Welcome to Anthem 38 in my attempt to write a new choir anthem every week for a year. I’m Kevin Mulryne and I hope you will enjoy listening to my progress throughout 2024. Please do visit the website Anthem52.com, follow along on x.com - @realanthem52 or Instagram - @realanthem52 and send me a message to [email protected].

It was good to return to Holy Trinity Church with the choir this week, even if it wasn't with Charlotte whose Coventry musical life is just getting going. As I write this, she is preparing for an audition to join the Coventry Cathedral Chorus - I'm sure she will enjoy that a great deal.

It was Ollie's (our new interim Director of Music) first Sunday with the choir and we sang Choral Evensong. It went well. I'm looking forward to having some of my own anthems added to the choir's repertoire...one day... 

This week was a bit more of a struggle than last week, in terms of composition. It started off fine as I suddenly remembered that the main criterion of anthem competition I entered earlier in the year was to set words by Isaac Watts, the prolific 18th Century writer. I went back to the source I used to find the text for that anthem and rediscovered an enormous collection of words. 824 texts are mentioned with many linked to on the single page:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/t/t/watts_i.htm

As well as hymn words, Watts wrote more poetic texts and I chose a short one from Hymns and Spi­ri­tu­al Songs, Book 2, 1707–09, num­ber 26. Here are the words (I missed out one verse):

 

Words for Anthem 38:

Lord, we are blind, we mor­tals blind, We can’t be­hold Thy bright abode; O ’tis be­yond a crea­ture’s mind To glance a thought half way to God.

Infinite leagues be­yond the sky The great Eter­nal reigns alone, Where nei­ther wings nor souls can fly, Nor an­gels climb the top­less throne.

Yet, glo­ri­ous Lord, Thy gra­cious eyes Look through, and cheer us from above; Beyond our praise Thy grand­eur flies, Yet we ad­ore, and yet we love.