Join our new Director of Music, Mr. Tyrone Whiting (www.tyronewhiting.com), for the second episode of our new Lenten Hymn Sings series!
This week, Tyrone discusses the hymns "O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded" and "O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High" and plays them with which to sing along. These can be found in the Hymnal 1982 at 168 and 448 respectively.
A new episode will be released each Friday through Lent until Holy Week giving us all a chance to sing at home during this difficult time.
Please, do share these with friends and family to help spread the joy of hymn singing!
Transcript:
Hello and welcome to the second episode in our Lenten Hymn Sing series here at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Philadelphia.We are so pleased to be able to offer these Lenten Hymn Sing videos to help guide our journeys through Lent in faith & music.
If you missed the first episode, please do check our YouTube page where you can access all episodes in the series.
A new video will be released each Friday through Lent until Holy Week.
To learn more about our worship and outreach at St. Martin's, please visit out website and social media pages.
For now, let us again take a moment at the end of our busy weeks to pause, learn, and reflect on hymns, their scripture, and their histories
Originally a text in Latin from the Middle Ages, O Sacred Head Sore Wounded is a hymn that depicts the suffering of Jesus on the cross.
Theologian, Minister and Hymnodist Paul Gerhardt translated the poem into German which first appears in his hymnal of 1646.
Many translations and iterations have existed since but the translation most typically used today is a fresh translation from 1899 by English poet Robert Bridges.
The music for the German and English version of this hymn is by the German late Renaissance composer, Hans Leo Hassler.
Originally, written around 1600, the melody was used for a secular love song, first appearing in print in 1601.
The melody of which has been used by many composers since for both secular and sacred music including Telemann, Reger, and Brahms.
Most famously, J. S. Bach harmonizes this melody in his monumental St. Matthew Passion of 1727.
Contemporary musicians have also used this melody in their songs such as Paul Simon (of "and Garfunkel" fame) and the Dave Brubeck Trio.
Today, we shall have to settle for J. S. Bach's arrangement as we sing O Scared Head, Sore Wounded.
1. O sacred head, sore wounded,
defiled and put to scorn;
O kingly head, surrounded
with mocking crown of thorn:
what sorrow mars thy grandeur?
Can death thy bloom deflower?
O countenance whose splendor
the hosts of heaven adore!
2. Thy beauty, long-desired,
hath vanished from our sight;
thy power is all expired,
and quenched the light of light.
Ah me! for whom thou diest,
hide not so far thy grace:
show me, O Love most highest,
the brightness of thy face.
3. In thy most bitter passion
my heart to share doth cry,
with thee for my salvation
upon the cross to die.
Ah, keep my heart thus moved
to stand thy cross beneath,
to mourn thee, well-beloved,
yet thank thee for thy death.
4. What language shall I borrow
to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow,
thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine for ever!
and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never,never,
outlive my love for thee.
5. My days are few, O fail not,
with thine immortal power,
to hold me that I quail not
in death's most fearful hour;
that I may fight befriended,
and see in my last strife
to me thine arms extended
upon the cross of life.
Attributed to Thomas of Kempen, a 15th Century German-Dutch canon-regular in the Catholic Church, O Love, How deep How broad How High is text which briefly depicts the life of Jesus. The hymn was translated into English by clergyman Benjamin Webb, who was known as a leading figure in questions of ecclesiastical art.
Under Webb's leadership, the Church of St. Andrew's, Wells Street, in London in the UK became a church of note for its musical excellence.
The melody for this hymn first appears in the Grenoble Antiphon in 1753 and has been used for other well known hymns such as "Awake, Awake, fling off the night".
Described in the Psalter Hymnal Handbook of 1988 as "One of the finest French diocesan tunes from the 18th Century" this hymn personifies the departure from the older chant style of hymn singing.
As the same hymnal handbook tells us, let us sing this hymn "with vigor"!
1 O love, how deep, how broad, how high,
how passing thought and fantasy,
that God, the Son of God, should take
our mortal form for mortals' sake!
2 For us baptized, for us he bore
his holy fast and hungered sore;
for us temptations sharp he knew;
for us the tempter overthrew.
3 For us he prayed; for us he taught;
for us his daily works he wrought:
by words and signs and actions, thus
still seeking not himself, but us.
4 For us to wicked hands betrayed,
scourged, mocked, in purple robe arrayed,
he bore the shameful cross and death;
for us gave up his dying breath.
5 For us he rose from death again;
for us he went on high to reign;
for us he sent his Spirit here
to guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.
6 All glory to our Lord and God
for love so deep, so high, so broad;
the Trinity whom we adore
forever and forevermore.
Permission to podcast/stream this music is obtained from One License with license #A-701187. All rights reserved.
Production, music, and photography by Tyrone Whiting, Director of Music at Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.StMartinEC.org
