66 66 D hymntune
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    I am looking for a tune suitable for a 66 66 D trochaic text, in particular, "O what light and glory," a translation of O quam glorifica by T.I. Ball.
    Most 66 66 D (or 12 12 12 12) tunes are iambic.
    A verse of the poem is below.

    O what light and glory
    Deck thee, all resplendent,
    Thou of royal David
    Glorious descendant;
    Mary ever-virgin,
    Who in heaven art dwelling,
    All the choirs of angels
    Evermore excelling!
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,156
    That's quite an ask.

    How about if you splice RAVENSHAW (Monk) and RIMBAULT together to make eight lines? It sounds pretty good to me even if there would be a full cadence in the middle.
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    You could squeeze it into IN STORM. I assume you don't like ST. ALBAN?
  • liampmcdonough
    Posts: 282
    Maybe try ST MARTIN doubled?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Why not try GRAF (originally 76.76.D or 77.77.D), altered to 66.66.D by putting one syllable on the first two beats of every even numbered measure (which is what I did in every fourth measure to get 76.76.D out of 77.77.D)?

    Giffen-Graf-a.pdf
    64K
    Giffen-Graf-sound-3st-a.mp3
    4M
    Thanked by 2Paul F. Ford tomjaw
  • Paul F. Ford
    Posts: 857
    Glorious, CHGiffen! Thank you.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen tomjaw
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Hymnary.org gives this hymn as a 66.66 metre (not 66.66.D), to the tune LEOMINSTER -- apparently also called S. Alban's (330) -- from S. Alban's, Holborn, Tunebook. Here is the full text:

    O what light and gory
    Deck Thee all resplendent,
    Thou of Royal David
    Glorious descendant!

    Mary ever Virgin,
    Who in Heav'n art dwelling,
    All the choirs of Angels
    Evermore excelling.

    Mother, yet the honour
    Of a Virgin bearing,
    For the LORD of Angels
    Dwelling pure preparing.

    Him within Thy bosom
    Chastely thou enshrinest,
    Thus our God Incarnate
    Takes His Flesh divinest.

    May His pity grant us
    For our darkness sending,
    With Thee in His Glory
    Joy and light unending.

    Hear us, Holy Father,
    Through Thy Son supernal,
    With the Holy Spirit,
    LORD and God eternal.

    In The Antiphoner and Hymner of St. Gregory the Great Orthodox Church, this hymn is given as the Evening Hymn for Assumption.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Here are four 8-line stanzas (or eight 4-line stanzas) of the hymn as given on the University of Dayton All About Mary - Music for Ordinary Time page.

    O what light and glory
    Deck thee, all resplendent,
    Thou of royal David
    Glorious descendant;
    Mary ever-virgin,
    Who in heav'n art dwelling,
    All the choirs of angels
    Evermore excelling!

    Mother, yet the honor
    Of a virgin bearing,
    For the Lord of angels
    Dwelling pure preparing;
    Him within thy bosom
    Chastely thou enshrinest;
    Thus our God incarnate
    Takes His flesh divinest.

    Whom the whole creation
    Evermore adoreth,
    And all lowly bending
    Rightly now imploreth,
    May His pity grant us,
    Far our darkness sending
    With thee in His glory
    Joy and light unending!

    Hear us, holy Father,
    Through Thy Son supernal,
    With the Holy Spirit,
    God and Lord eternal;
    Who with Thee in glory
    Liveth and abideth,
    Who the world and all things
    Governeth and guideth.
    Amen.

    (Summit #214)
    Thanked by 2tomjaw sdtalley3
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    Using my trusty Liber hymnarius table, I found only one tune that matches your meter (though not suavely) on p. 565, Hugo pius pater. Older sources may have more.
    LH565_66D.jpg
    1350 x 2033 - 384K
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Alas, methinks that Hugo pius pater is actually iambic, not trochaic.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    Here is "O what light and glory" (four 8-line stanzas) set to GRAF. Enjoy. Comments welcome.
    Giffen-O what light and glory.pdf
    106K
    Giffen-O what light and glory-snd.mp3
    5M
    Thanked by 3PhilipPowell tomjaw Liam
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,939
    Chuck

    That is fine, lucid craft.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    Very nice solution Chuck.

    I kept hearing it to something of the character of GENEVAN 42 or VULPIUS. Still thinking of writing one myself that fits shape of this poem specifically, but VULPIUS adapted to 66 66 D (calling it MELCHIOR...?) sort of works.
    O what light and glory (MELCHIOR).pdf
    193K
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    Alright, I couldn't resist because I love this text so much. I took two approaches: one was to compose a [very] simple original melody for the text (something that a congregation could learn on-the-fly), and the second was to adapt the chant Hugo Pius pater that Richard found. I find myself particularly fond of the chant-based version. Something about it is so haunting and beautiful (I say this in acknowledgement of the original melody; not that I've achieved anything in my own right). Feel free to use/share; SATB scores and demo recordings attached.
    O What Light And Glory (BOTH VERSIONS) • SATB 5.66 .pdf
    127K
    Oh! What Light and Glory! (Organ Demo, both versions) • James Richardson.mp3
    4M
    Thanked by 1m_r_taylor
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,148
    My setting of this hymn has now been published at CPDL.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
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