Hymn of the Week: Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured (JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT)
Hymn Title: Let Thy Blood In Mercy Poured
Tune Name: JESUS, MEINE ZUVERSICHT
Meter: 78 78 77
All right, Laetare Sunday is behind us, and Passiontide is actually approaching now, so we can start pulling out The Good Stuff. Just in case you actually had more time to cram in more Passiontide music, here is another incredible hymn for Holy Week.
Let Thy Blood has four verses in which the same musical line is sung twice, followed by a simple refrain, so in effect you are only learning two lines of music. The bass goes no lower than G, the melody no higher than D (but the melody does dip to B-flat below middle C so warn your sopranos to limber up their lower range). The final verse can be given a little extra impact by singing it a cappella - the words are more personal. Be sure to have everyone watch for the poetic tie in the third verse "by the pain and death I now (music line break but not poetry line break) claim, O Christ" etc, and moderate their breathing accordingly.
Honestly, the hardest thing about this hymn, for me, is to shut my mind to the words just enough that I can sing them without tears.
Comments
Post a Comment