For All the Saints

"For All the Saints" was written as a processional hymn by the Anglican Bishop William Walsham How. The hymn was first printed in "Hymns for Saint's Days, and Other Hymns", by Earl Nelson, 1864.

Tune

The hymn was sung to the melody "Sarum", by Victorian composer Joseph Barnby, until the publication of the English Hymnal in 1906. This hymnal used a new setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams which he called "Sine Nomine" (literally, "without name") in reference to its use on the Feast of All Saints, November 1, or the first Sunday in November, All Saints Sunday in the Lutheran Church. It has been described as "one of the finest hymn tunes of [the 20th] century." [Clothier]

While most English hymn tunes of its era are written for singing in SATB four-part harmony, "Sine Nomine" is primarily unison (verses 1,2,3,7 and 8) with organ accompaniment; just three verses (4, 5 and 6) are set in sung harmony. The tune appears in this forms in most English hymnbooks (for example English Hymnal (641), New English Hymnal (197), Common Praise (232)) and American hymnals (for example Lutheran Service Book (677)).

Text

:1. For all the saints, who from their labours rest,:Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,:Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:2. Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;:Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;:Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:3. For the Apostles’ glorious company,:Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,:Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee::Alleluia, Alleluia!

:4. For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,:Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,:Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:5. For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,:Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,:And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:6. O blest communion, fellowship divine!:We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;:All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:7. O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,:Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,:And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:8. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,:Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,:And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:9. The golden evening brightens in the west;:Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;:Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:10. But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;:The saints triumphant rise in bright array;:The King of glory passes on His way.:Alleluia, Alleluia!

:11. From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,:Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,:And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost::Alleluia, Alleluia!

"Some versions substitute "far off we hear" for "steals on the ear" (verse 8). There are other minor variations as well. Most renditions omit verses 3, 4 and 5."

References

* [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/f/a/fallthes.htm For All the Saints - Cyber Hymnal]
*Richard Clothier, "A Heritage of Hymns" (Independence, Missouri: Herald Publishing House, 1996), 156-158.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/hymns/saints.htm Background information]
* [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/mid/s/i/n/sine_nomine.mid Vaughan Williams's tune (MIDI)]
* [http://www.cyberhymnal.org/mid/s/a/sarum.mid Barnaby's tune (MIDI)] .