Page 30 - Church Music Quarterly March 2018

HYMN
MEDITATION
ANGEL-VOICES EVER SINGING: A MEDITATION BY GORDON GILES
Angel-voices ever singing round thy throne of light, angel-harps for ever ringing,
rest not day nor night; thousands only live to bless thee and confess thee
Lord of might.
Thou who art beyond the farthest mortal eye can scan,
can it be that thou regardest songs of sinful man?
Can we know that thou art near us, and wilt hear us?
Yea, we can.
Yea, we know that thou rejoicest o’er each work of thine;
thou didst ears and hands and voices for thy praise design;
craftsman’s art and music’s measure for thy pleasure
all combine.
In thy house, great God, we offer of thine own to thee;
and for thine acceptance proffer all unworthily
hearts and minds and hands and voices in our choicest
psalmody.
Honour, glory, might, and merit thine shall ever be,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, blessèd Trinity.
Of the best that thou hast given earth and heaven
render thee.
Words Francis Pott (1832–1909)
Music Angel voices Edwin George Monk (1819–1900)
Although we spend a significant proportion of our time in church singing, playing or listening to music, few hymns actually make direct reference to it. If a Sunday service
lasts around an hour and we sing four or five hymns, we are spending about 20 minutes – a third of the time – immersed or involved in music. Choral evensong has a roughly inverse ratio of speaking to song: about 20 minutes spoken and 40 sung. Yet we rarely sing about singing, and the hymns that invite us to do so are few and far between. Alongside ‘Angel-voices’,
we might think of Fred Pratt Green’s ‘When, in our music, God is glorified’, and then we have to look around for more. Delve deeper, looking for references to art and artists in our hymns and the well dries up almost
completely. This is also surprising, because so many of our churches and cathedrals are decorated so beautifully, so lovingly, so skilfully. Art, craft, design and architecture combine to the glory of God and the awe of humankind. ‘Angel-voices’ is therefore an exceptional hymn: exceptional in referring to both art and music, and often used in contexts where either or both merit particular celebration. Choral festivals, church dedications and restorations, RSCM ‘Music Sunday’ services, these all provide opportunities for a hymn that was written with such an event in mind.
Francis Pott, the author, was born in Speldhurst, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and went to Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating in 1854. Ordained deacon
in 1856 he served his title as curate of Bishopsworth, Somerset, before moving
30 CMQ