Advent III: Our Tears Sprang Up into a Song

When God Restored Our Common Life
People, Look East

This spacious setting of People, Look East invites us to soak in the richness of the text and music. I imagined it as a kind of musical sunrise, beginning with free improvisation that finds its way into a steady, rhythmic energy. It concludes in quiet gratitude and expectation.

Written earlier this month for our Advent study, it features two fantastic jazz musicians from New York City: Ike Sturm, a bassist and composer who leads the Jazz Ministry at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, and Tabreeca Woodside, a talented singer and worship leader. We collaborated remotely, passing audio files to each other to create the layers you hear.

INVITATION TO DEEPER LISTENING:

  1. Read the lyrics of the carol aloud. Here is sheet music. What do you notice in the poetry’s rhythm and images? How does repetition function within the text?

  2. Listen to a straightforward setting of the carol for a sense of how it might be sung in a congregational or choral context. Sing or speak the text along with the recording, if you like. What do you notice in the shape of the melody? Does it draw attention to certain phrases or words in the text?

  3. Listen to the arrangement above and let the music wash over you. What feelings or energy are you aware of? What responses do the images elicit for you? How does the arrangement change what you hear in the text?

  4. Finally, listen to the piece again at another time, later in the day or week. It can take time for our brain to process and assimilate new musical experiences and sounds. If you enjoyed the piece, see what new details you notice. If the piece felt confusing or strange, stay curious and try again. How has your relationship with the piece shifted over time? What are you aware of that you might not have been before, either within you or in the music?

READING and FURTHER LISTENING:

British author Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) was a celebrated author of fiction, plays, and poetry for children and adults. She was received into the Roman Catholic Church as an adult and viewed her faith as "a progression toward which her spiritual life moved rather than a conversion experience." (The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, pg. 323) While she wrote several hymns, the best known are People, Look East and Morning Has Broken.

Church musician and composer Carlton R. Young describes People Look East as a “rousing and imaginative proclamation of Christ’s coming.” The rich collection of images that unfold in the text speak to Farjeon’s gifts as a storyteller, and she builds them up verse after verse in anticipation of Love’s arrival. It’s interesting to notice the names ‘Christ’ or ‘Lord’ don’t appear until the very last stanza. She speaks instead of ‘Love…on the way.’

Originally titled Carol of Advent, Farjeon’s text first appeared in the Oxford Book of Carols (1928) as a “Modern text adapted to traditional tunes.” But hers wasn’t the first English text sung to BESANÇON, a lilting French carol named for the city in the Franche-Comté, near the border with Switzerland. According to the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, the carol Shepherds, Shake off Your Drowsy Sleep (a translation of Chantons, bargiés, Noué, Noué) was quite popular in England in the early 20th century.

“Shepherds! Shake off your drowsy sleep,
Rise and leave your silly sheep;
Angels from heaven loud are singing;
Tidings of great joy are bringing.
Shepherds! The chorus come and swell!
Sing Noel! Sing Noel!”

Here’s an excellent blog post about People Look East by Dr. C. Michael Hawn exploring the Scripture, images, and symbols found in this beautiful Advent carol.

Here are a few other musical settings that draw out different details of the tune and text.

  • This beautiful, unaccompanied arrangement is straight out of the English Cathedral repertoire. It’s performed beautifully by the men and boys of the Hereford Cathedral Choir, director by Huw Williams. While the resonant acoustics of the cathedral require a slower tempo than some recordings you’ll hear, notice how they use vocal texture and pauses/silence to make the text clear.

This adventurous arrangement from Ely Cathedral for boy’s choir and organ treats the carol like a theme and variations, with increasing complexity and virtuosity in each verse. Notice the harmonic slipping and sliding and the sparkle of the organ, rich contrasts in tempo, and the overlapping, uncoordinated entrances (the fancy musical word is aleatoric) on the phrase “Love the Lord is on the way.” The ending gives a sonic picture of Advent anticipation, a wandering melody on the organ that keeps us suspended, waiting, and wondering.

While this might not be something every choir is able (or wants) to sing, it’s an invitation to consider the way composers and arrangers treat hymn tunes in creative, experimental ways.