My Wish Hymnal

Mia Himnareto - my new blog

2008-06-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

I've started a new blog, Mia Himnareto - My Little Hymnal, to which I invite anyone interested to turn their attention ;-) - the first substantive post deals with the tune PILGRIMAGE by C(harlotte?) A. Barnard and its associated text, Advent tells us Christ is near, by A. Katherine Hankey.

Peace of Jesus

2007-08-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

I was leafing through the 1956/1966 RLDS The Hymnal, wondering anew at the bold deletion of No. 580 (Come, Come, Ye Saints) in 1958, and on a whim decided to visit their website and look for hymns or hymnals. Found this nice piece set to NETTLETON: Peace of Jesus, by Danny A. Belrose, © 2005 CofCCCorp. Into my wish hymnal it goes...

Belovèd, let us love

2007-08-03T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is a nice little Horatius Bonar piece, based on 1 John. TCH has 5 verses, and three tunes.

Belovèd, let us love: love is of God;
In God alone hath love its true abode.
Belovèd, let us love: for they who love,
They only, are His sons, born from above
Belovèd, let us love: for love is rest,
And he who loveth not abides unblest.
Belovèd, let us love: for love is light,
And he who loveth not dwelleth in night.
Belovèd, let us love: for only thus
Shall we behold that God Who loveth us.

The 1932 Christian Science Hymnal (CSH), my only other source for the hymn, gives four verses, changing the first line to "Belovèd, let us love: for love is God;" and omitting #3.

I definitely want this in my hymnal—it first appeared in a Baptist hymnal (Supplement of the Baptist Psalms and Hymns, 1880), according to TCH, and I am sorry it has fallen from our denominational repertoire—but I am not sure what tune to use. I'll be trying out those in TCH (GLOVERNIA, GRANDPONT, DENNIS (Thalben-Ball), the last two also in CSH) but I wonder what tune (if any) it had in the Baptist Supplement of 1880, and I am open to other suggestions in 10.10 or 6.4.6.4.

St. Magnus, American Oxford Hymnal No. 277

2007-07-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

The American Oxford Hymnal ([AOH], pub. OUP, 1930) gives as hymn number 277 C. Wesley's "Let saints on earth in concert sing", set to two tunes. Odd thing is, both tunes (completely dissimilar aside from both being being C.M. and both being in G and starting on D) are identified as "St. Magnus" by Jeremiah Clark. The second tune is the usual St. Magnus, similar to the MIDI at The Cyber Hymnal ™, which TCH says was arranged by Monk. (TCH also spells the composer's name "Clarke".) Can any of my millions of hymnically informed readers identify the first tune? Here is a link to a MIDI version, for those whose hymnals at hand don't include the 1930 AOH: AOH277A.mid.

My Jesus I Love Thee / Boundless Salvation

2007-07-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

This coming Sunday Mrs Haruo and I will probably be doing the special music at church. It will be Communion Sunday, and we have no time to practice (she's out of town), so what Verne the Organist and I have tentatively settled on is two numbers:

first we will sing three verses of "When Love Is Found" (which was sung at our wedding, and Verne keeps wanting us to reprise), but whereas at our wedding we (the congregation: it was the processional hymn, trilingually in English, Esperanto and Japanese) sang vv. 1-3 per Wren and then Marilyn Hillyer's emendation of v. 5, ending "Lift up your hearts! Let love be fed / Through each deed done, through each word said", this time we will sing straight Wren, but omit vv. 3 & 4. It will, after all, be Communion Sunday.

then we will sing the following text:

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, if ever I loved Thee,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, if ever I loved Thee,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Oh, who’s like my Savior? He’s Salem’s bright King;
He smiles and He loves me and helps me to sing:
I’ll praise him, I’ll praise Him with notes loud and clear,
While rivers of pleasure, while rivers of pleasure,
While rivers of pleasure my spirit shall cheer.

And now, hallelujah! the rest of my days
Shall gladly be spent in promoting His praise
Who opened His bosom to pour out this sea
Of boundless salvation, of boundless salvation,
Of boundless salvation for you and for me.

The words to the last four stanzas will be in the bulletin, and maybe even on the wall, and we will encourage the congregation to sing along. The problem, the thing that makes it a concern of My Wish Hymnal, is the identification of the tune and its composer. The Christian Life Hymnal calls it Boundless Salvation, sets General Booth's hymn of that title to it, and ascribes it to J. Ellis. The Worshiping Church sets Featherston(e)'s "My Jesus, I Love Thee" to it, calls it Affection, and ascribes it to E. F. Miller. And The Cyber Hymnal™ calls it My Jesus I Love Thee by J. Ellis, but mentions it only in connection with Booth's "Boundless Salvation" text.

