catherine winkworth

Easter Hymns etc

Posted by sara-garrard

catching up with arrears here; recorded these for Easter!

Him upon the cross I love – A year some back, I think, I returned to the Catherine Winkworth oeuvre … and had a go setting this one in a kind of, um, musical theatre style? I find it rather challenging to sing, but here’s a kind of demo anyway.

Him upon the cross I love

From Thy Heavenly Throne, a new recording of one that first appeared here, words again by Winkworth.

From thy heavenly throne

God of mercy, God of grace – I recorded this before too, but maybe never shared it. Words by Henry Francis Lyte. unlike the previous two, this is less soloistic, could be definitely sung by a group, more of a … I was going to say “modern” and “hymn”, but what I think I mean is 80s-90s chorus 😄

God of mercy, God of grace

Wesley: Easter Hymn. I kind of didn’t realise these lyrics were THIS song, without the Allelulias I associate it with. So, here’s another different tune! This one is also envisaged more as a singable group song – one of those joyful marching songs for Easter.

Easter Week by Charles Kingsley. I am enjoying the jubilant melismas and big alto notes here ^_^

Easter Week

Catherine Winkworth (et al) musical hymns 2022

Posted by sara-garrard

Flicking through the Lyra Eucharistica to sketch out things for the Catherine Winkworth songbook… actually most of the texts there aren’t Winkworth translations, but by a happy coincidence I ended up with one by her and two by another poet who I’ve actually set before as part of Between in God’s eternity.

Sketches below:

  1. Daily Bread (Adelaide Anne Procter)
  2. Oh how could I forget him (translation by Catherine Winkworth)
  3. I do not ask O Lord (Adelaide Anne Procter)

We had La La Bar – open mic musical theatre – the other night, where I played piano, and I think you might be able to hear a bit of influence of that style here. Not that “musical theatre” is a style exactly, but … styles, and the third one is very specifically wanting a full-on Sondheim accompaniment if I could sing and play it at the same time. So they’re actually pretty much not super-congregational-friendly in this case.

1.

Daily Bread

Give us our daily Bread,
O God, the Bread of Strength
For we have learnt to know
How weak we are at length :
As children we are weak,
As children must be fed ;
Give us Thy Grace, O Lord,
To be our daily Bread.

Continue reading →

The Trust of the Tried (Winkworth)

Posted by sara-garrard

Words by Paul Gerhardt, translated by Catherine Winkworth.

To God’s all-gracious heart and mind
My heart and mind I yield;
In seeming loss my gain I find,
In death, life stands revealed.
I am His own whose glorious throne
In highest heaven is set;
Beneath His stroke or sorrow’s yoke
His heart upholds me yet.

If happy sunshine be Thy gift,
With joy I take it, Lord;
If o’er dark stormy seas I drift,
I hear Thy guiding word;
If lengthened life, with blessings rife,
Before my feet be spread,
So Thou my Guide wilt still abide,
With joy that path I tread.

But must I walk the vale of death
Through sad and sunless ways,
I pass along in quiet faith,
Thy glance my fear allays;
Through the dark land my Shepherd’s hand
Leads to an end so bright,
That I shall there with praise declare
That all God’s ways are right!
Yes I shall there with praise declare
That all God’s ways are right!

Back to Winkworth

Posted by sara-garrard

I started to fear I was going to run out of suitable Catherine Winkworth material, but then I had a proper look at Christian Singers of Germany, her book of biographical sketches of Luther and others around the same time together with hymn translations, not all of which I’d seen elsewhere. Hooray!

Today I sketched out five songs, all on ukulele. One of them is actually……….. very famous. Ein feste Burg / A Mighty Fortress is our God………… The translation is a bit different than the most used English one, and I’ve taken a very different direction than Bach here however.

Excerpts from five songs

…As Thy beloved, soothe the sick and weeping, And bid the prisoner lose his griefs in sleeping; Widows and orphans we to Thee commend them, Do Thou, do Thou befriend them. (Evening Hymn – Bohemian Brethren)

…The world around is passing With all its pomp and pride; What men are here amassing Can never long abide; We die–and it is gone. But fear not, Christian sleeper, God is our mighty Keeper, And we shall wake anon…. (From God shall nought divide me – Louis Helmboldt)

…And were the world with devils filled, All eager to devour us, Our souls to fear should little yield, They cannot overpower us. Their dreaded Prince no more Can harm us as of yore; Look grim as e’er he may, Doomed is his ancient sway; A word can overthrow him… (Stronghold – Martin Luther)

…Ah Jesus Christ, my Lord! So meek in deed and word, Didst Thou not die to save us, Because Thou fain wouldst have us, After this life of sadness, Heirs of Thy heavenly gladness?… (In God my faithful God – Sigismund Weingartner)

…Ah! never can I praise enough The mercy Thou hast shown! When days were dark and storms were rough Thou mad’st Thy kindness known, Thy miracles of goodness then Thou sufferedst me to see; O Bread of Life! my heart again Cries, let me cling to Thee!…. (Burning Love, holy Flame – Anon.)

3 Winkworth songs (oct 2020)

Posted by sara-garrard

First recordings of three more Catherine Winkworth songs. One of these, Out of the depths, I actually tried to write last year or something but only really came up with the first line – which I have basically used in this version.

With these I haven’t modernised the lyrics or cut any verses — I made minor changes to a verse in From thy heavenly throne to make a new section.

Out of the depths

1 Out of the depths I cry to Thee;
Lord, hear me, I implore Thee!
Bend down Thy gracious ear to me,
Let my prayer come before Thee!
If Thou rememberest each misdeed,
If each should have its rightful meed,
Who may abide Thy presence?

2 Our pardon is Thy gift; Thy love
And grace alone avail us.
Our works could ne’er our guilt remove,
The strictest life would fail us.
That none may boast himself of aught,
But own in fear Thy grace hath wrought
What in him seemeth righteous.

3 And thus, my hope is in the Lord,
And not in mine own merit;
I rest upon His faithful word
To them of contrite spirit.
That He is merciful and just,–
This is my comfort and my trust,
His help I wait with patience.

4 And though it tarry till the night
And round till morning waken,
My heart shall ne’er mistrust Thy might,
Nor count itself forsaken.
Do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed,
Ye of the Spirit born indeed,
Wait for your God’s appearing.

5 Though great our sins and sore our woes,
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our utmost need it soundeth;
Our kind and faithful Shepherd He,
Who shall at last set Israel free
From all their sin and sorrow.

Continue reading →