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poetree2012-11-01 09:25 am
primeideal) wrote in poetree2012-11-01 09:25 am
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All Saints' Day hymns
Hello! Today I'm going to share a couple hymns for All Saints' Day, November 1.
All Saints' Day is a Christian festival that, as the name implies, honors untold saints--our predecessors. I'm a Lutheran, and this tradition doesn't have a formal canonization process that recognizes various levels on the way to sainthood or make a big deal of verifying who is or is not a saint, so in that sense we emphasize the "all" part. Lutherans also celebrate the denomination on October 31, Reformation Day, when our namesake Martin Luther is said to have nailed his "95 Theses" to a church door--to make sure that everyone would see it when they came to church for All Saints' Day. So while it's not the most theologically important holiday, it's one with a rich tradition.
I would guess the best-known hymn for All Saints' Day is "For All The Saints," whose lyrics were written by William How, and whose eventual melody was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The hymn tune is known as "Sine nomine," ("Without name"). This might be a reference to unrecognized saints, but another source suggests that this was a common name for all sorts of hymn tunes in the Renaissance era, so I'm not sure.
The original text consists of eleven verses, each of three lines in rhyming iambic pentamenter. It was first printed in 1864.
For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Now, in poems not intended for singing, some departures from strict rhyme or meter might be tolerated or even encouraged to add extra artistry. However, when sung by large groups, having the accents fall on the wrong places can be jarring. So, arrangements of the hymn often tend to shift some syllables around, adding or removing notes as needed, so that the stress can fall in natural places.
Although there are eleven verses, many hymnals don't include all eleven. Verses 3 through 5 single out special groups; the apostles, evangelists (gospel writers), and martyrs. These are often omitted, which sort of makes sense as a hymn for All Saints' Day; we're left with a more inclusive text rather than pinpointing specific saints. In addition, the verse about "soldiers faithful true and bold" isn't in my denomination's newest hymnal.
What prompts the changes? Well, there's a lot of politics that goes into hymnal collections. Sometimes the words of the text can be changed slightly to have a more contemporary flow. I'm pretty sure the predecessor to this hymnal, for instance, had "your name, O Jesus" in the first verse, which scans exactly the same way but reduces antiquated language.
This is easy at the beginning of a line, but harder when you want to preserve a rhyme. Still, it's possible: "All are one in Thee, for all are Thine" became "Yet all are one within your great design" (the original doesn't even have ten syllables). There can be many more similar changes, such as trying to use more gender-neutral terms for God when possible.
But in this new hymnal, there was an attempt to cut down on hymns that relied on warlike metaphors. So I'm guessing that's why the "soldiers" verse was cut. On the other hand, they reverted to more old-fashioned pronouns--I'm imagining a whole lot of inter-office politicking and compromising.
Tangentially, this provided the setup for Ogden Nash's "Halloween Hoodlums: Go Home!"
"There is one old hymn that now arouses my curiosity as well as my zest,
Which is the one that begins "For all the saints who from their labors rest."
Heaven knows all the saints have earned a good rest after their hardships on this earthly scene,
But I wonder how much rest they actually get on the Eve of All Saints' Day, generally known as Halloween.
...future All Saints' Eve all the saints will enjoy undisturbed rest from their labors,
And so, I selfishly add, will I and my neighbors..."
Here's another hymn, Sing With All The Saints In Glory. This was written by William Irons in 1873, and I know it by a tune called "Mississippi," written by William Roberts in 1995. Guys named William are really into sainthood, I guess.
Sing with all the saints in glory,
sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth's dark story,
to the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking,
soon the storms of time shall cease;
in God's likeness we, awaking,
know the everlasting peace.
O what glory, far exceeding
all that eye has yet perceived!
Holiest hearts, for ages pleading,
never that full joy conceived.
God has promised, Christ prepares it,
there on high our welcome waits.
Ev'ry humble spirit shares it;
Christ has passed the eternal gates.
Life eternal! heav'n rejoices;
Jesus lives, who once was dead.
Shout with joy, O deathless voices!
Child of God, lift up your head!
Life eternal! O what wonders
crowd on faith; what joy unknown,
when, amidst earth's closing thunders,
saints shall stand before the throne!
It turns out that the version I know was also subject to editing. The original, longer, version adds
"Patriarchs from distant ages,
Saints all longing for their heav'n,
Prophets, psalmists, seers, and sages,
All await the glory giv'n"
after "lift up your head" to end verse three. Then the "O what wonders" quatrain begins verse four, which concludes
"Oh, to enter that bright portal,
See that glowing firmament,
Know, with you, O God immortal,
Jesus Christ whom you have sent!"
I'm guessing that this edit, which also removes the role of specific individuals, might also be meant to highlight the "All" of "All Saints'," but I'm not really sure about this. In any event, having the lines all be in the same 8/7/8/7 syllabic pattern allows arrangers freedom to cut and paste. It also allows the hymn to be sung to various melodies, such as "Ode to Joy"!
All Saints' Day is a Christian festival that, as the name implies, honors untold saints--our predecessors. I'm a Lutheran, and this tradition doesn't have a formal canonization process that recognizes various levels on the way to sainthood or make a big deal of verifying who is or is not a saint, so in that sense we emphasize the "all" part. Lutherans also celebrate the denomination on October 31, Reformation Day, when our namesake Martin Luther is said to have nailed his "95 Theses" to a church door--to make sure that everyone would see it when they came to church for All Saints' Day. So while it's not the most theologically important holiday, it's one with a rich tradition.
