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

Friday, October 25, 2024

"Our Father, by Whose Name"

On Worship Anew a few weeks ago (6 October, Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost), one of the hymns was "Our Father, by Whose Name," and I noticed a small feature in it.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Rhosymedre."  Here's the fifth musical phrase:


In the second verse, the text here is "Our children bless in ev'ry place" (the structure is inverted so that the direct object comes first; in a more normal word order, it's "Bless our children in ev'ry place").  "Ev'ry place" is sung to notes of all different pitches (Bb A G), giving a sense of breadth.

This hymn was also in the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service on 7 October, and when I heard it again, I noticed that the same feature is also in the third verse.  In the lines "That ev'ry home by this release / May be the dwelling place of peace," the phrase "ev'ry home" is sung to notes of all different pitches (Bb A G).  Here's that musical phrase (the sixth):