Sine Nomine - instrumental

Harp, Oboe, French Horn, String Quartet, and Timp, plus Congregation, Organ, and Choir. This is the same instrumentation used for the "mixed ensemble" setting of THAXTED (O God beyond all praising). This demo is the introduction plus eight verses.

Intro: Instrumental (Organ and Timp tacet) 00:00

1 - Hymnal RVW (a): Organ / unison voices (harm. RVW) 00:45*

2 - Hymnal RWV (a): Strings / Organ sotto voce / Winds ad lib / unison voices 01:27*

3 - Free harmonization: Organ / unison voices 02:09

4 -Instrumental: Strings / Organ sotto voce / Harp / unison voices 02:52

5- Hymnal RVW (b): SATB voices / Organ sotto voce (tacet ad lib) 03:33*

6 - Instrumental: Ensemble and voices (Organ tacet) 04:17

7 - Hymnal RVW (a): Organ / voices in unison (harm. RVW) 04:56*

8 - Instrumental: All with descant 05:38

* harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

Verses Hymnal 1982 order

1.* For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
2.* Thou wast their rock, their fortress and their might;
thou, Lord, their Captain in the well-fought fight;
thou, in the darkness drear, the one true Light.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
3. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win, with them, the victor's crown of gold.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
4. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
5.* And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
6. The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
7.* But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.

Alleluia, Alleluia!
8. From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:

Alleluia, Alleluia!

The 'soldier' metaphor

In the Anglican doctrine of the Communion of Saints, Christ's church on earth is consdered to be the Church Militant, the assembly of the faithful gathered in great numbers (lit. 'thousands', the mili of militant). The faithful that that have gone before is the Church Triumphant. These comprise a whole, the Communion of Saints, the word communion itself of Augustinian coinage meaning 'together one.' It includes all the faithful, as Walsham How makes explicit in the verse

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one, and all in thee are thine, Alleluia!

In terms of historical linguistics, there is an interesting double entendre. Before it became uniquely associated with soldiers, milito more generally meant 'one who serves,' a meaning we hear an echo of when we say to a member of the armed forces "Thank you for your service." Soldiers both serve and assemble in thousands. With the loss of verses dedicated to Apostles, Martyrs, and the Evangelists, the hymn loses the counterbalance of the Church Triumphant, the milia milium (thousands upon thousands, the countless heavenly host) who will return with Christ at the end of time.


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