The Story of the Hymns and Tunes | Page 6

relates how on Palm Sunday the king, celebrating the feast with his
people, passed in procession before the cloister, where the face of the
venerable prisoner at his cell window caused an involuntary halt, and,
in the moment of silence, the bishop raised his voice and sang this
hymn; and how the delighted king released the singer, and restored him
to his bishopric. This tale, told after seven hundred years, is not the
only legend that grew around the hymn and its author, but the fact that
he composed it in the cloister of Anjou while confined there is not
seriously disputed.
Gloria, laus et honor Tibi sit, Rex Christe Redemptor, Cui puerile decus
prompsit Hosanna pium. Israel Tu Rex, Davidis et inclyta proles,
Nomine qui in Domini Rex benedicte venis Gloria, laus et honor.

Theodulph was born in Spain, but of Gothic pedigree, a child of the
race of conquerors who, in the 5th century, overran Southern Europe.
He died in 821, but whether a free man or still a prisoner at the time of
his death is uncertain. Some accounts allege that he was poisoned in the
cloister. The Roman church canonized him, and his hymn is still sung
as a processional in Protestant as well as Catholic churches. The above
Latin lines are the first four of the original seventy-eight. The following
is J.M. Neale's translation of the portion now in use:
All glory, laud, and honor, To Thee, Redeemer, King: To whom the
lips of children Made sweet Hosannas ring.
Thou are the King of Israel, Thou David's royal Son, Who in the Lord's
name comest, The King and Blessed One. All glory, etc.
The company of angels Are praising Thee on high; And mortal men,
and all things Created, make reply. All glory, etc.
The people of the Hebrews With palms before Thee went; Our praise
and prayer and anthems Before Thee we present. All glory, etc.
To Thee before Thy Passion They sang their hymns of praise; To Thee,
now high exalted Our melody we raise. All glory, etc.
Thou didst accept their praises; Accept the prayers we bring, Who in all
good delightest, Thou good and gracious King. All glory, etc.
The translator, Rev. John Mason Neale, D.D., was born in London, Jan.
24, 1818, and graduated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1840. He
was a prolific writer, and after taking holy orders he held the office of
Warden of Sackville College, East Grimstead, Sussex. Best known
among his published works are Mediæval Hymns and Sequences,
Hymns for Children, Hymns of the Eastern Church and The Rhythms of
Morlaix. He died Aug. 6, 1866.
THE TUNE.
There is no certainty as to the original tune of Theodulph's Hymn, or

how long it survived, but various modern composers have given it
music in more or less keeping with its character, notably Melchior
Teschner, whose harmony, "St. Theodulph," appears in the new
Methodist Hymnal. It well represents the march of the bishop's Latin.
Melchior Teschner, a Prussian musician, was Precentor at Frauenstadt,
Silesia, about 1613.
"ALL PRAISE TO THEE, ETERNAL LORD." Gelobet Seist du Jesu
Christ.
This introductory hymn of worship, a favorite Christmas hymn in
Germany, is ancient, and appears to be a versification of a Latin prose
"Sequence" variously ascribed to a 9th century author, and to Gregory
the Great in the 6th century. Its German form is still credited to Luther
in most hymnals. Julian gives an earlier German form (1370) of the
"Gelobet," but attributes all but the first stanza to Luther, as the hymn
now stands. The following translation, printed first in the Sabbath
Hymn Book, Andover, 1858, is the one adopted by Schaff in his Christ
in Song:
All praise to Thee, eternal Lord, Clothed in the garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for Thy throne, While worlds on worlds are Thine
alone!
Once did the skies before Thee bow; A virgin's arms contain Thee now;
Angels, who did in Thee rejoice, Now listen for Thine infant voice.
A little child, Thou art our guest, That weary ones in Thee may rest;
Forlorn and lowly in Thy birth, That we may rise to heaven from earth.
Thou comest in the darksome night, To make us children of the light;
To make us, in the realms divine, Like Thine own angels round Thee
shine.
All this for us Thy love hath done: By this to Thee our love is won; For
this we tune our cheerful lays, And shout our thanks in endless praise.

THE TUNE.
The 18th century tune of "Weimar" (Evangelical Hymnal), by Emanuel
Bach, suits the spiritual tone of the hymn, and suggests the Gregorian
dignity of its origin.
Karl Philip Emanuel Bach, called "the Berlin Bach" to distinguish him
from his father, the great Sebastian Bach of