Friday, November 6, 2009

Sound of Majesty: November 5, 2009

The November 5 broadcast of Sound of Majesty has yet another eclectic mix of music.

I want to highlight two hymns that fall outside the Lutheran tradition...
  • "And Can It Be" by Charles Wesley
  • "I Stand Amazed" by Charles H. Gabriel
The later half of the first verse of "And Can It Be" is featured in the refrain of the contemporary song, "You Are My King."

"I Stand Amazed" was recorded live at a hymn sing, and is an excellent recording.

I am going to forgo commentary for now, and just provide you with the two texts of the featured hymns.  Feel free to add your own comments and I will chime in a little later.

~~~~~

And Can It Be

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

~~~~~

I Stand Amazed

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Refrain:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
O how marvelous! O how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

For me it was in the garden
He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.

Refrain

In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To comfort Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.

Refrain

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

Refrain

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.

Refrain

~~~~~

You can find Sound of Majesty's website here.  A direct link to today's playlist is here, and a direct link to the broadcast is here.

All for Hymn: Now on Facebook!

If you are interested in following this blog through Facebook, you can do that here.

Also, you can be Iggy's "Facebook Friend" by clicking here.

Thanks to Southern Lutheran Kantor, who invited me to follow his own blog, I was able to figure this one out.  You can follow his blog through Facebook here.

Those of you who feature hymnody on your own blog, there are only two networked blogs on Facebook listed under the "hymnody" tag, so if you are hooked in with Facebook you can probably connect your blog as well.  As you register, it will ask you to type in three words that describe your blog.  If you make one of them "hymnody" you're blog will show up with Southern Lutheran Kantor and All for Hymn in that tag.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Comparing Stanza One, Part II

German:
Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not
     Die uns jetzt hat betroffen

Literal:
He helps us free from every need
     That has now befallen us

LSB (rhythmic):
He helps us free from every need
     That hath us now overtaken

LSB (isorhythmic):
He breaks the cruel oppressor's rod
     And wins salvation glorious

Hymntime.com
Our helper He, amid the flood
     Of mortal ills prevailing

Omar Westendorf:
Protecting us with staff and rod
     And power all prevailing

Rarely does the literal translation fit into the meter of the original text.  In this hymn, it happens at least twice:

Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott
A mighty fortress is our God

Er hilft uns frei aus aller Not
He helps us free from every need

It seems when this happens the translator's work is a little easier, so I am not sure why one would tinker with the line "Er hilft..."

LSB (rhythmic) wins with the literal sense once again.

Heading back to Scripture, LSB (isorhythmic) is more closely aligned with verse 9b of the King James Version (1611).  The German comes text comes from verse 5b:

He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder
He breaks the cruel oppressor's rod

God shall help her
He helps us

The text from hymntime.com uses more imagery and less literalness, but it is fairly close when you get right down to it. 

KJV (1611): God shall help her...
Literal:  He helps us...
Hymntime: Our helper, He...

Omar Westendorf's translation seems to be a fish-out-of-water, though.  He goes with "protector" instead of "helper."  It is further away from the literal translation, but the imagery in this instance seems to work.

Westendorf's use of "staff and rod," though, is more closely related to Psalm 23 than Psalm 46.

Psalm 46: He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder
Psalm 23: Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me

Westendorf: Protecting us with staff and rod

In Psalm 46, God is breaking the rod (or spear) of His enemies.  In Psalm 23, God uses His rod (more of a long stick in this instance) to help comfort us.

Westendorf's translation here is out of context.  Where this portion of Psalm 46 is crushing, the Psalm 23 reference is comforting.

Ein Feste Burg is a paraphrase of Psalm 46, not Psalm 23.  The two aren't necessarily meant to be combined.  Take this paraphrase of Psalm 23 from LSB 710:

Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill,
For Thou art with me and Thy rod
And staff me comfort still.

If you combine this section with Psalm 46, you might get this:

Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill,
For Thou art breaking evil's rod
And crushing its spear to nil.

Psalm 46 shouldn't be softened by Psalm 23.  Likewise Psalm 23 shouldn't be sharpened with Psalm 46.  These two Psalms serve different purposes.

In summary, most of the translations are faithful to Psalm 46 but differ here and there from the literal translation.  Westendorf, by veering off to Psalm 23, changes the scope of the literal meaning as well as the context of the passage.

A Multitude of Mighty Fortresses: Comparing Stanza One, Part I

As promised, here is the line-by-line comparison of Stanza 1 of A Mighty Fortress.

To keep the posts from getting to long, I am taking one section at a time.

German:
Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
     Ein gute Wehr und Waffen

Literal:
A mighty fortress is our God
     A good defense and weapon

LSB (rhythmic):
A mighty fortress is our God
     A trusty shield and weapon

LSB (isorhythmic):
A mighty fortress is our God
     A sword and shield victorious

Hymntime.com (isorhythmic):
A mighty fortress is our God
     A bulwark never failing

Omar Westendorf (isorhythmic):
A mighty fortress is our God
     A bulwark never failing

When you are putting a literal meaning into a metered form, things get tricky, and sometimes you have to resort to imagery instead of literalness.  LSB (rhythmic) is the closest to the literal translation. As for capturing the imagery of this section, all of the translations do a fairly good job of that.

Still, I am not sure "bulwark" is the best sense of the original text.  This hymn is a loose paraphrase of Psalm 46.  I thought perhaps the King James Version (1611) would have a clue.

1: God is our refuge and strength,
     a very present help in trouble.
2: Therefore will not we fear,
     though the earth be removed,
     and though the mountains be carried
          into the midst of the sea;
3: Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
     though the mountains shake
          with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4: There is a river,
     the streams whereof
          shall make glad the city of God,
     the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5: God is in the midst of her;
     she shall not be moved:
     God shall help her, and that right early.
6: The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:
     He uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7: The LORD of hosts is with us;
     the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8: Come, behold the works of the LORD,
     what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9: He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
     He breaketh the bow,
          and cutteth the spear in sunder;
     He burneth the chariot in the fire.
10: Be still, and know that I am God:
     I will be exalted among the heathen,
     I will be exalted in the earth.
11: The LORD of hosts is with us;
     the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 

Hmm... I am still not getting the "bulwark" part when compared to the original, other translations, and Scripture.

I will leave that up for discussion in the comment box.