Scott Aniol June 20th, 2008

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Introduction

There are many great hymns in the 1,100 year history of notated music in the Christian church, but surely Holy, Holy, Holy! has to be regarded as one of the finest. True theology, articulated in good poetry, set to beautiful music, is the combination of disciplines that make this hymn an enduring and great work. The goal of this article is to examine the objective musical facets of this hymn, and to point to some of the features of its constructs that contribute to its beauty and excellence. But a hymn is truly an interdisciplinary work, drawing on the separate fields of theology, poetry, and music, so it will be necessary to make reference to some of these extra-musical components as well. Since poetry and theology are not my particular fields of expertise, I’ll try to limit my comments in these areas to their interaction with the musical aspect of the work.

Once having laid out the objective characteristics of the music, an inevitable question arises: What are the criteria of beauty and excellence against which the musical structures are to be measured? For this, I will depend on the classic definitions of beauty and excellence as articulated by various theologians and philosophers throughout the centuries, but most succinctly and biblically put by Jonathan Edwards: unity and diversity (or consent of being to being in Edwards’ terminology), equality, proportion, and symmetry. Evaluation of the interaction of the text with the music will be made according to the criteria set forth by the apostle Paul in his first letter to the church at Corinth: “let all things in worship be done in a fitting (or appropriate) manner.” (I Cor. 14:40)

There are a few other premises that undergird the evaluations and I’ll set them forth here at the beginning for clarity. The first premise is that the sound constructs in music are capable of expressing emotions and extra-musical references in a manner that is universally understandable and that can be evaluated for their congruity (or lack thereof) with text. To support this premise, I will depend on John Makujina’s excellent exegesis in Measuring the Music of several scriptural passages wherein he defends the primacy of a bioacoustic semiotic over and above associative models of musical communication. The second premise is that craft and skill matter in the music we use in worship. Scripture reveals this in multiple locations, both explicitly and implicitly, beginning with the Cultural Mandate set forth by God in Genesis. Thirdly, the elements of music (melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.) are capable of being organized into perceivable architectonic layers. It will often be necessary to discuss these elements in their various layers.

It is not the purpose of this article to provide a history of the genre of the hymn or of works that bear the title ‘hymn.’ At a certain point in history, it becomes impossible to know about the musical characteristics of the genre since the term is used in writing (as in Paul’s epistles) prior to the development of musical notation. Nevertheless, it’s helpful to know something about the genre as it has come to be known and used today.

Today when we speak of a hymn, we are generally referring to a religious text syllabically set to a strophic musical composition. A syllabic setting is one where the composer assigns one note per syllable of text. There are, of course, exceptions to this when, for instance, the composer desires an elaboration of a given syllable of text, but mostly, for the sake of ease of congregational singing, hymns are for the most part set syllabically. Additionally, the genre of hymn has developed harmonically to become most commonly a work in chorale style - four voices whose notes usually move simultaneously (though not exclusively). This homorhythmic texture, as it’s known, assists the congregation in their ability to sing the hymn readily (since the person next to you should be singing the same rhythm), while the four separate voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) provide options for each individual in the congregation to sing the hymn within a range of notes that best suits his or her own voice. While nearly all hymns are strophic, there may be a wide variety of forms employed by the composer in order to best set the text.

A couple of final caveats before moving to an analysis of Holy, Holy, Holy:

1) Please know that I am not trying to impose a required level of expertise on the average worshiper or even pastor for meaningful worship in song. The analysis is necessarily musically dense and detailed. The state of worship in church has devolved into essentially two camps - those who say there is great music for worship and we should use it, and those who say, “Prove it.” Proving it requires analysis and criticism. This analysis is an effort toward defending a claim that there is objective excellence and beauty in music and that it is biblical that the church should seek these qualities in its worship. Detail has proven necessary in the defense of that claim as detractors persist. The level of detail in the following analysis is a normal part of the training that musicians acquire as they pursue the skill of their craft. It is understandably tedious for some, but part of the day-to-day craft of skilled music making.

2) What follows is not in any way intended to be a prescription for a great hymn. The forms of great hymns vary; the melodic structures vary; the rhythms vary; the harmonies vary; the proportions of these elements vary; the interactions of these elements vary. By no means am I suggesting with this analysis that composers who wish to write great hymns should follow a formula derived from this one hymn. This analysis is simply that: a collection of observations found in one hymn. Other great hymns may and do have widely disparate features. If there is an overarching principle to be found in greatness as it applies to hymns, it is more likely to be articulated in the writings of men like Jonathan Edwards and Augustine than in the common and necessarily tedious analysis of a single work.

