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

Friday, October 4, 2024

"When in the Hour of Deepest Need"

I've written about small musical features in "When in the Hour of Deepest Need" twice before, but when it was part of the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service on 9 September last month, I found a few more.  The hymn is sung to the tune "Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein."  Here's the second musical phrase:


In the fourth verse, the text here is "And all our woes before You lay."  The phrase "all our woes" is sung to notes of all different pitches (Bb A G), giving something of a sense of the entirety of "all."

The same sort of feature is present in the line "Free us at last from ev'ry ill" at the end of the fifth verse, sung to this phrase:


Here, the phrase "ev'ry ill" is sung to notes of all different pitches (A G F), providing a sense of breadth.  Because the note values in this phrase are longer than the preceding ones (two half notes and a whole note rather than just quarter notes), there's even an added bit of emphasis.

The sixth verse begins with the line "So we with all our hearts each day," sung to this phrase:


"Hearts" is sung with a melisma (Bb A), giving a sense of the entirety of "all."