Church Music

This is a very well known hymn By John Newton set to NEW BRITAIN.

I blogged it fifteen years ago when covering AOV. In this hymnal only four verses have been selected. It is another hymn for which John de Luca provided his own arrangement, which is somewhat different to others I have seen. He has more interesting chords and includes the triplets that many people sing anyway.

Last time the backing was folk styled, but this time it is just organ by BIAB influenced by his arrangement.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T’was grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace, my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

This is not his arrangement but seems the most commonly used one..

This is a song of praise, ascension and of the Eucharist, with a text by William Chatterton Dix and set to the old favourite HYFRYDOL by Rowland Pritchard.

The text here is quite different from the one I blogged in AOV many years ago – yes AOV has some traditional hymnody. Verses are missing, verses are added, exclamation marks replaced and choices were made. I’m not sure why the Trinitarian verse didn’t make into this hymnal.

I had another crack at an organ backing:

Alleluia, sing to Jesus!
His the sceptre, his the throne;
Alleluia, his the triumph,
His the victory alone.
Hark, The songs of peaceful Sion
Thunder like a mighty flood.
Jesus out of every nation
Has redeemed us by his blood.

Alleluia, not as orphans
Are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia, he is near us;
Faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received him,
When the forty days were o’er,
Shall our hearts forget his promise,
“I am with you evermore”?

Alleluia, Bread of Angels,
Thou on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia, here the sinful
Flee to you from day to day;
Intercessor, friend of sinners,
Earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,
Where the songs of all the sinless
Sweep across the crystal sea.

Alleluia, King eternal,
You the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia, born of Mary,
Earth your footstool, heaven your throne:
You, within the veil, have entered,
Robed in flesh, our great High Priest:
You on earth both priest and victim
In the Eucharistic feast.

This is Donald Fishel‘s song, “Alleluia No.1”, which I covered in AOV fifteen years ago on this blog.

I found this in depth analysis from an organist’s perspective, which lead me to this further article on the song. The main thing with this one is not to do it slowly and turn it into a dirge.

The sheet music can be purchased at OCP.

John de Luca’s arrangement adds some colour to the chords.

I made a new organ based BIAB backing:

Refrain
Alleluia, alleluia!
Give thanks to the risen Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Give praise to his name.

1. Jesus is Lord of all the earth;
   He is the king of creation.
2. Spread the good news o’er all the earth:
   Jesus has died and has risen.
3. We have been crucified with Christ;
   Now we shall live forever.
4. God has proclaimed the just reward
   Life for all men, alleluia!
5. Come, let us praise the living God;
   Joyfully sing to our Saviour.

This is a vigorous take on Psalm 99 (100) by Lucien Deiss. I looked at it in AOV about fifteen years ago.

It is an old WLP copyright and you can still buy the sheet music at GIA for $0.80. John de Luca notes that he slightly adapted the antiphon to better suit SATB, but I can’t see major changes except the excellent idea of dropping the key from Bb to Ab.

The text is here.

My backing is more fake BIAB church organ.

This is actually a song called “Christmas Bush For His Adorning”, but everything in this collection is on a first line basis.

It’s another of the Five Australian Christmas songs set by William G. James with a text by John Wheeler. Don’t you just love a carol that says “golden weather” instead of winter and snow.

The text is here and the sheet music there.

I’m not sure my backing is quite “brightly” enough.

I find it interesting to see what John de Luca did with Folk Mass material. I suppose he must have looked at three chord wonders and realised they need something more for an organist to get stuck into.

This is a Sebastian Temple song that I blogged in the Praise to God Parish Hymn Book. Chris W reminded me it was in this collection too. It has a fair old range so it’s out of my league to sing.

The text is here. This is Mary’s area, so see what she had to say at Godsongs.

It seems de Luca thought it deficient in chords so he added a whole lot more. I assume the PTG version was just taken from the original:

I made a backing with the extra chords but still in folk style:

This is the orginal that goes from folk to barbershop:

I blogged this many years ago from its appearance in AOV.

