When I saw that the new hymnal had an alternative tune to To Jordan Came the Christ, Our Lord (LSB 407) and May God Bestow on Us His Grace (LSB 824), I wasn't happy. After all, those texts have been attached to their old tunes for quite a while now. Why neglect a perfectly decent 500-year old melody and go off in our own direction? There's something just plain nice about singing the same words (albeit in a different language) to the same tune that other Christians have been using for centuries and centuries! So I was all set to dislike the melody "Elvet Banks" which is brand spankin' new.
Dang it. I like it in spite of myself.
I hear that it's supposedly an easier tune than the originals for those two Luther hymns. I'm skeptical. I don't think it's any easier. But neither is it harder.
I must confess, though, that there is one small glitch to the tune when it's used for the Baptism song. The tune just seems altogether too chipper for the sixth stanza: "But woe to those who cast aside this grace so freely given...." The incongruity between the tune and the text gets even stronger at the end of the stanza. But other than that, I'm afraid I really like this particular tune.
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I often seem to be running for my LSB & TLH after reading your blog! :) Regarding LSB 407, a pastor could have the just the men sing the sixth stanza, thus lending even a bright melody a bit more, ummm, gravitas. This is also why pipe organs are built with the ability to color their sounds with different registrations.
ReplyDeleteThe complaint about some hymns being hard to sing is due the fact that so many in modern society are not used to singing in general. (That's probably not the case at your house!)
Glad you got a chuckle out of the Bent Objects link.
Glad to see you like the new "Elvet Banks" tune (even if it is "in spite of myself"!)
ReplyDeleteQuite often a new tune can shed new light on a familiar text. Then, having made that visit, you can always recommend going back to the earlier tune. (Return to the beginning and know the place for the first time, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot.)
(Have you come across "Coe Fen" for "How shall I sing that majesty?" and "Corvedale" for "There's a wideness in God's mercy"?)
Keep up your critical analysis! Best wishes.
Yours,
David Lee
(who has a peculiar attachment to "Elvet Banks"...)
I haven't run across "Coe Fen" or "Corvedale" in any of our Lutheran hymnals. Neither have I heard of the songs that you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWe've sung Luther's baptism hymn ("To Jordan Came the Christ Our Lord") to Elvet Banks once. But the one I really like is "May God Bestow on Us His Grace." It is recommended in our new hymnal as a post-communion canticle as an occasional option to the Nunc Dimittis.
Good for people to know.
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