BRIEF BACKGROUND

Holy Holy, Holy, required the combined efforts of two gifted and highly skilled men. The text was written by the accomplished poet and theologian Reginald Heber in the year of his death (1826) and based on the images of heavenly worship received by the apostle John in Revelation 4:8-11. According to poetic commentaries, Reber was enthralled with the holiness of God and used the symbolism of threes to extol God’s trinitarian nature. The Center for Church Music web commentary on this hymn tells of Reber’s poetic descriptions of God:

God is ‘holy, merciful and mighty,’ he’s ‘perfect in power, in love and purity,’ he’s worshiped by ’saints, cherubim, and seraphim,’ and he’s praised ‘in earth and sky and sea.’ Through these consistent units of three, this hymn describes and worships God in three persons.¹

The familiar tune, NICAEA, was specifically composed for the poem in 1861 by John B. Dykes, also a theologian, but with additional training in music. Together, the text and the music have provided an opportunity for saints to praise God in both spirit and truth for the past nearly 150 years.

Historically, good hymns begin with the text. The music is then derived from the text both in the detail of its craftsmanship as well as its emotional affect. The natural speech patterns and inflections of the language of the text are represented in the musical elements available to the composer and the emotional tone of the text serves as the basis for the emotional affect of the music. While these elements are inextricably intertwined with one another, it might be helpful for the purpose of clarity to separate them in the analysis.

ANALYSIS OF THE CRAFT OF TEXT SETTING AND INFLECTION

When setting the text to music, at least two levels of dynamic inflection must be considered. The lowest and most immediate level is the syllabic level; polysyllabic words must be set with the proper natural syllabic inflection they are given when they are spoken. For example, the word ‘holy’ must be set with the musical elements emphasizing the first syllable rather than the second and the word ‘almighty’ must be set with the middle syllable emphasized as it would be spoken. Also, when choosing from among single syllable words, syllabic inflection is generally reserved for more important parts of speech; nouns, verbs, and descriptors receive more musical inflection than articles, prepositions, and conjunctions. When the text is set well to the musical elements, the resulting naturalness of the syllabic inflection contributes immensely to a song’s ’sing-ability.’

The second level of inflection is at the level of the phrase. Musicians often refer to this level as ’shaping’ or ‘phrasing.’ This means determining the most important word (or words) of the group of words in the thought and arranging the musical elements (melody, rhythm, harmony, texture, etc.) in a manner that points to and emphasizes that word. In both composing and rendering the music, there are often interpretative choices to be made at this level and these choices can have an impact on the meaning of the text.

Whether considering inflection or shaping, there are a great variety of musical tools available to composers for assisting with the emphasis of a syllable of text, or an entire word. Some common ways include assigning the desired text the highest note of the phrase (pitch accent), assigning it the longest note of the phrase (agogic accent), placing it on a strong beat rather than a weak beat in the measure (metric accent), placing it at a proportionally strong point in the phrase (structural accent), giving it harmonic tension, assigning an expression mark (such as an accent, slur mark, sforzando, or tenuto mark), as well as many others. Skilled composers can control these musical elements so as to highlight one means over another, or to cause conflict between the various means, or to bring them all together at the same moment for especially climactic points in the music. These stress types occur at hierarchical levels in a musical composition, with good composers causing them to work together for a natural and musically congruent relationship with the text.

The syllabic textual inflection in NICAEA is very nearly flawless throughout all four verses. Every poly-syllabic word receives a musical treatment that correctly inflects the word as it would be spoken and all the single syllable words are treated in a naturally inflected manner. Take for example, the rhythmic placement of the word “holy.” Dykes sets it so that each time it is sung, the stressed syllable when speaking - “ho” - is placed on a strong beat in the measure - either beat one or beat three. The same is true for the other poly-syllabic word in the first line, “almighty.” The stressed middle syllable of “almighty” is deliberately placed on a strong first beat of the measure, to make sure the singers can expect to sing it as it would be spoken. The same careful treatment is given to all of the other poly-syllabic words in the hymn. Wherever there are single syllable words, Dykes takes care to ensure that their musical treatment reflects the way in which they would most naturally be spoken.

One might quibble about the final line of verse two where the poetic foot of the line changes in comparison to same line in the other verses in Heber’s poem. Poetic foot refers to the manner in which the strong syllables manifest and align themselves in a poem. Comparing the final line of each verse, we see the following strong syllables emerge in the spoken version of the text, with the bold text indicating the most natural spoken inflection:

vs. 1 God in three per - sons
vs. 2 who wert and art,
vs. 3 per - fect in pow‘r,
vs. 4 God in three per - sons

It’s clear that the strong syllables in verses 1, 3, and 4 in this line of the poem are similar in construction, each with a strong-weak-weak-strong-weak syllabic pattern. But the comparable clause of text in verse two contains a different number of syllables as well as a potentially different natural inflection for those syllables. This creates a dilemma for the hymn composer, who is writing strophically, using the same music for each verse. Sometimes musical accommodations must be made for the poem. Good composers will attempt to mitigate these poetic stress variants, employing different kinds of musical stresses (as mentioned above) that can be called upon and emphasized by skilled performing musicians to give good inflection during the performance of the music. In this case the obvious musical stress is given to the downbeat of measure 13.

