Tacky Hymns 86

We continue with the Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary (ELHy, 1996). I repeat:

I'm pointing up three types of hymns in this series of critiques: (1) Hymns that I think the editors should have known better than to put in the pew hymnal of a liturgical, confessional Lutheran church – the kind that, doctrinally and artistically, qualify as "tacky" in the sense I've been using it on this thread; (2) noteworthy text-tune pairings; and (3) hymns of such high quality that I feel they deserve to be better known and more widely sung. I'll try, but not too hard, to avoid vain repetition from previous threads. That's a lot of material to try to keep in mind, you know.

Resuming with the Ascension section, (390) Look, O look, the sight is glorious is an altered version of the hymn that LW and LSB have as "Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious," by Thomas Kelly. Allergic to saints, Ev. Luth. Synod? The tune BRYN CALFARIA is quite dramatic and, in this book, is arranged for echoey part-singing at the refrain "Crown Him, crown Him!" As an organist I have to say this is a very challenging piece to play, but it rewards the effort by being thrilling and fun.

(395) Awake, Thou Spirit, who didst fire, earmarked for Easter 7, is one that I'm accustomed, thanks to TLH, to singing to the chorale tune ALL EHR UND LOB, rather than this book's choice of Henri Hemy's Protestant-church-carillon tune ST. CATHERINE (cf. "Faith of our fathers, living still"). I guess it could go either way, but this is one of those tunes that to me smacks of trying to pass as a member of a socially acceptable church.

(398) Hail thee, festival day is an all-festivals, all-seasons arrangement of the hymn by Fortunatus, which Lutheran Book of Worship (LBW) and LW split into separate hymns for Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. That's an efficient use of space, if awkward for categorization purposes, but it doesn't solve the problem that Ralph Vaughan Williams' tune SALVE FESTA DIES is a long, rhythmically tricky, complicated affair with a refrain repeated after each of two musically distinct strains of stanza melody. The older translation, "Welcome, happy morning," set to SEI DU MIR GEGRÜSSET (TLH 202) might be the safer bet for Ma and Pa Smurf and the other members of their church.

(400) O enter, Lord, Thy temple, sic, once again misspelling "Oh," is a wonderful Pentecost hymn by Paul Gerhardt that TLH set to its own tune, Johann Crüger's beautiful ZEUCH EIN. I am twice sad to see it relegated to a Bottom of the Page Text Block (BOTPTB) in this book, and paired with a different suggested tune (although VON GOTT WILL ICH NICHT LASSEN is a fine melody). I am sad a third time to consider that this hymn, at one time considered a hymn of the day for Trinity 8 (cf. Jan Bender's book of organ settings for the hymns of the week) has been utterly dropped from the repertoire of American Lutherans outside of TLH and this book. Here's what we're missing by not keeping this hymn to the Holy Spirit alive: Stanza 1 confesses that He gives "me, the earth-born, A second birth more blest," and He reigns and is adored equally with the Father and the Son. Stanza 2: He makes our prayer and praise efficacious, so that "unheard they cannot fall." Stanza 3: "Thy gift is joy, O Spirit," drawing comfort from the Spirit's voice. Simply and without being dogmatic, it eloquently says so much that needs to be said at Pentecost-tide.

(401) O day full of grace is a Danish folk hymn, set to Weyse's harmonically rich tune DEN SIGNEDE DAG, which I have loved most of my life. It was in TLH, the hymnal of my childhood, but it took immersion in Scandinavian-American Lutheranism to awaken me to its charms. I think it is more of a "looking ahead to the end times" type of hymn than a Pentecost hymn, strictly speaking.

(405) The mystery hidden from the eyes is a Trinity hymn by Paul Gerhardt that was in the old Evangelical Lutheran Hymnbook (ELHb) – the predecessor to TLH from out of the English-speaking group within what is now the Missouri Synod, the main body of which was still worshiping in German at that time. Somehow, this hymn didn't survive into TLH or subsequent Missourian hymnals LW and LSB. Another interesting survival is the tune paired with it: EIN NEUES LIED, arranged from Martin Luther's own tune to his very first hymn, which has otherwise fallen out of use in American Lutheranism although, again, one still hears it from time to time clanging out of the belfry of the local Church of the Electronic Carillon System. It's a neat hymn, words and music altogether.

