Hymn of the Day: Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain ELW 363
Text: John of Damascus, c. 696–c. 754; tr. John Mason Neale, 1818–1866
Tune: GAUDEAMUS PARITER, Johann Horn, 1490–1547
Eighth-century Greek poet John of Damascus is especially known for his writing of six canons for the
major festivals of the church year. (A canon is a form of Greek hymnody based on biblical canticles
consisting of nine odes, each with six to nine stanzas.) His "Golden Canon" is the source of Easter hymns.
Written around 750 and inspired by the Song of Moses in Exodus 15, this text is John's first ode from the
canon for the Sunday after Easter.
John's father, a Christian, was an important official at the court of the Muslim caliph in Damascus. After
his father's death, John assumed that position and lived in wealth and honor. At about the age of forty,
however, he became dissatisfied with his life, gave away his possessions, freed his slaves, and entered the
monastery of St. Sabas in the desert near Jerusalem. One of the last of the Greek fathers, John became a
great theologian in the Eastern church. He defended the church's use of icons, codified the practices of
Byzantine chant, and wrote about science, philosophy, and theology.
All canons in the Greek church demonstrated how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ's
resurrection. The first ode of each canon was based on the Passover event and on Exodus 15 as the
metaphor for Christ's delivery of his people from the slavery of sin and death. That metaphor lies behind
stanza 1. Stanza 2 uses images of spring and sunshine as metaphors for the new life and light of Christ.
Stanza 3 concludes the text with an Easter doxology.
John M. Neale translated the text in his article on Greek hymnology in the Christian Remembrancer
(April, 1859) and reprinted it in his Hymns of the Eastern Church in 1862.
Offertory: From Six Duets for Two Flutes: Presto #4, Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773)
Published in 1759, stylistically the six duets are elegant, light, and tender, and overall excellent examples
of Quantz’s intermediate position between the Baroque and Classical eras. As a composer Quantz
certainly cannot be classed among the great, but he does display a high level of craftsmanship through
clarity of phrasing, dynamic variety and briskness, qualities of much mid-18th-century music.
Opening Voluntary: Lux Eoi, Andrew Moore (1936)
This is a setting of Lux Eoi, a hymn tune by Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842-1900), associated with
multiple texts and creatively arranged for organ by Andrew Moore, a Benedictine Monk at Downside
Abbey, near Bath.
Arthur Seymour Sullivan was born of an Italian mother and an Irish father who was an army bandmaster
and a professor of music. Sullivan embarked on his composing career with a series of ambitious works,
interspersed with hymns, parlor songs and other light pieces in a more commercial vein. His compositions
were not enough to support him financially, and between 1861 and 1872 he worked as a church organist,
which he enjoyed; as a music teacher, which he hated and gave up as soon as he could; and as an arranger
of vocal scores of popular operas. He is best known for writing the music for lyrics by William S. Gilbert,
which produced popular operettas such as H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The
Mikado (1884), and Yeomen of the Guard (1888). These operettas satirized the court and everyday life in
Victorian times. Although he composed some anthems, in the area of church music Sullivan is best
remembered for his hymn tunes, written between 1867 and 1874 and published in The Hymnary (1872)
and Church Hymns (1874), both of which he edited. Sullivan steadfastly refused to grant permission to
those who wished to make hymn tunes from the popular melodies in his operettas.
Closing Voluntary: Gaudeamus Paritur, Robert Buckley Farlee
Set by Robert Buckley Farlee, this piece is based on the hymn tune GAUDEAMUS PARITUR by Johann
Roh (1487-1547) who used many pseudonyms. Johann Roh was a native of Bohemia. Roh was his name
in Bohemian, but when he wrote in Latin he called himself Cornu, and in German, Horn.
Robert Buckley Farlee, who has not altered or changed his name, is Associate Pastor and Director of
Music at Christ Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. He was deeply involved in the publication of
Evangelical Lutheran Worship.