Ex. #1 - NICAEA Melody and Textual Inflection

The strong pitch accent of the high note combined with its metric accent of being placed on the strongest beat of the measure serves verses one, three, and four perfectly. But where the poem deviates in its poetic meter in verse two, Dykes mitigated only slightly by choosing a rhythm for this measure that ensured that ‘wert’ would appear on a strong beat, albeit a secondarily strong beat three.

The second level of inflection, shaping, is similar to textual inflection in that both involve dynamic gradation. The principal difference in the two is one of scope - inflection occurring at very local levels while shaping takes place across an entire phrase or more of music. Both inflection and shaping are tools of dynamics - the rise and fall of stress and volume in music making. Both are ultimately in the hands of the performer, but the instructions for how and when to shape are embedded in the musical cues left by the composer. At the phrase level, shaping tends to emphasize a single word over the others in a thought, crescendo-ing across the length of a musical phrase to that important word, followed by a descrescendo away from it. The process is often (but not always!) governed by the journey to and away from the highest pitch in the phrase and reflects the natural process required to sing a high note; the higher the note, the more air required to reach it, and the louder, therefore, is the volume of the voice when the high note is sung. (Dynamic markings don’t have to be present on the page for them to be required of the performer; dynamic shaping is always understood by trained musicians to be crucial to the act of music making.) The importance of these dynamic processes cannot be overstated, as they are integral to creating the sense of movement in music that touches the emotions. If shaping is left unobserved and unrehearsed, listeners will experience and often describe the music as flat, boring, uninspiring, etc. (As the church has eliminated the biblical position of skilled, trained and paid musicians, it has left the musical element of its worship in the hands of untrained and often minimally skilled musicians. It is my opinion that the reputation of hymnody has suffered from this act of the church, as amateurs leading in music are far less likely to know about and execute the implicit musical cues of the chorales with sensitivity to the texts. This is part of the reason that the blame for the church’s music being ‘dead’ has been incorrectly assigned to the hymns. The fault more properly and biblically lies with those who would place the responsibility for music leadership in worship on untrained musicians who must then play those hymns [see Nehemiah 13]. But I digress.)

In NICAEA, Dykes has provided some wonderfully flexible cues and tools for shaping phrases that can be used by a congregation in their adoration of the Lord. To appreciate the dynamic shaping devices embedded in the chorale, it’s best to start with an overall grasp of the form of the music, which again, is based on the text. For reference, the text for the poem can be found here, and the hymn can be found here. To continue reading the analysis, it will be helpful to print the hymn for handy reference.

To compose music that properly conveys the textual thought, the composer must pay close attention to the punctuation provided by the poet. The elements of music (melody, rhythm, harmony, etc.) must offer natural moments of pause, division, respite, and breath at points of punctuation as dictated by the text. When we compare the punctuation of the various lines of text in Holy, Holy, Holy, we find that Heber has thrown a few curve balls to any potential composer. A comparison of the first line of each verse finds identical division after six syllables in each line, dividing two related but distinct thoughts.

1. Holy, holy, holy! || Lord God Almighty!
2. Holy, holy, holy! || All the saints adore Thee,
3. Holy, holy, holy! || Though the darkness hide thee,
4. Holy, holy, holy! || Lord God Almighty!

No problem. But in verse two in the analogous line three, a line by line comparison shows a deviation in the structure of the text during which a complete thought is written without pause.

1. Holy, holy, holy! || Merciful and mighty!
2. Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
3. Only Thou art holy! || There is none beside thee,
4. Holy, holy, holy! || Merciful and might!

Similarly, line two in verse four offers a variation from the other line twos, and line four is varied in verse two (as mentioned previously). So how does a composer write strophically while still accounting for such variety in poetic structure?

Dykes solved the problem presented in the poetry by using various elements of music to point to different possibilities for phrase divisions. For instance, rhythmically, a phrase unit is usually shown by a cessation of activity (as in a long note or a rest). So when examining the rhythmic domain of NICAEA for clues toward seeking a phrase structure, the form looks like a double bar form, with the ending of each musical unit designated by a relatively long note, as shown below in Musical Example #2a.

Ex. #2a - Surface Level Bar Form

Ex. #2b - Chart of Surface Level Bar Form
a (mm. 1-2) a1 (mm. 2-4) b (mm. 5-8) [bar form #1]
2 + 2 + 4

a (mm. 9-10) a2 (mm. 11-12) c (mm. 13-16) [bar form #2]
2 + 2 + 4

This understanding of the form serves the text perfectly in all four verses for lines one and two, as well as verses one, three, and four for lines three and four.

But the pitch aspect of the melody points to a larger understanding of the structure. The contour of the melody implies an elision between the two short phrases (the stollens) of the bar form. Dykes chooses a rising and falling intervallic pattern that climaxes on a sustained high note in measure three. This rise and fall serves to effectively join the opening four bars together as one unit, contrary to the rhythmic pause at the end of measure two.

