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

Friday, January 26, 2024

"Entrust Your Days and Burdens"

Last month, I wrote a post on the Biblical sources for "Entrust Your Days and Burdens" (to be published later this year).  While doing so, I noticed a few musical features.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Sufficientia."  Here's the third musical phrase:


In the third verse, the text here is "God helps in ev'ry trial."  The phrase "ev'ry trial" is sung to notes of almost all different pitches, and "trial" is sung with a melisma (F E D C).  Both of these features provide a sense of the entirety of "ev'ry."

The fourth musical phrase:


In the fourth verse, the text here is "At all His love can do" (continuing the sense from the previous lines "His wisdom rules for you / In ways to rouse your wonder"), and in the sixth verse, the text is "Of all our life's distress" (again continuing the sense from the previous lines "With joy our spirits bless / Until we see the ending").  In both of these, "all" is sung with a melisma (A G), musically giving a sense of entirety.