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

Friday, April 18, 2025

"From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee"

Previously, I wrote about some small features in "From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee," but when I watched the Worship Anew program for Ash Wednesday a couple weeks ago (about a month late), I found a couple more, both in the line "If Thou rememb'rest ev'ry sin" in the first verse, sung to this melody (from the tune "Aus tiefer Not"):


(The sense is completed in the following lines:  "Who then could heaven ever win / Or stand before Thy presence?")

"Ev'ry" is sung with a melisma (D C B), and the phrase "ev'ry sin" is sung to notes of all different pitches (D C B A), and both of these articulations provide a sense of number.