Ever since I first heard the haunting Gregorian melody of "The Royal Banners" I have loved that piece. I think it first showed up with that melody (in LCMS circles I mean!) in the *Worship Supplement* of 1969. But much as I have loved the Gregorian, I've never been successful in teaching the hymn to a congregation. Enter LSB. Our new book provides a setting for this hymn that "choralizes" it, but without losing the "feel" of the Gregorian piece. Bad way to describe it, I know, but I'm not sure how else to do so. Ah, it does for this piece what Lutherans have long done with Veni Creator - and just as Veni Creator in the chorale version keeps the same flavor as the more florid Gregorian chant, so with this setting by Paul Weber. It's found at LSB 455. Sing it and let me know if you don't think he's done a fabulous job of capturing the Gregorian and yet making it accessible for the congregation to sing.
3 comments:
Pr. Weedon,
Do you know of anyplace on-line where I can find some of the tunes to the new hymns? I am not good at sight reading, and, as of yet, I do not play any instrument other than the one God has provided me with.
I am not aware of such. But give me a call and come out one evening and I'll bang away at the piano and we can learn them together!
FWIW, Lutheran Service Builder, the electronic version of LSB which will be avilable by December, will have MIDI files of every hymn melody so that you could then hear/learn them that way.
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