Behind The Hymns: The Lord Is My Light

I’ve been meaning to get a Behind The Hymns post for last week up for a while now, and finally life has slowed down a bit so I can get that taken care of. For now I think I might switch to a different schedule for these…as is the case this time around, the posts for the time being will be about the hymns I played the preceding Sunday (rather than the upcoming Sunday), if that makes sense. (Note: As I did last week, I’ll be taking my background info from the terrific hymn reference book “Our Latter-Day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages” by Karen Lynn Davidson. Just giving credit where credit’s due.) Anyways, the opening hymn from last week…

“The Lord Is My Light” (Hymn #89, text by James Nicholson, music by John R. Sweney)

This hymn is one of many in the LDS hymnbook penned by those of other faiths, and it’s kind of interesting how beloved it’s become as a part of Latter-Day saint hymnody over the years. It takes its title (and really, its main message) from the Psalms, specifically the 27th one, which says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Karen Lynn Davidson astutely notes in “Our Latter-Day Hymns” that “we need something stronger than our mortal vision. The answer is that our Savior’s vision is perfect: ‘There is in his sight no darkness at all.’” (The last line she references is directly from the hymn itself.) We can receive true, neverending light from a heavenly source, and that’s something incredibly comforting. I really like this hymn’s energy and brightness, and although it’s fairly simple musically (it doesn’t vary much in tone, notes, or structurally), it’s incredibly powerful and uplifting all the same.

“While of These Emblems We Partake” (Hymn #174, text by John Nicholson, music by Alexander Schreiner)

In the last Behind The Hymns post, I talked about “Tis Sweet To Sing The Matchless Love,” which is one of the hymn texts that features two different settings in the LDS hymnbook. (Funnily enough, I discovered that Sunday that we actually weren’t singing that hymn at all…somewhere down the line either me or my organ teacher must have read one of the numbers wrong, perhaps? Ah, well. At least you know about that hymn now. I’m sure there was a good reason. ) This hymn is one of the other ones, and is also a hymn we sing during the Sacrament (once again, if you’d like to more about it, check out some official words on the subject here). The “Our Latter-Day Hymns” book points out that the lyrics progress very nicely through the different aspects of the Sacramental ordinance…each verse kind of has a different focus. The words are also very poetic and beautifully written (though this is true of quite a lot of hymn texts, especially ones written for the Sacrament and about the Savior’s sacrifice, really). As for this hymn musically, I’ve gone back and forth over the years as to which of the two settings for “While of These Emblems” I like better (they’re actually pretty similar, when you look at them side-by-side), so I’m not sure whether it’s my favorite of the two or not, but as it stands alone, it’s incredibly lovely, and I really like some of the tensions in the harmonies towards the middle. An interesting biographical note about this setting: it was written by Alexander Schreiner, the organist for the Salt Lake Tabernacle and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for many years, and its tune name, “Aeolian,” was named after the Aeolian-Skinner organ that Schreiner helped select for a rebuilding of the Tabernacle back in the 1940s. (The original organ from the mid-1800s is still part of the current one, by the way.)

“Do What Is Right” (Hymn #237, text by an anonymous author, music by George Kaillmark)

If “The Lord Is My Light” is a very simple hymn as I mentioned above, then “Do What Is Right” is probably as musically straightforward as the LDS hymnbook gets. Whatever voice part you sing, chances are you’ll be repeating the exact same note for more than half of this song. Still, it speaks a very positive, direct, important message, one that really can be summed up in the title: Do what is right. You really can’t get any more concise than that. (Lines like “Angels above us are silent notes taking,” which would normally seem a bit blunt, perhaps, also turn into gentle reminders about obedience when in the context of this hymn.)  The writer of the text is unknown, but we do know that it comes from an 1857 Boston publication called “The Psalms of Life,” at least according to the writing credit. According to George D. Pyper, the writer of a previous LDS hymn reference, George Q. Cannon (an LDS leader) heard this hymn sung while in Britain back in the mid-1800s, and was impressed enough with it that he later saw that it was included in the next LDS hymnbook. Pyper also notes that “‘Do What Is Right’ cannot be classified as a sacred hymn, and it is doubtful that the author ever considered it as such [...] But if it is not a message of divine truth there was never one written.” (It’s funny to hear someone proclaim that a hymn normally sung in religious services isn’t sacred, but I think what George D. Pyper’s was kind of pointing out is that it’s a pretty universal message found in this hymn, not just confined to a church building on a Sunday.)