Ex. #3 - Melodic Contour Elision

This results in a different understanding of the structure that can be shown as follows:

Ex. #4 - Chart of Middle Level Form

a (mm. 1-4) b (mm. 5-8)
4 + 4

a1 (mm. 9-12) c (mm. 13-16)
4 + 4

This understanding of the form perfectly suits line three of verse two, which was the problem line that Reber left for Dykes. Understanding and executing the phrase in this manner avoids the interruption of the flow of thought after the first six syllables created by the bar form structure mentioned previously.

Yet another, even larger view of the form emerges from the harmonic aspect of the structure as Dykes delays the appearance of the first and only half cadence until measure eight. The half-cadence clearly divides the hymn into two distinct parts, with the repetition of the opening phrase beginning again at measure nine. This aspect of the music tends to point two “short,” four-measure units (stollens) followed by a long eight-measure unit, resulting in a hyper-bar form - an augmented version of the bar form seen in the structure shown in Example # 2a.

Ex. #5a - Hyper-level Bar Form

Ex. #5b - Chart of Hyper-level Bar Form

a (mm. 1-4) + b (mm. 5-9) + c (mm. 9-16)
4 + 4 + 8

So while these three separate elements - melody, harmony, and rhythm - each point to three different views of the musical structure, they nonetheless occur simultaneously when singing the hymn, requiring decisions about how to execute the music in terms of rubato, articulation, slurring, and dynamics. As it happens, these three different views of the form work together in a related, hierarchical manner to permit flexible renderings of the music on a verse by verse basis according to the various textual punctuations in the poem.

For example, where the text proclaims our thrice holy God, the half-note rhythms at the end of the proclamation signal a natural point of breath to the worshiper (i.e. between measures 2 and 3). But where the cherubim and seraphim are falling down before our Lord in one complete thought during verse two, the melodic pitch contour of the same music permits an elision between those same two measures where we previously took a breath and allows for the complete thought to be sung just as naturally in one breath! Simply put, a brilliant solution to the problems presented in the poem! In a similar way, the harmonic delay of the half-cadence in the hymn elongates the musical motion to encompass the complete thoughts indicated by the periods and semi-colon in measure eight. (I would be hung out to dry, though, if I were to suggest that worshipers sing all eight measures in one breath! It’s enough for the forward motion of the phrases to be encouraged by the instrumentalists until the harmonic half-cadence in measure eight, then relaxing the rhythm for a deep breath before continuing.)

Two other tiny details of the music support the textual variations in the poetry. Compare the single different pitch in the repetition of the ‘a’ material (mm. 1-4 and mm. 9-12). In measure four, the melody descends a third. But at the comparable spot in measure 12, Dykes changes the final note of the measure (on beat three) so that it no longer descends a third, but rather, stays on the same note (see examples 6a and 6b below). Why would he do such a thing? It’s not simply variety for variety’s sake. Compare the text in the two spots verse by verse. At the end of measure four, ALL the verses come to a pause in the text, and are indicated as so with the punctuation. Click the following image to enlarge the text:


But in measure twelve, verse three has a different structure that requires musical continuation. Here, the text continues onward from the beginning of its thought in measure 11 all the way to the word “pow’r” in measure 14 before pausing in the list of list three ways in which God is perfect. Again, click the image to enlarge the text:


This verbal thought in the poem crosses the structure of Dykes’ chosen musical form (which musical form serves the other verses). So to encourage and assist the singer in continuing the thought from measure 11 on through measure 13, Dykes changes the note in measure 12 from a note that descends in a direction away from measure 13, and instead provides a note that is a perfect launching pad (scale degree 5 to scale degree 1) to the high note at the beginning of measure 13.

Ex. #6a - Melody, measures 3-4

Ex. #6b - Melody, measures 11-12

Far from distorting the remaining verses, this simple change of the descending note does much more than simply serve verse three. It removes a barrier that opens a much longer melodic unit, beginning in measure 9. The slow gradual melodic ascent that begins measure nine now ascends all the way to the high note in measure 13, descending back to its starting position by the final measure, creating an enormous arch shape across eight measures. This melodic contour is the musical device that emphasizes the entire Trinitarian declamation of “God in three Persons” in both verses one and four and secures the understanding of a hyper-level bar form as viewed in Ex. 5a

Secondly, the rhythmic change in analogous measures 3 and 11 offers a small insight into the detail of Dykes’ care for the text. In measure three, the rhythm chosen for the first two beats is quarter notes in all the voices. But in measure 11, Dykes alters the motivic rhythm of the repeated quarter note to a dotted quarter/eighth rhythm. He does this in deference to the relatively less significant partial-word syllables being set in measure 11 compared to the slightly more important full word setting of the word, “the” in measure three. Observing the text in this manner also provides an opportunity to give musical variation to the core repeated note motive of the hymn.

