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Track(s) taken from CDA68013

Thine be the glory – Maccabaeus

First line:
Thine be the glory
composer
author of text
translator of text

Westminster Abbey Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor), Robert Quinney (organ)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: January 2013
Westminster Abbey, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: January 2014
Total duration: 2 minutes 48 seconds

Cover artwork: Westminster Bridge (detail). Samuel Scott (c1702-1772)
Private Collection / © Agnew's, London / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

Wells Cathedral Choir, Malcolm Archer (conductor), Rupert Gough (organ)

Reviews

‘The recording is first class. Engineer David Hinitt and producer Adrian Peacock have successfully captured the rich acoustics and yet achieved a clear reproduction of the voices and the mighty organ. Anyone who has ever been in Westminster Abbey should be overwhelmed by the lifelike sound picture. The generous programme is also finely contrasted … the quality of the singing is on a high level and Robert Quinney negotiates the organ accompaniments excellently’ (MusicWeb International)» More
The history of this hymn is entirely bound up with the tune. John Wesley mentions its use for a hymn in 1787. Handel only wrote three hymn tunes, all for Charles Wesley’s words, one of which, to ‘Rejoice the Lord is King’ has become very popular. This tune, however, was planned to appear in Handel’s oratorio Joshua (1747) but he transferred it to Judas Maccabaeus (1746) where it became the chorus ‘See the conquering hero comes’. There was a German Advent hymn to the tune by Friedrich-Heinrich Ranke. Budry, who was from French-speaking Switzerland wrote his hymn ‘A toi la gloire, O Ressuscité’ for the tune in 1884. Richard Hoyle translated it in 1923 for the first edition of Cantate Domino, the hymn book of the World Student Christian Movement, in which circles it became very popular. It first appeared in a British hymn book in the Methodist Hymn Book 1933, and few hymn books are now without it.

It is based on the gospel accounts of the Resurrection, with a passing allusion to Thomas’ doubt in verse 3. The repeated ‘victory’ can be traced to St Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 57—‘But thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

from notes by Alan Luff © 2004

Other albums featuring this work

The English Hymn, Vol. 5 - Lead, kindly Light
CDP12105
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