Church Music

… I’ll resume in a couple of weeks.

Just when it appears there is nothing but traditional hymns for Advent, CWB II drops this Michael Mangan bombshell. Admittedly it is twenty-three years old already but it was not originally written in Latin so that is a point of difference.

If you don’t want to get CWB II this is available in the useful collection This is the Time. You can purchase that collection with lots of other songs covering the seasons and festivals of the Church at Litmus. It is also available as a single sheet at sheetmusicplus.

The text comes from his site where he has kindly put up the lyrics.

O EMMANUEL
words & music: Michael Mangan

O Emmanuel,
Come into our hearts.
O Emmanuel,
We’re waiting for your light.
O Emmanuel,
God is with us now,
O Emmanuel, Emmanuel.

1. We your people are waiting for you, Lord,
Waiting all throughout the earth.
We your people are waiting for you, Lord,
Waiting to celebrate your birth.

2. We your people are longing for you, Lord,
Longing with hope and with joy.
We your people are longing for you, Lord,
Longing for the sign to rejoice.

3. We your people are ready for you, Lord,
Ready to change and repent.
We your people are ready for you, Lord,
Ready for you to come again.

© 2005, 1995 Litmus Productions, Brisbane, Australia.

This is another traditional hymn for Advent. The text is by Abbé Simon-Joseph Pellegrin (1663-1745), translated by Sister Mary of St Philip in 1877. The tune is VENEZ DIVIN MESSIE a sixteenth century French tune that is a 6/8 carol in the public domain.

I got the chords from OCP (GAB 346). The text in CWB II reverses “show your face” and “dispel the night” in the prechorus, an alteration that does not appear in any of the page scans in Hymnary nor any lyrics on line so I wonder if it was misremembered.

This is the tune from OCP.

This is the tune from CWB II without the octave leap at “hope” in the chorus.

I guess if I persist with CWBII I’m going to get an education in the more traditional side of catholic hymnody.

This fine Advent song is a nineteenth century translation by Edward Caswall of a ? fifth to ninth century Latin text, Vox clara ecce intonat. It is set to MERTON by William Henry Monk (also nineteenth century).

There are minor variations in the text between versions — CWBII has “see” for “lo”, and “herald” for “thrilling” but otherwise the version from Hymnary below is pretty much the same as in CWBII with an amen added.

I followed ChrisW’s reminder to check Together in Song for the chords for these traditional hymns and there they were for this one.

I cranked up the old BIAB fake organ for this backing.

I’ve blogged: 237 My Soul in Stillness Waits (Haugen)

(in Gather Australia 280 but better set out in CWBII and with chords!)

This is another traditional song for Advent from CWBII. The text is from 1671 based on Isaiah 40:1-5 was written by Johannes G. Olearius and translated into English by Catherine Winkworth in 1863.

The tune is FREU DICH SEHR/ GENEVAN 42, written by Louis Bourgeois in 1551. The words and tune are public domain. The tune is basically 6/4 with some 4/4 bars in the middle. The version I have in Worship puts in barlines for people like me who struggle without them. Apart from having no chords the sheet music in CWB is identical to the version from Hymnary below.

Oh dear my version is much too slow, this is much better.

I’ve already covered:

234 Come, Lord Jesus, Come (Mangan)

235 Sing Out Earth and Skies (Haugen)

This is a newish non rhyming translation from Mount Saint Bernard Abbey of a Latin text, which is somewhere from seventh to tenth century depending on your source.

Wikipedia has several translations but this one is copyright so I won’t reproduce it here.

It is set to CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM, which I am told is Sarum plainsong Mode IV.

This is the sheet music from Hymnary with another translation.

My backing comes with the caveat that BIAB CAN’T DO CHANT. I made up the chords since CWBII doesn’t provide them.

Here is the Latin text.

Conditor alme siderum
aetérna lux credéntium
Christe redémptor ómnium
exáudi preces[voces] súpplicum

Qui cóndolens intéritu
mortis perire saeculum
salvásti mundum languidum
donans reis remedium.

Vergénte mundi véspere
uti sponsus de thálamo
egréssus honestissima
Virginis matris cláusula.

Cuius forti ponténtiae
genu curvántur ómnia
caeléstia, terréstia
nutu faténtur súbdita.

Te, Sancte fide quáesumus,
venture judex sáeculi,
consérva nos in témpore
hostis a telo perfidi.

Sit, Christe rex piissime
tibi Patríque glória
cum Spíritu Paráclito
in sempitérna sáecula.
Amen.

I’ve already blogged this song because it is As One Voice (1/39). It is also in Gather Australia (277).

The arrangement appears identical to that in Gather Australia but wins over that, because it is all on two pages rather than three.  Oddly, I’ve just noticed there are no time signatures on CWBII.

