"Jerusalem, O City Fair and High"

"Jerusalem, O City Fair and High" was the hymn in the Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service on 27 August, and I noticed three instances where phrases that begin with "all" are sung to notes of all different pitches, giving a sense of this breadth or entirety.

In the third verse, the line "With all Christ's foll'wers true" is sung to this musical phrase (from the tune "Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt"):

"All Christ's foll'wers" is sung to the notes A E F# G#.  Because one of these (G#) is an accidental, there's an even further sense of breadth.

In the fourth verse, the lines "And all its host rejoices, / And all its blessed throng" (the sense continues into the next line:  "Unite their myriad voices," which I've written about before) are sung to these phrases:

"All its host" is sung to the notes B C# D, and "all its blessed throng" to the notes B A G F# E.

LSB #674 "Jerusalem, O City Fair and High"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Revelation 21:2-3, Revelation 7:9-12, Matthew 17:1-9

Revelation 21:2-3:  "2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God."

Revelation 7:9-12:  "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!'  11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.'"

Matthew 17:1-9:  "1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.  3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  4 And Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good that we are here.  If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.'  5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.'  6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.  7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, 'Rise, and have no fear.'  8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

"9 And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, 'Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.'"

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The text is public domain:

Jerusalem, O city fair and high,

Your tow'rs I yearn to see;

My longing heart to you would gladly fly,

It will not stay with me.

Elijah's chariot take me

Above the lower skies,

To heaven's bliss awake me,

Released from earthly ties.

O happy day, O yet far happier hour,

When will you come at last,

When by my gracious Father's love and pow'r

I see that portal vast?

From heaven's shining regions

To greet me gladly come

Your blessed angel legions

To bid me welcome home.

The patriarchs' and prophets' noble train,

With all Christ's foll'wers true,

Who washed their robes and cleansed sin's guilty stain,

Sing praises ever new!

I see them shine forever,

Resplendent as the sun,

In light diminished never,

Their glorious freedom won.

Unnumbered choirs before the shining throne

Their joyful anthems raise

Till heaven's arches echo with the tone

Of that great hymn of praise.

And all its host rejoices,

And all its blessed throng

Unite their myriad voices

In one eternal song.

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Basically, the first two verses come from the passage from Revelation 21, and the last two verses come from the passage from Revelation 7, although the citation should extend a bit further and include verses 12-13:  "13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?'  14 I said to him, 'Sir, you know.'  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.'"

The passage from Matthew 17 (specifically "his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light" in verse 2) seems to be present in the lines "Resplendent as the sun, / In light diminished never" in the third verse.  In the Scripture passage, this describes Jesus, but in the hymn, it describes the righteous who have washed their robes.

The lines "Elijah's chariot take me / Above the lower skies" in the first verse seem to refer to events in 2 Kings 2, although Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11), not in a chariot.

"Jerusalem, O City Fair and High"

When I transcribed the text for "Jerusalem, O City Fair and High" a couple years ago, I also found some musical things to note.

It doesn't seem worth it to post an excerpt of the notation for this, but at the end of the second verse, "home" is sung to the tonic note (D in D major).  Musically, then, there's a sense of coming "home."

Most of what I want to note is in these phrases:

The tune is "Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt."

In the second verse, the text here is "To greet me gladly come / Your blessed angel legions."  "Legions" is sung with a melisma (E F# G A), musically giving a sense of that multitude.

In the fourth verse, the text here, describing heaven, is "And all its blessed throng / Unite their myriad voices."  "Voices" is sung with a melisma (E F# G A) to give a sense of being a "myriad."  Additionally, this specific melisma illustrates the meaning of the line.  While "voices" is sung to multiple syllables, these syllables form one word.  In the same way, these many voices are "unite[d]" in one song.