As for the hymn’s tune, it has had a very interesting history. George Kaillmark, a British composer, originally wrote the tune for part of a poem called “Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance.” The first stanza, which is reprinted in “Our Latter-Day Hymns, ” is just too deliciously random out of context for me to pass up sharing with you:

“Farewell — farewell to thee, Araby’s daughter!

(Thus warbled a Peri beneath the dark sea,)

No pearl ever lay, under Oman’s green water,

More pure in its shell than thy Spirit in thee.”

(If I was a braver, more mischievous soul, I would choose this as a solo sometime for a Church meeting, start singing these words, and see just how many confused, perplexed looks I’d get. ) In the United States, though, this tune became popular as the setting to a poem by Samuel Woodworth called “The Old Oaken Bucket.” A quick glance at Wikipedia helped me discover that The Old Oaken Bucket is now the name of the trophy given to the winner of the annual football game between rival schools Purdue and Indiana. (You can find the text of the poem in that Wiki article, in case you want to try out my singing-different-words-just-to-mess-with-people idea.) J. Spencer Cornwall, the writer of yet another previous LDS hymn reference work, was (somewhat amusingly) unhappy with this connotation, and said that “it is regrettable that such a forthright, positive challenge as is found in this hymn could not have been traditionally associated with more worthy music and a less ignoble connotation.” However, there are a few other songs in the hymnbook set to tunes from somewhat unsavory places, so at least “Do What Is Right” isn’t alone. (As a final note, this tune is also used for a song in the Primary songbook, used for kids to memorize the books of the Old Testament. I’ve never liked the way it’s done there, as there’s so many darn Old Testament books that the writers had to cram in the names every which way they could, and as a result it’s a beast to learn and sing. )

As always, let me know your feedback, and also let me know if I’m going on too many tangents or writing your ears off or anything. (I’ll always try to keep this feature as interesting and insightful as I can, and also I’ll do my best to make it applicable not just to those of the LDS faith as well.) See you soon with many more new posts (I have a lot to cover in the coming weeks!), and thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Behind The Hymns: Tis Sweet To Sing The Matchless Love

An area of music I haven’t really touched on too much on this blog yet is sacred music. For full disclosure’s sake, I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Like many other religions, we have a rich tradition of wonderful hymns and music, and I simply love the wealth of sacred music that the LDS community has grown to include. (For those of you who may not know, our hymnbook includes a great deal of hymns from outside our faith.)

About a year ago, I was called to a role that put me front and center in the tradition of singing hymns…I became our ward’s organist. (“Wards” are the name for the local divisions of our church…kind of similar to “parishes” or “congregations” in other religions.) I came into this calling not knowing how to play the organ whatsoever, though I had a big background in piano. It was an interesting experience learning to play the organ at first, and I’ve grown to absolutely love it (the tricky pedals included).

So why am I rambling about LDS hymnody and my calling as an organist? It’s all to introduce a new feature I’d like to try out here, called “Behind The Hymns.” Each week, I have 3-4 hymns I’m assigned to play on Sundays. Using my handy dandy copy of the definitive book about the LDS hymnal, “Our Latter-Day Hymns: The Stories and The Messages” by Karen Lynn Davidson (which has actually since been revised, and I hope to get my hands on the revised edition soon), I’ll be reading about each of the hymns I’m playing every week, and share some interesting things I found with you all, as well as a few of my own personal thoughts. For those of you reading who aren’t LDS, I won’t be shying away from sharing my beliefs and faith as appropriate in these posts, but I won’t be making it all about that either. My intent is to show how these hymns are universal for all, and to kind of gain a deeper insight into them, both musically and lyrically. So here we go! The opening hymn for this Sunday is…

“Be Thou Humble” (Hymn #130, text & music by Grietje Terburg Rowley)

My initial familiarity with this hymn is from a somewhat strange place…I first remember hearing it often when my parents used to play an old Afterglow tape we had every Sunday morning. (For the uninitiated, Afterglow is an exceedingly cheesy, but sometimes strangely endearing LDS duo who were quite popular in the 80s and 90s, and still apparently are today.) Thanks to the many times I’ve heard their version of the hymn, little snippets of it immediately come to mind whenever I see the name “Be Thou Humble,” or hear even a tiny bit of the song. The memories are too powerful (for better or for worse).

Humility is sometimes a complicated subject (for example, there’s the fact that when we think we’re humble people, we’re probably not truly humble), but I think Sister Rowley communicates it beautifully in this hymn. The last line of the first verse, “Be thou humble in thy pleading, and the Lord thy God shall bless thee/Shall bless thee with a sweet and calm assurance that he cares,” is very well-put, I think. The Lord will always be there for us when we ask for Him.

