"The Love Song of the Welsh Revival"

Mon, 02/28/2011 - 15:24 — Haruo

The Love Song of the Welsh Revival is a widely seen nickname for the Welsh hymn beginning "Dyma gariad fel y moroedd". There are two citations of this in the Hymnary database, but no text or tune information. I have posted some of the information and links I have found on my hymnblog at the aforecited link.

My major remaining questions are:
1) How is it that this very widely known (in Wales) hymn with at least two singable English versions extant has remained virtually unheard-of in the USA, at least to judge by its lack of attestation in the DNAH?
2) What is the Welsh text underlying stanzas 3 and 4 of the longer English version (since the Welsh text cited seems to account only for the first two English stanzas)?
3) What is the history of the tune that now seems to predominate with this text, a tune attributed to Robert Lowry everywhere I've looked, yet nearly unknown in the USA? Are there other texts to which it has been set in the United States?

etc.

Comments

Sat, 03/05/2011 - 15:33 — cfenner

Here is love

This is really a continuation of another post from a year ago, which gives some hymnological details that I won't repeat here.

I wish I knew the answers to your questions because I would like to know them myself.

(1) Actually, it's not unheard-of in the US; it was on the popular Passion Hymns Ancient & Modern CD a few years ago. It wouldn't be in DNAH because it's in contemporary worship songbooks now.

(2) The original Welsh text only has 2 stanzas. I've come across versions with 3, but the third is transplanted from a hymn by William Williams, and from what I can tell it has no relation to the 3rd or 4th English stanzas. Honestly, I think the two additional English stanzas are not translated but were either newly appended or borrowed from another hymn (from which, I have no idea).

(3) I get the impression that Matt Redman is responsible for wedding the English translation with this tune. I would ask him if I knew how. I heard Chris Tomlin mention once in an interview that Matt is somewhat of a hymnologist. Unfortunately, the older DNAH records are not searchable by tune. I've looked through several Lowry books myself but haven't yet come across this melody.

Chris Fenner

Mon, 03/07/2011 - 09:21 — Haruo

Thanks, Chris

I knew I had posted on this previously, but for some reason couldn't find the earlier thread when I was starting this one.

Haruo

My Little Hymnblog
North America's leading Esperanto hymn writer and hymnologist
Webmaster, Fremont Baptist Church, Seattle

Sun, 03/13/2011 - 20:57 — cfenner

Lowry

You mentioned in the other post that the tune reminds you of REDEEMED. Lowry's books in this database don't have tune names; what is the associated text?

Thu, 03/17/2011 - 16:49 — Haruo

Not REDEEMED, ALL THE WAY

If I said REDEEMED I misspoke, I would have meant the tune Lowry provided for Fanny Crosby's "All the way my Savior leads me", which is usually called ALL THE WAY in the hymnals I've consulted. The only tune of Lowry's that I'm pretty sure he intended to give a name was HANSON PLACE ("Shall we gather at the river").

REDEEMED is a Kirkpatrick tune (again written for a Fanny Crosby text, in this case "Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!"

I do think ALL THE WAY and CYMRAEG ("Wondrous love/Here is love/Dyma gariad") are highly reminiscent of each other, and given the paucity of early attestation of the latter, I'm inclined to think it's a later, arranged derivative rather than a separate tune.

Haruo

My Little Hymnblog
North America's leading Esperanto hymn writer and hymnologist
Webmaster, Fremont Baptist Church, Seattle

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