Church Music

I’m slogging through the largely traditional Advent repertoire of CWB II and I’ve already done:

247 The Angel Gabriel 

I have actually done a version of this song too as “The Advent of Our King”. This is a different translation of Charles Coffin’s text – translated by Anthony G. Petti and based on Robert Campbell, except for the fourth verse, which is from the other version by John Chandler – is that quite clear.

Here it is set to FRANCONIA  by William Henry Havergal. I got the chords from the ever reliable Together in Song for more fake BIAB organ.

The text used here is from the New Catholic Hymnal and is the same used in CWB I if you have a dog eared copy of that. I can’t find the lyrics on the internet but two verses are used to light the Advent candle in this liturgy. I think CWB II picked the better text, but one that is adapted enough from its public domain sources to be copyright – well done Faber.

This is the other text set to FRANCONIA.

This is another hymn for Advent. The text is Martin Luther’s adaptation of St Ambrose’s text, Veni Redemptor gentium. The translation is by William Reynolds, but the text in CWB II has a different translation from halfway through verse 3 by Martin Seltz.

It is set to NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND.

More fake BIAB organ:

This version from Hymnary has the text and tune as in CWB II.

I’ve blogged the next few in CWB II already:

242 O Come, O Come Emmanuel

243 Open the Heavens, Lord (Brian Boniwell gets a well deserved Advent slot!)

244 On Jordan’s Bank the Baptists’s Cry

“Prepare the Way, O Zion” is another fairly ancient Advent hymn from a text by Frans Mikael Franzén. CWB II uses the translation by Charles P. Price, which was itself an adaption of the translation by Augustus Nelson. The tune in BEREDEN VAG FOR HERRAN, a seventeenth century Swedish tune, which I have also seen called MESSIAH.

Hymnary have the Price text at their site.

I like this tune a lot for its invention and uplifting nature.

That didn’t stop me from cribbing the chords from the MIDI file on Hymnary and attacking it with fake BIAB organ.

This is the same music as CWB II with the original “Nelson” translation. (NB the first line of the melody is repeated – does that it make it the blues?)

Entrance: Gather Us In (Haugen) AOV 1/12

Psalm 145 (McKenna)

Praise the Lord, my soul!

Praise the Lord, my soul!

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

Communion: A Place at the Table (Shirley Erena Murray – Lori True) AOV NG 1

Thanksgiving: You Are Mine (Haas)  AOV 2/2

Recessional: We Are Called (Haas) AOV 2/60

This is another late entry for completeness from when I was away.

Entrance: Gather As One (McKenna) AOV NG 48

Psalm 17 (McKenna)

I love you Lord, my strength.

Gifts: A New Commandment (Unknown)

Communion: I Have Loved You (Joncas) AOV 1/126

Thanksgiving: Without Seeing You (Haas) AOV 2/158

Recessional: Hearts on Fire  (Mangan) AOV NG 62

Since I use this blog myself to search for suggestions from three years ago, I’ll catch up with the local suggestions for liturgical music from when I was away, so that in three years time I’ll know what we used now. I think that makes sense.

Entrance: All Are Welcome (Haugen)

Psalm 125 (McKenna)

The Lord has done great things.

Gifts: Open My Eyes (Manibusan) AOV 1/166

Communion: We Remember (Haugen) AOV 1/81

Thanksgiving: Holy Darkness (Schutte) AOV 2/24

Recessional: All the Ends of the Earth (Dufford) AOV 1/76

… 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.

1. Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding:
“Christ is nigh!” it seems to say,
“Cast away the dreams of darkness,
O ye children of the day!”

2. Wakened by the solemn warning,
Let the Earth-bound soul arise;
Christ, the Sun, all ill dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.

3. Lo! the Lamb, so long-expected,
Comes with pardon down from Heav’n;
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiv’n.

4. So when next he comes with glory
And the world is wrapped in fear,
With his mercy he may shield us,
And with words of love draw near.

5. Honor, glory, might, and blessing
To the Father and the Son,
With the everlasting Spirit,
While eternal ages run.