"Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland"

This summer I bought an alto recorder.  I haven't done much with it yet, so I thought I'd try recording a hymn tune with it.  Since it's Advent now, I did "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," the tune to which "Savior of the Nations, Come" is sung.  This is also the tune I started with when I began re-learning how to read music seven years ago.

I followed the arrangement in The Lutheran Hymnal (in which "Savior of the Nations, Come" is #95).  The higher two voices are on soprano recorder; the lowest is on alto.

"What a Friend We Have in Jesus"

Recently, I was thinking about "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" and discovered a musical feature in one of the lines, but then I found that I'd already noticed this and added it to my list of things to write about.  Lest I rediscover this a third time, I'm writing about it now.

In the first verse, there are the lines "What a privilege to carry / Ev'rything to God in prayer!"  At the end of the verse there are similar lines (sung to the same musical phrase) reflecting on the "needless pain we bear - / All because we do not carry / Ev'rything to God in prayer!"  Here's the notation for those two lines, from the tune "Converse":

The syllables of those two "ev'rything"s are all sung to different pitches (C F A) and - altogether - span a sixth, and these two musical features highlight the variety and breadth of "ev'rything."

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For what it's worth, here's a post from last June about some more musical features in "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

LSB #493 "A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Acts 1:9-11, Colossians 3:1-4, Psalm 47:5-9, Revelation 5:13

Acts 1:9-11:  "9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.  10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?  This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.'"

Colossians 3:1-4:  "1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Psalm 47:5-9:  "5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.  6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!  Sing praises to our King, sing praises!  7 For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

"8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.  9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham.  For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted!"

Revelation 5:13:  "And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'"

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The text from Acts is the main source and appears in verses one through four.  The text from Psalm 47 could also be cited for some portions of these verses.

The text from Colossians seems to appear in the fifth verse, specifically in the lines "Be now our joy on earth, O Lord, / And be our future great reward."

The verse from Revelation appears in the hymn's last verse, in the lines "O risen Christ, ascended Lord, / All praise to You let earth accord."

Messiah: No. 24 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows

The text is from Isaiah 53:4-5 (although only the first part of verse 5):  "4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried out sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace..."

"Franconia" (TLH #133)

"Today Your Mercy Calls Us"

A little over a year ago, I noticed a small thing in "Today Your Mercy Calls Us."  The third verse ends with the line "It is our Father's home," sung to this phrase from the tune "Anthes":

The tune is in G major, and "home" is sung to a G note (the tonic), so the "home" in the text is matched with the home in the music.

LSB #492 "On Christ's Ascension I Now Build"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  John 14:3, Colossians 3:1-4

John 14:3:  "'And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.'"

Colossians 3:1-4:  "1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

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John 14:3 appears near the end of the first verse:  "For where the Head is, there as well / I know His members are to dwell / When Christ will come and call them."  These lines also incorporate the image of us as members of one body (Romans 12:4-5) with Christ as the head (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18).

"Seek[ing] the things that are above" and "set[ting] your minds on things that are above" from Colossians 3 appear in the second verse, specifically in the lines "For where my treasure went before, / There all my thoughts will ever soar."  This also resembles Matthew 6:21:  "'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'"

Messiah: No. 23 He was despised and rejected of men

The text is from Isaiah 53:3:  "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide the faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." and from Isaiah 50:6:  "I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting."

An-other thing I didn't notice until I started following along with the notation is the cross-like figure inscribed here with "he was despised."

I first ran across this cross-inscribing feature in John Eliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, where he points out how Bach does this in Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4:

I'm not sure if it was Handel's intent here (I don't know how well-known this cross-inscription technique was in the 1700s), but it does provide an example of one of the forms in which Christ was despised - the crucifixion.

"O grosser Gott" (TLH #132)

"Eternal Father, Strong to Save"

Two years ago, I wrote about some features in "Eternal Father, Strong to Save."  I sang the hymn in church last week (it was included apparently to coincide with Veterans Day this week), and I noticed an-other small feature in it.

The fourth line of the fourth verse is "Protect them wheresoe'er they go," sung to this musical phrase from the tune "Melita":

The three syllables of "whereso'er" are each sung to a different pitch (E A G), musically giving a sense of that breadth.

LSB #491 "Up through Endless Ranks of Angels"

Biblical citations in the hymnal:  Mark 16:19, 1 John 2:1-2, John 14:16-18

Mark 16:19:  "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God."

1 John 2:1-2:  "1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

John 14:16-18:  "16 'And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

"18 'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

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The verse from Mark 16 appears in the first verse, which - with some elaboration - describes Christ's Ascension.

The verses from 1 John 2 appear in the second half of the second verse: "Now for us before the Father / As our brother intercede; / Flesh that for our world was wounded, / Living, for the wounded plead!"

The verses from John 14 are in the third verse, specifically in the line "Send Your Spirit, promised guide."

Messiah: No. 22 Behold the Lamb of God

The text is from John 1:29:  "The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'"

One of the instances of "away" splits the two syllables into the interval of a fifth, which helps to underscore the completeness or the distance to which "the sin of the world" is taken away.