Alleluia, sweetest anthem, voice of joy that may not die

Alleluia, sweetest anthem, voice of joy that may not die

Author: John Keble
Tune: ALLELUIA DULCE CARMEN (77111)
Published in 5 hymnals

Author: John Keble

Keble, John, M.A., was born at Fairford, in Gloucestershire, on St. Mark's Day, 1792. His father was Vicar of Coln St. Aldwin's, about three miles distant, but lived at Fairford in a house of his own, where he educated entirely his two sons, John and Thomas, up to the time of their entrance at Oxford. In 1806 John Keble won a Scholarship at Corpus Christi College, and in 1810 a Double First Class, a distinction which up to that time had been gained by no one except Sir Robert Peel. In 1811 he was elected a Fellow of Oriel, a very great honour, especially for a boy under 19 years of age; and in 1811 he won the University Prizes both for the English and Latin Essays. It is somewhat remarkable that amid this brilliantly successful career,… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Alleluia, sweetest anthem, voice of joy that may not die
Author: John Keble
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Alleluia, dulce carmen. [Week before Septuagesima.] The earliest form in which this hymn is found is in three manuscripts of the 11th century in the British Museum. From a Durham manuscript of the 11th century, it was published in the Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church (Surtees Society), 1851, p. 55. The text is in Daniel, i. No. 263, and with further readings in iv. p. 152; and in the Hymnarium Sarisuriense, 1851, p. 59. [Rev. W. A. Shoults, B.D.]
Translations in common use:—
3. Alleluia! song of sweetness. Voice of joy, eternal lay. By J. M. Neale. It appeared in the first edition Mediaeval Hymns, 1851, p. 130, in 4 stanzas of 6 lines, and was "corrected for the Hymnal Noted." Mediaeval Hymns, 2nd ed. p. 184), where it was given in its new form, in 1852, No. 46, and again in the 2nd edition of the Mediaeval Hymns, 1863. This translation equals in popularity that of Chandler, but it is more frequently and extensively altered. Without noticing minor instances, we find the following: "Alleluia, song of sweetness,Voice of joy that cannot die" in Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1861 and 1875, and many others. " Hallelujah! song of gladness, Voice of joy that cannot die" in Thring's Collection, 1882, &c. Of these altered forms of Neale's text, that of Hymns Ancient & Modern, is most frequently adopted.
7. Alleluia, sweetest anthem, Voice of joy that may not die. By J. Keble. This translation is based upon Dr. Neale's, and was contributed to the Salisbury Hymn Book, 2857, No. 63, and repeated, with alterations, in the Sarum, 1868. It was also included in Keble's Miscellaneous Poems, 2869, p. 149.

The close resemblance of these translations to each other has made the annotations a task of some difficulty. By far the greater number of compilers have worked with second-hand materials, and these, when rearranged, have produced complications in the text of the most embarrassing nature.

--Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 5 of 5)

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