I hashed much of this over several years ago in a thread at the Mudcat Café, so I hereby incorporate all this verbiage.

What I still need to know is to whom to attribute this tune (MIDI) and what to call it.

Leland = Haruo

Burt carols

2007-07-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

Just a list for the moment of the Alfred Burt Christmas carols. These are in surprisingly few hymnals, in my opinion. HWC has one (O Hearken Ye), and HFG has two (Some Children See Him and The Star Carol [Long years ago]). Of the fifteen Burt carols, I would find room in the inn of my hymnal for at least eleven, I think:

Ah, bleak and chill the wintry wind
Carol of the Mother (Sleep, baby mine)
Caroling, Caroling
Christ in the Stranger's Guise (I met a stranger yest're'en)
Christmas Cometh Caroling
Jesu Parvule
Nigh Bethlehem on a wintry night (all 7 verses)
O hearken ye who would believe
Some children see him
The Star Carol (Long years ago on a deep winter night)
What are the signs of the morning

The other four strike me mostly as too secular-domestic for my hymnal, though they too are well worth singing! These are:

All on a Christmas Morning (Oh, who are these that throng the way)
Come, Dear Children
This Is Christmas (Bright, bright the holly berries)
We'll Dress the House

I'm also interested in the question of whether any of the Bates Burt carols that antedated Alfred's collaboration survive, since Bates's texts (even moreso than the admirable Wihla Hutson's ones) seem great in their own right to my palate, and it would be a joy to see the others.

Your favorite hymn (see poll above)

2007-07-26T01:44:00.000-07:00

I have installed a poll asking people to choose their favorite hymn that isn't in their church's hymnal (and what hymnal is that?). Personally, of the four I listed, I chose "His voice as the sound of the dulcimer sweet", which is set to Samanthra in the 1835 Southern harmony but is not in Fremont Baptist's Word Music Inc. 1986 Hymnal for Worship and Celebration. It is a cento, apparently, from the same Joseph Swain poem that yielded "O Thou in whose presence my soul takes delight", with which it shares a substantial amount of text, and which is also not in our hymnal.

The chances that many readers will locate their favorite amongst my four nominees is negligible, so this post offers a place to respond with your real answers.

A poor, wayfaring man of grief

2007-07-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorites. It is attributed to James Montgomery, 1826 according to TCH. The only print hymnal I've met it in is the 1985 Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).

LDS (#29) sets it to a lively, folk-style tune (TCH MIDI) that it calls Duane Street by George Coles. It is, however, much livelier than what I take to be "the historical Duane Street" (TCH MIDI) though metrically they are compatible, and I think some older LDS collections set the text to the latter. TCH proposes Sagina, Sweet Hour, and St. Crispin as alternatives, but I like the current LDS choice, preferring to call it (with TCH) Man of Grief.

A footnote in LDS says "Hymn beloved of the Prophet Joseph Smith. See Histoy of the Church, 6:614-15."

In any event I find it a rollicking good Matthew 25:31-40 hymn. (Not to mention Mosiah 2:17, which is probably the passage Montgomery had in mind ;-).

And of course my hymnal will have all seven verses, just as with "How Firm a Foundation", another point where I agree with the Mormons.

The Text (from TCH)

A poor wayfaring Man of grief
Hath often crossed me on my way,
Who sued so humbly for relief
That I could never answer nay.
I had not power to ask his name,
Whereto he went, or whence he came;
Yet there was something in his eye
That won my love; I knew not why.

Once, when my scanty meal was spread,
He entered; not a word he spake,
Just perishing for want of bread.
I gave him all; he blessed it, brake,
And ate, but gave me part again.
Mine was an angel’s portion then,
For while I fed with eager haste,
The crust was manna to my taste.

I spied him where a fountain burst
Clear from the rock; his strength was gone.
The heedless water mocked his thirst;
He heard it, saw it hurrying on.
I ran and raised the suff’rer up;
Thrice from the stream he drained my cup,
Dipped and returned it running o’er;
I drank and never thirsted more.

’Twas night; the floods were out; it blew
A winter hurricane aloof.
I heard his voice abroad and flew
To bid him welcome to my roof.
I warmed and clothed and cheered my guest
And laid him on my couch to rest;
Then made the earth my bed, and seemed
In Eden’s garden while I dreamed.

