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Thursday, 21 March 2013

Beautiful hymns to love


Have I said before how I love Lead Kindly Light (Hymn 169)?  I have played it a lot on a keyboard in my one-handed way, and my fingers almost know the way to go.  We are given, in the Christian Science Hymnal Notes on John Henry Newman (p. 248), the famous story about his state of mind when he wrote the words. (Ed. It's an nteresting story about being becalmed onboard an "orange boat" in the Mediterranean). The notes state that EV Lucas said of the music and words that they make this "the most beautiful hymn in the language."

The hymnal note (p. 249) on Hymn 170 Let every creature hail the morn (words by John Greenleaf Whittier, adapted) speaks reverently of Franz Joseph Haydn and his Creation.  It says that Haydn headed his manuscript: "In the name of Lord.”  It also states that he said, “I prayed God every day to strengthen me for my work.”

Joyce Voysey

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