Tunes it has set to include:
- IVER by Henri F Hémy (1818 - 1888) and published in Crown of Jesus Music (1864)
- A Slovak tune arranged by the editor in "The St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book" (1920)
- An unnamed tune by Fr. J. Roel Lungay, 1996
Downloads
This section may contain affiliate links: I earn from qualifying purchases on these. Free downloads are provided where possible (eg for public domain items).
Examples
Choir with organ
Singer with electronic keyboard
Singer with backing - tune by Fr. J. Roel Lungay
Lyrics
This is the image of the QueenWho reigns in bliss above;
Of her who is the hope of all,
Whom we and angels love!
Chorus:
Most holy Mary, at thy feet
I bend a suppliant knee,
In this thine own sweet month of May
Pray thou to God for me.
The sacred homage that we pay
Of Mary's image here
To Mary's self at once ascends
Beyond the starry sphere.
How fair so-ever be the form
Which here your eyes behold,
Its beauty is by Mary's self
Excell'd a thousandfold.
Sweet are the flow'rets we have culled
This image to adorn;
But sweeter far is Mary's self,
That rose without a thorn!
This is a very modern version of the tune and,if I may say, not appropriate to the beauty of the text. The original tune was written by Henri F Hémy (1818 - 1888) and contained in his opus Crown of Jesus Music (1864) The text given above is only used if this hymn is sung during May. It can be sung throughout the entire year, still retaining the line ‘in this thine own sweet month of May’ but all other verses have a different line. The author of this text, Edward Caswall (1814 - 1878) has it contained in his scholarly work, The Masque of Mary and contains eight different verses. There is a line which is edited out of Hymnals published since the late 1960s ‘when waves of night around me roll, and hell is raging for my soul. O then remember me.’ The complete verse is;
ReplyDeleteO Lady, by the stars that make
A glory round thy head,
And by thy pure uplifted hands,
That for thy children plead;
When at the Judgement seat I stand,
And my dread Saviour see,
When waves of night around me roll
And hell is raging for my soul;
O then remember me.
Thanks for commenting and reminding me about this hymn, Stephen: Since I wrote the original page, several more videos have been made available, including some with Hémy's original tune- so I've added them too.
ReplyDelete