(408) Round the Lord in glory seated is a three-stanza hymn by Richard Mant, who Hymnary.org recognizes as the author of some 70 hymns still more or less in circulation. While this BOTPTB's setting of the temple scene of Isaiah 6 is very impressive, especially set to the suggested tune EBENEZER, I don't feel that impressiveness runs very deep. It just doesn't do very much with the seraphim's song "Holy, holy, holy," other than atmospherics. The application seems to go no further than "Heav'n is still with glory ringing, Earth takes up the angels' cry," etc. I've always felt that text implies far richer things – things to do with sacrifice applied to forgive sins, etc.

(416) 'So truly as I live,' God saith is based on the same Matthias Loy translation of Nicolaus Herman's hymn as TLH 331, "Yea, as I live, Jehovah saith." Maybe the reason the first line was changed is that the term "Jehovah" has fallen out of favor to the point where it stuck in the throats of ELHy's editors. I don't know, it seems to me that usage becomes a language unto itself and so, perhaps, we should just let things like this be rather than "correct" them. TLH fans will probably also be a little tetchy to see their tune, Jeremiah Clarke's ST. LUKE, replaced with SO WAHR ICH LEB by Johann Georg Schott. However, Schott's tune probably has first claim on this hymn, since it shares its title with the first line of Herman's text in the original German.

(418) How fair the Church of Christ shall stand is a Thomas Kingo hymn, here set to John Bacchus Dykes' tune MELITA ("Eternal father, strong to save"). It's a hymn of admonition to the church to live together in sanctified brotherhood and cross-bearing submission. Paul's epistles bear witness that it's a message that often needs to be be repeated. However, if it has a drawback, it's the overall tone of me-centered moralism that only in the seventh stanza resorts to seeking God's help, "That Thou be sanctified in me," etc. Well, better late than never.

(419) Most ancient of all mysteries is a BOTPTB by Frederick Faber, suggested to pair with the early American tune DETROIT ("Forgive our sins as we forgive"). The eternal and infinite nature of the Triune God is the mystery in view here, in verse of high quality despite ELHy's insistence on incorrectly turning "Oh" into "O." (If, after all the times I've carped about this, you still don't know what I mean, "O" is a grammatical particle when it's immediately before the name of whomever or whatever you're addressing, as a sign of the vocative case. Otherwise, as merely a rounded murmur of emotion, it's spelled with an aitch and should be set off by a comma.) My only other note about this hymn is to watch out for the word "pitiful," which I believe means "merciful" in the context.

(421) We are called by one vocation is another hymn about the church, by K.J. Philip Spitta. It's an unusual case for me, as a critic of hymnody: I love the tune, KOMM, O KOMM DU GEIST DES LEBENS. However, I don't think it's the right hymn for this tune, because of two short rhyming phrases toward the end of each stanza (e.g. "Nor by strife Embitter life") that the penultimate phrase of melody squishes together so that it obscures the verse structure. It's the kind of dilemma that makes me want either to find out what tune originally went with Spitta's hymn or to compose one afresh, with a pause after "life."

(424) Jesus, I my cross have taken is Henry F. Lyte's familiar hymn about discipleship, which Missouri sinners are quite comfortable singing to HYFRYDOL. Here, however, we find it set to ROSENMÜLLER, by Johann of that name, which is a charming enough tune. Only, I've always felt that the final strain's switch to a triple meter made the ending awkward. My inclination would be to straighten out the rhythm to the steady quarter-note pulse heard through the first three-quarters of it, but that procedure founders on the evidence of Bach's harmonization of this tune, which preserves the original meter change.

