Music Spotlight! (Sunday, January 2, 2022)
This week, we will explore the underpinnings of our closing hymn, "Jesus, the Light of the World"!
FPC's rendition:
African Americans have been adapting Western music and expounding on their own unique styles for hundreds of years now. During the Restoration period (1660-1700) and beyond, enslaved Africans reinvented many of the hymns by Western writers such as John Newton, Isaac Watts, and Charles Wesley. These arrangements incorporated elements of African musical tradition and spoke to the enslaved population specifically. Our closing hymn this Sunday, "Jesus, the Light of the World" sustained alteration after alteration due to this reinterpretation process.
Most hymnals credit George D. Elderkin (1845–1928) with the arrangement of "Jesus, the Light of the World." It was first published in Chicago as No. 35 in the 1890 collection, "Gift of Finest Wheat." Elderkin--actually not African-American--drew upon gospel song-writing tradition in the adaption of text and tune.
Lines of "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" by Charles Wesley (1707–1788) alternate with the punctuating phrase "Jesus, the light of the world," which is inspired by John 8:12, as follows: "When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
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| (Wesley's hymn, first published in the 1739 collection "Hymns and Sacred Poems" under the title "Hymn for Christmas Day") |
In proper gospel form, Elderkin's arrangement adds an original chorus--a section of music typically sung after each verse that can be repeated indefinitely, excised as its own independent song, or even woven into other songs.
We’ll walk in the light, beautiful light.
Come where the dewdrops of mercy shine bright.
Oh, shine all around us by day and by night.
Jesus, the light of the world.
Evidence strongly points to Fanny B. Crosby's text found in "Good as Gold: A New Collection of Sunday School Songs" (1880) as the origin for Elderkin's chorus.
O walk in the beautiful light
That comes with the dew drops of mercy imparted;
It shineth around us by day and by night,
‘Tis Jesus, the Light of the world.
Rather than Mendelssohn's familiar tune (think "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing") in 4/4, Elderkin employs a swinging gospel tune in 3/4 with a triplet feel. Baptist icon Lucie Eddie Campbell-Williams (1885–1963) is credited with bringing in this “new gospel” sound to African-American congregations.
African American musical scholar Horace Clarence Boyer asserts that Campbell’s greatest contribution to gospel music was the “gospel waltz”—the transformation of black or white hymns written in 3/4 or 4/4 meters into the compound triple musical meters of 9/8 and 12/8 respectively. [Source]
A more traditional African-American rendition, like the recording below, would emphasize the triplets and add clapping on beats 2 and 3. Enjoy singing "Jesus, the Light of the World" in our own Presbyterian way this Sunday!
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