Hymn Notes
Weekly Hymn Notes
Learn about the origin of hymns, lyrics, and melodies, and other music that will be used during Sunday worship service. Contact Don De Bruin, Director of Music Ministries for more information at 608.233.9751.
Hymn Notes for January 20, 2019
From The New Century Hymnal Companion, Copyright 1998, The Pilgrim Press.
#158 O Morning Star, How Clear and Bright
Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) wrote this text, based on Psalm 45, in seven ten-line stanzas and published it in 1599. The beginning letters of each stanza formed an acrostic, which referred to one of Nicolai's students. Catherine Winkworth translated the German text "Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern" in 1863.
Philipp Nicolai was born i Waldeck (now part of Germany) on August 10, 1556, and was an outstanding Lutheran preacher of his time. He served parishes in Herdecke in the Rhineland, Cologne, Unna in Westphalia, and Hamburg, where he died October 26, 1608.
Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) composed this tune, WIE SCHON LEUCHTET, during a time of plague while he was a minister in Westphalia. It became widely popular throughout Germany and was used for many occasions, especially weddings.
Philipp Nicolai changed his surname for Rafflenboel to Nicolai, using a form of his father Nicolas's first name. As a child he anticipated his life's work by "playing church" and officiating at funerals for pets who died. When Nicolai was ordained to the ministry he was only twenty years old.
#60 O Spirit of God
Johann Niedling (1602-1668) included this hymn and other anonymous texts in his 1651 hymnal Lutherische Handbuchlein. It is now believed that Niedling was the author of the original German Text, "O Heiliger Geist, o heiliger Gott," as well as many of the other texts in that collection.
Johann Niedling was a schoolteacher in Altenburg, Saxony (now a part of Germany), in addition to being a hymnwriter. His six collections of hymns used in the Lutheran tradition did much to promote hymn singing in the church, and his 1651 Lutherische Handbuchlein was widely used.
This tune by an unknown composer takes its name from the opening line of the hymn, O HEILIGER GEIST, meaning "O Holy Ghost." Another name used in some hymnals is O JESULEIN SUSS, for the German Christmas text with which it is more frequently sung.
The Geistliche Kirchengesang was a German hymnal printed in Cologne in 1623. This particular tune was reprinted in a number of other hymnals and included by J.S. Bach in Musikalisches Gesangbuch (1736), which he edited for Georg Christian Schemelli in Leipzig.
#582 O God of Earth and Altar
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) wrote the poem on which this hymn was based, and it appeared in The Commonwealth and in The English Hymnal (1906). Jane Parker Huber (1926-2008) updated stanza 2 and added stanza 3 in the version provided here.
G. K. Chesterton is better known for his literary career than for his hymnwriting. A friend of George Bernard Shaw, Chesterton published more than one hundred volumes of stories, novels, plays, biographies, and verse. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1922 and espoused a return to the trade practices of the Middle Ages as a cure for the ills of industrialization.
LLANGLOFFAN is a traditional Welsh melody. Its first publication has been traced to Llwybrau Moliant (1872), a Baptist tune collection. Some scholars believe that the tune may have spread from England to Wales in the eighteenth or nineteenth century. The title may refer to the “Church of St. Gloffan.”
The harmonization of this popular Welsh folk melody should be attributed to The English Hymnal (1906) and may have been the work of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Welsh hymnbook editor and composer David Evans made a different arrangement of the tune for The Church Hymnary (1927).
Hymns by Title
Hymns by Date
| Service Date | |
|---|---|
| January 20, 2019 | |
| January 13, 2019 | |
| January 6, 2019 | |
| December 30, 2018 | |
| December 24, 2018 | |
| December 23, 2018 | |
| December 16, 2018 | |
| December 9, 2018 | |
| December 2, 2018 | |
| November 25, 2018 | |
| November 18, 2018 | |
| November 11, 2018 | |
| November 4, 2018 | |
| October 28, 2018 | |
| October 21, 2018 | |
| October 14, 2018 | |
| October 7, 2018 | |
| September 30, 2018 | |
| September 23, 2018 | |
| September 16, 2018 | |
| September 9, 2018 | |
| September 2, 2018 | |
| August 26, 2018 | |
| August 19, 2018 | |
| August 12, 2018 | |
| August 5, 2018 | |
| July 29, 2018 | |
| July 22, 2018 | |
| July 15, 2018 | |
| July 8, 2018 | |
| July 1, 2018 | |
| June 24, 2018 | |
| June 17, 2018 | |
| June 10, 2018 | |
| June 3, 2018 | |
| May 27, 2018 | |
| May 20, 2018 | |
| May 13, 2018 | |
| May 13, 2018 | |
| May 6, 2018 | |
| April 29, 2018 | |
| April 22, 2018 | |
| April 15, 2018 | |
| April 8, 2018 | |
| April 1, 2018 | |
| March 29, 2018 | |
| March 25, 2018 | |
| March 18, 2018 | |
| March 11, 2018 | |
| March 4, 2018 | |
| February 28, 2018 | |
| February 25, 2018 |