Stripped, wounded, beaten nigh to death,
I found him by the highway side.
I roused his pulse, brought back his breath,
Revived his spirit, and supplied
Wine, oil, refreshment—he was healed.
I had myself a wound concealed,
But from that hour forgot the smart,
And peace bound up my broken heart.

In pris’n I saw him next, condemned
To meet a traitor’s doom at morn.
The tide of lying tongues I stemmed,
And honored him ’mid shame and scorn.
My friendship’s utmost zeal to try,
He asked if I for him would die.
The flesh was weak; my blood ran chill,
But my free spirit cried, “I will!”

Then in a moment to my view
The stranger started from disguise.
The tokens in His hands I knew;
The Savior stood before mine eyes.
He spake, and my poor name He named,
“Of Me thou hast not been ashamed.
These deeds shall thy memorial be;
Fear not, thou didst them unto Me.”

A charge to keep I have

2007-07-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

Charles Wesley, 1762, writing on Leviticus 8:35 (via Matthew Henry). Almost universally set to Boylston, at least in the USA. The Cyber Hymnal (TCH) suggests Kentucky and Galway as alternatives. I'd be inclined to go with almost anything rather than the ubiquitous Boylston.

The text

A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never-dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill:
O may it all my powers engage
To do my Master’s will!

Arm me with jealous care,
As in Thy sight to live;
And O Thy servant, Lord, prepare
A strict account to give!

Help me to watch and pray,
And on Thyself rely,
Assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall forever die.

Word's Hymnal for Worship & Celebration (#448) and Celebration Hymnal (where it is the ominous #666!) soften the fourth stanza, removing the mention of eternal death:

Help me to watch and pray,
And still on Thee rely,
O let me not my trust betray,
But press to realms on high.

I would stick with Wesley's wording here, although I am not a fan of the annihilationism he seems to be espousing.

WHAT ABOUT...

2007-07-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is where you can tell me what hymns I'm missing. (Since, at the time of posting this, I have only posted two items, there is plenty of room for expansion here.)

A cheering chanting dizzy crowd

2007-07-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

The text of this Palm Sunday piece by one of my favorite recent hymnists, Thomas Troeger, is set to Morning Song as #193 in the Chalice Hymnal. It is paired on the page with #192, "All glory, laud, and honor", and it seems to me it provides a useful antidote to the usual palm-waving triumphalism of the day.

It is dated 1985, and is © 1985 by Oxford University Press (OUP).

Tune suggestions? (It's CM, so there are tons of possibilities I haven't tried.)

A babe is born all of a may

2007-07-23T14:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, granted, this folkloric, mediaeval Christmas song is too much to ask of a congregation. But it's sweet, and fun.

It does not argue for an unorthodox dating of Christmas: "may" here is a variant of "maid(en)", i.e. virgin.

The Oxford Book of Carols OBC cites manuscripts dating to the fifteenth century, which seems consonant with some of the phrasing (e.g. "The herdes heardyn" for "The shepherds heard"); the tune is from Bramley and Stainer, 1871, and is #116 in OBC and #27 in the Summit Choirbook (SCB).

I think I would go with the nuns' text (which they say they took from Bramley and Stainer) but perhaps with Martin Shaw's (OBC) arrangement.

The Hymns and Carols of Christmas has two archaic and one slightly modernized ('maid') versions.

Welcome to my "Wish Hymnal"

2007-07-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is a blog for me (Leland Bryant Ross aka Ros' Haruo) to list, dissect and discuss the songs that I wish were in the hymnal. Many of them already are, but often with the wrong tune or poorly redacted text or without my favorite verses, etc., etc.

Someday I would like to try my hand at hymnal compilation, actually publish one that is, but for now, it's what the indigenous Australians call the dreamtime...

Please note that there is a post ("What About..." where you can list the hymns I have forgotten to include, and of course I welcome pertinent feedback on the ones I've posted on.

When posting on recent (basically, post-1920) hymns, please respect copyrights. If you can get permission to cite lyrics, do so.

At the moment there's no provision here for posting tunes. Hopefully that will eventually change; of course, you can always post a link to the tune MIDI or PDF or whatever at The Cyber Hymnal or the like.

Leland ... or is it Haruo

PS This is basically an English-language blog about mostly English-language hymns. If you know Esperanto and have something to say about Esperanto-language hymns, please post to Himnoj kaj himnologio. Posts about hymns in languages other than English and Esperanto should generally be in one language or the other and be posted in the appropriate blog. If your comment is in a language other than English or Esperanto, put it in whichever blog seems best to you. I can always move it if I disagree...