Goodness, CWBII even has chords for this one but they aren’t the best for guitarists. AOV for guitar has the correct capo setting and is much friendlier on the eye for playing purposes.

Still, this song from 1982 by Bernadette Farrell is a fine Advent song and we use it in many other contexts.

It’s too wet to do much else here today, so I might make a start on CWBII in Volume 2 with songs for Advent with this Charles Wesley text that I haven’t blogged before. Fair warning, if I keep to my usual behaviour I’ll persist for a while and drift to another project. My initial impressions of this collection were that it had little compelling that wasn’t available elsewhere and this public domain hymn is hardly likely to change that perception. Perhaps as I work through the collection I’ll be converted.

I got the sheet music below from Hymnary. The arrangement of STUTTGART is pretty much identical in CWBII and also lacks chord symbols, so guitarists aren’t welcomed – an appalling lack of hospitality.

Charles Wesley’s text just has just been altered in CWBII to insert “O” for “thou”.

OCP did provide chords as you can see from their sample.

I made this pretty average fake organ backing for STUTTGART in the past, which I will inflict upon the world again.

I’m still looking for a next project, as I have been looking at Australian songwriters and have done some Chris DeSilva, Brian Boniwell, Leo Watt and Michael Mangan. There is an astonishing treasury of Michael Herry songs that are available for free online and I have some Emmanuel Worship sheet music, along with much I haven’t got to in the songwriters already mentioned and many other songwriters are there to consider.  I also never finished Voices As One Vol 2, nor the Guitar Accompaniment Book from OCP, and then there are all the Marty Haugen songs I have not got around to… and of course there is my nemesis CWBII!

In the meantime, here is a great song from Paul Mason.

Whatever you think of the chances the upcoming Plenary in 2020 of actually changing the flawed governance of the Australian Catholic Church, one good thing has already come of it.

Paul Mason has put up a song in response to our need for listening and discernment leading up to the Plenary and it is available for free download along with sheet music, MP3s and lyrics.

You can purchase the whole pack for nothing here.

It is meant to sound like this:

I think this is superb entrance, recessional, Easter, Pentecost, etc song that will be around long after the Plenary. Since “Shout to the Lord” is off our menu as it is only on CCLI and not One Licence, this might be the replacement we need.

The beautiful arrangement is extraordinary, but I suspect this is actually a P&W classic and my backing reflects that somewhat. You could go somewhat ballistic on the crescendo into the refrain I suspect. I was too lazy to put in the wonderful arrangement for the introduction so I cheated and let BIAB do it’s own piano/cello thing.

The Power of the Spirit (O come, Holy Spirit, come!)
Composer: Paul Mason

Verse 1:
Enter his presence singing his praises.
Jesus, the Lamb, is arisen!
Worthy of power, wisdom and honour,
riches and glory and blessing!
He said at table he’d send us
what, in Scripture, the Father had promised:
send out the spirit, pour out the spirit,
the Holy Spirit, the pow’r of the Spirit!

Refrain:
O come, Holy Spirit, come!
Kindle in us
the fire of your love.
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Speak to our hearts,
Holy Spirit, come!

Verse 2:
Anyone having ears to hear,
Then, let them hear! Let them listen!
The Spirit is speaking to the Churches!
If you have ears, let them listen!
I know your faith, works and service,
and your patient endurance. So listen:
Listen to what the Spirit is saying.
the Holy Spirit, the pow’r of the Spirit!

Verse 3:
You, yourself, humbled. Worthy are you, Lord,
Word of the Father almighty!
So we walk humbly, Lord, to be worthy
clothed with the power from on high,
burning with fire of your love,
building bridges of peace for your kingdom,
pow’r of forgiveness, pow’r of our witness,
the Holy Spirit, the pow’r of the Spirit!

Text based on Lk 24:49; Jn 14:26, 17:26; Acts 1:4, 2:3-4; Rev 2-3, 4:11, 5:12.

Text: © 2007, 2018 Paul Mason. All rights reserved.
Tune: POWER OF THE SPIRIT © 2007, 2018 Paul Mason. All rights reserved.
Published by Liturgical Song, PO Box 1871 Wollongong NSW 2500 Australia.
www.liturgicalsong.com. Liturgical Song is a One License Member Publisher.

Entrance: Gather As One (McKenna) AOV NG 48

Psalm 32 (McKenna)

Lord let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

Gifts: A Trusting Psalm (Bates) AOV 1/115

Communion: In the Breaking of the Bread (Hurd)  AOV 1/58

Thanksgiving: Servant Song (Gillard) AOV 2/169

Recessional: Bring Forth the Kingdom (Haugen) AOV 2/4

I’ll be in Tasmania instead of Queensland next week so the selections that were made for there are:

Be Thou My Vision

Table of Plenty

We Remember

Bring Forth the Kingdom