Based on the first part of Psalm 19, this praise of God as creator by a great English writer, set to music by one of the greatest Austrian classical composers, exemplifies the ideals of the classical movement: simple, clear, simply beautiful, simply effective music and poetry.
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The spacious firmament on high
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aabbccdd (rhymed couplets)
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) turned to literary pursuits after a career in British public service. His essays from the Tatler and Spectator are featured in the canon of English Literature; his religious purpose1 is not so well remembered. But John Wesley, his contemporary, once said:
When profligacy was flagrant and sobriety and religion were regarded as synonymous with Puritanism and hypocrisy, "God raised up Mr. Addison and his associates to lash the prevailing vices and ridiculous and profane customs of the country, and to show the excellence of Christ and Christian institutions."Addison was a friend of Isaac Watts, and followed his example2 in writing five hymns.3
His poetry, like his prose, exemplifies the classical ideals: clear, simple, polished. Few other metrical psalms show such poetic skill. Unlike Watts4, Addison rhymes every line pair (with true rhymes): and yet, reading the poem, nothing gives the impression that words were chosen, or word order jumbled, to force a rhyme. Every line includes a complete phrase, every pair of lines logically fits together; every four lines forms a complete clause, and every verse a complete logical thought: and yet the words that were added to fill the meter are not noticeable -- perhaps partly because Addison had captured the spirit of the parallelism characteristic of Hebrew poetry, and his insertions are often in that form. It is, as Lord Selborne called it, "a very perfect and finished composition, ... among the best hymns in the English language ... If it be not poetry, I do not know what is; and to prove that it is song, and soul-stirring song too, it is only necessary to hear it, as I often have, heartily sung to an appropriate tune." William Thackeray5 said of it:
"Listen to him: from your childhood you have known the verses: but who can hear their sacred music without love and awe? ... It seems to me those verses shine like the stars. Sabbath comes over that man's mind: and his face lights up from it with a glory of thanks and prayer."
A close comparision of this text with Psalm 19 shows that Addison did expand its thought: fourteen Hebrew lines become twenty-four in the English. It omits verses 7-14 of the psalm, and thus doesn't fully represent the psalmist's train of thought.6
In one way this version is even more faithful to the Hebrew original than was the King James Version. Addison recognized and emphasized the deliberate paradox7 of the original text: "There is no speech, no words: their voice is not heard."
sddrrmdlrdt|sltdrmfmmrrddl; 51122 316217 56712
aa'bb' (binary form)
This tune comes from a the chorus in Haydn's oratorio The Creation, for which it is named. It was adapted as a psalm tune by William Gardiner8. Mason and Webb8 slightly modified it in 1848. Sometime in the nineteenth century it was associated with this text9.
In every way is this an appropriate tune. The style is compatible: Haydn was one of the most distinguished composers of the classical movement; his simple, singable melody and clear, beautiful harmonies reflect the similar characteristics of the poetry. The mood is compatible: a bright, rising melody radiating pure joy.10 This tune is almost unique in having extramusical associations that reinforce the text: in The Creation, its original text began "The heavens are telling."11
A philosopher has described a common modern perception of God as "God of the cracks" -- that is, He is "the origin of those ever-fewer niggling details for which we know no scientific cause; the provider of those ever-fewer minor blessings not guaranteed by social agencies." Living in modern society, we often carelessly absorb myths like this. In daily life, we do not say the sun came up because God made it -- we know about the earth's rotation, which is a more immediate and much more predictable cause. But it is easy to forget that our life would be impossible without earth's rotation and axial tilt and a host of other parameters that, according to the laws of physics, might well have taken values incompatible with our existance, as we can easily see from a study of other planets. Physics does not eliminate the evidence of design in the universe: it merely emphasizes the complexity of that design. We can still recognize God's wisdom and power in all of creation: even the heavenly bodies that seem unnecessary for our welfare can excite our wonder, curiosity, and imagination. That message, common in the psalms, is nowhere expressed better than here.
Addison's classical language has aged more gracefully than most hymns of that era. Even so, this hymn is found in few recent hymnals.12 Perhaps in our culture, the aesthetic ideals of the classical movement are out of fashion.13 But the ideal of the skilled craftsman -- to do well what good you do -- should never be out of place, and seldom have hymnwriters have so well achieved what they set out to do.
Perhaps the ghost of nineteenth-century deism made it dangerous to speak of "Reason" revealing God. But the spirit of modernism is dead set against both Reason and God! Surely, therefore, it is good to celebrate Reason, its true source, and its true goal: "to seek God, to grope for Him and find Him," inspired by His creation. And this hymn expresses that ideal gloriously.
DRAFT COPY: CIRCULATED FOR REVIEW
Copyright © 2002,2003,2004, Stephen Hutcheson
Please circulate copies to elicit comments, but do not broadcast or publish.
Feedback would be received with gratitude.
| These studies are created by members of the West Allen Church of Christ in Allen, Texas |