While visiting our house a few weekends ago, my young niece kept gravitating to the old upright piano in the dining room, picking out the familiar "Ode to Joy" melody from the final movement of Beethovan's 9th Symphony. Since then it won't leave me. When I was a child in Rhode Island, attending Catholic services with my family every Sunday, we often filed out of our pews to this hymn, following the priest and altar boys in a slow, crowded shuffle to the double doors which had been thrown open to the sun and air. It remains one of my clearest childhood memories, and I can hear the voices of both my mother and my father singing when I recall it.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!
All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.
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.
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.
Googling the lyrics just now, I learned that Henry Van Dyke, who wrote them 1907, did so while attending nearby Williams College, perhaps inspired by the same fields, forests, vales, mountains, and flowery meadows I ended up gravitating to in Massachusetts, and look at every day on my way to and from work, feeling similarly humbled.
9 comments:
That is one of my favorite pieces of music. I had forgotten it had lyrics. An old boyfriend learned to play it on the mandolin as my birthday gift one year. Thanks for stirring such good memories for me too! Enjoy your Sunday my friend, you've started mine off so pleasantly...smooches
I've always loved that hymn too. A belated happy blogiversary to you m. heart. Thanks for all the pictures.
I too, remember those words from church and when ever I hear the music, the hymn is stuck for days in my internal i-pod.
Not a bad thing at all.
xox, Lisa
I love your image of walking out after church. Me too, and in RI, maybe my family was right behind you. Thanks for typing out the words to this hymm. I've never known them all and to read them just now was magical. Just what I needed. I wonder if I can find a version on itunes for my ipod.
I love your blog. It lifts me up.
That is a great hymn.
Those mountains are so beautiful. I only get to see mountains when I go on vacation, which is a bit of a pity.
I have a similar childhood memory-- the winter evening services in a Protestant church with the organist playing Bach, and then the black bare trees that waited outside in the night sky. A strange mixture of warmth and cold.
one of our favorites too. we used it for our wedding recessional~friends played it on twin baby-grands as james and i hurried (joyfully) up the aisle and out of the chapel.
Wow, I had no idea so many of you would love this piece as well, and n2theblue what a lovely wedding recessional to choose.
Brian, your comment reminded me of stepping outside the church after midnight mass when it was clear and crisp and the air held the promise of Christmas eve.
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