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

[Christopher Hart]

Nice, James. Thanks for sharing. I honestly don't think I've ever heard
Brightest and Best sung to this tune before. I've always heard the
Victorian tune, Morning Star. I take it this is the "other" tune in our
1982 Hymnal?

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 11:57 PM, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
> >
>



-- 

Christopher Hart

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