Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Making the Cut

“You Lutherans,” my non-Lutheran friend opined, “just have to sing every stanza of every hymn.”  He paused for emphasis, then added, “Two stanzas is enough!”

I groaned because he and I have had this discussion before.  I asked him, “What if you only got to watch the first 45 minutes of ‘Frozen?’”

Is there a rule that Lutherans have to sing every stanza of every hymn?  Of course, not.

So why do we do it?

Hymns are usually poems before melodies are added to make them hymns.  That means they are fully formed literary works with a beginning, middle, and ending.  Some hymns tell a story so it seems pretty obvious why an assembly would sing all the stanzas. Imagine singing “The First Noel” and not including the stanza that speaks of the wise men entering the home where Jesus was with his mother, Mary.  Worse, leave out the stanza about the star.  That’s an important part of the story!

Other hymns speak of theology.

Several years ago I attended the Lutheran Church where my grandmother was confirmed.  I arrived early and was thrilled to find what looked like a lovely, well-maintained pipe organ.  I eagerly waited to hear that organ. . .and I waited awhile.  Mostly we sang praise choruses from the 70’s and 80’s to piano accompaniment.  (The piano playing was wonderful, but I still wanted to hear the organ my grandmother would have heard the day she was confirmed.)  Finally, the pianist moved to the organ for the final hymn. It was a tune I didn’t know (bonus!) and it was a Trinitarian hymn with three stanzas – one for each person of the Trinity.

The Pastor announced we would only sing the first stanza!

I was shocked that he would have us only sing the stanza addressing the first person of the Trinity and not the other two.  I can’t imagine the hymn writer would have been happy either. Plus, I didn’t get much of a chance to hear that organ!




Hymns are chosen for a particular Sunday because of how they relate to the readings and themes of the day.  Sometimes that connection isn’t clear until the middle of the fourth stanza.  (Please don’t suggest we only sing the first and fourth stanzas – I have been in churches where that is done.)  Hymns are never chosen to be place markers, something to do between readings or as a break within spoken parts of the service.

Will cutting stanzas save time?  Not really.  It’s a rare hymn stanza that takes more than 45 seconds to sing.

There are times when stanzas can be cut.  It might be wise to do so if several hymns are sung in the course of one service.  Last Sunday we had Advent Lessons and Carols with TEN hymns to sing!  I felt completely safe cutting several stanzas of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”

ELW 342, "There in God's Garden," had 14 stanzas in its original incarnation.  When K. Lee Scott wrote a new melody, he cut this beautiful passion hymn down to 6 stanzas.  Imagine doing a choral arrangement with 14 stanzas and trying not to be repetitious!


St. Mark’s has an excellent repertoire of hymnody.  There are not many hymns that we sing over and over again.  When we only sing a hymn once per year, it’s hard to think about cutting stanzas. 



So, if you ever find yourself thinking a hymn is too long, take a look at it outside of the service.  Read the WHOLE thing.  Take your church bulletin home and read the Prayer of the Day and all of the readings for that day.  Then try to decide which stanzas should be cut.



First Photo (from top): Scissors - thanks to Wikipedia!
Second Photo: my grandmother
Third Photo: Russian icon (1480-1425) 
Fourth Photo: El Greco's "Jesus Carrying the Cross" 1580


12 comments:

Tim Getz said...

I agree wholeheartedly that cutting stanzas from hymns should be rarely and VERY judiciously done. Although I had to laugh because one I often DO cut is "The First Noel." I'll do the first two or three stanzas during the Christmas season, but the whole thing I save for Epiphany.

Anonymous said...

Tony, this is a most wonderfully written article, and I couldn't agree more. Some hymnals have an asterisk placed by stanzas that may be omitted for various reasons. -John Parkyn

Laurie Aurand said...

Tony I am a currently attending a church where they cut stanzas at the early service. They play them all at late service, but you know me, I'm a early girl. Looking forward to singing all the stanzas on Christmas Eve at St. Marks.

Lynn S. Doiron said...

I'm so glad we sing all the verses. I think it really makes sense when we think of hymns as poetry. Thanks for this post!

Anonymous said...

Bravo. Wonderfully written and thought provoking article. As John mentioned, there are cases where a stanza may have an asterisk indicating that it may be omitted without losing the liturgical meaning of the hymn text. The music is not just filler. It is as important as the reading of the lessons, Psalms, and Gospel. One wouldn't abbreviate those either. ~ Erin

Tony Cruz said...

Stanzas with asterisks are a feature of the Hymnal 1982 which is used by our Episcopal friends. These stanzas can be left off without changing the general meaning of the hymn. We do not have stanzas with asterisks in Evangelical Lutheran Worship.
Tony

Merry ME said...

I love some of the praise music that's out there, but have known them to go on and on and on. Even if I'm "in the spirit" I think to myself, "ok, enough is enough!"

Jane Kilby said...

Tony, this is wonderful and I appreciate the effort you put into writing this for our collective benefit. For the record, I would gladly have sung ALL verses of O Come O Come Emmanuel!!!

Anonymous said...

Sometimes people just need to have an explanation to justify why we do things as we do. This article clearly presents what makes our hymnody so special and why we should include the entire "story" or poem as an integral part of the service. The music at St. Mark's is one of the highlights of worship that attracts and keeps members coming back for more.

Anonymous said...

I agree that we should sing all the verses of a hymn to get the whole story but I do think it is hard to "get the story" when the hymn is not familiar and we are concentrating on the music which is unfamiliar. Just an added note: I wish the ending part of the Service could include the congregation listening to the postlude just as we listen to the prelude.....

Anonymous said...

I agree with singing all the verses, as I like to hear the whole story the author intended. HOWEVER, there are some hymns that have a tune that not only is difficult to follow, but isn't pleasant to the ears. Now, Tony, maybe you don't play any of those hymns, but for those hymns that affect me like nails on a blackboard, I think one verse is enough for now, and try it again next year! No, I can't think of one of those now - don't ask me!

Judie K.

Tim Mack said...

Thank you for publishing this again. Sola Die Gloria.