Hymns From Home: For The BEauty Of THE eARTH W/ BACH MINUET

PRAY
Lord, we are grateful for the beauty You created, for the Divine and human love we get to experience and return, and for Your great sacrifice for us.  Accept this song as an offering of gratitude.

LYRIC
For the beauty of the earth, 
for the glory of the skies, 
for the love which from our birth 
over and around us lies. 
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the wonder of each hour 
of the day and of the night, 
hill and vale and tree and flower, 
sun and moon and stars of light,
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

For the joy of human love, 
brother, sister, parent, child, 
friends on earth, and friends above, 
for all gentle thoughts and mild,
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

For yourself, best gift divine, 
to the world so freely given, 
agent of God's grand design: 
peace on earth and joy in heaven.
Christ, our Lord, to you we raise 
this, our hymn of grateful praise. 

​SCRIPTURE
Psalm 8

BACKGROUND

The text "For The Beauty Of The Earth" was written by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint in 1863.  Sitting on a hilltop outside his home in Bath, he wrote these lyrics in appreciation for the beauty of God's creation in the nature he saw all around him.  Although he wrote several volumes of poetry and contributed to a number of hymnals, For The Beauty Of The Earth is the only hymn that we still sing today.  One commentary noted, "Above all, Pierpoint thought of the sacrifice of Christ, in the greatest of sacrifices, that of his life in return for ours. He thus originally wrote the text of “For the Beauty of the Earth” as a hymn for the Lord’s Supper. The original chorus read, “Christ, our God, to thee we raise this, our sacrifice of praise.” The hymn was meant not only as a song of thanksgiving, but as the only thing we could give Christ in return for his mercy and love: a hymn of praise laid upon the altar as a sacrifice. Editors have since altered the refrain so it has become a more generic hymn of thanksgiving, but as it stands, it takes on a deeper meaning when understood as something we not only sing, but offer up to God."

The hymn-tune to which this lyric is set is entitled DIX and was composed by Conrad Kocher, a German who initially aspired to be a teacher but ultimately became a musician due to his love for musical greats Haydn and Mozart.   He spent most of his life working in and around the church for whom he composed an abundance of music.  The version of this tune that has been accepted as "DIX" is actually a version of his chorale melody for “Treuer Heiland, wir sind hir,” which William H. Monk shortened and edited.

"Minuet No. 2" as it is often called, is popularly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, although it is likely that it was actually written by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.  In either case, in 1725, Bach included it in his "Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach" as 7. Menuet, BWV Anhang 116.  This composition was originally written for keyboard instruments (in that time period, likely it would have first been performed on harpsichord or organ) but has been adapted for many solo instruments.
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PERSONAL

If you've been struggling to figure out the new frequency with which I plan on posting new Hymns From Home, you're not alone.  I've been trying to figure it out as well!  I've landed on once-a-week as a frequency that is sustainable in my new found role as an unemployed, full-time-stay-at-home-mom-to-a-toddler-that-gave-up-napping-for-Lent-and-has-continued-with-no-forseeable-end-in-sigh.  Monday nights at 8:00 pm central are my target, and as always, that 8pm central part has a big ole window of grace next to it.

Last night as I set up my gear to record something for tonight, not having a clue what I wanted to record, I flipped open an old hymnal that happened to be on my bookshelf that my mother rescued from a church that was getting rid of them.  For the Beauty of the Earth basically fell open and I loved the idea that it was one I could have fun with so I started literally fiddling around with it and in the middle it hit me that although it was in a different time signature, it felt reminiscent of a Minuet I'd learned on the violin when I was about 4.  If you've ever had a kiddo in the Suzuki program, you've likely heard this tune screeched out during practice sessions.  I've taken liberty with it so if you're a Baroque purist, don't send me mean emails.  However, Bach both wrote for the church AND took a few liberties in life, so I'm decently confident that if he were here today he would be fine with it.  It's probably been over 20 years since I've thought to play this tune, so it may not be accurate, but I thought it paired nicely with the hymn and gave us a result that was both happy and worshipful.