Patriotic hymns (non-US)
  • PLTT
    Posts: 150
    I'm looking for suggestions on hymns suitable for a patriotic occasion. This is not for the USA/Canada, and not for a Catholic country.

    Nothing too jingositic or flattering: either generic petition for guidance/protection, or a theme of thanksgiving, or unity, or something like that......it should be suitable for ecumenical and interreligious services as well. Any recommendations would be welcome.

    I have some generic hymns like "O God beyond all praising" and "Now thank we all our God" but need several more, and if possible a little more specific.
  • NihilNominisNihilNominis
    Posts: 1,021
    "This is My Song" is certainly jingoistic or aggrandizing. Both patriotic and globablly-minded.
  • GambaGamba
    Posts: 548
    You want O God of every nation (Llangloffan)

    1. O God of ev'ry nation,
    Of ev'ry race and land.
    Redeem the whole creation
    With your almighty hand;
    Where hate and fear divide us
    And bitter threats are hurled,
    In love and mercy guide us
    And heal our strife-torn world.

    2. From search for wealth and power
    And scorn of truth and right,
    From trust in bombs that shower,
    Destruction through the night
    From pride of race and station
    And blindness to Your way.
    Deliver ev'ry nation,
    Eternal God, we pray.

    3. Lord, strengthen those who labor
    That all may find release
    From fear of rattling saber,
    From dread of war's increase;
    When hope and courage falter,
    Your still small voice be heard;
    With faith that none can alter,
    your servants undergird.

    4. Keep bright in us the vision
    Of days when war shall cease,
    When hatred and division
    Give way to love and peace,
    Til dawns the morning glorious
    When peace on earth shall reign
    And Christ shall rule victorious
    O'er all the world's domain.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • Chrism
    Posts: 872
    "O God of Earth and Altar"
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    "O God of Earth and Altar"

    Here you are, complete with descant(s):
    Giffen-O God of earth and altar.pdf
    109K
    Giffen-O God of earth and altar.mp3
    3M
    Thanked by 2Chrism M. Jackson Osborn
  • rollingrj
    Posts: 352
    Speaking of THAXTED, I would like suggest "I Vow To Thee, My Country".
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    The EU's anthem is Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'. It's a refreshment in its total lack of the bombast and poor and boastful (to be charitable) texts typical of most national anthems - except for 'God save our noble Queen', Austria, and similar others. I don't know which is worse or more gaudy, 'La Marseillaise' or the 'Star Spangled Banner" Either would be a challenge for an opera star.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • davido
    Posts: 942
    People need to quit hating on the “Banner.” I just heard a choir of school girls do a great job with it on Veterans Day.

    Also Jackson, I have heard the same critique leveled against ABBOTS LEIGH.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,799
    The EU's anthem is … a refreshment in its total lack of the bombast and poor and boastful (to be charitable) texts typical of most national anthems
    Um, precisely because it has no text? (of course I know O mëmëdhe i dashur is sung to the same tune).
    I submit that anyone can sing the 12th covered by ANACREON; the only trouble being pitching it too high for basses and too low for tenors. While the Marseillaise exceeds the ambitus of ODE TO JOY by one note, the same is true of MATERNA.
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,164
    'Ode to Joy' is a poem by Goethe set to music by Beethoven. It is religious.
    Lyrics in English for "Ode to Joy"
    ("Ode An Die Freude")
    Beethoven's 9th Symphony

    O friends, no more these sounds!
    Let us sing more cheerful songs,
    more full of joy!
    Joy, bright spark of divinity,
    Daughter of Elysium,
    Fire-inspired we tread
    Thy sanctuary.
    Thy magic power re-unites
    All that custom has divided,
    All men become brothers
    Under the sway of thy gentle wings.
    Whoever has created
    An abiding friendship,
    Or has won
    A true and loving wife,
    All who can call at least one soul theirs,
    Join in our song of praise;
    But any who cannot must creep tearfully
    Away from our circle.
    All creatures drink of joy
    At nature's breast.
    Just and unjust
    Alike taste of her gift;
    She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine,
    A tried friend to the end.
    Even the worm can feel contentment,
    And the cherub stands before God!
    Gladly, like the heavenly bodies
    Which He set on their courses
    Through the splendor of the firmament;
    Thus, brothers, you should run your race,
    As a hero going to conquest.
    You millions, I embrace you.
    This kiss is for all the world!
    Brothers, above the starry canopy
    There must dwell a loving Father.
    Do you fall in worship, you millions?
    World, do you know your creator?
    Seek him in the heavens;
    Above the stars must He dwell.


    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    .
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    But ODE TO JOY in the field/church sure has heck should use Beethoven's rhythm: the syncopated entry of the final line. Its presence or absence is the difference between genius and merely good.
    Thanked by 3Andrew_Malton a_f_hawkins M. Jackson Osborn
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,187
    Actually by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805).

    Except the first three lines above, which Beethoven wrote himself.

    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Indeed, Liam!
    Some churches hie to Beethoven's rhythm, and others skirt it.
    It's another case of 'I can't do it, therefore nobody can'.
    Do the Europeans sing Beethoven-Schiller's text, or some other?
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Jackson,

    I think the Europeanists probably sing something like this:

    Here we are, how wondrous are we
    Gathered all ourselves around,
    Britain, far away can't, thus, see
    regulations still abound.

    We love ourselves. Rewrite history?
    This we've done a time or two.
    Christian Europe's history's boring:
    Make new Europe about you.

    (The fact that it doesn't scan perfectly or make much sense is, of course, part of the point.) I wanted to uncork my finest bottle of champagne and enjoy an entire evening of Elgar and Purcell when Britain left, so love for the European Union is missing from my repertoire.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Do the Europeans sing Beethoven-Schiller's text, or some other?

    The European Union anthem consists of the music, without a text.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    Interesting, Chonak -

    I have recently heard a recording of the Ninth at the Berlin Konzerthaus. It was shared via video screens to a sizable crowd in the out-of-doors plaza. After the Ninth all in and out sang the Ode to Joy to a text that I did not recognise.
  • Felicia
    Posts: 116
    Back in the 1990's, when I was cataloguing VHS videocassettes, I worked on a videorecording of women protesting the regime of Augusto Pinochet in Santiago, Chile, in (I think) 1985. Scary footage showing police hosing down the protestors, who claimed that "their hands were clean!". The women sang something in Spanish to the tune of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". Unfortunately, I don't remember the words.
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