Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family.
“My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed.” (Psalm 71:23).

“Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,
opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!”

These lovely lyrics are from that very well know hymn, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.” This hymn is an explosion of praises to God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and the author is Henry van Dyke.

Henry van Dyke was born in Pennsylvania in 1852 and as a young man, he became the pastor of the Brick Presbyterian church in New York City. Then he became an English literature teacher at Princeton. During this time, he wrote many essays, poems, books, and hymns. Among his books, a popular one is “The Other Wise Man.”

In 1907, Hendy van Dyke was invited to preach at Williams College in Massachusetts. During the breakfast, he handed to the president of the college a piece of paper with a poem, and he said, “Here is a hymn for you. Your mountains were my inspiration. It must be sung to the music of Beethoven’s ‘Hymn of Joy.’”

“Thou art giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living,
ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother,
all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the joy divine.”

You are very familiar with the melody of this hymn, and it’s based on a major work by Ludwin van Beethoven. Beethoven, German composer, wrote nine symphonies, and his last one (which he composed when he was completely deaf) is called “Choral” because it is his only symphony that ends with a choir and soloists. The lyrics that Beethoven used for his work are from a secular poem by Friedrich Schiller. But now we can give thanks to God for a man like Henry van Dyke, who gave us a poem for God’s glory, and we can sing it during our worship services using the majestic music of Beethoven.

“Mortals, join the happy chorus,
which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us,
brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us sunward
in the triumph song of life.”
​
In His service,
Israel