Hymn Texts-Do they mean anything to you?

[Philip the organist]

A good thought-provoking question of why we do what we do.

[Poll]

I choose number 2, because I do not find out the hymns until the service begins and the songleader tells me what they are.[*-)]

[Menschenstimme]

By the way, Philip, this is a common misunderstanding, but the phrase should be: "I couldn't care less." Meaning, "I do not care to the point that I am unable to care less, I could not care less, etc." I realize that it is often abbreviated to "I could care less." But this literally has the opposite meaning.

Cheers!

[Philip the organist]

Menchie,
I edited it out just now. You didn't see it, and you couldn't care less. Thanks for the correction. []

[m&m's]

In the church where I am Minister of Music, the pastor picks out the hymns during the first part of the week, and on Thursday I get the bulletin. So I do have time to rehearse the hymns, work out registrations, possible modulations for the last verse, etc. And yes, I definitely do consider the text of each verse, and plan the registration accordingly.

At my home church (the church down the road from my house, where I hold my membership), I play the organ on Sunday evening, and don't know what the hymns are until they are announced. I have to wing it as I go, but still try to use registrations that suit the hymn, and each verse if possible. Fortunately, this church is not as discerning musically as the one on Sunday morning. Also, on Sunday evening, there is a pianist who is very good, and I try to make my registrations fit her playing. She plays gospel style on some hymns, and I may use a registration with tremulant to go along with that. The organ is a small Allen, wheras the one I play on Sunday morning is, of course, a fairly large pipe organ.

So, I guess I alternate between option 1 and option 2, depending on which church I am playing for.*

[Havoc]

I don't play in church but reading the text is important to understand the music. I have a couple of old hymn books for that, some even in gregorian. With choral fantasies you need it to find the beginning of the lines of text because some composers are really crafty in hiding it.

[BOZ]

SB32, please correct me if this is wrong, but in the collaboration between Albert Schweitzer and Widor, it was Schweitzer who explained to Widor how one could register the works of Bach based upon the text of the hymns. So, the text becomes an extremely important element in the performance of the organ piece where Bach is concerned.

[Havoc]

So, the text becomes an extremely important element in the performance of the organ piece where Bach is concerned.

I'm not sure about registration. But for phrasing and putting the themes in "the spotlight" it sure is important. For those pieces that are based on hymns/chorals. And that is not only for Bach but for all that kind of music. I was introduced to this when learning "salve Regina" by Pieter Cornet. Knowing each phrase and the sung voice that corresponds to it helps to make sense of the music.

For Bach it could be even a bit ore important perhaps as he seems to "translate" the lyrics sometimes almost completely into notes. Certainly the Orgelbüchlein is full of this.

[soubasse32]

Iconcur with Havoc.

I notice we are talking about two things in this thread- hymn texts (in relation to sung hymns) and Bach's chorale preludes.

Wherebaroque chorale preludes are concerned, the registration is often selected based upon the overall tone of the text; the registration would then (in most cases) remain the same throughout. One wouldn't change stops to highlight a specific word or sentence. As Havoc mentioned, Bach often highlights key elements of the text via the notes themselves; quick registrational changes would not be idiomatic.

Regarding hymn playing... I will change registrations typically on each verse. Ifcertain text requires an emphasis during the verse I will tend to accent it (perhaps changing the touch) or may change the texture by adding or subtracting voices (including Pedal). Another thing I might do is to play up an octave or leave out the third of the final chord. There are many such devices to help interprethymn texts.

[DeMaistre]

I voted for the first one. In my religion, the Mass is in Latin and so is most liturgical music, so we have missals to follow along in the written vernacular. I spend the car ride to church reading over the Psalms for the day, etc.