SANG IN THEIR OWN TONGUES
What seems to me important and inspiring is that in hours of deep
religious emotion Christian faith in different nations should find
expression in the same words.
--_The Christian Advocate._
Wondrous power of music!...
It touches the chords of memory, and brings back the happy scenes of
the past.
In the rude mining camp, cut off by the snows of winter, in the narrow
cabin of the ship ice-bound in the Arctic seas, in the bare, dark
rooms of the war-prison where the captive soldiers are trying to
beguile the heavy time in company, tears steal down the rough cheeks
when some one strikes up the familiar notes of "Home, Sweet Home." ...
It borrows the comfort of hope.
It drops the threads of sorrow one by one, and catches the beams of
light reflected from the future, and weaves them in among its
harmonies, blending, brightening, softening the mystic web, until we
are enclosed, we know not how, in a garment of consolation, and the
cold, tired heart finds itself warmed, and rested, and filled with
courage.
Most gracious ministry of music!
--_"Six Days in the Week," by Henry van Dyke_ (Charles Scribner's
Sons).
Chinese and Americans Sang a Negro Spiritual
The distinguished Negro musician who was the guest of honor of The Hymn
Society of America at its spring meeting, in 1944, was Dr. Harry T.
Burleigh, who had then been associated for half a century with the music
of St. George's Church, New York City. This prominent man began by
tracing his love of music to his mother, and also his blind grandfather,
who taught him many, many of the old Negro melodies when a lad. Then,
perseveringly, he won a scholarship at the National Conservatory of
Music in New York.
After relating how much of his time had been devoted to the task of
arranging and composing Negro spirituals he sat at the piano and
thrilled his audience as he sang these beautiful songs: "Weeping Mary,"
"Go Down in the Lonesome Valley to Meet Your Saviour There," "I'm
Seeking for a City, Hallelujah!" "Lord, I Want to be a Christian."
Happily there was present that day the Rev. Timothy Tingfang Lew,
professor at Yengching University, Chengtu, West China. He narrated how
there was produced in China a common hymnal for the leading evangelical
churches, and stated that "the present Chinese hymnbook, 'Hymns of
Universal Praise,' was the result of effective team-work." Included in
this book was, he indicated, "Lord, I Want to Be a Christian," and
suggested that they all sing it with Dr. Burleigh. Everybody liked the
idea.
Two Chinese missionaries were accompanying Dr. and Mrs. Lew; so these
four sang it in the Chinese language, while the others sang in English.
Thus their voices blended in one of the beloved spirituals of the Negro
race, while they were accompanied by a Negro on the piano.
"Lord, I want to be a Christian,
In-a my heart, in-a my heart
Lord, I want to be a Christian
In-a my heart."
Writers of hymns, composers of tunes, church organists and choir leaders
were in that company of men and women who joyfully sang the verses of
that beloved spiritual, and their faces were radiant as they came to the
words:
"Lord, I want to be like Jesus
In-a my heart, in-a my heart,
Lord, I want to be like Jesus
In-a my heart."
The entire company felt and affirmed that the effect was most touching.
When the United States entered World War II five leaders of the
Salvation Army, who knew what American youth liked to sing, and what is
also profitable for them, made a small selection of hymns for the use of
the armed forces in both their religious services and social gatherings.
That thin little book wisely contained the appealing spiritual:
"Lord, I want to be a Christian."
Thus it went around the world with our American lads. The people of
Great Britain, the newspapers affirmed, became greatly attached to it,
and particularly enjoyed hearing it sung by the colored soldiers.
Christmas Carols in Two Tongues
"It required an attentive ear to notice that the singing was in two
languages at once," said a reporter in _The New York Times_ when he gave
a vivid description of the Christmas service conducted in the First
Chinese Church in New York City on the Sunday following Christmas Day,
in 1946. Children took a very prominent part, especially in the
rendering of Christmas music.
The building was decorated in the traditional fashion. Both the United
States flag and that of the Chinese were displayed, and between them was
a white banner with "red cut-out characters saying 'Merry Christmas' in
Chinese." Various Christmas exercises were rendered, and then a speaker
emphasized the fact that Christmas belongs to everybody.
Together they sang, "The First Noel" and "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing."
Before the service closed the "two stars of the program, small
brothers," sang the lovely hymn attributed to Martin Luther:
"Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay."
"It was a big day for these Chinese children and their parents,"
commented the reporter. For many visitors, also, it was a time of
happiness. The joyful strains of Christmas music make human hearts glad
wherever the story of the Christ Child is told.
"Everybody Knows 'Holy Night'"
"Can we not sing something together?" This was the question asked in the
days of the First World War at a gathering in the Young Women's
Christian Association in Boston.
"Why," someone exclaimed, "how can we?" Then she added, "There is no
language which all of us speak."
The answer appeared to be discouragingly decisive until a French girl
made a happy suggestion. "But tunes," said she, "are the same, and there
ought to be a tune which we all know, even if we have to sing different
words."
"Everybody knows 'Holy Night,'" remarked a young woman of large musical
ability, born in Russia. Her parentage was English and German, and she
had cousins in each of the three nations. She sat down at the piano and
began to play the song.
An American concert singer with a rare voice, invited in for the
occasion, stood by her and led. Those who spoke English began to sing:
"Silent night, holy night,
All is calm, all is bright."
One after another others joined, and soon, French, Swiss, German,
Austrian, Belgian, Pole, Russian and Italian were all singing together
the same message to the same music--but each in her own tongue.
"If we all start from Christ," said Henry Churchill King, who once
related this incident, "the nations can come into harmony, even though
each sings in its own tongue."
Unifying Influence of Song at Eastertide
The spirit of Easter has an exhilarating effect on all peoples in
Christian lands. The following from the news columns of _The New York
Times_ on Easter Monday (April 26, 1943) indicates that representatives
of various nationalities entered into the joy of the festive season.
Among the many services described that day was the sunrise service at
Central Park, as follows:
More than 6,000 persons gathered for the annual service on the Mall in
Central Park at 7 A.M. A group of Waves and Spars and members of the
Marine Corps Auxiliary served as ushers. The services were principally
musical, with the singing of Easter hymns by various foreign-language
groups, as well as hymns in English.
The services were opened with the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
by Miss Lucy Monroe, accompanied by the Maritime Band, and continued
with the singing of hymns by choirs from foreign-language churches in
the metropolitan area. Twelve Mohawk Indians in tribal regalia, the
choir of the Cuyler Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, sang "Up From the
Grave He Rose," and a group of sixteen Chinese children sang the same
hymn in their native tongue.
The choir of the Russian Evangelical Pentecostal Church sang the hymn,
"He Arose From the Dead," in Russian, and "He Lives" was sung by an
Italian choir led by the Rev. D. Lisciandrello, pastor of Calvary
Church, Brooklyn.
Other foreign language groups participating included the Syrian
Protestant Church, Brooklyn; the Spanish Christian Church, and a Polish
choir.
People of many lands, therefore, sang in their own tongue the glad story
of the resurrection of Christ.