(425) Light of the minds that know Him is written by Timothy Dudley-Smith – whom I've heard described as the hymn-writing embodiment of postmodernism – based, the text credit says, on something by fifth century church father Augustine. My inclination to be leery of anything by TDS until persuaded that it's good is immediately undercut by the hymn's pairing with Irish folk tune MOVILLE, which knocks my socks off (cf. "Christ is the world's Redeemer"). I'm not enough of an expert on Augustine to judge how Augustinian this hymn is, but there's something irresistable in its structure, its eloquence, its rhetorical momentum, building a case stanza upon stanza that Christ is my light, life and strength. It gives you the same thrill as ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE ("I bind unto myself today") while only being 60 percent as hard to sing and without ending in an argument over the difference between a confession of faith and legalism.

(428) Weary of all trumpeting is a hymn that I personally like, as I personally care about the hymns of Martin Franzmann and the music of Hugo Distler. However, the fact that I like it doesn't necessarily mean that I would use it in church, because it's challenging on multiple levels and the fight might not be quite worth it. Some of that fight will be on a vicious, ad hominem level: on Franzmann's part, because he bailed out of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis just a tick ahead of Seminex and, by his comments from his safe armchair at Westfield House, left a flavor in many people's mouths of a churchman who sympathized with the Biblical higher critics; on Distler's part, because he suicided, which is not a great look for a servant of the church – but then, so did Jeremiah Clarke, and Distler's act could be construed as an act of principle since he had been conscripted by the Nazis. If I seem to be unequal in my defense of the two gentlemen, let it suffice that I've already said my piece on Franzmann's behalf. As for the hymn, it's a bit of a downer, and it has a modern sound that won't be to the taste of Ma and Pa Smurf and their set. A spectacular work of art, it'll depend on town-gown forces to do it justice. But in my opinion, it beats a lot of ditties resounding with empty triumphalism into a cocked hat, simply by looking honestly at where the true joy lies in life, even for believers who have good reason to feel tired and discouraged.

(430) By Adam's fall is all forlorn is a translation, in part by Mark DeGarmeaux of the ELHy editorial committee, of Lazarus Spengler's hymn of which TLH 369, "All mankind fell in Adam's fall," is a very different, very free translation by Matthias Loy. The ELHy version is much longer, both in stanza structure and overall content, suggesting that Loy's version made deep cuts from the original. The tune, DURCH ADAMS FALL, dates from 1525 and is a really impressive specimen that should be better known in our circles. Here's our chance! What does this hymn give us? Other than proclaiming the exchange of God's Son for sinful mankind (which the Loy version certainly does as well)? The hymn's structure, in this version, leans more heavily on the contrasting parallelism between Adam and Christ, and our situation under both. While in Adam, "the poison's there when we are born," Christ has "the ransom won, freed us from condemnation" (stanza 1). Because Eve was deceived, "therefore the need was great indeed that God should mercy show us through His dear Son" (stanza 2). Since in Adam "we all have sinned ... so now in Christ we live again," whose "dear blood renewed what was corrupted" (stanza 3). "Since God gave us His only Son while we were yet His foemen," says stanza 4, "we gain ... libety." He is the Way, Light, Door, Truth and Life, God's Counsel and Word, through whom no one can snatch us from His hand (st. 5); without faith in Him there is no salvation (st. 6), while the believer builds on the solid rock (st. 7). The hymn closes with a prayer to Him who washes and cleanses us of sin and shame (st. 8), trusting him to guide us to eternal life. Loy's version is good; I'd be happy to have both in my book. But this is a strong testimony of faith that towers over many a religious ditty that swoons sentimentally over the cross.

(432) Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, Count Zinzendorf's hymn, is here set not to ST. CRISPIN as in TLH, but to HERRNHUT. I like it to either tune, but I have to admit that HERRNHUT is much meatier and more impressive tune.

(433) Not what these hands have done, by Horatius Bonar, is a nice little hymn attributing everything concerning salvation to God alone. TLH set it to the shorter, minor-key tune ST. BRIDE, which I prefer to this hymnal's choice of TERRA BEATA – known to many as the tune to "This is my Father's world" and for its similarity to a theme in the soundtrack to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

(434) God moves in a mysterious way is another one I'm mentioning only because ELHy and TLH go different ways on the tune pairing. TLH uses the shorter DUNDEE, while ELHy sets William Cowper's lyrics to the Early American shape-note melody SALVATION. This might actually be an improvement, especially since I'm not familiar with any other hymn particularly associated with this tune. I might have to use it for one of my originals sometime!

