Candlemas Music
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    I'm in the process of planning music for Candlemas (EF), and came across an old thread (link below), in which the hymn, Hail to the Lord Who Comes (The Hymnal, 1940), is mentioned. Is there someone who has a copy of this hymn?
    http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/comment/106396

    There were two other hymns also mentioned (Worship IV hymnal) which I am unfamiliar with. I am unable to access them at the links given in that thread:
    .
    Come Long-Awaited Holy One, #870, 77 77 meter

    O Light of Gentile Nations, #871, 7 6 7 6 D meter

    We will be doing the chanting of the antiphons during the distribution of candles and the procession. I think we'll also try the chant, Stirps Jesse, this year.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    http://www.hymnary.org/text/hail_to_the_lord_who_comes
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    Thank you, Mark, for posting this. I also like "O Zion, Open Wide Thy Gates," which I found there:
    http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/EH1982/257
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    Stirps Jesse:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbN1-hwuqDw
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,388
    O Light of Gentile Nations may be found at:

    http://www.hymnary.org/text/light_of_the_gentile_world_thy_peoples_j

    It appears with LLANGLOFFAN in Worship IV.
    Thanked by 1expeditus1
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    At the moment I'm looking at using "Christ is the World's Light" by Frederick Pratt Green. It uses the tune Christe Sanctorum 10.11.11.6 (Paris Antiphoner 1681). This hymn appears in the "Catholic Worship Book" published in Australia in the 1980s. The copyright is Stainer & Bell. I don't know if this one is known in the US or UK. Looking at the text, I would think that this should be a standard hymn in Ordinary Time from Epiphany to Lent.

    For the purposes of study and critique, I'm presenting the first verse here, as I believe that this is still under copyright.

    "Christ is the world's light, he and none other;
    born in our darkness, he became our brother.
    If we have seen him, we have seen the Father;
    Glory to God on high!"

  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    For a contemporary hymn, I suppose "Christ Be Our Light" by Bernadette Farrel would be suitable.

    Is there a good hymn setting of the Canticle of Simeon? I note that this is the prescribed communion text for Candlemas.
  • Bruce E. Ford
    Posts: 429
    "Hail to the Lord who comes" and "O Zion, Open Wide Thy Gates," are both in the (Episcopal) Hymnal 1982 as well as in the Hymnal 1940. The Hymnal 1982 is easy to purchase or borrow.
    Thanked by 1expeditus1
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