After plowing through some of the complexities of form in this hymn, it should be easy to see the more normal kinds of musical support Dykes’ tune lends the text in more usual ways. For instance, in measures 1-4 in verse one, the gradual and steady melodic increase to the high note emphasizing the word “Lord” on the first beat of measure three should be easily visible. The durational accent “Lord” receives also contributes to the word’s importance in the phrase. Similarly, in line two it’s easy to see the melodic highlighting of the first beat of measure five, with the pitch accent on the first syllable of the word “morning,” and a rare secondary shape toward the word “rise” in measure seven. After reaching a climax at the beginning of measure 13, because of the poetry, the phrase begins slowly to descend and taper away.

Worshipers don’t need to be aware of these musical details in a great composition to sense and feel them. They only have to observe the punctuation in the text to take advantage of them. On the other hand, the musical leadership must be aware of these details so that they lead the congregation in meaningful, spirit-filled singing. For an organist or pianist to not be aware of or render this detail is to contradict it, thus detracting from the meaning in the text. The awareness and rendering require the biblically commanded skill and training on the part of the musicians in His service. Paradoxically, the more sophisticated and skilled is the compositional craft, the easier and more natural it is for the non-musician to sing the music meaningfully .

ANALYSIS OF MUSICAL CRAFT

At a purely compositional level, and considered apart from the text, Dykes demonstrates excellent musical craftsmanship. As mentioned earlier, he has gone to considerable lengths to ensure that the phrases in NICAEA may be logically understood and musically executed in diverse manners. There is yet one additional fascinating aspect of the form at a purely musical level. The opening eight measures, as previously described, is easily understood as a bar form according to rhythmic features. Yet the intervallic content of these opening eight measures points to a rare, reverse bar form (4+2+2) that occurs simultaneously. While the four measure arch contour in mm. 1-4 is divided by the rhythm of half notes, in mm. 5-8 there are a couple of two-measure intervallic sequences of ascending fourths that are joined together by the rhythm of steady quarter notes. This is an amazing display of compositional unity.

Yet these complex achievements at the large structural levels have been balanced with great simplicity at the most local level. Dykes has created the main melodic idea from a very simple and repeated two-note trochaic motive. This motive, no doubt originating from the inflection of the key word “holy,” can be found in its simplest form in measures 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 12. In each of measures, 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, and 11, it appears twice per measure. During the course of singing the hymn in all four of its verses, this motive occurs a total of 60 times (15 times per verse)! It occurs in augmentation in measures 2 and 10, and in a four-fold augmentation when considering measures 3-4 and 11-12 as pairs. Far from permiting the motive’s falling victim to the criticism of vain repetition, Dykes goes to great lengths to provide diversity in the use of that motive through rhythmic as well as pitch variation, augmentation, development, and the offsetting balance of large-scale formal complexity. He does this to the extent that most casual singers of this hymn would likely never recognize the two note motive on which the hymn is built nor would they sense the repetition of it. Herein lies a crucial difference between functional repetition used as an organic cell and vain repetition due to lack of compositional skill.

Of special note is the general contour inversion in the ‘b’ and ‘c’ phrases (mm. 5-8 cf. mm. 13-16). These analogous phrases are notable because they contain the widest intervals in the 16 measure melody (intervals of perfect fourths). In the ‘b’ phrase (mm. 5-8) there are two distinctive ascending intervals of fourths; measure five ascends from scale degrees five to eight while measure seven presents an ascent from scale degrees two to five. Extracted and sung juxtaposed, the beautiful inverted symmetry of the two phrases is easily heard (see Examples 7a and 7b).

Ex. 7a - Measures 5-8 General Melodic Contour Inversion Compared with mm. 13-16

Ex. 7b - Measures 13-16 General Melodic Contour Inversion Compared with mm. 5-8

The descent of the ‘c’ phrase contains a marvelously constructed sequence of detail. The descending fourth in m. 13 is followed immediately by another descending fourth in m. 14. After these initial two leaps, we can watch as the descending intervals narrow sequentially: mm. 14 and 15 conclude the hymn with descending third, a descending second, and finally, a repeated prime. Mirroring the narrowing descent is the rate at which the descent occurs: in mm. 13 and 14 the descending fourths require two beats to occur; in m. 15, the descent of the third takes only one beat of time; the descent of the second and unison increased to the eighth note level. In music, this increase in rate is known as foreshortening. Hierarchically, the sequence of descending intervals occurs at the interval of the descending third (in the key of D, the first descent begins on D, then B, then G). a n augmented symmetrical inversion of the opening ascending melodic thirds that began the hymn. The compositional control over a variety of musical elements exhibited by Dykes is worthy of a master composer.

