THE TUNES.
John B. Dykes and Henry Smart—both masters of hymn-tune construction—have set this hymn to music. “Vox Angelica” in B flat, the work of the former, is a noble composition for choir or congregation, but “Pilgrim,” the other's interpretation, though not dissimilar in movement and vocal range, has, perhaps, the more sympathetic melody. It is, at least, the favorite in many localities. Some books print the two on adjacent pages as optionals.
Another much-loved hymn of Faber's is—
O Paradise, O Paradise!
Who doth not crave for rest?
Who would not see the happy land
Where they that loved are blest?
Refrain
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through
In God's most holy sight.
O Paradise, O Paradise,
The world is growing old;
Who would not be at rest and free
Where love is never cold.
Where loyal hearts and true.
O Paradise, O Paradise,
I greatly long to see
The special place my dearest Lord,
In love prepares for me.
Where loyal hearts and true.
This aspiration, from the ardent soul of the poet has been interpreted in song by the same two musicians, and by Joseph Barnby—all with the title “Paradise.” Their similarity of style and near equality of merit have compelled compilers to print at least two of them side by side for the singers' choice. A certain pathos in the strains of Barnby's composition gives it a peculiar charm to many, and in America it is probably the oftenest sung to the words.
Dr. David Breed, speaking of Faber's “unusual” imagination, says, “He got more out of language than any other poet of the English tongue, and used words—even simple words—so that they rendered him a service which no other poet ever secured from them.” The above hymns are characteristic to a degree, but the telling simplicity of his style—almost quaint at times—is more marked in “There's a Wideness in God's Mercy,” given on [p. 234].
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