My little Gnudren,
The word for our thoughts today is Reconciliation. It is a word found in nearly every language because we fall out with each other. In Gnu language it is հաշտեցում. God seems to like this word too. The most blest Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 1: that it is God’s purpose to reconcile all things in heaven and earth to himself. So Old Gnu presents you with Reconciliation – A Grand Festive Overture. In this full blown orchestral work Old Gnu brings together two hymn tunes from vastly different Christian traditions whose composers would probably not have gone to the same kind of church – their lives overlapped by 24 years from 1856 to 1880. What Gnu has done would have been a heinous crime if he had used contemporary material. It would be the equivalent of taking a modern worship song written by a guitarist and mixing up with something composed by a cathedral organist. They would probably sue Old Gnu for breach of copyright and feel they didn’t want their melodies mixed together with such an unlikely bed fellow.
While Mr. Waki Pedia assures me that they are both dead, they are only so in body in but not in spirit or influence.
The first is a melody of a hymn from the Moody and Sankey hymnal, Sacred Songs and Solos – disrespectfully called Sacred Songs and Sea Shanties by a friend, who subsequently served for well over a decade in one of her Majesty’s prisons (I’m relieved to say as a chaplain). The hymn in question is Since Jesus came into my heart.
The words were written by a very nice man called Rufus H. McDaniel (1850-1940) who wrote over a 100 hymns.He looked like this:
The music was written by this man, Charles Gabriel (1856-1932):
Mr. Gabriel wrote between 7,000 and 8,000 songs, probably more than Schubert, Charles Wesley and Bob Dylan put together. The tune he wrote for Rufus McDaniel’s words is said to have been responsible for the conversion of 100 policemen (indirectly). Why aren’t we sure of the number of toons he wrote? Well harken unto hymntime.com:
He used several pseudonyms, including Charlotte G. Homer, H. A. Henry, S. B. Jackson, C. D. Emerson, Adolph Jesreal, Jennie Ree, J. C. Williams and possibly Jennie Crawford Godspeed.
The second tune Old Gnu uses in his Reconciliation Overture was originally named Lauda Anima. It was written in 1868 by a very nice man called Sir John Goss. (Please note, it was Queen Victoria who added the Sir to his name and not his parents.) Sir John wrote this tune for the words Praise my soul the King of heaven. These wonderful words were written by one Henry Francis Lyte. He was an exceedingly nice man. Mr. Waki Pedia says of him:
Lyte was a tall and “unusually handsome” man, “slightly eccentric but of great personal charm, a man noted for his wit and human understanding,… Lyte spoke Latin, Greek, and French …and always had his flute with him. He enjoyed discussing literature; and was knowledgeable about wild flowers. In 1817 Lyte became a curate in Marazion, Cornwall …he married Anne Maxwell … she was seven years older than her husband and a “keen Methodist”. Furthermore, she “could not match her husband’s good looks and personal charm. Nevertheless, the marriage was happy and successful.” Isn’t he handsome?
As for the rest of the acts of the godly Rev. Lyte – how he wrote Abide with Me, how he discovered early human remains in an excavation at Ash Hole Cavern, how he had to enlarge his church building to house his ever increasing congregation, how he supported his friend Mr. Wilberforce in the Abolition of Slavery, how he (alas) opposed the emancipation of Catholics (queue domage !), how latterly almost his entire choir and a large part of his congregation went and joined the Plymouth Brethren, how he suffered from poor health all his life and died at the age of 54 – looking slightly less handsome – are they not written in the Chronicles of Mr. Waki Pedia?
And so to Sir John Goss. He also was a lovely man and he looked a bit like Schubert, don’t you think?
Well, at least the coat, cravat and shirt look the same to me.
Sir John stopped writing orchestral music after: “The Observer’s sole comment on the composer’s contribution was, “The music, which is by Mr. Goss, neither delights nor offends.” “ [Thank you again Mr. Waki Pedia (Blasted Critics!)]. He was a kind, gentle person, noted for his piety, and obviously very sensitive. He wrote no anthems for 10 years when of one of them was criticised. I like Sir John Goss. He wasn’t full of himself and is a rebuke to me. So Old Gnu uses his hymn tune with great respect and tries to give it the grandeur and majestic quality it deserves.
Nevertheless both the jaunty little number by Mr. Charles Gabriel and the wondrous grandeur of Sir John’s tune are woven together in Old Gnu’s Overture, much in the manner of Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 where the noble tune of Land of Hope & Gory is put shoulder to shoulder with a jaunty little ditty of a tune which bangs and crashes about. Why did Gnu do this? It is another of his musical parables: both composers were reconciled to God, and I think to their fellows, (except, sadly, Mr. Gabriel divorced his wife), and both will be in God’s heaven, (probably Mr. Gabriel’s wife too), even if they were unlikely to attend each others churches.
[For the academically minded, further enlightening compositional analysis of the Overture is provided with in the track notes.]
Vetus Pater Gnu,
Doctor Philosophiae sed in Musica
Academiae Musica, Turris, [LA]
XXVI Ianuarii MMXVIII