Ex. 8 - Measures 13-16 Proportional Intervallic Descent and Foreshortening

Rhythmically, NICAEA is very straightforward. The meter is common time (4/4) and the rhythms are largely quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes. Dotted rhythms are sparsely but effectively used in measures 5, 7, 11, and 15. The use of the dotted rhythm is interesting structurally. Dykes reserves a full, four-voiced manifestation of the dotted rhythm in preparation for the two structural cadences at mm. 8 and 16. Only here do all the voices move in unified dotted rhythms, and these appearances of the rhythm are the only ones which occur on count three of the measure. At the two other points points where the dotted rhythm is used, the voices split, with only one or two voices manifesting the dotted rhythm while the remaining voices continue to move in sure, steady, quarter notes. The only time a single voice is permitted to move with independence using the rhythm is in measure five, where Dykes uses the dotted rhythm in tandem with an ascending fourth, lending to the soprano a trumpeting, heralding quality that is fitting for the text it serves.

While these musical details might not be immediately (or ever!) apparent to the worshiper, they nonetheless undergird the construction of the piece and bind it together in a rich manner with beauty and integrity. Like a beautiful diamond, the compositional details ensure a timelessly high level of quality that encourages each new generation of saints to return to the work.

ANALYSIS OF THE CONGRUITY OF TEXTUAL AND MUSICAL MEANING

The text of the poem is well known to Christians. Its Trinitarian emphasis, as well as its focus on the attributes of God with a special emphasis on His holiness, are both tightly linked to Scripture. Though the poem is obviously not at the level of an inspired text, many of its phrases are direct quotations from the Bible. Dykes had a daunting task in front of him to set this wonderful text to a musical composition worthy to carry its many truths. But in addition to his theological training, Dykes had significant musical training that enabled him to bring musical ideas to the text that timelessly support the propositional truths of the text.

What are these musical ideas? Well, a brief music theory background is necessary before beginning. As polyphony and harmony developed in the West, music took on what is now referred to as a tertian harmonic foundation. This means that our harmony is based on notes that are a distance of a third apart (This interval can be experienced at the piano by playing any white key, skipping the next white key, and playing the following white key.) This development took place based on theories of consonance and dissonance which in turn were based on the mathematical ratios of individual pitches (discovered by Pythagorus). Details regarding Pythagorus’ theory are widely available for further reading from a variety of sources, but for our purposes, suffice it to say that our harmonic development is based in the Lord’s natural laws of the physics of sound. There is nothing artificial or manipulated about the choice of a third for the purposes of building harmony. The development of music saw this interval become the foundation for the construction of all harmony; chords are constructed by “stacking” intervals of thirds together. Our basic harmonic unit is called the triad because it contains three notes, built from two ascending thirds. Triads are built on each note of a scale, resulting in the chords that are used to accompany a melody.

So Dykes’ choice of the melodic material for the opening of this poem is no accident. He separated the notes of the triad that is built on the very important foundational first note of the scale and used them for the strong and distinctive presentation of holiness that is repeated six times in the poem. The symbolism is clear: one chord comprised of three notes standing for One God in Three Persons. As with all analogies that attempt to represent or explain the mystery of our trinitarian God, the analogy ultimately breaks down. But the three in one musical presentation is so boldly and clearly presented that there can be no mistaking Dykes’ intent. In fact, in addition to the intervallic symbolism of the opening, Dykes envelopes the entirety of the composition with architectonic tripartite forms to further highlight the poetic symbolism of threes Reber used in his extolling of the characteristics of God. The bar form used by Dykes as the principal structural unit is a three part musical phrase structure (a, a, b) used three times - twice at the surface level (mm. 1-8 constituting one bar form and mm. 9-16 constituting the second), and used once at the hyper-level (see examples 2a, 2b, 5a, and 5b for a review of this discussion), encompassing the whole hymn.

Melodic intervals and their direction are part of the composer’s musical tool bag for communicating ideas. A rising interval carries certain natural expressions because of the strength and energy required to produce higher pitches when singing. Also, assisting in the natural expressive qualities of ascending intervals are the upward based physiological responses that human beings tend to manifest when experiencing emotions along the emotional spectrum of joy, triumph, strength, power, enthusiasm, exuberance, etc. Conversely, when experiencing sadness, grief, despair, fatigue, defeat, etc., humans tend to exhibit natural physical responses in which the body moves in an essentially downward motion (Makujina, Measuring the Music, Appendix C).

The ascending intervals in Dykes’ opening melodic phrase present bold leaps between pitches, ascending by relatively large distances from the first note to a climactic point on the word “Lord” (in verse 1) that is six notes higher than the starting note. These ascents emphasize the importance of each subsequent statement of the word, “holy,” and prepare the listener (by saving the highest note) for the One who is holy on the word “Lord.” The sound causes the body to experience the highness and holiness of the Lord, unifying the propositional truth content of the text with the spirit of the musical meaning.

Further emphasizing the greatness and breadth of this moment in the opening of the hymn is the harmony - particularly the counterpoint created by the bass line. From its starting point, the bass takes off in the opposite direction from the melody, moving generally downward by both leap and step to a point five notes lower. The polarity created by this contrary motion between the two extreme voices (soprano and bass), is the musical equivalent of spreading the arms far wide apart in a grand gesture in opposite directions. It creates a tremendous sense of the greatness of our God at the precise moment that the worshiper is singing His name, “Lord.” All the voices move in rhythmic unison but in intervallic antithesis to create a sense of both ‘oneness’ and ‘all-ness’ that expresses both the omnipotence and omnipresence of our Lord (notice the word ‘all’ at this same point in verse two).

