"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.

"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.

"Wide Open Stand the Gates"

When I transcribed "Wide Open Stand the Gates" last year, I noticed a few instances where the text connects to the tune ("Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt").

In the first verse, the end of the line "They [choirs of saints] watch Him now descending" is sung to a descending phrase, musically illustrating the text:

The first verse ends with the lines "The Lord of Life unending / Brings dying hope new birth!"  "The Lord of Life unending" is sung to this musical phrase:

"Unending" is sung with a melisma (E F# G A), musically giving a sense of duration.

Similar to the descending "descending," in the second verse, the end of the line "Our God stoops low to heal" descends, musically giving a sense of that "stoop[ing]":