". . .the hand that shaped the rose hath wrought the crystal of the snow..."

[bronze_ribbons]

Well, well, well. All these years, I thought I despised "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Turns out I merely loathe the tune most often used with it, "St. Louis"; on the way home tonight, I started listening to a King's College recording where it's sung to Forest Green, and it was lovely. (After ten more minutes, I finally placed it as the melody to "All Beautiful The March of Days.")

As it happens, "Forest Green" shows up four times in the current UU hymnal -- including as an alternate setting for OLTOB. The problem is, I can't intellectually defend preferring Vaughan Williams over Lewis H. Redner -- when I try to be objective, Redner's melody strikes me as a better fit for the verses: it dips in the right places and it's quieter and more hopeful (= less martial) than "Forest Green."

On the purely melodic level, though, Vaughan Williams and those old English folksongs bring me much closer to God than almost anything else in that hymnal. *sigh* Perhaps this year I will go to a traditional lessons & carols...

Comments

[naomichana.livejournal.com]

I like "O Little Town of Bethlehem" regardless -- it's on that cusp between being an Advent and a Christmas carol -- but that's a lovely melody. I miss getting to sing hymns. Why don't they have interdenominational sacred music singalongs, darnit?

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Now you've got me fantasizing about a mini-songfest for polyliturgiphiles -- you, me, kassrachel, Alex Golub... sightreading Billings and Rossi...