Hymn of the Week: February 12, 2024
Beautiful Savior and/or Fairest Lord Jesus
Glory to God: 630
Text. Joseph A. Seiss 1823-1904
Music Silesian Folk Song
Beautiful Savior
Beautiful Savior, King of creation,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I'd love Thee, truly I'd serve thee,
Light of my soul, my Joy, my Crown.
Fair are the meadows, Fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flow'rs of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer;
He makes our sorr'wing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine, Fair is the moonlight,
Bright the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, Praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be Thine!
Fairest Lord Jesus
Fairest Lord Jesus,
Ruler of all nature,
O thou of God to earth come down,
thee will I cherish,
thee will I honor,
thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.
Fair are the meadows,
fairer still the woodlands,
robed in the blooming garb of spring.
Jesus is fairer;
Jesus is purer,
who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine,
fairer still the moonlight,
and all the twinkling, starry host.
Jesus shines brighter;
Jesus shines purer,
than all the angels heaven can boast.
Beautiful Savior,
Ruler of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor,
praise, adoration,
now and forevermore be thine!
Hymn Texts: A Devotional
Today’s hymn has a rich and curious history that is several centuries old. As you can see from the texts, there are two sets of text that convey the radiance of God, which makes this a beautiful hymn for Transfiguration or Christmas or anytime during the Epiphany season.
The Words
The original German text is said to have first been published about 1677 in the Roman Catholic “Münster Gesangbuch” (Münster Hymnbook) and had five verses. It is assumed that Münster refers to the city of that name in northwestern Germany. It was sung through the ages. As one can imagine, this hymn has seen many variations.
Even today, there are two hymn texts: Fairer Lord Jesus and Beautiful Savior. They are close in language but retain their individual titles. On Sunday the 11th, the choir sang a stirring arrangement of Beautiful Savior, while our Glory to God Hymnal has it listed as Fairest Lord Jesus. Take a quick look at the two texts side by side to see how they are similar and how they differ.
How did this hymn makes it’s way to us? Through a man by the name of Joseph A. Seiss in the 1800s. Here is a brief bio of the translator who took the geramn hymn and translated into the version we know today.
Joseph A. Seiss
was born and raised in a Moravian home with the original family name of Seuss. After studying at Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg and completing his theological education with tutors and through private study, Seiss became a Lutheran pastor in 1842. He served several Lutheran congregations in Virginia and Maryland and then became pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church (1858-1874) and the Church of the Holy Communion (1874-1904), both in Philadelphia. Known as an eloquent and popular preacher, Seiss was also a prolific author and editor of some eighty volumes, which include The Last Times (1856), The Evangelical Psalmist (1859), Ecclesia Lutherana (1868), Lectures on the Gospels (1868-1872), and Lectures on the Epistles (1885). He contributed to and compiled several hymnals.
What is even more fascinating is how Joseph Seiss and the tune seemed to come together. Mr. Seiss was of Moravian descent. It is believed that the Moravians had their beginnings in Moravia which is near Silesia and is part of what we now consider Czechoslovakia.
The tune of this hymn, while having two similar translations (Fairest Lord Jesus and Beautiful Savior) also has two hymn tune names. Crusaders Hymn is one title the tune is known by, while St. Elizabeth is another name for the very same tune. This melodic tune is none other than a Silesian folk song which of course, we now know is from the region where Joseph Seiss’ family originally hailed from.
The Music
Silesia, a historical region consisting mainly of the basin of the upper and middle Oder River in what is now southwestern Poland, is an area that has seen many wars, conquests and rulers. One of the principal cities, Wroclaw, is about 170 miles east of Dresden, Germany and the area has had German immigrants through its history.
The tradition that the tune was sung by German Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem has a great deal of appeal, but it is no longer accepted by a number of scholars. “The Crusades” in this instance refer to Christian holy wars called by popes between 1095 and 1291 AD against external and internal enemies for the recovery of property or defense of the people. It is said that Crusaders took vows and were granted compensation for sin, or indulgences, by participating, and were also considered pilgrimages. Some limit these wars to those involving Jerusalem, but there were other wars in which crusaders took vows. One of the Jerusalem wars that could influence the story of the hymn tradition was the third crusade against the Egyptian Saladin in the twelfth century in which the German Emperor Frederick participated.
The melody known as CRUSADER’s HYMN was first known to have been published by August H. Hoffman von Fallersleben in his 1842 volume of Silesian Folksongs. The first arrangement published in the United States is believed to have been done by Richard S. Willis in his 1850 volume of church choral works.
Richard Willis was born in 1819 at Boston, Massachusetts, and is said to have graduated from Yale in 1841. He then studied music in Germany for six years, returning to work as a newspaper music critic and editor. He published several volumes of songs between 1850 and 1883.
Enjoy the stirring choral arrangement. I love how this setting captures verse one as simply a hum. As if the Beauty of everything Christ is, is beyond words and our understanding. We finally hear text for verse two with the lovely alto solo, followed by full chorus resoundingly singing.
-Philip