The story behind this hymn that’s recounted in “Our Latter-Day Hymns” is very cool to read about. Grietje Rowley apparently wrote the words to what was to become “Be Thou Humble” during a quiet, peaceful winter afternoon. She didn’t put them to music at the time, however…she ended up putting them away and forgetting about them, sometimes thinking she should set them to music, but not finding much inspiration. One night, she found that inspiration, hearing the first few measures in her head out of the blue, and hurried to get them down on paper and work out the basic melody. The rest, as they say, is history.

“Tis Sweet To Sing The Matchless Love” (Hymn #177, text by George Manwaring, music by Ebenezer Beesley)

To start off, I’ve always thought Ebenezer Beesley’s name sounds REALLY cool. (Would my future wife hate me too much if I suggested we name our firstborn “Ebenezer Beesley Randall”? ) Anyways, this is one of the handful of hymn texts in the LDS hymnbook that actually includes two separate settings. This is the second one, and it contrasts with the first one in that it’s a bit more upbeat and energetic. (That’s not to say that the other setting is boring or anything…it just has a more stately, dignified persona.) Karen Lynn Davidson describes it in the book as having a “gospel-song energy.” It’s not quite as rousing as, say, a showstopping number with a gospel choir, but I think it’s very fun to sing and listen to.

The text of the hymn speaks of the joy of partaking of the Sacrament every week. (For those of you who aren’t LDS and would like to know more about what the Sacrament entails, you can check out a brief but informative description here.) It’s something that’s part of LDS church services each week, so as church members we can often veer towards taking it for granted. This hymn, with great words of celebration such as “Oh blessed hour! Communion sweet!”, helps remind us that it’s a privilege and a blessing. It also features sentiments of love and appreciation for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in general, as well, so it’s not just about the ordinance of the Sacrament.

“Come, Thou Glorious Day of Promise” (Hymn #50, text from Pratt’s Collection [alt.], music by A.C. Smyth)

This is definitely one of the hymns in the hymnbook that I’m not very familiar with. (And I know some REALLY obscure hymns. Like “The Wintry Day Descending To Its Close,” which I think is one of the most beautiful hymns in our hymnal, but remains incredibly unknown to almost everyone. Sad day. Tangent over.) In fact, playing it during my organ practice this week, I’m not entirely sure I’ve heard it before. (It’s so new to me, in fact, that I don’t think I’ve quite memorized the melody yet.) I’ve found it, though, to be a very lovely hymn, and the fact that it’s fairly uptempo is nice. (Not that I don’t love softer, slower hymns in most cases to pieces, but playing/singing a faster hymn once in a while is a treat.) The words are a heartfelt plea to the Lord for peace and salvation, and reading through them, they’re very straightforward, but also poetic. Interesting fact: They were originally credited to Alexander Neibaur, a respected Latter-Day saint in the 1800s from England, but it turns out he only contributed them, and didn’t pen them. Their origin is simply known as “from Pratt’s Collection“…no one knows who exactly wrote the lyrics.

“I’ll Go Where You Want Me To Go” (Hymn #270, text by Mary Brown, music by Carrie E. Rounsefell)

Like I mentioned earlier, the LDS hymnbook features a lot of hymns from non-LDS writers and origins. This one would be one of them (though I’m not entirely sure it’s widely sung outside the LDS Church). It’s a very simple, straightforward hymn musically (once I sang it in a church meeting as a duet with another guy in my ward, and we along with the pianist tried to spice it up a little bit by changing up the arrangement ever so slightly), but it’s also very powerful as well. The theme, as you probably guessed from the title, is obedience…and I think it goes a long way towards expressing, in a very profound way, how obedience is more than just following someone blindly…it’s true, deep commitment, trust, and faith in a heavenly source. (You can find the complete text here.) Particularly striking to me is the recurring line, “I’ll be what you want me to be.” It reflects the changes we need to make in ourselves to become better…not just to DO good things, but to BE good people. That’s true not just in the LDS faith, but anywhere, really.

Here’s an account in “Our Latter-Day Hymns” that I found incredibly interesting, from an editor named Homer Rodeheaver (another fun name!) talking about the creation of the musical part of the song by Carrie Rounsefell:

“Mrs. Rounsefell is a tiny woman who lives in Boston. She used to do evangelistic work, and accompanied her singing with an old-fashioned zither. One day a friend handed her the words of this hymn and immediately a tune came to her and she struck a chord on her zither and sang the song.”

