Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping
that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.
that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.
— Antiphon to the Nunc Dimittis
During the Middle Ages, an elaborate system known as “The Liturgy of the Hours” developed to frame the prayer lives of the faithful at regular intervals each day:
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These non-Communion offices (also known as “Daily Office,” “Divine Office,” or “Canonical Hours”) “flow down from that liturgical mountain peak [of the Lord’s Supper], like streams seeking the lower places, the daily routine and grind of life” (David Kind, Oremus: A Lutheran Breviary, p. vii). Reformation revisions, along with a pesky dynamic known as reality, have generally reduced the rhythm of daily prayer to Matins, Vespers, and Compline. Most recent hymnals, including Lutheran Service Book (LSB), also include the orders of Morning and Evening Prayer, providing at least three evening services to highlight the gifts of the Gospel at eventide: Vespers, Evening Prayer, and Compline. The profound theological themes for eventide have not been lost on the great composers of the church, including the hymn, anthem, and solo that are highlighted in this installment of “Lifted Voice.”
I. Hymn for Vespers: “Christ, Mighty Savior”
One hymn that has made a comeback in the past few decades is a Mozarabic hymn from the 10th century, “Christ, Mighty Savior.” Jon Vieker, a prominent Lutheran theologian and church musician, sets the stage:
Of the eight prayer hours or services in the Divine Office of the Western liturgical tradition, Vespers has been particularly noteworthy for a rich tradition of hymnody. The hymn “Christ, Mighty Savior” has its origin in the Vespers Liturgy for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, in the Mozarabic rite of Spain. The tenth-century text, originally in nine Latin stanzas, has been translated as a five-stanza hymn in English. The melody, striking in its rhythmically free groupings of twos and threes, is by Richard Dirksen, a long-time musician at Washington’s National Cathedral. … Thus, we sing a text from the tenth century, perfectly wed to a melody from the late twentieth century. ([Proceedings of] The Good Shepherd Institute 2003, pp. 201-202)
1 Christ, mighty Savior, Light of all creation,
you make the daytime radiant with the sunlight
And to the night give glittering adornment,
Stars in the heavens.
2 Now comes the day's end as the sun is setting,
Mirror of daybreak, pledge of resurrection;
While in the heavens choirs of stars appearing
Hallow the nightfall.
3 Therefore we come now evening rites to offer,
Joyfully chanting holy hymns to praise you,
With all creation joining hearts and voices
Singing Your glory.
4 Give heed, we pray you, to our supplication,
That you may grant us pardon for offenses,
Strength for our weak hearts, rest for aching bodies,
Soothing the weary.
5 Though bodies slumber, hearts shall keep their vigil,
Forever resting in the peace of Jesus,
In light or darkness worshiping our Savior
Now and forever.
The musical rendition in this video utilizes the practice of alternation, wherein different voices sing different stanzas of the hymn. Also notice the use of short organ improvisations between stanzas, as well as a great sensitivity by the organist to the text. Hence he uses full organ at the words, “With all creation joining hearts and voices,” but a much softer registration for the words, “Soothing the weary,” etc. The text, tune, and context of “Christ, Mighty Savior” make it an ideal office hymn for Vespers.
II. Choral Responsory for Evening Prayer: Abendlied
If choral forces are assembled for an evening service, then church musicians might consider scheduling Abendlied (“Evening Hymn”) by the German organist and composer, Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901). Rheinberger’s challenging yet masterful setting of the petition of the Emmaus disciples in Luke 24:29 is most fitting for Evening Prayer, which incorporates Luke 24:29 in its opening versicles. In the following rolling score, try to follow the brief German text and see how Rheinberger paints the evening petition of the first Easter Sunday, including ascending motifs for the rise of the evening shadows and descending melodies for the close of the day:
Rheinberger:
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Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, und der Tag hat sich geneiget. |
Abide with us for it will soon be evening and the day has drawn to a close. |
Church musicians may hesitate to schedule this responsory because the text is in German, the music is difficult, and the work requires a well-rehearsed, six-part choir. These concerns are fair enough, but if there is a more beautiful anthem for eventide in our rich repertoire of sacred music, then I for one have not yet heard it. May I boldly suggest that Abendlied should be in the voice of every choir, in the ear of every parishioner, and in the hearts of all the faithful?
III. Solo for Compline: Evening Hymn (“Now that the sun hath veil’d his light”)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695) was an English composer of the early Baroque period, who served as organist at Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royale. Lutheran church musicians are especially fond of his sacred solos and anthems, which will be addressed in this column in due course. “Evening Hymn” is a charming example of a Ciaccona, a composition built on a repeating descending bass line in triple meter, which is repeated throughout the work. The solo voice sometimes imitates the bass line, especially toward the end of the “Hallelujah,” but usually meanders its own direction. This short solo works for organ and the soloist of any voice part (it is available in different keys). Ideally a cello will play the bass line, with the possibility of adding other “soft-toned” instruments, as in some of the videos below.
Not to have heard Purcell’s “Evening Hymn” is to be musically deprived. To have heard it is to fall in love with it. So pick your favorite voice part (Purcell probably had in mind the countertenor version) and hear what might be the soundtrack of heaven itself:
Not to have heard Purcell’s “Evening Hymn” is to be musically deprived. To have heard it is to fall in love with it. So pick your favorite voice part (Purcell probably had in mind the countertenor version) and hear what might be the soundtrack of heaven itself:
Purcell, soprano:
Purcell, countertenor:
Purcell, countertenor:
Purcell, tenor:
Now, now that the sun hath veil’d his light
And bid the world goodnight;
To the soft bed my body I dispose,
But where shall my soul repose?
Dear, dear God, even in Thy arms,
And can there be any so sweet security!
Then to thy rest, O my soul!
And singing, praise the mercy
That prolongs thy days.
Hallelujah! (text: William Fuller, 1608-1675)
Purcell’s timeless treasure is fitting as a responsory to a reading at Compline. Fuller’s text also fits seamlessly as a sung collect for Compline, perhaps influenced by the following prayer of St. Cyprian (d. 258): “Now as the sun is sinking toward evening, let us spend what remains of the day in gladness and not let the hour of repast go untouched by heavenly grace.” (James McKinnon, Ed., Music in Early Christian Literature, p. 49)
The rich treasury of sacred music for eventide proclaims that the life of the baptized is a daily cycle of death and resurrection. Christians see going to bed and getting up in the morning as our daily rehearsal for the sleep of death and the final resurrection of all flesh. Take a moment and page through the evening services, prayers, and hymns in a Lutheran hymnal and notice how many sacred texts preach this profound parallel between sleep at night and sleep in death. The following phrase from Thomas Ken’s (1637-1711) hymn, “All Praise to Thee, My God, this Night,” sung to the tune, Tallis’ Canon, is a good case in point: “Teach me to live that I may dread / The grave as little as my bed. Teach me to die that so I may / Rise glorious at the awe-full day” (LSB 883.3). That is simply to say, as the opening versicles of Compline teach us to pray, “The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and peace at the last.”
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