| "There is a green hill far away" | |
|---|---|
| Christian hymn | |
 The hymn as it appears in the 1868 appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern | |
| Genre | Hymn |
| Occasion | Passiontide |
| Text | by Cecil Frances Alexander |
| Language | English |
| Meter | C.M. (86.86) |
| Melody | "Horsley" |
"There is a green hill far away" is a Christian hymn, originally written as a children's hymn but now usually sung for Passiontide. The words are by Cecil Frances Alexander, and the most popular tune by William Horsley. [1]
The text was first published in Hymns for Little Children (1848), and the profound but simple text reflects well on this original purpose. The hymn would become popular after its publication in the 1868 appendix to the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern , paired with the tune "Horsley". [2] The writer's husband considered it among the best of those written by his wife, with later assessments agreeing on the matter, one early 20th century noting the fine poetic skill of the poet and proclaiming that "she surpassed all other writers of sacred song in meeting a growing demand for children’s hymns". [3] French composer Charles Gounod, who composed a musical setting on the hymn's text in 1871, [4] [5] reportedly considered that it was "the most perfect hymn in the English language", due in part to its striking simplicity. [6]
Despite the apparent simplicity, the text remains well known today due to its "clear presentation of the redemptive work of Christ". It appeared in later influential publications such as The English Hymnal (1906) and remains popular to this day, appearing in most compilations, scholar John Richard Watson noting that, since the time of its first publication, "it would be hard to find a major hymn book that has not included it". [2] [7]
The text is in five common metre stanzas. It is based upon the words "Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried," of the Apostles' Creed, [8] and is an example of a metric paraphrase of the Creed where each article is extended to form a complete hymn. [3] It can be summarised as a "touching" description of Christ dying for the sins of men and giving his "redeeming blood" to "save us all". [9]
The first stanza refers to Golgotha (Calvary). According to legend, the author often went past a "green hill" when walking from her home to Derry, and she might have associated this with the distant – both physically and temporally – location of the Crucifixion. "Without" in the second line is usually taken to mean "outside", and some hymnals make this change explicitly. The final line refers to passages such as 1 John 2 and Isaiah 53:6. [3] The second stanza speaks of the mystery of the cross [6] and of atonement through the sacrifice of Christ, based on Isaiah 53:5 and 2 Corinthians 5:21. [3]
The third stanza talks of the forgiveness of sin (c.f. Hebrews 9:22, Ephesians 1:6–7), through which Man is made good (2 Cor 5:17), framing this as the gateway to Heaven, an imagery continued in the fourth stanza. [3]
The final stanza is a fitting emotional conclusion to the text, and the repetition of the word "dearly" here refers has a double meaning: "that Christ loved mankind dearly, and in a way that cost Him dearly". [9] The concluding line is a clear call to the Biblical instruction to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). [3] [6]
There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good;
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by his precious Blood.
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.
O dearly, dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming Blood,
And try his works to do.
The most common tune is "Horsley", named after its author, William Horsley. It was first published as a four-part setting with figured bass in collection Twenty Four Psalm Tunes and Eight Chants (London: Addison & Hodson, 1844). The original harmonisation was kept in the 1868 Hymns Ancient and Moderns publication, and has endured ever since. [3] The following setting is transcribed from The English Hymnal (1906):
In the United States, the hymn is also frequently sung to the tune "Green Hill" by gospel composer George C. Stebbins. It was originally intended as a setting for the hymn's text and published in Gospel Hymns No. 3 (Chicago: Biglow & Main, 1878). This setting uses the final stanza as a refrain. [3] In mostly step-wise melodic motion, it features a slow harmonic rhythm which eventually leads to a summit in the final line. [10]
Another alternative is "Meditation" by John H. Gower, published in An Evening Service Book for Evensong, Missions, Sunday Schools, Family Prayer, etc. (Denver: Denver Music Pub., 1891) where it is set to both this text and "There is a fountain filled with blood" by William Cowper. [3] [11]
The hymn, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", was written by Isaac Watts, and published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. It is significant for being an innovative departure from the early English hymn style of only using paraphrased biblical texts, although the first couplet of the second verse paraphrases Galatians 6:14a and the second couplet of the fourth verse paraphrases Gal.6:14b. The poetry of "When I survey..." may be seen as English literary baroque.