(437) In Jesus I find rest and peace is a hymn against worry, translated from an anonymous Norwegian text (I think) and set to a passable, workaday tune by Ludvig Lindeman, whose work as both a composer and an arranger is well represented in this book. There's a certain subjectiveness to this hymn's mode of expression that doesn't sit right with me, as a congregational hymn; it's a bit too like an individual's testimony of religious experience and too unlike a proclamation that addresses everybody. Still, it posits some ideas worthy of thought, like "I will not trouble borrow" (st. 1); the unsatisfying search for peace in things other than Christ (sts. 2-3); Christ making the move toward me (st. 4); the peace found in Jesus despite the vexation of the world (st. 5); "To me the preaching of the cross Is wisdom everlasting" (st. 6, an excellent verse all around); "The dove at last Hath found sweet rest" (st. 7, a touching conclusion). So, a little touchy-feely, but on the other side of the anxious bench from your typical altar call song.

(438) King of glory, King of peace is another one of George Herbert's mystical songs, here set to the modern melody GENERAL SEMINARY by David Charles Walker. I've mentioned Herbert before, and I think I said what I'll say now – his work seems, to me, more suitable for private meditation, or maybe performance by a soloist or choir while the audience reads along in the program, than to be sung straight through by the worshiping congregation. It just demands such focused and deep meditation, I think, to ponder the meaning of such lines as "I will move Thee," "Thou didst note my working breast," "with my utmost art," "the cream of all my heart," "alone, when (my sins) replied," etc. In brief, it's very sophisticated poetry and might go over the heads of simple folks who are doing their best just to hit Walker's notes. Just sayin'.

(445) We give Thee but Thine own, that stewardship hymn by William Walsham How of which many congregations sing a few stanzas at every service, ELHy sets to the American tune SCHUMANN, which seems to be a common pairing – outside ELHb-TLH-LW-LSB circles and a few other American Lutheran books, where it is customarily sung to ENERGY a.k.a. ST. ETHELWALD. I, for one, would find it strange to hear it to any other tune.

(447) Almighty Father, heaven and earth is a nice little stewardship hymn (actually a BOTPTB) by Edward Arthur, which hits about the same points as How's hymn and that might be a nice alternative to change things up once in a while.

(449) Thy love, O gracious God and Lord, a "new obedience" hymn from Kingo's Danish, is also set to DURCH ADAMS FALL and seems to be a buried treasure, from the perspective of someone brought up on the TLH line of hymnals. "I love Thee for Thy love to me" (st. 1). Stanza 2 applies John 3:16 to me personally: "My soul, forget it never." Why is the world preserved, when so many reject the gospel (st. 5)? God saw nothing good in us (st. 6). The enemy misleads us with our good works, but Christ redeemed us while we were spiritually dead (st. 7). God's "grace and justice found a way To save us" (st. 8). My faith is anchored "on Christ, the Rock" (st. 9). "O Jesus, at my dying breath Hold Thou my hand," etc. (st. 10). I'm just a little concerned about the latter half of Stanza 3, which (perhaps due to translator George Rygh) seems to suggest that a soul receptive to the gospel meets the Holy Spirit partway. I'd be interested in hearing a knowledgeable comment on this.

(451) All that I was, my sin, my guilt is another Bonar hymn that was in TLH, but set to a different tune – the rather bland ST. BERNARD – than this book's selection: again, DETROIT.

(452) Out of the depths I cry to Thee, a paraphrase of Psalm 130 by Martin Luther set to his own tune AUS TIEFER NOT, is a Renaissance masterpiece recognized even by secular musicologists ... except that ELHy screwed up in its choice of translation. TLH 329 gets it right with "From depths of woe I cry to Thee," preserving Luther's original tone-painting of the word "deep" (the first syllable of tiefer) with the downward leap of a fifth. I'm disappointed with the bright minds behind ELHy for missing this.

(454) Not in anger, mighty God is a penitential hymn by Johann Georg Albinus, set to Rosenmüller's tune STRAF MICH NICHT – which, by the way, is the opening tag of this hymn's original German. This suggests that this hymn, new though it may be to people of the TLH line of hymnbooks, is the original beneficiary of the tune that in TLH is used with "Rise, my soul, to watch and pray."

