Another day in between reviews, and I’ve been at work translating. Also I didn’t leave the house today, except for my a.m. gym visit. So what shall I post?
I’ve had Norway on my mind lately (to the surprise of nobody, I know), so a hymn from Sissel is indicated (again to the surprise of… you know). I’m not sure if I’ve used this song here before. It’s an old hymn – Eg Veit i Himmerik ei Borg (I Know a Castle in Heaven). The text is German, from the 16th Century. But the music is traditional Norwegian – in fact it survived as a folk song rather than as a formal church hymn.
I know of a heavenly stronghold shining as bright as the sun; there are neither sin nor sorrow and never a tear is shed.
I am a weary traveller; may my path lead me from here to the land of my father; God, protect me on my way.
We thank you for eternity God the Father, one in three. For you are gentle and mild to us in Jesus Christ! Amen.
James Cameron heard a recording of Sissel doing this one, and decided to hire her for the backup vocals in Titanic.
It’s the most medieval-sounding Norwegian hymn I know, which makes me particularly fond of it. I may have news about myself and Norway coming up soon. I’ll keep you posted.
“Be Still, My Soul” performed by the Norton Hall Band
Catharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel, an 18th century German, wrote the original of this marvelous hymn, “Be Still, My Soul.” The tune is “Finlandia,” originally a tone poem by the brilliant Jean Sibelius of Finland.
1 Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side; Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide; In ev’ry change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Englishman Samuel Trevor Francis (1834-1925) gave us this hymn. It’s one of the hymns I feel I’ve always known. The tune is Welsh.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus! Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. Underneath me, all around me, is the current of thy love; leading onward, leading homeward, to thy glorious rest above.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus! Spread his praise from shore to shore; how he loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore; how he watches o’er his loved ones, died to call them all his own; how for them he intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne.
O the deep, deep love of Jesus! Love of ev’ry love the best: ’tis an ocean vast of blessing, ’tis a haven sweet of rest. O the deep, deep love of Jesus! ‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me; and it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to thee.
“Fierce Raged the Tempest,” sung by the Lloyd Family
I can’t recall ever singing today’s hymn, but its tone and message would fit my congregational singing habits. “Fierce Raged the Tempest” was written by Englishman Godfrey Thring (1823-1903) and appears to be found in only a handful of hymnals.
1. Fierce raged the tempest o’er the deep, Watch did Thine anxious servants keep But Thou wast wrapped in guileless sleep, Calm and still.
2. Save, Lord, we perish, was their cry, O save us in our agony! Thy word above the storm rose high, Peace, be still.
3. The wild winds hushed; the angry deep Sank, like a little child, to sleep; The sullen billows ceased to leap, At Thy will.
4. So, when our life is clouded o’er, And storm winds drift us from the shore, Say, lest we sink to rise no more, Peace, be still.
I’m sure you’re familiar with Augustus Toplady’s hymn “Rock of Ages,” written in 1776. I don’t know how many believers are singing this hymn with James Ward’s arrangement, written in 1985. Ward lives in Chattanooga and served for many years as the music director at a church in my denomination. This arrangement is printed on the page opposite of the traditional Toplady tune in the Trinity hymnal, which is the hymnal PCA congregation use.
If this is a new tune for you, I hope you enjoy it.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me let me hide myself in thee; let the water and the blood, from thy riven side which flowed, be of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.
“Wide Open Are Thine Hands,” sung by the Norsemen Quartet
The words of this hymn are attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), an influential abbot who wrote many meditations. I found that attribution questioned by Garcia Grindal on her blog dedicated to hymns. She says Arnulf of Leuven, Abbot of Villers-la-Ville, (1200-1250) is the author of the original poem, and it sounds so much like Bernard who could blame us for misattributing it to him.
Dr. Charles Porterfield Krauth of Martinsburg, Virginia, a Lutheran scholar and musician, translated the poem into English.
Wide open are Thy hands, Paying with more than gold The awful debt of guilty men, Forever and of old.
Ah, let me grasp those hands, That we may never part, And let the power of their blood Sustain my fainting heart.
Wide open are Thine arms, A fallen world t’embrace; To take to love and endless rest Our whole forsaken race.
Lord, I am sad and poor, But boundless is Thy grace; Give me the soul transforming joy For which I seek Thy face.
Draw all my mind and heart Up to Thy throne on high, And let Thy sacred Cross exalt My spirit to the sky.
To these, Thy mighty hand, My spirit I resign; Living, I live alone to Thee, And, dying, I am Thine.