It was written by William Kethe a refugee from Catholic persecution and contributor to the Geneva Bible. It is based on Psalm 99 (100) and set to OLD 100th, from the Geneva Psalter.

NLPHB has five verses.

I’ve had another crack at a backing:

1 All people that on Earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice:
Him serve with fear, his praise forth tell;
Come ye before him and rejoice.

2 Know that the Lord is God indeed;
Without our aid he did us make:
We are his folk, he doth us feed,
And for his sheep he doth us take.

3 O enter then his gates with praise,
Approach with joy his courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless his name always,
For it is seemly so to do.

4 For why the Lord our God is good;
His mercy is forever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.

5 To Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
The God whom heaven and earth adore,
From men and from the angel-host
Be praise and glory evermore.

I’ve been away in Sydney this weekend to see Ron Sexsmith. This wonderful Canadian singer songwriter doesn’t come to Australia often and wasn’t coming to Tasmania so we made the trip to Sydney to see him.

He is the gentlest most self effacing performer I’ve ever seen and just about the most talented songwriter on the planet. I saw him years ago in Brisbane solo, but this time he had a couple of long time confederates with him on bass and drums at the Sydney Recital Hall.

I doubt I could find a place in liturgy for it, but this is Ron:

I case you find his voice an acquired taste, how about this cover of one of his songs by Emmy Lou Harris.

A couple more samples:

I have looked at this text in Gather 3rd ed, where it was set to DIADEM, and OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book where it was set to CORONATION.

NLPHB sets it to MILES LANE by Wiliam Shrubsole, which was it’s original setting. The text was by Edward Perronet and was altered by J. Rippon. Hymnary has a deeper dive than usual into its origins. I have certainly found many variants in the text and include those from NLPHB below, where the archiac language has been removed for a change.

It is a hymn for Christ the King. This setting has a dramatic build up for the assembly to blast out.

I should have got the simplified chords from TIS but it looks like I overcomplicated things with too many chords in my backing:

1 All hail the power of Jesus’ Name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all.

2 Crown Him, you martyrs of our God,
Who from His altar call;
Praise him whoe way of love you trod,
And crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all.

3 Hail him you heirs of David’s line,
Whom David Lord did call;
The God incarnate, man divine,
And crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all.

4 You seed of Israel’s chosen race,
You ransomed of the fall,
Hail him Who saves you by His grace,
And crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all.

5 Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget,
The wormwood and the gall,
Go spread your trophies at His feet,
And crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all.

6 Let ev’ry kindred, ev’ry tribe,
Before him prostrate fall,
And shout in universal song,
And crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all.

I blogged this as “All Glory, Laud and Honor” while I was looking at the OCP Guitar book.

This is another ancient text, this time from more than 1200 years ago from St Theodulph of Orleans and translated less than 200 years ago by John Mason Neale. It is set to VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN (aka ST THEODULPH) written by Melchior Teschner 400 odd years ago and harmonised by Johann Sebastian Bach about 300 years ago.

It is essentially a praise and worship song, often used for Palm Sunday. The text has many many variations and I have posted the lyrics from the New Living Parish Hymnal with all the archaic language intact.

Refrain

All glory, praise, and honour
To thee, Redeemer, King,
Whom the lips of children
Made sweet hosannas ring.

1 Thou art the King of Israel,
Thou David’s royal Son,
Who in the Lord’s name comest,
The king and blessed one.

2 The company of angels
Are praising thee on high,
And mortal men and all things
Created make reply.

3 The people of the Hebrews
With palms before thee went:
Our praise and prayers and anthems
Before thee we present.

4 To thee before thy passion
They sang their hymns of praise:
To thee now high exalted
Our melody we raise.

5 Thou didst accept their praises,
Accept the prayers we bring,
Who on all good delightest,
Thou good and gracious King.