What's going on here?

Here is another of what I will call an "unconventional hymn" from The Mennonite Hymnal. Click to enlarge.

With original German words by Martin Luther and later translated to this English version, with a melody that is also from the early 16th century but harmonized some 200 years later by that master of the baroque, J.S. Bach.

At first glance I thought, hey, I've found a hymn in Dorian mode! But on looking through it more carefully, I don't think it really fits into Dorian. Of course, I was never really trained in composition for all the various modes so I could still be wrong.

All those accidentals, and especially the flatted Tis are what have cast me into doubt. It does look like the sharped Do and the use of a G in the tenor creates a dominant seventh chord in the last measure that throws it firmly into the key of D for the last note. It does have a sharped Fa that makes it a D major chord, but we can just call that a Picardy third.

In any case, I think I will have to transcribe this song into Melody Assistant so I can play it and see how it all sounds.

Check the link for the Dorian mode above for a short list of pop songs in Dorian mode. I'm sure everyone is familiar with at least two or three of them.

Oh yeah, and check out those low notes in the bass part. Not many amateur singers could pull that off, I'd guess.

"How Can I Keep From Singing" by Robert Lowry

I first heard this song on the 1991 album Shepherd Moons by Irish "new age" artist Enya (Eithne Ní Bhraonáin). It immediately became one of my favorite songs, and I thought it sounded very hymn-like in spite of it being very secular in its lyrics. The third stanza always reminded me of the apostle Paul singing in prison.

Several weeks ago, while looking for something else entirely, I happened across a website (which I forgot to bookmark and now can't track down) that had a poem that was obviously the original version of these lyrics attributed to Robert Lowry from 1865. Knowing that Robert Lowry had been a prolific 19th-century hymnist, I assumed that he had also written music for it. At that moment I forgot whatever it was I had been looking for and immediately set out to try and find a copy of the sheet music for it. I was unable to find any kind of SATB version of the sort that would have been printed in a hymnal, but I was able to find a simple piano score accompaniment for it, which was enough for me. It was only a matter of time for me to arrange an a capella SATB* version from the piano score.

Below is a graphic to illustrate the differences between the two versions. Click to enlarge.


According to the Wikipedia entry for this song (which I have no reason to doubt), there is some argument as to the origination of the lyrics. Some attribute it to Lowry, but it seems more likely that someone else wrote the words and Lowry was the first to put them to music. Our best guess now, 150 years later, is that the true identity of the author has been lost.

As you can see from this graphic, the first stanza is identical in both versions except for some of the punctuation. The second stanza begins to diverge, with some similarities but with all the Christian references removed for the folk song version (attributed to folk musician Pete Seeger). The third stanza is entirely different, with the folk song version turning the song into more of a "political persecution" song rather than a Christian hymn.

Again according to Wikipedia, this song was not included in many hymnals until after Enya's 1991 version gave it a resurgence in popularity; after that it appeared in several hymnals in the very late 20th century.

I see no reason why the original lyrics could not be sung in a Christian worship service today. The song could easily serve as a song of both edification and praise. The links below lead to files that anyone is free to use as they see fit to learn and sing this song. I hope they will be of use to someone.

How Can I Keep From Singing - sheet music: A pdf file of the sheet music written in a simple SATB version with shape notes.

How Can I Keep From Singing - soprano emphasized
How Can I Keep From Singing - alto emphasized
How Can I Keep From Singing - tenor emphasized
How Can I Keep From Singing - bass emphasized

The previous four files are simple mp3 files with the various parts emphasized so that anyone can listen and learn their part by ear. The "emphasized" part uses a midi organ sound and is boosted at a higher volume than the accompanying parts. The non-emphasized parts use the midi "choir oohs" sound at a lower volume level.

And finally, to hear the song with all parts set to piano at the same volume level, click on How Can I Keep From Singing - all parts.

NOTE: This is the first of what I hope to be many songs that I have categorized as "not in the book." By this I mean, not in the book that my home congregation currently uses, that is, Songs of Faith and Praise from 1994 edited by Alton Howard, et. al. Any song so categorized only means it is not in this particular book. It does not mean that it is not in any book. I would very much like to see any SATB version written by Lowry himself. If you know of such a version, please leave a comment.

*"A capella" and "SATB" are terms that I will likely use often on this blog. "A capella" in its modern meaning simply means any song that is written for voices only. "SATB" means "Soprano Alto Tenor Bass," and refers to songs written in the style commonly used in a capella hymnals.