Yet another element emphasizing the expansiveness of the gesture is found in the texture of the music, specifically in the voicing of the chords. By voicing I refer to the distance between individual members of the chord. For instance, the opening triad is written in what musicians call “closed position.” That is to say, there are no gaps between members of the chord; the triad consists of D, F#, A, and Dykes does not skip any of these available three notes as he constructs the opening chord. With each successive half-note’s worth of music, the voicing becomes more open, until by the time we arrive at the triad on the climactic melody note at the beginning of measure three, Dykes has progressively increased the distances between chord members, so that the two chords supporting the word “Lord” are in an extremely “open position,” skipping several available notes of the chord between each member of the chord (see example 9 below).

Ex. #9 - Use of Musical Texture in Setting Text

This is an additional gesture that contributes to the feeling of grandness at the climax. It’s a very tangible sensation in the hands of a keyboard player, who begins the hymn with both hands in a closed position, with the fingers close in to the palms, and by measure three arrives at the climax point where both hands are expanded to a very wide position with large spaces between the fingers. This is a tangible microcosm of the opening wide of the arms suggested in the preceding paragraph. Some keyboardists with smaller hands may not even be able to reach the left hand interval of a ninth on the word “Lord.”

Ex. #10a - Closed Position of the Hands to Start the Hymn

Ex. #10b - Open Position of the Hands to Play the Wide Texture in measure 3

Individual singers in a congregation can notice this phenomenon, too. A soprano will hear how far away the alto has departed from her, while the tenor will feel as though the bass standing next to him has left him as the voicing expands. The overall span of the triads from the beginning to the climax has objectively increased from an octave to more than two octaves, with distances between inner voices exceeding an octave! Dykes understands how the texture of the music can help to create an expression that fits the text.

By the end of the phrase, the melody finds respite by descending a step and then a third from the climactic high note in measure three. This serves the text in verses two and three where the activities described are “hiding” and “adoring.” But in the outer verses of the poem, Reber continues the poem by extolling God’s might. Again, the variety of meaning from verse to verse creates a problem for a composer who is trying to give expression to the words using strophic form. Dykes again solves the problem brilliantly by allowing the tenor voice in measures three and four to continue to climb - slowly by step - to the strong middle syllable of the word “almighty.”

Ex. #11 - Rising Tenor Climax for the Word “Almighty!”

Ask any man who sings the tenor part to this song how this countermelody contributes to the text and you are sure to hear of the power that accompanies his high note on the stressed syllable of “almighty” on the first beat of measure four. Dykes writes the voice parts so that the separate meanings of each verse can be tended and highlighted by the individual voices. Tenors who are sensitive to the text will refrain from singing their part as boldly in verses two and three as they will in verses one and four, allowing instead the descent of the soprano in measure four to dominate the sound. Over time, congregations can be lead into this kind of sensitivity by a trained organist or Director of Music without a word of instruction, simply by balancing the accompanying instrumental lines to reflect the appropriate musical nuances that enhance the meaning of the text. (I have heard this done expertly to the marvelous glory of God at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, under the musical leadership of Paul Jones.)

One final point should be made regarding congruity. There are three strategically placed ascending fourths between measures 5-6, measures 12-13 and one in measure 7. The ascending fourth is an interval that has great expressive quality as a heralding interval. It calls to the hearer to hearken. This is because it finds its origins in the natural properties of the open pipe. When blowing into an open pipe (whether a conch shell or a French Horn) a player will produce a pitch easily in the main range of that pipe. By blowing a little harder, the pipe will produce an ascending fourth. This interval (along with its companion inverted interval, the ascending fifth) in an open pipe has been used for centuries (probably since the time of Jubal) by cultures world-wide to call to people across wide distances - most notably as alarms, calls to battle, or calls to the hunt. Dykes reserves this interval for points in the poem where the preponderance of the words or thoughts are of a similar kind of tone: morning, golden, praise, song shall rise, sky, glory, God, and perfect.

Contrary to assertions made by aesthetic relativists, composers can and do use the sound referents in music to express non-musical ideas, places, events, things, and emotions. These expressions can be evaluated for their congruity with the texts of the songs to which they are set. This is an important part of a church musician’s responsibility before the Lord. The benefit of this congruity for the edification of the body of Christ cannot be underestimated. Scripture implies the need for musical congruity in several passages.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF BEAUTY AND EXCELLENCE

Jonathan Edwards encapsulates classic definitions of beauty and excellence in his brief essay entitled, “The Mind.” In this work he says that, “all beauty consists of similarness, or identity of relation.” Further, he postulates that “in identity of relation consists all likeness and all identity between two consists in identity of relation.” Of excellence he says, “All excellency is harmony, symmetry, proportion, equality, regularity, likeness of ratios. Excellency consists in the similarness of one being to another - not merely equality and proportion, but any kind of similarness.” He defines excellence as follows: “All excellency is harmony, symmetry, proportion, equality, regularity, likeness of ratios. Excellency consists in the similarness of one being to another - not merely equality and proportion, but any kind of similarness.” Further elaborating he states: “Excellency is the consent of being to being, or being’s consent to entity. The more consent is, and the more extensive, the greater is the excellency.” Edwards’ definition is a fairly concise rendering of classical definitions of beauty and excellence as articulated by theorists, philosophers, and orthodox theologians for centuries.

