What is this tune?
  • Pax
    Posts: 7
    Does anyone recognize this melody? A friend of mine said that she transcribed this from memory and heard it when she was 7 or 8 years old, but she does not remember where it was from and she has not been able to find the original. Does anyone recognize it? I got permission from her to share it here to see if anyone knows it.
    Theres a Wideness in Gods Mercy - Darling melody.pdf
    126K
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    Did the young lady from whom you got this tune include the text with it, or have you yourself put the text to it?
    'There's a Wideness in God's Mercy' is well known from the 1940 hymnal (no. 307 I believe), in which it is set to Beecher (one of those tunes which is better known than it deserves to be).
    I have never heard your tune, but it sounds like it might be early American or XIX century American. Perhaps, if it hasn't already got a name, we could call your tune Wideness, for it fits the text nicely.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    This tune doesn't match any of the many, many entries for "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy" at Hymnary.org.
  • Pax
    Posts: 7
    M. Jackson, she included the text. This was supposedly the version of "There's a Wideness" that she sang as a child. In hymnals that I've used, the text has typically been set to IN BABILONE (which I really dislike because all the tied eighth notes are hard for a congregation). I've also seen it set to BEACH SPRING which is curiously also not listed on hymnary @CHGiffen. I like the version that she transcribed from memory and would potentially like to include it in a custom hymnal for my parish someday. I'm just doing due diligence to try and find out if the melody is copyrighted anywhere else or if I can just ascribe the copyright to my friend.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • cesarfranck
    Posts: 162
    Is it possibly Beach Spring, an American folk tune found frequently wedded to TOO many new hymn texts. I love the tune, but it is used excessively with new hymn texts.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    No, it's definitely not BEACH SPRING.

    It's also not DOMHNACH TRIONOIDE, though it is in minor.
    Thanked by 2ServiamScores CHGiffen
  • CGM
    Posts: 705
    Around what year would she have heard it? Was she in a Catholic church, or some other Christian denomination? In the U.S. somewhere? Can she tell us the hymnal or music resource the church had at that time?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    Sounds shape-notey.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • Pax
    Posts: 7
    @CGM it would be from sometime around 1963. In a Catholic church in North Dakota. She doesn’t recall the Hymnal unfortunately.
  • Bobby Bolin
    Posts: 422
    It does give the feel of DOMHNACH TRIONOIDE
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    Which is a wonderful tune. It was the first thing the posted nameless tune (I suggest NEMO) made me think of, but there are significant differences.
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,396
    It's not a well-constructed hymn tune. (Cf. Lovelace.) So it's not surprising it appeared in only one publication and no one seems to recognize it.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw M. Jackson Osborn
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