{"id":9603,"date":"2011-05-22T13:39:35","date_gmt":"2011-05-22T18:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=9603"},"modified":"2013-02-15T11:48:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T17:48:48","slug":"focus-the-hymns-in-gias-worship-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/22\/focus-the-hymns-in-gias-worship-4\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hymns in GIA’s Worship 4<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

GIA is a leader (or is it the<\/em> leader?) in the area of hardbound hymnals (see our interview with Bob Batastini<\/a>). All eyes are on GIA\u2019s new hymnals<\/a> for use with the revised missal translation. I hear that Gather, 3rd ed.<\/em> will be available in time for the NPM convention in July<\/a>, but Worship, 4th ed.<\/em> will arrive on the market later. G3<\/em> is 70% piano\/guitar-based, 30% organ-based. (I know, I know, the category boundaries are oftentimes fuzzy.) Where Worship, 3rd edition<\/em> (1986) was pretty much entirely organ-based, W4<\/em> is 80-20, weighted toward organ-based. This means that W4<\/em> is GIA\u2019s primary classical hymnal, but its usability is enhanced by the availability of contemporary repertoire used in many or most parishes.<\/p>\n

GIA has put online for our examination the preliminary contents of W4<\/em><\/a>. (BTW, the online sample pages<\/a> look very attractive.) I\u2019ve spent a bit of time with the hymn list and also compared it to W3<\/em>. I like what I see.<\/p>\n

I count\u00a0517<\/span> 661<\/strong> hymns in W4<\/em>. (Here and throughout, keep in mind that minor changes are still possible before publication. I don\u2019t see our national anthem anywhere \u2013 is that still coming?.) W3<\/em> had 410 hymns, so the expansion is considerable. [UPDATE: Fr. Ron Krisman from the W4 editorial team notes below that several things have changed since the preliminary listing went online in February.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

W4<\/em> draws heavily on the work of contemporary poets and throws the net wide ecumenically. Herman Stuempfle comes in with 42 entries, followed by Sr. Delores Dufner OSB (30), Mel Bringle (20), John Bell (16), Marty Haugen (16), Adam Tice (15), Ruth Duck (13), Fred Pratt Green (13), Tom Troeger (13), and Sylvia Dunstan (11). Some might say that a few people are over-represented, and I have minor quibbles here and there with the quality of some texts. But overall, the selection seems to be very strong indeed. Here is my tally of all the text sources in W4′<\/em>s hymnody<\/a> in order of frequency.<\/p>\n

Some great texts from W3<\/em> didn\u2019t make it into W4<\/em>. Before we critique the elimination of this or that gem, though, we should realize the challenges faced by hymnal editors. The list of texts they wished they could include is probably about three times as long as there was room for \u2013 or is it ten times? Difficult choices have to be made. One can\u2019t go only by the poetic or theological value of a text \u2013 you have to look also at the topics to be covered, the availability of suitable hymn tunes, and other considerations as well. Perhaps a really great text had to be cut because there were already too many in that category \u2013 just as some really-good-but-not-great text perhaps had to be included because nothing better was found in the category.<\/p>\n

Here is my tally of the hymn texts in W3 not in W4<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0I see that the \u201chis\u201d has been changed in the titles of \u201cGod Has Spoken by His Prophets\u201d and \u201cGod is Here! As We His People\u201d \u2013 to \u201cthe\u201d and \u201cyour\u201d respectively. “Faith of our Fathers” is now “Living Faith.”<\/p>\n

Some texts are altered in the other direction \u2013 restored to a more original form. I think I\u2019m glad that the clunky \u201cgood\u201d in \u201cHow Good the Name of Jesus Sounds\u201d has been changed back to the traditional \u201csweet,\u201d though that\u2019s not my favorite word either. The editors are clearly exercising care to preserve and improve poetic value, which of course sometimes must be balanced against other concerns.<\/p>\n

I’m glad that W4<\/em> goes back to the more familiar forms of “The Church’s One Foundation” and “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”<\/p>\n

I\u2019m delighted to see that the text commissioned by the National Catholic Youth Choir<\/a> from Sr. Delores Dufner, OSB a few years ago, “Mary, First among Believers<\/a>,\u201d is in W4<\/em>. I recall that we had NCYC sing the 87 87 D text to RAQUEL, since Sr. Delores told me she is rather tired of the old Marian tune PLEADING SAVIOR. But in W4<\/em> her text is paired with\u2026 PLEADING SAVIOR. I admit that I don\u2019t mind that tune, and rather like it.<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s an interesting textual editing conundrum, one we\u2019ll also encounter in the collects of the new missal translation. What sounds right to your ear, \u201cYou, who have\u2026,\u201d or \u201cYou, who has\u2026\u201d? Many people think English usage has shifted to the latter, but some purists say\u00a0the former is more correct for second-person vocative address. And it’s what our collects will have in the new missal. W4<\/em> is following the style of our collects, and swimming against the stream of most others who have edited F. Bland Tucker, in giving us \u201cFather, We Thank You, Who Have Planted\u201d (rather than \u201cWho Has Planted\u201d).<\/p>\n

Really, really impressive is W4\u2019s<\/em> hymns for the lectionary \u2013 a hymn for every Sunday based on the readings, especially the Gospel. Just from the list of titles, one recognizes familiar lectionary themes \u2013 \u201cA Blind Man Sat Beside the Road,\u201d \u201cAs Servants Working an Estate,\u201d \u201cIf Christ is Charged with Madness,\u201d \u201cMartha, Mary, Waiting, Weeping,\u201d \u201cNot Alone, but Two by Two.\u201d I have high hopes for a renewal of biblical piety for Catholics who sing these texts.<\/p>\n

In 2001, GIA put out Hymns for the Gospels<\/a> <\/em>by W. Thomas Smith and Bob Batastini. It\u2019s a ground-breaking collection of lectionary hymns, put for the most part to well-known (or that deserve to be <\/em>well-known!) hymn tunes. Of the 159 hymn texts in HftG<\/em>, 74 will be in W4<\/em>. This tells us that the W4<\/em> editorial committee carefully put every hymn text on the scales, and didn\u2019t simply carry over everything from HftG<\/em>. HftG <\/em>is good, and W4<\/em> will be even better.<\/p>\n

I was curious how many of the HftG<\/em> texts were brought over into W4 <\/em>with the same hymn tunes. Many are, but I count 32 (out of 74) hymn texts which are paired with a different hymn tune in W4<\/em>. Again, this reflects careful examination on the part of the editors.<\/p>\n

About my only regret in the changed hymns tunes is that Peter Scagnelli\u2019s excellent versification of Gregory the Great, \u201cAgain We Keep this Solemn Fast,\u201d is no longer matched with the weighty ERHALT UNS HERR, but is now with the weaker OLD HUNDREDTH, which of course is better known. For the most part by far, cheers went up when I\u00a0saw the changes made.<\/p>\n

Here are just a few of my favorite alterations:<\/p>\n