Veterans' Day Sacred Anthem
  • Any suggestions for an anthem for Veteran's Day. Not sure about VW "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men"
  • Something based off of L'homme Armee?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" was traditionally the Navy Hymn, but it's been expanded with verses that apply to the other services, so it may be useful for the occasion.
  • I second Chonak's idea, if the plan is to use a hymn.

    If you specifically want something more anthem like, would an In Paradisum, say, from Faure's Requiem do the job?

  • GerardH
    Posts: 411
    Henry Walford Davies' Vox ultima crucis would suit. It is the final movement from his Short Requiem in D Major, composed "In Sacred Memory of all those who have fallen in the [Great] war".

    Recording

    Text
    Tarry no longer; toward thine heritage
    Haste on thy way, and be of right good cheer.
    Go each day onward on thy pilgrimage;
    Think how short time thou shalt abide thee here.
    Thy place is built above the starrès clear,
    None earthly palace wrought in so stately wise.
    Come on, my friend, my brother most dear!
    For thee I offered my blood in sacrifice.
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    It's often forgotten these days that in the USA, it's Memorial Day that serves as Remembrance Day to honor the memory of members of the armed services who have died, and Veterans Day primarily honors living veterans.

    This year, of course, it's the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    Youtube Channel

    Organ Music From The Great War

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUx_XDvvLRvOn9iIMSbm6HA
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    National Anthems Of The Allies
    Published 1917

    https://imslp.org/wiki/National_Anthems_of_the_Allies_(Various)
  • Thank you Liam for pointing this out. For several years after I moved to Texas from England I thought Veterans' Day was the same as Remembrance Day. When it was pointed out to me that this is not the case, I stopped presenting Libera Me, In Paradisum etc. and have been looking for an offertory anthem at Mass relating to the living servicemen and women. Maybe I should just go with a theme from the gospel after all?
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    The official hymn of the United States Army, "God of Our Fathers", which was composed for the USA's centenary in 1876, may suit your purpose (though it isn't expressly Christian):

    https://hymnary.org/text/god_of_our_fathers_whose_almighty_hand

    1 God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
    Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
    Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies,
    Our grateful songs before your throne arise.

    2 Your love divine has led us in the past,
    In this free land by you our lot is cast;
    Be our strong ruler, guardian, guide, and stay,
    Your word our law, your paths our chosen way.

    3 From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence,
    Your mighty arm our ever sure defense;
    Your true religion in our hearts increase,
    Your bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.

    4 Refresh your people on their toilsome way.
    Lead us from night to never-ending day;
    Fill all our lives with heav'n-born love and grace,
    Until at last, we meet before your face.

    (Text as provided in GIA's Worship III)
  • This text is also in 'the1940', complete with silly fanfare.
    It is essentially Unitarian and I've always considered it an embarrassmen.
    Thanked by 1cesarfranck
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    I detest the fanfare, but I think the text itself, were it accompanied by a doxology, would be better: here's a fifth verse in the public domain (source info: https://hymnary.org/text/o_come_redeemer_of_mankind_appear):

    5. All praise and glory to the Father be,
    All praise and glory to His only Son,
    All praise and glory, Holy Ghost, to Thee,
    Both now, and while eternal ages run.

    If one detests the tune itself as bombastic (even sans fanfares), EVENTIDE offers a fit in a different mood.
  • In the UK, the best anthem for the occasion is pretty much thought to be "They shall grow not old" by Douglas Guest.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • At the West Point Catholic Chapel, where the sacred and the military often intersect, some of our standard options are "For All the Saints" (with the more militant verses, not the edited version found in many hymnals), "God of Our Fathers," and "Lead On, O King Eternal." The Wilhousky arrangement of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was also a go-to here for many years, but has mysteriously disappeared from liturgical use since my arrival... we're still singing it tonight for the combined choirs concert, though.
    Thanked by 1cesarfranck
  • ELapisardi,

    How do military and Catholic interests intersect by singing For All the Saints, in memory of the military fallen? It would sound like the U.S. military meets the Universalists.
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    The allusions are lost in the USA...
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky,
    As several people have posted above, Veteran's Day honors the living, not the fallen. The third verse, which states, "O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold fight as the saints who nobly fought of old and win with them the victor's crown of gold" encourages emulation of the saints by the living rather than any sort of implication that the fallen are all saints... At least, that is how the chaplains and I read it.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ELapisardi,

    I stand corrected in about the fallen/living. Nevertheless, I think it would be a stretch so say that those who fight in modern wars consider, nevermind emulate the saints of some bygone era.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    The one big concert announced here is combining Vaughn Williams' Dona nobis pacem with the Nelson Mass. For 11/11/11:00 I briefly considered the former's fugue ("Nation shall not lift up a sword" to end) but we're going with Mendelssohn's Verleih uns Frieden. But if I'd discovered it a bit sooner, Obrecht's armistice anthem would have been on the menu instead.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • bdh
    Posts: 4
    Wesley's "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace" has been used many times here for Remembrance. Last year we used Purcell's "Thou knowest Lord". Guest's "They shall not grow old" is, as richardUK says, a classic for this occasion and is also know as "For the fallen", in case that helps you look it up.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 392
    Remembrance rather than Veterans, but here in the UK there is a hymn beloved of Anglicans, called 'The Supreme Sacrifice' which was written to commemorate the dead of the First World War. It rang through my head on October 24 last year when we visited the grave in northern France of a member of my husband's family, killed on that day one hundred years earlier aged just 19. My question is: would it be suitable for use at Mass, or a Remembrance service held just before a Mass? I'm rather doubtful. Words are:

    O valiant hearts who to your glory came
    Through dust of conflict and through battle flame;
    Tranquil you lie, your knightly virtue proved,
    Your memory hallowed in the land you loved.

    Proudly you gathered, rank on rank, to war
    As who had heard God’s message from afar;
    All you had hoped for, all you had, you gave,
    To save mankind—yourselves you scorned to save.

    Splendid you passed, the great surrender made;
    Into the light that nevermore shall fade;
    Deep your contentment in that blest abode,
    Who wait the last clear trumpet call of God.

    Long years ago, as earth lay dark and still,
    Rose a loud cry upon a lonely hill,
    While in the frailty of our human clay,
    Christ, our Redeemer, passed the self same way.

    Still stands His Cross from that dread hour to this,
    Like some bright star above the dark abyss;
    Still, through the veil, the Victor’s pitying eyes
    Look down to bless our lesser Calvaries.

    These were His servants, in His steps they trod,
    Following through death the martyred Son of God:
    Victor, He rose; victorious too shall rise
    They who have drunk His cup of sacrifice.

    O risen Lord, O Shepherd of our dead,
    Whose cross has bought them and Whose staff has led,
    In glorious hope their proud and sorrowing land
    Commits her children to Thy gracious hand.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Annabel
  • Maybe a bit late to the discussion, but we have used these two complementing anthems to good effect - http://www.chichestermusicpress.co.uk/cgi-bin/chichestermusicpress.pl?chunk=scoreid&ismn=CMP261