An English Hymn with two Welsh Tunes - for St. David's Day. (and an oddity in the text).
HYFRODOL widely used in the U.S.A.
BLAENWERN the favourite tune in the U.K (and Australia).
Here sung, as is fitting, by a Welsh Male Voice Choir.
My preference is Blaenwern. That's probably because I grew up with it.
THE ODDITY We sing "let us see Thy great salvation, perfectly restored in Thee". What in the world of hymnody does that mean? How is God's salvation restored in God?
Some Hymnologists assert that Charles Wesley wrote "let us see Thy great salvation, perfectly restored in me".
That makes sense when we know that the Wesley Brothers taught that Christians could be "perfected i.e. "completed" in love.
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P.S. There is another tune, by Stainer, in which the hymn is sung with four line verses.
It's a pretty enough tune - beloved by English Men and Boys/Girls choirs. But it doesn't have the verve of the Welsh Tunes. It can be sung politely, but not with passion.
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