The best of the hymnal
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    BOURBON is fantastic - both of them.
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    Done, GHGiffen, we shall storm heaven. Himself is particularly adept at prayers regarding kidneys.
    The third is a sort of retreat or pullback of intensity that then leads to the fourth motive of that amazing descending scale that almost seems like a credo in music.
    Charles, I love THAXTED too, but in SPITE of that third period -- it kinda goes, whoops, instrumental tune originally, forgot, I know we have to take this down the octave now, sorry.... But I still love it.

    A lot of agreement with others' choices, SALZBURG.

    Love Unknown, text more than tune, but tune too. The line "love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be" kills me. KILLS me. It actually hurts I am so grateful.

    REPTON has a sort of breadth, a spacious grandeur that evokes the same thoughts and feelings in me as THAXTED and LAUDA ANIMA. (But that may just be from remembering that tracking shot in "Atonement.")

    I would sing the Shanghai phone book to HYFRYDOL or NETTLETON, and I could make my congregation do it, too.

    LASST UNS ENFORGETSPELLINGIT is the major version of PICARDY, love climbing those scales, many texts. They seem to be going somewhere, striving, reaching. Love them.

    I don't know if I love WONDROUS LOVE for the text or the tune and I don't care.

    Fr Krisman, thanks for bringing up Routley, and David Hurd's MIGHTY SAVIOUR, magnificent, (his tune for the Nunc Dimittis is similarly profound.)

    The chant hymn that I would place first is JESU DULCIS.

    Adam, I love O WALY WALY, (maybe I have bad taste?) there's a not bad Magnificat paraphrase to it, and SHANTI is nothing to sneeze at.

    I love the ST ANTHONY CHORALE, haven't found a worthy text set to it yet.
    WAYFARING STRANGER is a great hymn tune, I'm trying to remember what text we used to use... a paraphrase of the Canticle from Daniel perhaps?
    When Morning Gilds the Skies, LAUDES DOMINI, but that prediliction may be based on the occasion when I first heard or sang it, a CMAA Colloquium.

    "Morning Glory, Starlit Sky," can't remember the tune, but the text touches me.

    Sorry this is so long, love the topic, Kathy, thanks.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    Oooh, forgot AGINCOURT HYMN, with the text with "banners" in the first line that won't come to me just now.
    (I may have a nasty, militaristic streak...)
    Text, Come and Let US Drink of That New River.
    I Received the Living God -- on principal I should dislike the "swoopy" tune, but I don't. (The verses are meh....)

    Save the Liturgy, Save the World!
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • Fr. Jim Chepponis
    Posts: 220
    a few contemporary GIA hymnals set it ["Take Up Your Cross"] to WALY WALY... but its a little too relaxed for that text.

    Adam,

    When we edited Worship IV, we felt the same way, so we paired the text with ERHALT UNS HERR.
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood ronkrisman
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    So how many of these tunes are actually written by Catholic's and not Protestants?
    It doesn't really matter with out the text but I'm just wondering.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    I totally agree with AGINCOURT, aka DEO GRATIAS
  • Jani
    Posts: 441
    I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED....WHY DO WE CAPITALIZE HYMN TUNES?
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    ERHALT UNS HERR is a good one, I'm glad to have seen it mentioned. GIA, I think, has it with the text Again We Keep This Solemn Fast for Lent, which I think works wonderfully. I'm also happy that somebody mentioned ST. DENIO (Immortal, Invisible), which I think is underrated and underused.

    A few other things that haven't been mentioned:

    Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (EDIT: i.e., LOBE DEN HERREN): speaks for itself, doesn't it? I'm not sure you could want anything more in a recessional hymn.

    NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND (Savior of the Nations, Come): by Luther, yes, but otherwise speaks for itself. For me ranks in the top three German-sounding hymntunes, between PASSION CHORALE (wait, has anybody mentioned PASSION CHORALE yet?) and EIN' FESTE BURG.

    GAUDEAMUS PARITER (Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain): joyful, and has a sort of pushing-and-pulling effect, which is rare in modern music and curbs its metricality. As close to dancing as one should get in a hymn.

