LDS Hymn #8

Hymn #8 - Awake and Arise

(My first hymn write up with no YouTube video of it being performed. You can listen to the tune at the to link, though.)

The first time this song fully came to my attention was many years ago in General Conference. The choir had just sung the song, and then Pres. Hinckley (who was conducting the session) came to the pulpit and said, "Awake, but please don't arise." It made me laugh and the song stood out to me ever since. It is a fun one to play for me because there are parts constantly moving, usually close together which has made playing it on the organ easier than some songs.

I like the lyrics, because they are calling to the world saying the Gospel has been restored--reasons to rejoice and spreading that Gospel all over as well.

From the history book
The man who wrote the lyrics is actually the grandfather of the woman who wrote the tune. How neat--I wondered what the connection was with the similar names. Brother Curtis also wrote "Come Unto Him (Hymn #114), "Lean on My Ample Arm" (Hymn #120), and "Again, Our Dear Redeeming Lord" (Hymn #179). Those first two are hymns that I very much love. The third is one I have been coming to know in the last few years as music director (and we sing all of the songs in the book). I really like the harmonies in it. The words are being learned, but they are very good, too. All 3 were in the 1950 hymnal. Sister Green decided to put her grandfather's poem to music to submit for the new hymnal. It won 1st place in the 1984 Ensign writing contest and was accepted into the 1985 hymnal. She named the tune after her father, her grandfather's son. To quote: "The composer's goal was to convey 'what a child and loving parent feel when the parent wakes the child from sleep to see or do something beautiful.'" Isn't that wonderful? Oh, I like that.

Lyrics

1. 1. Awake and arise, O ye slumbering nations!
   The heavens have opened their portals again.
   The last and the greatest of all dispensations
   Has burst like a dawn o'er the children of men!
2. 2. The dream of the poet, the crown of the ages,
   The time which the prophets of Israel foretold,
   That glorious day only dreamed by the sages
   Is yours, O ye slumbering nations; behold!
3. 3. Oh, lift up your voices in song and in story.
   Let banners of peace in all lands be unfurled,
   For truth, heaven-born, in its beauty and glory
   Is marching triumphantly over the world.
4. Text: Theodore E. Curtis, 1872-1957. (c) 1984 IRI
   Music: Carolee Curtis Green, b. 1940. (c) 1984 IRI