth verse seem to be the likeliest possibilities.

"Kommt her zu mir" (TLH #263)

Transposed from F minor to G minor

"How Great Thou Art"

Recently, I found a note from a few years ago about a couple features I'd noticed in "How Great Thou Art."  Both are in the third musical phrase of the tune "O store Gud":

In the second verse, the text here is "When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur," and in the fourth verse, the text is "Then I shall bow in humble adoration."  At the end of the first few words of each line ("When I look down" and "Then I shall bow"), there's a drop of a third (F to D, which is also the lowest pitch in the phrase), and this mirrors the descents of "down" and "bow[ing]."

LSB #641 "You Satisfy the Hungry Heart"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Psalm 81:16, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 10:2-4, 1 John 4:7-21

Psalm 81:16:  "But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

1 Corinthians 10:16-17:  "16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."

John 10:2-4:  "2 'But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.  3 To him the gatekeeper opens.  The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.'"

1 John 4:7-21:  "7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

"13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.  15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.  16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world.  18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.  19 We love because he first loved us.  20 If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  21 And this commandment we have from him:  whoever loves God must also love his brother."

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Psalm 81:16 forms part of the refrain.  The phrase "bread of life" in the last line comes from John 6:35.

John 10:2-4 appears in the first verse, and 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 is paraphrased in the third, but 1 John 4:7-21 isn't as clear.  The last line of the fourth verse says that the Lord "Comes in our hearts to dwell," which may come from the verses describing God's abiding in us (1 John 4:12-13, 15-16).  The fifth verse says, "Then selfless let us be, / To serve each other in Your name / In truth and charity," and this is a way of "lov[ing] one another" (1 John 4:7, 11, 21).

"St. Peter"

There are two different arrangements of this tune in Lutheran Worship.

The Lutheran Service Book #524, Lutheran Worship #279, Lutheran Worship #474, The Lutheran Hymnal #364

"Ein' feste Burg" (TLH #262)

"O Trinity, O Blessed Light"

Last year, I noticed a small feature in "O Trinity, O Blessed Light" (Lutheran Worship #487).*  It's sung to the tune "Steht auf, ihr lieben Kinderlein."  Here's the third phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "The fi'ry sun is going down," and the descent in the tune mirrors this "going down."

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*In The Lutheran Service Book, this hymn appears as "O Blessed Light, O Trinity" (#890), but it's sung to a different tune, and the translation of the first verse is different.