I’ve mentioned before that I have a Theory of Temporal Clumping. That theory says that, if you have only two meetings or appointments in a month, they will both tend to gravitate to the same day — if possible even to the same time, so you’ll have to choose one.
Such is today. I had a meeting this morning and one this afternoon. Tonight I have a Sons of Norway meeting — and the roads are a bit treacherous.
So I didn’t have a lot of time to think about what I’d post tonight. I poked around YouTube and found this unusual recording of Sissel singing a Norwegian version of a big Edith PIaf hit, “Hymn a l’amour.” In English it’s called “If You Love Me,” and there’s a video of Sissel singing it in English too. But that one isn’t a live performance.
Here we have a very young Sissel, appearing on a program called “Syng Med Oss” (Sing With Us), which was where she first became familiar to the Norwegian public. I consider this one of those songs that showcase her voice in a particularly exquisite way.
“How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Keith & Kristyn Getty
“How Can I Keep from Singing?” is an anonymously written hymn that began appearing in hymn books in the mid-1800s. That’s the report from my standard source on hymns, Hymnary.org. Some attribute it to Robert Lowry, but I see details suggesting he only arraigned the words with a melody and did not claim to have composed the whole work.
The video shared here is by modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty, who have spent years encouraging Christians to sing their faith in meaningful modern songs as well as traditional and ancient hymns. Ours is an ancient faith. Let’s join the faithful musicians of the past in singing of that faith and “catch the sweet, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.”
Another cold day, into which I did not venture out at all. This is one of the marks of prudence and maturity. (I’ve been prudent and mature on winter days since I was about nine years old). I had translation work to do, and that’s what I did. I’m not yet half-way through reading Nansen’s book (the thing is long, I tell you. Conveys the true polar night experience).
So what shall I post? I noodled around on YouTube and discovered the clip above. It’s Sissel, of course, with the Heretic Tabernacle Choir, doing the first verse of the original version of a hymn I expect you know – “How Great Thou Art.” It started out as “O Store Gud” (O Great God) in Swedish. The writer was Carl Boberg, a lay minister in the Mission Covenant Church of Sweden. He wrote it in 1885, after watching a storm and its aftermath. Later he sold the rights to his church body.
In 1930, Stuart K. Hine, a British Methodist missionary in the Ukraine, heard a Russian version (translated from a German version) of the hymn being sung. He started using it in his services, then began composing a free English paraphrase of this translation of a translation. He also began adding verses of his own, in response to needs he discerned among the people he worked with.
During the winter of 1932-33, the Hines were forced to leave Ukraine because of Stalin’s diabolical Holodomor forced famine (one hopes some of the millions of victims found comfort in his hymn as they died). In 1939, World War II forced the Hines to return to England, where they settled in Somerset and ministered to Polish refugees. It was at that stage that his final verse, “When Christ shall come….”, was added.
The song in his version (Swedish-Americans already had their own, less singable translation) was apparently first introduced to the United States at a conference in Stony Brook, New York, in 1951. But J. Edwin Orr of Fuller Seminary discovered it being sung by a choir in India. He introduced it at a conference in San Bernadino, California in 1953. Manna Music bought the rights, and George Beverly Shea started singing it at Billy Graham’s crusade in Harringay, England, in 1954. And the rest is hymnody.
What do I think of Hines’ translation? I’ve got to say, I do a fair amount of song translation in my script work. And I’ve learned to kiss literal sense goodbye. If you can transpose some of the original images and turns of phrase, you’re doing great. For the rest, always prefer rhyme, meter, and singability to literal faithfulness. What you need to try to do is convey the subjective experience. That’s the best you can do. More than that is madness.
I’ve sung more faithful translations of this hymn once or twice. I must confess, they did not move my heart.
Wikipedia has the whole story of “How Great Thou Art” here.
As the new year begins, the great Presbyterian hymn, “The Sands of Time Are Sinking,” has been in my mind. It’s not a hymn I grew up with, but one I learned to appreciate as an adult. It’s about time, and our ultimate hopes as believers. Suitable, I think. The hymnwriter Anne R. Cousin based it on something the Scottish Presbyterian divine Samuel Rutherford said on his deathbed.
I heard somewhere, once, that this was Moody’s favorite hymn, and that they sang it at all his rallies.
Or it may have been Spurgeon. I wasn’t there.
Today, it should be noted, is J. R. R. Tolkien’s birthday. It is the custom for every Tolkien fan to take a moment tonight at 9:00 p.m. local time, stand, raise their beverage of choice, and say, “The Professor!”
I doubt the Professor would have approved of the orange soda I plan to drink, but I do what I can within my personal limitations.
