Church Music

Christopher Willcock translated Didier Rimuad’s Easter text and set it to music.

The text is in the preview at OCP, where you can purchase the sheet music. Listen to the preview to hear the challenging yet marvellous music. I think the verse needs a cantor and really a choir for the counterpoint would be best.

Throughout Lent we will use a seasonal psalm, Marty Haugen’s “Be With Me”.

Entrance: Hosea (Norbet) AOV 1/30

Gifts: The Cry of the Poor (Foley) AOV 1/83

Communion: Unless a Grain of Wheat (Farrell) AOV 1/35

Recessional: A New Heart for a New World (O’Brien/Watts) AOV 1/158

CWB II continues its run of traditional hymnody for Easter with:

357 Good Shepherd, You Know Us

… and this song set to LLANFAIR with a text by James Quinn.

The text is here (thanks, Mary).

This Easter song is by Keith David Pearson based on a text by John of Damascus and set to AVE VIRGO VIRGINUM.

The text is here, and it is in Together In Song (391) as well as CWB II.

This is a joyful Easter song from CWB II with a tune for the refrain and two separate verse tunes.

The text is by John Edward Bowers and it is set to SALVA FESTES DIES by Ralph Vaughn Williams.

I can’t find the lyrics on the net and so for those with CWB II or Worship 3rd ed or the other hymnals listed in Hymnary…

As usual I had to find the chords elsewhere for my BIAB backing.

Throughout Lent we will use a seasonal psalm, Marty Haugen’s “Be With Me”.

Entrance: Here I Am Lord (Schutte) AOV 1/90

Gifts: Be Merciful (Haugen)

Communion: Tree of Life (Thompson) AOV NG 138

Recessional: Holy Darkness (Schutte) AOV 2/24

In the Easter songs in CWB II I’ve done:

352 By Your Kingly Power, O Risen Lord (Outstanding)

353 Christ is Alive, With Joy We Sing (More Easter VULPIUS action)

This text is by Michael Weisse and translated by Catherine Winkworth. It is set to ORIENTIS PARTIBUS.

It is a French melody that I had some fun with after getting the chords from Together In Song:

The text is found in various iterations but this is the one in CWB II.

1. Christ the Lord is risen again!
   Christ has broken ev’ry chain!
   Hark, the angels shout for joy
   Singing evermore on high:
   Alleluia!
2. He who gave for us His life.
   Who for us endured the strife,
   Is our Paschal Lamb today.
   We, too, sing for joy and say:
   Alleluia!
3. He who bore all pain and loss
   Comfortless upon the cross
   Lives in glory now on high,
   Pleads for us and hears our cry:
   Alleluia!
4. He who slumbered in the grave
   Is exalted now to save;
   Through the universe it rings
   That the Lamb is King of kings.
   Alleluia!
5. Now He bids us tell abroad
   How the lost may be restored,
   How the penitent forgiv’n,
   How we, too, may enter heav’n.
   Alleluia!
6. Christ, our Paschal Lamb indeed,
   Christ, your ransomed people feed;
   At the end of earthly strife Raise us, Lord, to endless life. Alleluia!

Here is the same tune used for a song about a donkey – I couldn’t resist – the Alleluia is replaced with “Hey sir donkey hey!”

CWB II gives some of these much longer titles but I have still blogged them already.

348 Easter Alleluia

349 O Sons and Daughters

350 Alleluia No.1

This is another Easter tune. It set to LASST UNS ERFREUEN, this time with a text by Hereford Brooke George. He had a busy life it seems and not much was related to hymn writing. The text is at Hymnary.

I’m into the general Easter songs in CWB II. I’ve already done:

346 Alleluia! Alleluia!

Which brings me to this chestnut from 1965 by Lucien Deiss. It is a lively 6/8 song with an interesting tune in the verses for the cantor, although doable for an assembly. It is one of the few songs in CWB II with a bit of life in it so I have to be happy with that. CWB II lacks the time signature and chords, which is poor considering it is a good song for guitar.

It can still be purchased from WLP. The text is at Cantus Mundi.

There are some painfully slow versions on YouTube. There is a snippet at WLP that gives a good idea of the tempo – don’t drag.

There are two songs specifically set for Easter Sunday in CWB II. Then there are a plethora of general Easter songs that I’ll tackle a bit at a time.

344 Easter Sequence: Christians Praise the Paschal Victim

The original words are a thousand years old by Wipo of Burgundy, here translated by Peter J. Scagnelli and in copyright (WLP). The chant tune is public domain.

You can see the chant notation here, but note that the text above is a different translation.

… or in Latin:

345 O Flock of Christ

This is a very different translation of the same sequence by James Quinn and set to VULPIUS.

It is available in this collection at OCP. I can’t find a link to the text anywhere.