I would guess the best-known hymn for All Saints' Day is "For All The Saints," whose lyrics were written by William How, and whose eventual melody was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The hymn tune is known as "Sine nomine," ("Without name"). This might be a reference to unrecognized saints, but another source suggests that this was a common name for all sorts of hymn tunes in the Renaissance era, so I'm not sure.
The original text consists of eleven verses, each of three lines in rhyming iambic pentamenter. It was first printed in 1864.
For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
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.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Now, in poems not intended for singing, some departures from strict rhyme or meter might be tolerated or even encouraged to add extra artistry. However, when sung by large groups, having the accents fall on the wrong places can be jarring. So, arrangements of the hymn often tend to shift some syllables around, adding or removing notes as needed, so that the stress can fall in natural places.
Although there are eleven verses, many hymnals don't include all eleven. Verses 3 through 5 single out special groups; the apostles, evangelists (gospel writers), and martyrs. These are often omitted, which sort of makes sense as a hymn for All Saints' Day; we're left with a more inclusive text rather than pinpointing specific saints. In addition, the verse about "soldiers faithful true and bold" isn't in my denomination's newest hymnal.
What prompts the changes? Well, there's a lot of politics that goes into hymnal collections. Sometimes the words of the text can be changed slightly to have a more contemporary flow. I'm pretty sure the predecessor to this hymnal, for instance, had "your name, O Jesus" in the first verse, which scans exactly the same way but reduces antiquated language.
This is easy at the beginning of a line, but harder when you want to preserve a rhyme. Still, it's possible: "All are one in Thee, for all are Thine" became "Yet all are one within your great design" (the original doesn't even have ten syllables). There can be many more similar changes, such as trying to use more gender-neutral terms for God when possible.
But in this new hymnal, there was an attempt to cut down on hymns that relied on warlike metaphors. So I'm guessing that's why the "soldiers" verse was cut. On the other hand, they reverted to more old-fashioned pronouns--I'm imagining a whole lot of inter-office politicking and compromising.
Tangentially, this provided the setup for Ogden Nash's "Halloween Hoodlums: Go Home!"
"There is one old hymn that now arouses my curiosity as well as my zest,
Which is the one that begins "For all the saints who from their labors rest."
Heaven knows all the saints have earned a good rest after their hardships on this earthly scene,
But I wonder how much rest they actually get on the Eve of All Saints' Day, generally known as Halloween.
...future All Saints' Eve all the saints will enjoy undisturbed rest from their labors,
And so, I selfishly add, will I and my neighbors..."
Here's another hymn, Sing With All The Saints In Glory. This was written by William Irons in 1873, and I know it by a tune called "Mississippi," written by William Roberts in 1995. Guys named William are really into sainthood, I guess.
Sing with all the saints in glory,
sing the resurrection song!
Death and sorrow, earth's dark story,
to the former days belong.
All around the clouds are breaking,
soon the storms of time shall cease;
in God's likeness we, awaking,
know the everlasting peace.
O what glory, far exceeding
all that eye has yet perceived!
Holiest hearts, for ages pleading,
never that full joy conceived.
God has promised, Christ prepares it,
there on high our welcome waits.
Ev'ry humble spirit shares it;
Christ has passed the eternal gates.
Life eternal! heav'n rejoices;
Jesus lives, who once was dead.
Shout with joy, O deathless voices!
Child of God, lift up your head!
Life eternal! O what wonders
crowd on faith; what joy unknown,
when, amidst earth's closing thunders,
saints shall stand before the throne!
It turns out that the version I know was also subject to editing. The original, longer, version adds
"Patriarchs from distant ages,
Saints all longing for their heav'n,
Prophets, psalmists, seers, and sages,
All await the glory giv'n"
after "lift up your head" to end verse three. Then the "O what wonders" quatrain begins verse four, which concludes
"Oh, to enter that bright portal,
See that glowing firmament,
Know, with you, O God immortal,
Jesus Christ whom you have sent!"
I'm guessing that this edit, which also removes the role of specific individuals, might also be meant to highlight the "All" of "All Saints'," but I'm not really sure about this. In any event, having the lines all be in the same 8/7/8/7 syllabic pattern allows arrangers freedom to cut and paste. It also allows the hymn to be sung to various melodies, such as "Ode to Joy"!
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In the Singing the Living Tradition (1993) (the primary hymnal for most Unitarian Universalist congregations), it's published as four verses. In verse 1, "O Jesus" is replaced with "most holy." In verse 2, "Thou, Lord, their Captain" is replaced with "their strength and solace," and "darkness drear" is replaced w/ "darkness deep." Verse 3 skips ahead to verse 5 of the original, reworded as:
The final verse (verse 7) is closer to the original, the only word change being "conflict" (originally "warfare").
The other notable thing about the UU version is that the third verse is printed separately, with a different harmonization. (At my large Nashville church, where there are lots of semi-professional and professional singers in the congregation, the piano customarily drops out during this verse, and the resulting a cappella rendition sounds amazing.) Some years ago, I was a guest preacher at a smaller church that wasn't used to this hymn at all (which I failed to anticipate -- the things one learns on circuit...), and after we finished singing it, a man loudly opined, "This one needed to come with a road map!"
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