Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Music of the Day
Peace, all.
Hymns appropriate to Advent from the Sacred Harp tradition are numerous. If I had more time to explore this music, I might find others, but Jeremiah Ingalls' tune NORTHFIELD set to the text of Isaac Watts was one of the first early American fugue pieces I heard (back in my previous life as a public radio music host).
Watts' text is sublime:
How long, dear Saviour, O how long
Shall this bright hour delay,
Fly swifter round the wheel of time,
And bring the welcome day.
Lo, what a glorious sight appears
To our believing eyes;
The earth and seas are pass'd away,
And the old rolling skies.
His own soft hand shall wipe the tears
From every weeping eye;
And pains and groans, and griefs and fears,
And death itself shall die.
NORTHFIELD first appeared in the Christian Harmony (1805) and you can download the music from various internet sources, including the Choral Public Domain Library (http://www.cpdl.org). Any favorite early American Advent music you would like to mention?
