Here are the first four spiritual songs for Christmas that we are considering as part of the Hymnal Project. Click on the link for the status and discussion page for each one, and see what you think:
- Angels from heaven (So nebes Anhel)
- Eternal God (Boh predvičnyj)
- God the Lord eternal (Hospod, Boh predvičnyj)
- God’s Son is born (Boh sja raždajet)
Please post your thoughts and suggestions by leaving a comment below!
Concerning “God’s Son is Born”, the way I learned it is —-
In the first line, the word “Son” is a half note, not a quarter note.
The word “is” are two quarter notes, not two eighth notes.
Same concerning the beginning of the second line.
Also, the seventh note on the first line should be an A not a G.
Mike K
Mike – I changed the G to an A. I know there are different ways to sing the rhythm; but way I did it is common in Pittsburgh. I’d like to hear a recording of the you learned it!
Angels from heaven: I feel that quarter and eigth notes are preferable for notation. Also, for the SATB, it should follow the same melody line, even if that melody is found in a vocal part other than the soprano; otherwise there is confusion when the congregation sings along as to what actually is the melody.
Our parish was not singing “God’s Son Is Born” until 2 years ago. Any variations on this hymn will be ok with us, since we don’t have a set way of doing things. “God the Lord Eternal” is another one we were only introduced to recently, but we knew the music through a hymn we sang called “Jesus Came from Heaven”. Both hymns use the same refrain. “Angels from Heaven” and “Eternal God” look good to me.
My only thought is that it seems to be raditional to sing ms 4 as an echo of ms 3. I know we don’t usually put dynamics in our music, but here is one place that seems to beg for such a marking. I think all the rhythms are good the way they are printed.
Father Deacon – which hymn are you referring two (“ms 4″… “ms 4”)?
Angels from Heaven.
I think we’re done with these four for now – thanks for your input!
I added three verses for “God’s Son is born”:
https://metropolitancantorinstitute.org/blog/sheetmusic/songs/Gods_Son_is_born.pdf
and six Slavonic verses, with a literal English translation, to Boh predvičnyj:
https://metropolitancantorinstitute.org/blog/sheetmusic/songs/Boh_predvicnyj.pdf
RE: There are a few grammatical oddities; the second line of the first verse is not a complete sentence, and “gloriously sing:” in the second verse should probably be “gloriously singing:”. But on the balance, I think we are better off leaving them as-is, given the popularity of the hymn. When singing this, I too often thought it should be “singing”, and since there are two notes for the word “sing”, I use singing and no one noticed the change. It fits.