(457) Blessed is the man that never seems to be based on Magnus Landstad's translation of a paraphrase of Psalm 1 by Paul Gerhardt. Whew. That's an interesting pedigree, there.

(458) O God of mercy, God of might, a Godfrey Thring hymn stimulating believers' compassion for our fellow men, is doubly (if not triply) "Type 2." First, the tune to which we TLH-ophytes know this hymn is ISLEWORTH, whereas the tune chosen for it in ELHy is titled JUST AS I AM. But before you confuse that with the hymn "Just as I am" – which most people associate with the tune WOODWORTH and which TLH alternatively pairs with ST. CRISPIN – the tune thus titled in ELHy is the same one that TLH titles DUNSTAN and pairs with "Drawn to the cross, which Thou hast blest." Aren't you glad I straightened that out.

(462) As after the water-brooks panteth is, I reckon, a paraphrase of Psalm 42 by N.F.S. Grundtvig, set to its own tune by Lindeman. So, again, maybe a buried treasure for us Missouri sinners; though to my taste, it seems partly buried by the fact of its melody not being one of Lindeman's most inspired creations. Maybe another tune, one that isn't trying too hard, could bring it out into the light again.

(469) Sweet is the work, my God, my King is a tightly-woven little hymn by Isaac Watts, of whom much fun is made; and a BOTPTB with ST. CRISPIN as its suggested tune. It was unfamiliar to me when I read it through just now, but I really like it how it expresses the joy of devotion to prayer, praise and the word of God: "To show Thy love by morning light And talk of all Thy truth at night" (st. 1). Stanza 2 extols the day of rest, when the heart is cleared of worldly cares to attend to the Word. Stanza 3 looks hopefully to that time "when grace hath well refined my heart," and stanza 4 to "that eternal world of joy." Really nicely done.

(475) Praise God, this hour of sorrow is a death-and-burial hymn by Johann Heermann, who is represented by at least parts of 10 hymns in TLH. In it, the departed Christian seems to preach to those who mourn him: "I go to Paradise. ... Lay me to rest with songs of praise" (st. 1). It's really a fine poem of consolation, set to Heinrich Isaac's O WELT, ICH MUSS DICH LASSEN, a.k.a. INNSBRUCK.

(479) When earth with all its joys defeats me is a translation by Gracia Grindal from a cross-bearing hymn by the 17th-18th century Norwegian writer Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, set to Georg Neumark's tune WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT ("If thou bust trust in God to guide thee"). "The cross before me turns to greet me," says st. 1, "and sees into my heart of woe." Christ knows my woes "much better than I know my failings," says st. 2. The surprise is st. 3: "Therefore, my thoughts have turned to singing" the praise of Christ, knowing (st. 4) that "my suffering here is brief" compared to eternal glory. Stanza 5 plays the "Lord, how long?" card: "I would much rather serve my Lord than rule on earth." And st. 6 counts it a blessing to be buried and rest until Christ calls, "Rise up, O sleeper, come to me!" I've had my differences with Gracia Grindal, not that she knows of them, but this hymn is legit.

(480) Now hush your cries and shed no tear, a BOTPTB funeral hymn by Nicolaus Herman, has the misfortune to open on a false note. Ministers who act all perky and glad when they announce that somebody has died, and who urge people to pull it together and stop crying, should be whipped out of town in my humble opinion. But I'm willing to hear Herman out past the first line, and he makes an argument that, one hopes, will be a consolation to people who will in any case have their cry out regardless. "A faithful Christian now has won," st. 1. Resurrection will follow this peaceful rest, sts. 2-4. This God-breathed soul lives by faith in Christ, st. 5. We will meet again when Christ returns, st. 6. So, if the opening move is a bit tacky, everything after it is sound.