"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" is a Christian hymn by Charles Wesley on Christian perfection. Judging by general repute, it is among Wesley's finest: "justly famous and beloved, better known than almost any other hymn of Charles Wesley." Judging by its distribution, it is also among his most successful: by the end of the 19th century, it is found in 15 of the 17 hymn books consulted by the authors of Lyric Studies. On a larger scale, it is found almost universally in general collections of the past century, including not only Methodist and Anglican hymn books and commercial and ecumenical collections, but also hymnals published by Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, Brethren, Seventh-day Adventist, Lutheran, Congregationalist, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic traditions, among others including the Churches of Christ. Specifically, it appears in 1,328 of the North American hymnals indexed by the online Dictionary of North American Hymnology, comparable to Newton's "Amazing Grace" (1,036), Wesley's "O for a Thousand Tongues" (1,249), and Watts' "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (1,483), though still well short of Toplady's "Rock of Ages" (2,139) or Wesley's own "Jesu, Lover of my Soul" (2,164).
"Joy to the World" is an English Christmas carol. It was written in 1719 by the English minister and hymnwriter Isaac Watts, and its lyrics are a Christian reinterpretation of Psalm 98. The carol is usually sung to an 1848 arrangement by the American composer Lowell Mason.
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley. The hymn was placed first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists published in 1780. It was the first hymn in every (Wesleyan) Methodist hymnal from that time until the publication of Hymns and Psalms in 1983.
"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" is a Christian hymn associated with Easter. Most of the stanzas were written by Charles Wesley, and the hymn appeared under the title "Hymn for Easter Day" in Hymns and Sacred Poems by Charles and John Wesley in 1739. The hymn eventually became well known for the "Alleluia" sung as a melisma after each line, which was added by an unknown author, probably to fit the commonly used hymn tune, "Easter Hymn". It remains a traditional processional hymn on Easter Sunday.
Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbook Hymns for Little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music.
"For the Beauty of the Earth" is a Christian hymn by Folliott S. Pierpoint (1835-1917).
"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!" is a Christian hymn written by the Anglican bishop Reginald Heber (1783–1826).
"All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" is a Christian hymn.
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm, with or without refrain or chorus.
"Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn" is a Lutheran hymn by Elisabeth Cruciger. Printed in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion, together with 18 hymns by Martin Luther, it is one of the oldest Lutheran hymns. The text combines Lutheran teaching with medieval mysticism. It has been the basis of musical settings such as Bach's chorale cantata Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn, BWV 96.
"Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" is a Christian hymn. Its text, which draws from Psalm 103, was written by Anglican divine Henry Francis Lyte. First published in 1834, it endures in modern hymnals to a setting written by John Goss in 1868, and remains one of the most popular hymns in English-speaking denominations.
"Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron" is a hymn for Easter in 20 stanzas in German by Michael Weiße, widely known with a later melody by Melchior Vulpius. Shortened, it is part of current Protestant and Catholic German hymnals.
"And Can It Be That I Should Gain?" is a Christian hymn written by Charles Wesley in 1738 to celebrate his conversion, which he regarded as having taken place on 21 May of that year. The hymn celebrates personal salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and is one of the most popular Methodist hymns today.
"Die güldne Sonne voll Freud und Wonne" is a Lutheran hymn by Paul Gerhardt. It is a morning hymn which was first published in 1666, with a four-part setting by Johann Georg Ebeling. Gerhardt created an unusual hymn metre for its 12 stanzas.
"The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done" is a Christian hymn that is traditionally sung at Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. It was originally a 17th-century Latin hymn, "Finita iam sunt proelia"; the popular English-language version is an 1861 translation by the English hymnwriter Francis Pott.
"Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem" or "Sing, Choirs of New Jerusalem" is an English Easter hymn by Robert Campbell. It is a 19th-century translation of the medieval Chorus novae Ierusalem, attributed to Fulbert of Chartres. The text's primary focus is the Resurrection of Jesus, taking the theme of Jesus as triumphant victor over death and deliverer of the prisoners from Hell.
"O Jesu Christe, wahres Licht" is a Lutheran hymn by the German Baroque poet, Lutheran minister and hymn-writer Johann Heermann. The text was first published in 1630 during the Thirty Years' War. It is a prayer for enlightenment of those who are ignorant, and of those who turned away. It was associated with a melody from Nürnberg, dating to 1676. The hymn is part of modern German hymnals, both Protestant and Catholic. It was translated to English as "O Christ, our true and only light".
"Christians, awake, salute the happy morn" is an English Christmas hymn on a text by John Byrom. It is usually sung to the tune "Yorkshire" by John Wainright.
Lucis Creator Optime is a 5th-century Latin Christian hymn variously attributed to St Gregory the Great or Saint Ambrose. It takes its title from its incipit.