    TRURO: The much better version of DUKE STREET (and I like DUKE STREET too).

    DARWALL (Rejoice, The Lord Is King): not to be confused with NARWHAL.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,451
    Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (which I don't think has a NAME): speaks for itself, doesn't it? I'm not sure you could want anything more in a recessional hymn.


    LOBE DEN HERREN
    (also known as PRAXIS PIETAS, apparently)

    This is another favorite of mine, and one which is frequently ripped to shreds by editors, who want to remove all the juiciest bits.

    (Also, some of the changes have been attempts to retranslate portions to be more true to the original German text, or to otherwise highlight theological trends of particular denominations and eras. The 1982 just left Winkworth's name out of it, having thrashed it about so much.)

    Here is what Catherine Winkworth wrote (according to oremus.org, anyway), which is my preferred version:

    Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
    O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!
    All ye who hear,
    now to his temple draw near;
    praise him in glad adoration.

    Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
    shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
    Hast thou not seen
    how thy desires ever have been
    granted in what he ordaineth?

    Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
    surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
    Ponder anew
    what the Almighty can do,
    if with his love he befriend thee.

    Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
    who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
    biddeth them cease,
    turneth their fury to peace,
    Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

    Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
    who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
    sheddeth his light,
    chaseth the horrors of night,
    saints with his mercy surrounding.

    Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore him!
    All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him.
    Let the amen
    sound from his people again,
    gladly for all we adore him.
    ===========================
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 331
    About the first 20 times we sang SHANTI I had to do a double take to make sure it was really written by Marty Haugen. Not that I think he's incapable of writing something of such quality, but simply because its not his usual idiom.

    THAXTED is OK, but does tend to get overdone. I'm not a fan of CRUCIFER, which also seems to get done to death. Somehow the transition from the verse to the refrain seems melodramatic and kind of corny (OK, I'm not a trained musician, so I've got to use words like "melodramatic" and "corny" in a lame attempt to explain myself).
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    I agree about SHANTI. And David Haas' hymn tune for The Stars Declare His Glory is likewise excellent. A perfect morning tune.
  • G
    Posts: 1,397
    I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED....WHY DO WE CAPITALIZE HYMN TUNES?
    Maybe just a convention so that even a quick glance at the page nabs the information the rushed accompanist is looking for?

    (also known as PRAXIS PIETAS, apparently)
    Ah... maybe that's why I haven't found it in hymnals where I expected it.
    The Stars Declare His Glory is likewise excellent. A perfect morning tune.

    I'll have to look that up.

    (Save the Liturgy, Save the World)
    Thanked by 1Jani
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    Regarding setting "We walk by faith" well, Barbara Bridge had a lovely version to JESU DULCIS MEMORIA, with her own trope verses also chanted. OCP in its infinite ignorance yanked it from MI/BB after about a good five year run. SHANTI's too short for larger parishes.
    Jani, I would guess it's a convenient way to distinguish HYMNTUNE from "associated hymn text."
    Thanked by 1Jani
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,153
    gladly for all aye we adore him.
    Fixed. Even Oremus seems to be fallible.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,153
    I'VE ALWAYS WONDERED....WHY DO WE CAPITALIZE HYMN TUNES?
    Maybe just a convention so that even a quick glance at the page nabs the information the rushed accompanist is looking for?
    My understanding is that many mainline hymnals (at least those of yore) used Caps&SmallCaps fonts for hymn tune names (and also for LORD), just as such fonts are sometimes used for book (or other) titles. Unfortunately, Caps&SmallCaps fonts are not so prevalent in digital (and internet) publishing, even though they are available in some typefaces.
    Thanked by 1Jani
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    Avoiding duplicates:

    CHRISTE SANCTORUM (11.11.11.5) pairs well with “Lo! the dim shadows” and was successfully incorporated without any introduction, rehearsal, or notation into our a cappella singing of Sunday Lauds.

    "Christ is made the sure foundation" (WESTMINSTER ABBEY 87.87.87) deserves mention.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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