(482) In heaven is joy and gladness is a funeral hymn by Norwegian minister, literary figure and politician Johan Nordahl Brun. I've never cared for this poem, here presented as a BOTPTB. Its view of life on earth (contrasted with the hoped-for future in heaven) is totally negative, and though there's some truth in that, I think it crosses the line into excess just a bit. I mean, Luther and all Lutherans recognize that the world is full of evil and, along with our flesh and Satan himself, strives against the faithful; but he was, and I hope we still are, capable of enjoying life to some degree and recognize that the kingdom of God is active among us, here and now. I'll grant that Brun's language offers consolation to the afflicted; but let's not forget that Christ is present with us, at work among us and living within us as well.

(484) Christ alone is our salvation is an unattributed hymn text, set to Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen's tune O DURCHRECHER. It's a solid, confident piece, focusing every hope and benefit, for this world and the next, on Jesus.

(486) O Jesus, Lord of heavenly grace, a BOTPTB by fourth century church father Ambrose, is John Chandler's translation of the hymn that I know, from TLH 550, as "O Splendor of God's glory bright" – a reprint of the translation in Hymns Ancient and Modern. This hymn, particularly in the HAM translation, is one of my all-time favorites, thanks in part to a professor who once offered extra credit to anyone who could write the entire hymn by memory on the back of his final exam.

(488) I am, alone, your God and Lord is this hymnal's translation of Martin Luther's catechetical hymn on the 10 Commandments, which TLH styles as "That man a godly life might live," LW as "Here is the tenfold sure command," and LWB as "These are the holy ten commands" – so you see the problem. Nobody can agree on how this first line should go (Luther's German: "Dies sind die heilgen Zehn Gebot"). No worries, everybody has their reasons; it's just too bad congregations using different hymnals will never even know they're the same hymn. Also, I object to ELHy replacing Luther's original tune DIES SIND DIE HEILGEN, a.k.a. IN GOTTES NAMEN FAHREN WIR, with TALLIS' CANON. Stop fooling around with the tunes to the foundational hymns of Lutheranism, people. It's only going to divide us even more deeply.

(490) These are the holy Ten Commands is literally another translation of the same hymn I was just ranting about. I'm not quite sure what the difference between "Tr. composite" (488) and "Tr. Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary" (490) signifies. But at least this version stuck with IN GOTTES NAMEN. So, I withdraw my previous objection. Partially.

(496) Lord Jesus, think on me, an ancient Greek hymn, is set here to the tune ABER by the same William Monk who penned ENERGY. I like it. The tune in TLH is SOUTHWELL.

(498) Wilt Thou forgive that sin is "A Hymn to God the Father" by John Donne, set to a contemporary (i.e., 17th century) melody titled DONNE. It's kind of in the same literary register as those George Herbert hymns I've previously commented on. I've read, or heard, somewhere that Donne embedded a perhaps ribald pun in this poem, particularly in the lines "When Thou hast done, Thou hast not done, For I have more" – something to do with Donne/done and the fact that his wife's name was Anne More. Of course, that could be total rubbish. On its surface – if Ma and Pa Smurf's struggle to fit their throats around the notes of the Renaissance-style words and music can spare them enough headspace to ponder it – the hymn seems to be a very sincere confession of sinfulness, actual sins, sins of omission and commission, and of sin that exceeds even what the penitent knows about. And in the end, it's the pun "Swear by Thyself, that at my death Thy Son Shall shine as He shines now, and heretofore" that really ties it up. Yeah, but it'll be the choir, ensemble or soloist that performs it.

(499) Now I have found the ground wherin is the same hymn by Johann Andreas Rothe that TLH 385 gives as "Now I have found the firm foundation." In place of TLH's "composite" translation, ELHy gives us John Wesley's. Naturally, because the metrical pattern is different, so is the tune. Because I'm at the end of a long post, and a long day, I'm not going to trouble myself with comparing the two translations just now; just be aware of the common origin of the two hymns.

And that brings me to the point where I planned to quit for the time being. I hope it continues to be clear that, while this hymnary is rich in differences from the tradition in which The Lutheran Hymnal stands, and from which I personally come, I approve of it highly and only reserve relatively few objections, perhaps milder and fewer ones than I harbor toward the books prevailing in my native corner of American Lutheranism. To rewrite that sentence shorter and more to the point, ELHy is pretty good, innit?