Yep…according to Mr. Rodeheaver, she came up with the tune on the spot. Using a zither, of all things. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite impressed.

 

So there you have it…the inaugural edition of Behind The Hymns. I’d really love some feedback on this new feature, so let me know if you love it, hate it, or how I can change it and make it better. As always, thanks for reading, and see you soon with some more new posts.

Song Shuffle Game: Christmas/Holiday Edition!

Better late than never, eh? I’m cutting it a bit fine posting a Christmas-themed Song Shuffle Game on…Christmas Eve, of all times, but I’ve been meaning to post this for a while, so I might as well do it now. This time I’m coming up with the questions before I choose my songs, so it will be slightly less…crazy? Something like that. I’ll be picking 10 songs from my iTunes shuffle setting…5 from a search for “Christmas,” 5 from a search for “holiday.” (P.S.: Since my shuffle keeps trying to go back to MoTab, Ella Fitzgerald, or Harry Connick Jr., I’ve instituted a one-song-per-artist rule for my list this time. )

1. Once In Royal David’s City–Mormon Tabernacle Choir
2. Sleigh Ride–Ella Fitzgerald
3. Auld Lang Syne–Harry Connick, Jr.
4. Carol of the Bells–Natalie Cole
5. Deck The Halls–Pomplamoose
6. The Christmas Song–Diana Krall
7. Winter Song–Ingrid Michaelson & Sara Bareilles
8. Wish List–Neon Trees
9. The First Noel–David Archuleta
10. Silent Night–Sarah Brightman

 

1. When was song 6 added to my iTunes library?

December 20, 2008. So wow, a little more than 2 years ago.

2. How does song 3 convey the spirit of Christmas (to me)?

Bahaha…oh dear, that was probably not the best song to land on spot #3. Well…I guess it talks about being together and having good times as friends/a family. So that goes with Christmas being a time to spend with family.

3. When’s the last time I listened to song 5?

Yesterday, at…well, let’s just say it was at night. Sort of.

4. Name another version of song 7.

Well, I’m definitely proving I really did type these questions and assign the numbers before I chose the songs, aren’t I? There isn’t any other recorded version of this tune, because it was only written a year or two ago. If you were Facebook friends with me, though, you could find a version that me and someone in my dorm at BYU did for a talent show. But it’s probably best you don’t go looking for that too hard.

5. Who would be a good artist to cover song number 1?

Someone classical…or maybe not. I don’t know. Charlotte Church? Sure, that sounds good. (I really shouldn’t use this question next time… )

6. Quote the first TWO lines of song number 2. (That’s one more than I asked myself to quote the last time. I’m movin’ on up… )

Yes, an easy one! I could recite this whole song in my sleep. “Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling too…c’mon, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you. Outside, the snow is falling and friends are calling ‘Yoo-hoo!’ C’mon, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.” (That was kind of more than 2 lines. What can I say? I’m cool like that. )

7. Translate song number 8 into Spanish. (And don’t use Google Translate this time…)

La lista de deseos. (K, I totally cheated. My translation without resorting to Google was too badly botched.)

8. How did I find out about song number 4?

I’m a Natalie Cole fan, and once a few years ago (I think way back when I used MSN Music), I checked out her second Christmas CD, and listened to all the 30-second clips. I absolutely LOVED this take on “Carol of the Bells” from the clip I heard, but it took me a while to finally get the song on my iPod. (AKA I just put it on a week or two ago. Yeah. I’m slow sometimes. )

9. Describe song number 9 in three words. (Another upgrade from the last Song Shuffle Game, y’all. )

Pretty, but middling. (David Archuleta is terrific, but I felt his Christmas CD kind of let him down a bit. The arrangements were kind of bland and overblown, and it just didn’t jibe for me with David’s heartfelt, genuine artistic style. And yeah, that was way more than three words, but at least I used only three to start off this parenthetical ramble.)

10. How many times have I played song number 10?

Apparently, only once…in December 2008. Sarah Brightman’s version just isn’t one of my favorites of the song, I guess. It’s beautiful, and her voice is lovely, but it doesn’t really bring anything new to the song. (I have a few other versions that really turn the song on its ear and/or serve it well, and those tend to be a lot more played.)

Well, there you have it. A quick, painless Song Shuffle Game for your Christmas Eve delight. (Or horror. ) Make sure to play along in the comments (pick a few of your own songs, use some of my questions…or your own; etc.), and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate). See you in a few days with some end-of-the-year Harmony Avenue goodness (I actually make a Best of 2010 list! I give you one more Artist Spotlight to close out the year!), and have a wonderful Christmas Eve.