#153 “Joy to the world!” (Antioch) W: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) M: Lowell Mason (1792-1872) Isaac Watts earned his title, “Father of English Hymnody”, not just from being prolific, although he did write around 750 hymns. (15 of them are in our hymn book.) Up to Watts’ time, hymns were strictly limited to paraphrases of scripture, largely from the Old Testament, and largely Psalms. Watts pointed out that King David (who was believed to have written the Psalms) was obviously composing as a servant of God, but couldn’t possibly have taken into account the truths revealed by Christ. Therefore hymnists should be creating hymns which reflected both. ‘Joy to the World’, for instance, is based on Psalm 98. Some of his verse moved farther into the realm of poetry reflecting the individual’s faith rather than specific scripture. He opened up a new world for Protestant hymnody. Oddly, he wrote ‘Joy to the World’ about Christ’s second coming, rather than his first! The tune has no direct explanation. It’s often attributed to Handel and, in fact, has phrases which appear in various parts of ‘The Messiah’ but really only snatches. The great American hymnist, Lowell Mason, is usually credited with arranging the tune but it’s quite likely that he actually composed most of it, with the occasional nod in the direction of Handel. Oh, look! First Presbyterian Church! youtube/watch?v=tlF8XYWsNmQ
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 01:07:15 +0000
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