"All Christians Who Have Been Baptized"

Many years ago, I wrote a post pointing out a couple instances in "All Christians Who Have Been Baptized" where "forever" is sung with a melisma, providing a sense of this duration.  Earlier this month, "All Christians Who Have Been Baptized" was the hymn in a Concordia University Wisconsin chapel service (on the 3rd), and I found one I'd missed (probably because it's divided by a line break in the notation).  Here's the second phrase from the hymn's tune, "Nun freut euch":

In the third verse, the text here is "Immersed and drowned forever," with "forever" sung to the notes G D E F.

(More recently, I also wrote about some other features in the hymn.)

"Nun freut euch" (TLH #375)

"All Christians Who Have Been Baptized"

Many years ago, I wrote about some melisma'd "forever"s in "All Christians Who Have Been Baptized."  When I wrote about the Biblical sources for the hymn last year, I found a couple more features to note.

Near the end of the first verse, there's the line "The gifts He gives to ev'ryone," sung to this phrase from the tune "Nun freut euch":

The three syllables of "ev'ryone" are each sung to a different pitch (A G F), and this gives a sense of that breadth.

There's a similar feature in the third verse.  In the middle, there are the lines "The water of your Baptism day / Restored again whatever / Old Adam and his sin destroyed."  The line "Restored again whatever" is sung to this phrase:

"Whatever" is sung with a melisma, and each syllable is sung to a different pitch (G D E F).  This too gives a sense of breadth.

"Nun freut euch" (TLH #216)

"Nun freut euch" (TLH #124)

"Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice"

When I transcribed "Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice" last year, I found a couple instances where the text connects to the tune ("Nun freut euch").  Specifically, it's the second phrase:

In the first verse, the text here is "With exultation springing."  "Springing" is sung to the last three notes, which ascend, so there's a musical sense of the word's meaning.  "Springing" is even sung with a melisma, which gives a sense of the joy of "exultation."  There's a similar feature in the ninth verse, where the text here is "From earth to heav'n ascending," and "ascending" is sung to this ascending phrase (plus the preceding note).  Like "springing," "ascending" is also sung with a melisma, which emphasizes the effect of the rising melody.

"On Christ's Ascension I Now Build"

When I transcribed "On Christ's Ascension I Now Build" a few months ago, I noticed that - like a lot of hymns about the Ascension - lines that mention the Ascension are sung to ascending phrases.  "On Christ's Ascension I Now Build" is sung to the tune "Nun freut euch," the first two phrases of which are:

In the first verse, the text sung to these phrases is "On Christ's ascension I now build / The hope of my ascension," and in the third verse, "O grant, dear Lord, this grace to me, / Recalling Your ascension."  All of the "ascension"s in these lines are sung to groups of ascending notes.  The "ascension"s at the end of the second phrase are even sung with melismas, with the extra syllable emphasizing the ascending melody.

"All Christians Who Have Been Baptized"

A couple months ago, one of the hymns I sang in church was "All Christians Who Have Been Baptized," sung to the tune "Nun freut euch."  I noticed a couple instances where "forever" is sung with more syllables than it's spoken with.

The second line of the fifth verse is "And give God thanks forever!" sung to this musical phrase:

The end of the sixth verse is

Until that day when you possess
His glorious robe of righteousness
Bestowed on you forever!

The last of these three lines is sung to this musical phrase:

"Forever" is spoken with three syllables, but in these two phrases, it's sung to four (the last four notes in each phrase), so there's something of a musical representation of that long period of time.