Tonight, as is so often my lazy wont, I share with you a Norwegian hymn, performed here by a volunteer pietist men’s choir. But this hymn is different, in a highly insignificant way.
The hymn is called “Den Himmelske Lovsang,” which translates, “The Heavenly Song of Praise.” (“Lovsang” does not mean “love song,” however much you might want it to. “Lov” is Norwegian for “praise.”)
I can’t find an English translation, and that’s kind of the point of this post. The gist of the lyrics is that it’s all about the joy of Heaven, embodied in music. The idea that all nature and the heavenly host are having a wonderful time singing God’s praise, and that through Christ we can hope to join in the fun ourselves someday.
Once a month I get together with a small clutch of old men, most of whom are retired pastors from my church body. At the last meeting, one of them mentioned this hymn, commenting that it’s the most popular hymn among the Lutherans of Madagascar.
(The reason for this goes back to the 19th Century, when international mission organizers “assigned” part of the Madagascar mission field to the Norwegians. These missionaries came not only from Norway, but from the Norwegian-American immigrant church.)
In our gathering, we noted that the hymn has never caught on in the US. Nobody was sure why. I thought it might be because no one had ever done a satisfactory English translation.
You can guess what came next. I decided to give it a go myself.
I’m not working at it full-time; I’ve got several other projects demanding my attention. But I’ve been noodling with it in odd moments, and I’m generally pleased with my progress.
Translating verse is a particular challenge. The only way I can figure out to do it is to first study the text closely, trying to figure out what the poet is attempting to convey, and how. Then I proceed to do my own original poem on the same theme, in the same meter, touching base with the original text whenever I can.
I have no idea where it’s all going.
Anyway, do you think this hymn would be interesting to American Christians?
Hard to say if it would interest people. The melody sounds standard for 100-year-old hymns, which doesn’t help, so the lyric will have to be what captures hearts.
Dear me, that does sound like (my idea of) traditional Norwegian religious-folk music. But it could catch on; people still enjoy singing “O store Gud” and, in my circles anyway, “Behold a HOst Arrayed in White,” etc.
It reminds me of the Rowley-Bilhorn hymn “I Will Sing theWondrous Story,” or anyway the tune does.
Yes, I couldn’t remember that one before.
Following up the Hymnary link – is the tune indeed James R. Murray’s “The music of heaven is sweeter in measure”, and in how far do – or do not – the Norwegian words correspond to those of Elisha A. Hoffman?
My Dutch etymological dictionary gives the noun “lof” as a word (and spelling) in Middle Dutch, Old Netherfrankish, Old Saxon, Old English, and Old Norse – and directs the reader to the verb “loven” (‘praise’) with analogues including Old Netherfrankish “lovon” (‘praise’, ‘sing Psalms’), Old English ‘lofian’, Old and New High German “loben” – and Old Norse “lofa” glossed ‘promise, permit’ (!). Funnily enough, the verb directs to the adjective “lief” with analogues including Old English “leof” – which Sweet’s Student’s Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon glosses “beloved, dear; friendly; pleasant” – but no Old Norse analogue this time.
Now that’s interesting. I’m not familiar with “The Music of Heaven,” but the lyrics seem to be essentially the same message. The melody, however, is similar but different.
Our church (Willerup Church, Cambridge, WI) sings this every May as part of our anniversary (175 in 2026). We have an English translation for 3 verses (ours it titled ‘The Heavenly Anthem’), and generally sing the first verse in Norwegian due to our church’s founding.
on our webpage is a recording from 1984 children’s choir singing it.
I will see about finding where our English translation came from as it looks as though it was professionally done.
Yes, I agree, it is the same song. For some reason, the English version seems to be unknown in my Norwegian Lutheran group.