10. 6. 10. 6
No, it is not a list of the Global Coordinates for the location of the Lost Ark of the Covenant…nor is it a code to unlock secret information in the prayer book…nor is it the phone number that Archbishop Morse dials when he needs a Seminarian to work in the Office…
10 6. 10 6 is the Metrical Structure of a hymn that I use at Evensong frequently and which our Girl Choir sings very well: "O brightness of the immortal Father's face, most heavenly blessed..."
The numbers represent the number of syllables in the hymn (i.e., 10 syllables: O-bright-ness-of-theimm-or-tal-Fa-ther's-face, followed by 6 syllables: Most-ho-ly-heav'n-ly blest...followed by another set of 10 + 6 syllables).
A set of numbers such as this appear at the top of every hymn, except for times when initials are supplied for the nick-name of the poetic meter, such as "C.M." for Common Meter or "L.M." for Long Meter, etc... The metrical structure of a hymn text is used to determine how it will be sung or played in performance. It may also be used to match the text with an alternate tune. For an example of how it might shape the performance, I try to interpret each section of 10+6 as one Musical Phrase, to be sung in one breath, if possible. (Although, since I haven't been running as regularly as I would like in the past few weeks, that goal was reduced to having a Musical Phrase only in the loosest possible sense!)
This hymn as it appears in our Hymnal, 1940 is a translation/paraphrase by Edward Eddis (1864) of the 3rd century Greek hymn, "Phos hilaron". The “Phos hilaron” has been a popular hymn in Anglican circles at least since the mid 19th century. There are a number of Anglican translations and paraphrases of it, both for use as hymns and for Choral Anthems. Another version (by Robert Bridges) occurs at number 176 in our hymnal, “O gladsome light, O grace of God the Father’s face…” There is another famous example by John Keble, “Hail, gladdening light”, which is used in a number of Anthems.
For those of us who live in the now-deepening darkness of the Pacific North West Winter, the “Phos hilaron” is especially appropriate to sing: Christ is the Light of the world!
There are two tunes available for Eddis’ hymn, 173 St. Nicholas and 768 Evening Hymn, both of which are designed to work with the rather loping 10 6. 10 6 metrical structure. The latter, by Gerald Near, is found in the Supplemental Tunes at the back and is currently my favorite. If you are interested in learning more about the internal workings of the hymn, watch out for my upcoming article in the Nov-Dec issue of The Mandate (prayer book society journal) entitled: "The Hymnal, 1940: Anatomy of a Hymn".
No, it is not a list of the Global Coordinates for the location of the Lost Ark of the Covenant…nor is it a code to unlock secret information in the prayer book…nor is it the phone number that Archbishop Morse dials when he needs a Seminarian to work in the Office…
10 6. 10 6 is the Metrical Structure of a hymn that I use at Evensong frequently and which our Girl Choir sings very well: "O brightness of the immortal Father's face, most heavenly blessed..."
The numbers represent the number of syllables in the hymn (i.e., 10 syllables: O-bright-ness-of-theimm-or-tal-Fa-ther's-face, followed by 6 syllables: Most-ho-ly-heav'n-ly blest...followed by another set of 10 + 6 syllables).A set of numbers such as this appear at the top of every hymn, except for times when initials are supplied for the nick-name of the poetic meter, such as "C.M." for Common Meter or "L.M." for Long Meter, etc... The metrical structure of a hymn text is used to determine how it will be sung or played in performance. It may also be used to match the text with an alternate tune. For an example of how it might shape the performance, I try to interpret each section of 10+6 as one Musical Phrase, to be sung in one breath, if possible. (Although, since I haven't been running as regularly as I would like in the past few weeks, that goal was reduced to having a Musical Phrase only in the loosest possible sense!)
This hymn as it appears in our Hymnal, 1940 is a translation/paraphrase by Edward Eddis (1864) of the 3rd century Greek hymn, "Phos hilaron". The “Phos hilaron” has been a popular hymn in Anglican circles at least since the mid 19th century. There are a number of Anglican translations and paraphrases of it, both for use as hymns and for Choral Anthems. Another version (by Robert Bridges) occurs at number 176 in our hymnal, “O gladsome light, O grace of God the Father’s face…” There is another famous example by John Keble, “Hail, gladdening light”, which is used in a number of Anthems.
For those of us who live in the now-deepening darkness of the Pacific North West Winter, the “Phos hilaron” is especially appropriate to sing: Christ is the Light of the world!
There are two tunes available for Eddis’ hymn, 173 St. Nicholas and 768 Evening Hymn, both of which are designed to work with the rather loping 10 6. 10 6 metrical structure. The latter, by Gerald Near, is found in the Supplemental Tunes at the back and is currently my favorite. If you are interested in learning more about the internal workings of the hymn, watch out for my upcoming article in the Nov-Dec issue of The Mandate (prayer book society journal) entitled: "The Hymnal, 1940: Anatomy of a Hymn".
posted by Anglicans Aweigh at 9:15 PM
4 Comments:
"not a list of the Global Coordinates... nor is it a code to unlock secret information in the prayer book…nor is it the phone number that Archbishop Morse dials when..."
LOL! Do we even have "secret information" in the 1928 Prayer Book? Other than the fact that some of us rarely open it because we have the entire Order for Holy Communion committed to memory.
But here's where my techie background betrays me: I saw none of the above, I saw an internet IP (IPv4) "dotted-quad" address.
Yes...it could also be an IP address, CH. That would be interesting to find out whether it actually is!
The Secret Information in the prayer book is only decipherable by high-tech computer programs. But, if you have the Services committed to memory, then you are probably subconsciously aware of the Secret Info... :)
That is an excellent translation. Personally, I don't think that one has to have a metrical, rhyming verse. A straight, word-by-word translation, even such the one found in the 1979 prayer book of the ECUSA, is fine with me.
Correction to my last comment: after further study of the 1979 translation, I see that "hilaron" is translated incorrectly as "gracious". The greek word in that case should be some form of "charis" instead of "hilaron". And then there is the unfortunate grammatical construction for the Holy Trinity "God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit", which easily paves the way for either Unitarian or Modalist doctrines of God. See my January/February article in The Mandate on Anglican translations of Phos Hilaron.
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