Thaxted (tune)
"Thaxted" is a
Thaxted, the English village where he lived much of his life. He adapted the theme in 1921 to fit the patriotic poem "I Vow to Thee, My Country" by Cecil Spring Rice but that was as a unison song with orchestra.[1] It did not appear as a hymn-tune called "Thaxted" until his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams included it in Songs of Praise in 1926.[2]
The tune
Hymns written to the tune
Many Christian hymns have been written to the tune. Notable ones include:
- "Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981 and again at the latter's funeral in 1997, and the funeral of Margaret Thatcher in 2013.[3]
- "O God Beyond All Praising" – Michael Perry, 1982.[4]
- "We Praise You and Acknowledge You, O God" – a paraphrase of the Te Deum Laudamus by Stephen P. Starke in the 2006 Lutheran Service Book[5]
- "The Answer" – song with lyrics by The Gift.
- "For the Splendor of Creation" – a hymn sung at Harvard University commencement ceremonies.[6]
- "Building the Kingdom" – a recessional hymn sung at St Aloysius College.
- "O Spirit All-Embracing" – Delores Dufner, 1995.[7]
Other uses
The tune has been played at various major events:
- The funeral service of United States Senator John McCain at the Washington National Cathedral on 1 September 2018.[8]
- The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in Windsor Castle on the 17th of April 2021.[9]
- The funeral Mass of Justice Antonin Scalia in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Secular songs written to the tune include:
- "In the Quest for Understanding" – sesquicentennial anthem for Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin[10]
- "World in Union" – the anthem with lyrics by Charlie Skarbek, introduced at the 1991 Rugby World Cup
- The Melbourne, Victoria.
- The noise rock band Harvey Milk used Thaxted as a section in their song "The Anvil Will Fall".
- Harbron used Thaxted as an introduction to the song "Leaving Old England".
- The Swedish extreme metal band Bathory used Thaxted as the basis for the song "Hammerheart" on the album Twilight of the Gods
- Japanese singer Ayaka Hirahara released the song "Jupiter ", based on the melody, in December 2003.[11][12]
- Sarah Brightman recorded the song "Running" in 2007. It was the theme song for the IAAF Championships; she performed it at the opening ceremony in Osaka.
- A choral adaptation of the tune for women's voices features prominently in the 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile.
- Maddy Prior includes the tune in two pieces of her 2003 album Lionhearts.[13]
Other uses of the melody include:
- The credits theme for the 2001 Sega video game Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force.[14][15]
- The Civilization V soundtrack as the theme of the English civilization.
- The children's show second season episodenamed "Sleepytime".
A literary reference appears in "The Adventure of the Lost World",[16] a Sherlock Holmes pastiche written by Dominic Green, where the tune is a major plot element, though the story contains a chronological error in that its Autumn 1918 setting would pre-date the publishing of the tune under the name "Thaxted".
References
- ISBN 978-0571100040.
- ^ Vaughan Williams, Ralph; Shaw, Martin; Dearmer, Percy, eds. (1926). Songs of Praise. Oxford University Press.
- ^ "The order of service for the funeral of Baroness Thatcher". Retrieved 24 September 2018.
- ^ "O God Beyond All Praising". Retrieved 1 July 2008.
- ^ "We Praise You and Acknowledge You, O God". Starke, Stephen P. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
- ^ "A New Hymnal for Colleges and Schools 425. For the splendor of creation | Hymnary.org". hymnary.org. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
- ^ "Reproducible Congregation Page, O Spirit All-Embracing" (PDF). ECS Publishing Group. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
- ^ "I Vow to Thee, My Country". C-SPAN. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
- ^ "The meanings behind the songs Prince Philip chose for his funeral". ITV News. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
- ^ "Lawrence University: College Songs of Past and Present". Archived from the original on 6 March 2001. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
- ^ 平原綾香 (Hirahara Ayaka) at last.fm (in English)
- ^ "Jupiter | 平原綾香". ORICON NEWS. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
- ^ "Lionhearts track listing at allmusic.com". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ "Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force soundtrack credits".
- ^ "Kentaro Kobayashi's Jupiter arrangement from Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Force". YouTube. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021.
- ISBN 978-1597801607), 2009.
External links
- Thaxted sheet music (PDF)
- Orchestral Performance of Thaxted on YouTube.