MUSIC. FABEN was composed by John Henry Wilcox, 1827-75, Boston organist and expert in organ construction. The tune should not be taken too fast; otherwise the short notes become choppy and the effect is spoiled. Singers should avoid slurring the intervals of the melody, especially the descending fourth at the end of the first, third and seventh lines.
17. Come, let us join our cheerful songs
Isaac Watts, 1674-1748
A paraphrase of Revelation 5:11-13. It is one of the most widely esteemed of Watts’ poems and one of the classics of English hymnody.
The basses and tenors would be less likely to sing the wrong words at the beginning of the third score if the lines of all four stanzas had been printed. Let the song leader remind them to look ahead for the proper lines of each stanza before singing their solo part, and so avoid some incongruities of thought!
For comments on Isaac Watts see [Hymn 11].
MUSIC. CAMBRIDGE is an effective tune but with most congregations it needs some rehearsal before it is usable in a worship service. The composer, John Randall, 1715-99, was an organist and Professor of Music in Cambridge University. He was a friend of the poet Thomas Gray.
18. O come, loud anthems let us sing
Tate and Brady
A metrical version of Psalm 95, by Tate and Brady, two Irishmen who collaborated in producing, in 1696, the New Version of the Psalms. Their work partly supplanted the older version by Sternhold and Hopkins, then in use.