[Magdalen] Brightest and Best - The Epiphany, January 6, 2016.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I have come into contact with what I think is a very nice setting of this
hymn text in the shape note tradition.

I was reading a memoir of holiday celebrations in earlier times in the
Mountains, and one image that stuck with me was the remark that the young
folks of the family would go to their grandma's house and sing "Brightest
and Best" outside her bedroom window on Christmas morning. From the
context, I knew that the hymn must be beloved, and it was a good bet it was
not our hymnal 1940 version.

And when I looked, sure enough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ5aAinuE_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUZi3688mG8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_29KjzCuh7U

Different ways of looking at it.  Hardy music by sturdy people from a hard
time.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 7:42 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
> The concept of the Epiphany was a complete unknown to me when I  entered
> TEC in the Diocese of Milwaukee in 1958 (though I'd been attending an
> Episcopal church sporadically for a couple years before that).   Therefore
> this hymn was a total unknown, and though it is a bit schmaltzy, it  still
> speaks to me of the Epiphany Feast.
>
> It's time also for my annual rant about why churches of the Western
> Liturgy,
> Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic do not chose the Three Kings  as
> a dedication of churches more than they do.
>
> I think back on the wonderful Lutheran Vespers at the
> Three Kings Church in the Saxenhausen section of Frankfurt/M which I  had
> the privilege of attending for more than three years living in that  City.
>
> I think also of the Shrine of the Three Kings down the River Rhein  just
> behind the high altar at the Kolnerdom.
>
> (David Strang)
>
>
> Brightest and Best:
>
>
>
> Full  Text
>
>
> 1  Brightest and best of the stars of the morning,
> Dawn on our darkness, and  lend us thine aid;
> Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
> Guide where our  infant Redeemer is laid.
> 2  Cold on His cradle the dew-drops are shining,
> Low lies His head with the  beasts of the stall;
> Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
> Maker and  Monarch and Saviour of all.
> 3  Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,
> Odours of Edom, and offerings  divine?
> Gems of the mountain, and pearls of the ocean,
> Myrrh from the  forest, and gold from the mine?
> 4  Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
> Vainly with gifts would His favour  secure;
> Richer by far is the heart's adoration,
> Dearer to God are the  prayers of the poor.
> 5  Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
> Dawn on our darkness and lend  us thine aid;
> Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
> Guide where our  infant Redeemer is laid.
> Hymnal: according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the
> United States of America, 1871
>
>
>