32. Darkening night the land doth cover
Anon. Greek
Tr. Robert Bridges, 1844-1930
From an anonymous 8th-century or earlier Greek hymn. Some authorities believe it to be an expansion of the Greek candle lighting hymn ([No. 34]), also translated by Robert Bridges. The editors of the Hymnary, in search of a poem to fit the well-known UNTER LILIEN JENER FREUDEN tune in the Gesangbuch mit Noten, found for it this beautiful evening hymn published in the American Oxford Hymnal.
The translator, Robert Bridges, was one of England’s great literary scholars who gave serious attention to hymnology. After graduating from Eton and Oxford, he turned his attention to medicine and became a distinguished surgeon. At the early age of 38, however, he retired from medicine to give himself to literature and music. In 1913, he was made Poet Laureate of England. His most significant work in hymnology was the famous Yattendon Hymnal, which he published in 1899 while living in the village of Yattendon. It consisted of 100 hymns, 44 of which were from his own pen, either as author or translator. The hymns were set to music derived largely from the Genevan Psalter. The hymnal represented an extraordinarily high standard, both as to words and music, but it never became popular, and copies of it are nearly impossible to find.
MUSIC. The tune, UNTER LILIEN JENER FREUDEN, is found at No. 546 of the Gesangbuch mit Noten where it is set to a poem by J. Allendorf. No information has been traced concerning the composer, J. Voigtländer.