Arnold Bax: Lord, thou hast told us – Hymn

Recently, I was in the Oxfam Bookshop based on Penny Street in the fascinating City of Lancaster. They had a reasonably good selection of classical vinyl LPs and a small stack of sheet music. In one of the browsers, I found a second-hand copy of Anthems for Choirs: Volume 4. It was priced at £1.99. Looking through this collection of ‘Twenty-Six Anthems for Mixed Voices by Twentieth Century Composers,’ I discovered a very short piece by Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953): it was the anthem ‘Lord, Thou hast told us.’

Despite my being a Bax enthusiast, I have never heard of this work. I must have missed it on my several trawls through Graham Parlett’s essential Catalogue (1999)

The first port of call was YouTube on the off-chance someone had uploaded a recording of the piece. Sure enough, there were two lovely videos of this piece, one featuring a short film of the Scottish landscape between Perth and Aberdeen, performers not cited, and the other was sung by Saint Clements’ Choir, Philadelphia. First impressions were of a beautiful miniature.

The basic information about this piece is straightforward. Arnold Bax composed it in 1930 for inclusion in the new enlarged edition of Songs of Praise which was published the following year. The original had been issued in 1925: it was edited by Percy Dearmer, Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

This time was a busy one for the composer. He was living at 155 Fellows Road in Swiss Cottage. Beginning in 1928, Bax spent much time at the Station Hotel (now, Morar Hotel) in Morar, Inverness-shire. The previous year (1929) had seen his Third Symphony written in London and in the Scottish Western Highlands. Major works from 1930 include the now-rarely heard Nonet for flute, clarinet, oboe, harp, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass, the large-scale Winter Legends for piano and orchestra, and the Overture to a Picaresque Comedy for orchestra. The Symphony No.4 was begun in Morar during the Summer of 1930.

Graham Parlett (1999) points out that the manuscript of ‘Lord, thou hast told us’ has disappeared, so there is no notion as to its exact date of completion.

‘Lord, thou hast told us’ is not really an anthem as such, but a hymn tune. This tune is entitled ‘Wonder.’  The four-verse text is by the Reverend Dr. Thomas Washbourne (1606-87). Washbourne was a 17^th century clergyman and poet. He was born in Wichenford Court in Worcestershire which is a small parish some six miles to the north west of Worcester. After education at Balliol College, Oxford he held livings as Vicar of Loddington, Northamptonshire and at Dumbleton in Gloucestershire and latterly as a Prebendary (honorary Canon) at Gloucester Cathedral. He was an ‘ardent’ monarchist who was appalled at the execution of Charles I. Thomas Washbourne is recalled for his volume Divine Poems published in 1654. Some of his poems approach John Donne and George Herbert in their depth and theological wisdom and spirituality.

Lord! thou hast told us that there be

Two dwellings which belong to Thee;

And those two — that's the wonder —

Are far asunder.

The one the highest heaven is,

The mansions of eternal bliss;

The other's the contrite

And humble sprite.

Though heaven be high, the gate is low,

And he that comes in there must bow;

The lofty looks shall ne'er

Have entrance there.

O God! since Thou delight'st to rest

Within the humble, contrite breast,

First make me so to be;

Then dwell with me.

Thomas Washbourne (1606-87)

The book Songs of Praise Discussed (London 1933) suggests that ‘Wonder’ ‘…is clearly founded on the style of the early psalm-tunes but has some individual touches in rhythm and expression.’ However, there is no suggestion that Bax has based his hymn in a pre-existing tune. The music is printed on a single page and consists of 10 bars.

The hymn/anthem is in simple strophic form, with the same harmonisation used for each verse although there are slight differences to allow for the textual metre. The tonal centre is typically F minor (4 flats), but there are modal inflections to this music. The final chord for each verse is a ‘tierce de picardie’, in other words the minor third raised to a major third.  

The formal structure of the hymn is straightforward – A B B’A.  It opens in the tonic F minor followed by the dominant chord with E natural. This relative simplicity of harmonic style continues to the end. Bax makes use of parallel thirds, especially between the tenor and bass part.

The interpretative challenge for this piece is managing the dynamics and tempo. I suggest that it is sung slightly faster than the ‘moderately slow’ signed in the Anthem Book. Each verse should have a dynamic of about ‘mezzo forte.’ It is possible for a soprano/treble solo to sing the words of the third verse with a ‘hummed’ accompaniment.

The only contemporary review on this work that I found was in a Programme Note (Cantate Choir, 7 June 2006): ‘…this ‘hymn setting [is] of such perfect simplicity and beauty that it is hard to believe it is from the same pen. It reminds us that many of our best-loved hymn tunes were written by first-rate English composers.’

The first performance of this anthem/hymn has been impossible to establish, however Graham Parlett (1999) states that the earliest performance traced was broadcast from Carlisle Cathedral on ‘Choral Evensong’ on Radio 3, 30 December 1983. It served as the Introit. The afternoon event was dominated by Bax, with his rarely heard Canticles (Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis) and the part-song, ‘I sing of a maiden.’ Other music included Psalms 149 & 150 to chants by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), the Responses by Richard Ayleward (1626-69), John Rutter’s (b.1945) Gaelic Blessing and the concluding organ voluntary was the powerful and often scary ‘L'Ange a la trompette’ by French composer Jacques Charpentier (1933-2017). The performers were The Abbey Singers conducted by Andrew Seivewright.

Since 1999, Graham Parlett has discovered two earlier performances during 1983. The first was on 25 February on AR Melbourne, Australia. The earliest UK performance so far traced was during Sung Eucharist at Hampton Court Palace on 6 November 1983. It was performed by the Choir of the Chapel Royal.

Bibliography:

Parlett, Graham, A Catalogue of the Works of Sir Arnold Bax, (Oxford University Press, 1999)