Jesus Shall Reign

We sang "Jesus shall reign" on Sunday and ever since this post has been stewing in my brain. Until I went to St. Andrew's in 1998 I had always sung these words to DUKE STREET. In The Book of Praise (1997) however, the words are married to the tune WARRINGTON. I find myself humming the second tune more easily than the first when I think of the text these days and that seemed rather strange to me given the fact that I have spent more decades of my life singing DUKE STREET.

This pondering led me down the metrical road. I'm not talking kilometers here! Of course, the text is in the same meter no matter what the tune. (This is 8888 or Long Meter.) My focus has been on the tune and how the melodic flow seems to emphasize different words.

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run;
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

(When you sing it to WARRINGTON in 3/4 time, the bold type is what you get for syllabic emphasis.)

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does his successive journeys run;
His Kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

When you sing it to DUKE STREET in 4/4 time, the bold type is what you get for syllabic emphasis.)

Quite honestly, I was surprised at the results when I went through the words. I thought there would be more difference in the emphasis in the words between the 2 tunes, especially given the different time signatures. So maybe, in the end, it just comes down to which tune you are accustomed to singing at any given time. Oh, incidentally, I found another tune used for these words in The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada which was published in 1930 - old to us now, but then it was a brand new hymnal for a brand new denomination! That tune is RIMINGTON, a tune which is new to me.

Victoria Day

Up here north of the 49th we are approaching the first long weekend of 'summer'. (I write this with tongue in cheek as the temperature at 9:40 a.m. is only 2C (36F) - so far below normal it's disgusting!) We still observe Queen Victoria's birthday, which is actually May 24th, although the holiday is designated as the Monday preceding the 24th. In researching her well known connection with Felix Mendelssohn, I learned a little more about her husband Prince Albert. I knew that he was a musician of sorts and that he played the organ. Organists know this kind of thing! What I learned was that he also wrote music. You can read a little more about that here. I don't know that I have ever heard any of Prince Albert's compositions although apparently they are performed from time to time. So, happy Victoria Day; enjoy the fireworks!

Dreaming in Music

Last night I was dreaming in music. Sunday's anthem was floating somewhere in my subconscious - maybe in the state of "This music is so glorious, I can't let it go, even when I'm asleep!" I rarely accompany the choir on the organ, but this week I am and maybe that is part of what makes the music so wonderful. It's also the fact that it is written by John Rutter and I've never met a Rutter anthem I didn't like.

"So what is this glorious music?" you may ask. The title is Eternal God, c. 1999 by Collegium Music Publications. I have an edition printed by Hinshaw Music, Inc. All the verses have great lyrics, but a few lines in particular stand out for me.

Eternal God, we give you thanks for music,
Blest gift from heav'n to all your servants here on earth...

and

As we are blest, so may our gift bless others:
May hearts be touched and spirits lifted up anew.

I hope you, my reader, will have an opportunity to hear this piece sometime.

I am the Good Shepherd

Yesterday's Gospel lesson was from John 10 where Christ describes himself as the Good Shepherd. One of the hymns we sang at St. Andrew's was Saviour like a shepherd lead us. Of course, there are many other hymns with a shepherd theme, particularly Psalm 23. I have no statistics to back me up, but I would guess that Psalm 23 is one of the best known passages of scripture. That thought then followed to, "What would be the second best known passage?" I'm guessing The Lord's Prayer. So why are there so many different settings of Psalm 23 (I can think of half a dozen or so without much difficulty.) and only 2 or 3 well known musical settings of The Lord's Prayer? Does one passage speak to us more than the other? Are we more willing to be comforted by the words of Psalm 23 than we are to earnestly pray the words of The Lord's Prayer? Your comments are welcome!