Why should the mice get all the good tunes? Well, one of
them. Take the mice in Babe, the fantastic pig epic, and its sequel, Babe: Pig in the City. The tune? For some, the most nettlesome earworm of all time: the 70’s pop hit “If I Had Words,”
itself a re-working of the so-called ‘Symphonic Hymn,’ from Saint-Saëns’
Symphony No. 3 in C Minor. For those in the back, that’s the one with the
organ blast near the end.
Now, that portion of the symphony may be called a hymn, but, as majestic as it is, you’d be hard-pressed to come across it in mainline English language hymnals. I found a lone link online to “O Lord, I love you, my shield, my tower.” If you know the music, try singing that first line and already, there’s a problem. As we used to say, the emPHAsis is on the wrong syl-LA-ble. We’ll ignore the fact that the text is utter drivel.
Why, then, aren’t there more texts set to this tune? It’s
the meter (9.9.9.9 or 9.10.9.10, depending on how you deal with two eighth notes in the second and fourth lines of each stanza). Go to the back of
your average hymnal and check under Metrical List of Tunes. If your hymnal
collection is like mine, you won’t find one single 9.9.9.9 or 9.10.9.10 tune. And that’s
a shame. I mean, the tune is iconic in its hymniness.
So, I’ve given it a shot. To while away the longeurs of my occasionally aimless retired life, I’ve been contending with John Mason Neale (1818-1866) and some of his creakier metrical translations of medieval Office hymns and the like. While it merits an assist from F. Bland Tucker et al. for “O Lord, Most High, eternal King” (#221, 1982 Hymnal), Neale’s now-dated take on Aeterne Rex altissime has been on my mind. I believe the original deserves a new look to match the high tone of the ‘Symphonic Hymn.’ Linked here is my translation paired with my adaptation of Saint-Saëns for congregational singing. (I’ve created another version for choir and organ that more closely hews to the original symphonic finale.) While intended for Ascension, it might work well on Christ the King or Easter.
Be aware that an aspect of that new look is nonetheless retro. Read: I haven’t eliminated sovereignty language. A lot of my other translation and adaptation work does, so, please, call off the hounds. This time around, Aeterne Rex altissime (“Eternal King most high”) is what it is.
