Softly Now the Light of Day features a tune by Carl
Maria von Weber, one of my favorite composers, who was
one of those writers that bridged the gap between the
classical and romantic era. This particular tune first
made its debut in Oberon, Weber's last opera. In 1851,
Henry W. Greatorex (best known for writing the most
famous tune to "Glory Be to the Father") published it
as a hymn tune--since then, several lyrics have been
set to its tune, but the most commonly set words are
"Softly Now the ...(+)
Softly Now the Light of Day features a tune by Carl
Maria von Weber, one of my favorite composers, who was
one of those writers that bridged the gap between the
classical and romantic era. This particular tune first
made its debut in Oberon, Weber's last opera. In 1851,
Henry W. Greatorex (best known for writing the most
famous tune to "Glory Be to the Father") published it
as a hymn tune--since then, several lyrics have been
set to its tune, but the most commonly set words are
"Softly Now the Light of Day." Since this is in the
"Hymns of Worship: Evening" section of Great Hymns of
the Faith, I have once again attempted to arrange it in
a Chopin Nocturne style. This arrangement is ideally
suited for opening an evening church service, though it
could also be used as an offertory. Hope you
enjoy!
1. Softly now the light of day
Fades upon my sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, I would commune with Thee.
2. Thou, Whose all-pervading eye
Naught escapes without, within,
Pardon each infirmity,
Open fault and secret sin.
3. Soon for me the light of day
Shall forever pass away;
Then, from sin and sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with Thee.
4. Thou Who, sinless, yet hast known
All of man’s infirmity;
Then, from Thine eternal throne,
Jesus, look with pitying eye.
This sheet music is part of the collection of crosby3145 :
The great Romantic-era
composer Frederic Chopin wrote
twenty-one pieces for piano
that he dubbed Nocturnes.
While not specifically about
anything, the pieces were
given a title that means,
“Piece of music to be
performed at night.” So,
rather a lullaby, you ask.
Sure, to an extent. These
pieces tend to feature smooth,
lyrical melodies over a
repetitive
accompaniment—though chords
provide moments of tension,
they are gentle—for the most
part—but not all the way
through. One of the many
traits which made Chopin so
successful as a composer were
the sudden mood swings found
in his music—rarely do you
hear a piece by him that has
the same character all the way
through, unless it’s only
about a couple minutes. Thus,
Op. 32, No. 2 has one of the
most exciting musical climaxes
ever written; Op. 48, No. 1
uses the dynamics ff and
sempre ff for extended
passages in the middle, and
Op. 55, No. 1 has a fast,
stormy middle section. This
differentiates the nocturne
from the lullaby—the music
might not put you to sleep,
but it still has an
association with the evening
or the night.
What does this have to do
with hymns, though? Well,
nothing—until this
collection came about. You
see, friends, Great Hymns of
the Faith has a section marked
“Evening Service Hymns,”
featuring seven hymns which
all had something to do with
the evening. When I stumbled
across that section, I thought
to myself, “What better way
to arrange an evening service
hymn than in Chopin-nocturne
style? After all, by their
very words, these pieces have
something to do with night.”
One of them, “Lord, Dismiss
Us with Thy Blessing,” uses
the same tune as “Lo, He
Comes with Clouds
Descending,” so I didn’t
bother to rearrange that one
for the collection—however,
the other six have all been
arranged in Chopin’s
nocturne style as closely as I
could follow in that great
composer’s steps. Now, the
shortest of the Chopin
nocturnes usually takes longer
than four minutes to play, so
these pieces are a little long
for an offertory (though you
could make cuts if you wanted
to use them in that capacity).
They’re probably more
ideally suited for a prelude
to open the service; at any
rate, that’s how I use them.
Or, just play them for fun at
a concert if you get a chance.
However you use them,
friends, I hope they are a
blessing to you!