In the preceding analysis, many of the organizing features of Dykes’ musical treatment of Reber’s poem meet Edwards’ definitions of excellence and beauty. For instance, the two note trochaic cellular motive that permeates the piece brings unity of sound at a local level to the entire piece, while the hierarchical structures - i.e. forms within forms - demonstrate proportion and likeness of ratios in the use of layered bar forms (2+2+4, 2+2+4 being embedded in the larger 4+4+8). Even the opening phrase of the song demonstrates a likeness of ratio to the bar forms by virtue of the chosen rhythms of “holy, holy, holy” (2 beats + 2 beats + 4 beats). See example 12 below for a visual representation of Dykes’ proportional setting of the text:

Ex. #12 - Architectonic Tri-partite Structures Unifying NICAEA

mm. 1-2
Holy, holy, holy!
2 beats + 2 beats + 4 beats



mm. 1-8
Measures 1-2 Measures 3-4 Measures 5-8
2 measures + 2 measures + 4 measures


mm. 1-16
Measures 1-4 Measures 5-8 Measures 9-16
4 measures + 4 measures + 8 measures

Not only in the forms does Dykes demonstrate likeness of ratios and a fondness for the complex beauty of proportion, but also in the interval choices and their rate of use. General symmetries may be found in the use of the the arch shaped melodic contours in measures 1-4 and 9-16 and the stunning symmetrical likenesses of the analogous inverted ‘b’ and ‘c’ phrases (mm. 5-8 compared with mm. 13-16). The proportional use of the descending intervals in the ‘c’ phrase (mm. 13-16) as well as the proportional rate of descent, can’t be overlooked as an evidence of likeness of ratios.

Consent of being to being is nowhere better demonstrated than in measure 1-8 where the opening bar form (see examples 2a and 2b) is simultaneously presented with a reverse bar form (4+2+2 when measuring intervallic contours). The second half of the hymn also demonstrates amazing consent of being to being in that the bar form (2+2+4) of measures 9-16 are joined as one in an overarching melodic contour spanning the entire range of the melody of the hymn.

Simply put, there can be no doubt that NICAEA is both excellent and beautiful in its manifestation of rhythm, form, melody, and harmony. Dykes demonstrates a marvelous understanding of musical craftsmanship in this short 16 measure hymn.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF MUSICAL AFFECT

Dykes excels at the treatment of individual words and ideas in this setting of the hymn. But the overall musical affect also directly correlates to the affect of the text. The relatively slow quarter and half note rhythms that pervade the hymn, in combination with the slow ascent of the principal phrase, the two-note trochaic motive, the hierarchical qualities of the form, the strategic placement of the ascending fourth melodic interval and dotted rhythm, lends the melody a stately quality reminiscent of a noble procession - entirely fitting for a text that invokes holiness, adoration, rising praise, golden crowns, power, and omnipotence. It is a majestic text set to music that concretely expresses regal dignity. In both the general affect of the music and the specific details of individual words, Dykes has provided an excellent example of biblical congruity between text and music according to Paul’s command in I Corinthians 14:40: “. . . everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”

PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS

How can all this detail help a pastor who is attempting to still a rising storm of congregational demand for pop/rock worship music? Firstly, it provides concrete support for the notion that there are objective characteristics in musical composition that can be evaluated for their musical excellence or lack thereof. A pastor who senses or who has read that there is a qualitative difference between the pop/rock choruses and hymns can be assured that from a musical perspective, these claims can be defended. Secondly, an analysis such as this might hopefully help raise awareness that there are definite musical features of a composition that contribute to its musical affect and that the affect of a composition can be compared to that of the text of the hymn to satisfy the demand for biblically commanded congruity. Finally, I hope that an analysis such as this will help pastors and church leaders realize that music is a biblically recognized discipline involving significant detail and craftsmanship and requiring extensive skill and training from its purveyors (both composers and performers), as modeled in the Bible. My prayer is that wherever possible churches observe and reform their practices to the biblically articulated models of God’s assembly appointing trained musicians who are skilled at deciphering the musical codes and leading the congregation in the execution of them for the truth-filled and spirit-filled worship of our Lord.

Dr. Timothy Shafer is a professor of music at Penn State University.

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Tags: Dykes, holy holy holy, musical analysis, musical structures, Timothy Shafer


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