The Story of the Hymns and Tunes, page 159 by Theron Brown
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"O THOU WHO DRY'ST THE MOURNER'S TEAR"
Is associated in the Baptist Praise Book with Woodbury's "Siloam."
"THE BIRD LET LOOSE IN EASTERN SKIES"
Has been sung in Mason's "Coventry," and the Plymouth Hymnal assigns it to "Spohr"--a namesake tune of Louis Spohr, while the Unitarian Hymn and Tune Book unites to it a beautiful triple-time melody from Mozart, and bearing his name.
"THOU ART, O GOD, THE LIFE AND LIGHT."
This is the best of the Irish poet's sacred songs--always excepting, "Come, Ye Disconsolate." It is said to have been originally set to a secular melody composed by the wife of Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It is joined to the tune of "Brighton" in the Unitarian books, and William Monk's "Matthias" voices the words for the Plymouth Hymnal. The verses have the true lyrical glow, and make a real song of praise as well a composition of more than ordinary literary beauty.
Thou art, O God, the life and light Of all this wondrous world we see; Its glow by day, its smile by night Are but reflections caught from Thee. Where'er we turn Thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine.
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When night with wings of starry gloom O'ershadows all the earth, and skies Like some dark, beauteous bird, whose plume Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes, That sacred gloom, those fires divine, So grand, so countless, Lord, are Thine.
When youthful spring around us breathes, Thy Spirit warms her fragrant sigh, And every flower the summer wreathes Is born beneath that kindling eye. Where'er we turn Thy glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine.
"MOURNFULLY, TENDERLY, BEAR ON THE DEAD."
A tender funeral ballad by Henry S. Washburn, composed in 1846 and entitled "The Burial of Mrs. Judson." It is rare now in sheet-music form but the American Vocalist, to be found in the stores of most great music publishers and dealers, preserves the full poem and score.
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