English Anthems: Nunc Dimittis

The Nunc Dimittis, also known as "The Song of Simeon" is used in multiple places in the Lutheran orders. In North America you can find it at the end of the Divine Service, as an option for the canticle in Vespers, and chanted a capella in the Office of Compline (sometimes called, "Prayer at the Close of the Day").

Taken from Luke's account of the Presentation of Our Lord, this is the song sung by Simeon, to whom "it had been revealed ... by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ."

Several composers have set the English translation of this text. Here is one translation and just a few English anthems based on the text.

Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace
according to Thy Word,
for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation
which Thou hast prepared
before the face of all people.
To be a Light to light on the Gentiles
And to be the glory of Thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father
And to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost,
As it was the beginning,
Is now and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen.

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Nunc Dimittis
by John Shephard (1515-1559)



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Nunc Dimittis
from The Shorter Service
by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)



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Nunc Dimittis
from Evening Service in g minor
by Henry Purcell (1659-1695)



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Nunc Dimittis
by Thomas Atwood Walmisley (1814-1856)



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Nunc Dimittis in D
by George Dyson, (1883-1964)
Dyson draws on chant as well as the English anthem style



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Nunc Dimittis
from The Short Service
by Philip Stopford [b. 1977(?)]

English Anthems from Spirituals?

As I was researching this series using the highly-regarded sources of YouTube and Wikipedia (if you find it there, it has to be true!), I came across this series from contemporary English composer Michael Tippett (1905-1998).

These are thoroughly English in style and sound, yet the texts and tunes come from the African-American spirituals.

The first is "Steel Away." There is an interesting use of dissidence in the solo voice whenever the text, "the trumpet sounds," appears. Another (below) is "Go Down, Moses."

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Steal away, steal away,
Steal away to Jesus.
Steal away, steal away home;
I ain't got long to stay here.

My Lord, He calls me,
He calls me by the thunder.
The trumpet sounds within-a my soul;
I ain't got long to stay here.

Green trees are bending;
Poor sinner souls attending.
The trumpet sounds within-a my soul;
I ain't got long to stay here.



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Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt land,
Tell, O pharaoh, to let my people go!

When Israel was in Egypt-land,
Let my people go!
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go!

"Thus spake the Lord," bold Moses said,
"Let my people go!
If not, I'll smite your first born dead
Let my people go!"

English Anthems: Mendelssohn?

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) may have been born to a Jewish family in Germany, but the English embraced his music and he has provided English-speaking people with a number of anthems.

Here is Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer."  This is one anthem, but due to it's length, it is featured in two parts.  Most English anthems are sung a capella by a choir.  Here Mendelssohn adds accompaniment, a solo part and a few chromatic twists found in the latter part of the "Classical Period."

Hear my prayer, O God, incline Thine ear!
Thyself from my petition do not hide.
Take heed to me!
Hear how in prayer I mourn to Thee!
Without Thee all is dark;
I have no guide.
The enemy shouteth;
The godless come fast;
Iniquity, hatred upon me they cast!
The wicked oppress me,
Ah, where shall I fly?
Perplex'd and bewilder'd,
O God, hear my cry!
O God, hear my cry!
The enemy shouteth;
The godless come fast;
Perplex'd and bewilder'd,
O God, hear my cry!
O God, hear my cry!
My heart is sorely pained within my breast,
My soul with deathly terror is oppressed,
Trembling and fearfulness upon me fall
With horror overwhelmed,
Lord, hear me call!
Lord, Hear me call!



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O for the wings of a dove;
Far away would I rove!
In the wilderness build me a nest
And remain their forever at rest.

English Anthems: Taverner, Tallis and Tavener

There is a simple beauty in a classic English anthem.

After the Reformation took root in England, composers went from lavish runs of notes on one syllable to a "one note per syllable" style. Also, the older anthems tended to be in Latin, and the newer anthems were in English.

An example of the earlier music is this "Sanctus" from John Taverner's Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas (in English, "'Glory to You, O Trinity' Mass"). Taverner was born around 1490 and died around 1545.

This is only Part 1 of the Sanctus, and you will only hear one word: Sanctus. The first syllable lasts for over 30 seconds!

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Coming along just a tad later in English history is composer Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 to 1585). Tallis embraced the newer form of "one note per syllable" using English texts and while he also composed in the older tradition, he really made a name for himself with what was then a "new form."

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This "new" tradition of one note per syllable continues even in today's English composers. Here is "The Lamb" by contemporary composer John Tavener (born in 1944; note that there is no "r" in his name). Tavener uses modern tonality yet sticks to the English tradition started in the Reformation.

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Look for more English anthems, both ancient and modern, each day this week on All for Hymn.

US Independence Day: The Declaration: Part 10

And for the support of this declaration,
with a firm reliance
on the protection of Divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other
our lives,
our fortunes
and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Samual Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Source: The Pennsylvania Packet, July 8, 1776,
via www.earlyamerica.com

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The US National Anthem,
sung solo without accompaniment

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Jimi Hendrix on electric guitar at Woodstock

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Nona Gaye with her father, Marvin Gaye

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Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians
2008 New York Independence Day Fireworks Display

US Independence Day: The Declaration: Part 9

We, therefore,
the representatives of the United States of America,
in General Congress, assembled,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world
for the rectitude of our intentions,
do, in the name, and by the authority
of the good people of these colonies,
solemnly publish and declare,
that these united colonies are,
and of right
ought to be free and independent states;
that they are absolved from all allegiance
to the British Crown,
and that all political connection
between them and the state of Great Britain,
is and ought to be totally dissolved;
and that as free and independent states,
they have full power
to levy war,
conclude peace,
contract alliances,
establish commerce,
and to do all other acts and things
which independent states may of right do.


Leonard Bernstein
conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Albert Hall, London, England, 1976

US Independence Day: The Declaration: Part 8

Nor have we been wanting in attention
to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time to time
of attempts by their legislature
to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.

We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here.
We have appealed
to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjured them
by the ties of our common kindred
to disavow these usurpations,
which, would inevitably interrupt
our connections and correspondence.

They too have been deaf
to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore,
acquiesce in the necessity,
which denounces our separation,
and hold them,
as we hold the rest of mankind,
enemies in war,
in peace friends.


Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful