Experience This Live #3. Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
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| Robert Robinson |
This is a bucket-list song I have always wanted to sing with the choir and specifically under the direction of Mack Wilberg. I'm going to be able to check that off tomorrow morning.
Recently during rehearsals Brother Wilberg will provide some insight into the music and composers of the pieces. I love hearing these stories. I have found that I've wanted to learn more on my own. I have done that with this piece.
The words to this song were written by an Englishman named Robert Robinson (Baptist) in 1757 at the age of 22. He taught the gospel his entire life. He taught in Cambridge, England where his congregation numbered more than a thousand souls. In his later life he converted to Unitarianism. He is known to have said, "Christ in himself is a person infinitely lovely as both God and man."
In the United States Robinson's words are often put to the American Folk melody known as "Nettleton" which is attributed to John Wyeth.
John Wyeth apprenticed to a printer. At age 21, he became the manager of a printing company in Santo Domingo, only to barely to escape with his life in the insurrection there. In 1792, he returned to America and settled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he became involved in the publishing business and co-owned a newspaper (The Oracle of Dauphin). After only a year in Harrisburg, President George Washington appointed him postmaster; he lost his office five years later when President John Adams declared the position to be incompatible with the involvement in newspapers. His works include:
- Repository of Sacred Music, 1810
- Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: 1813)
These two volumes were hugely successful, selling 150,000 copies.
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| John Wyeth |
The first time I heard this song was when Mack Wilberg directed the BYU choir while working as professor. I had never heard the song before. It was in the previous LDS hymnbook (before the current Green Hymnbook) and I remember seeing it but it wasn't one that was sung very often if at all in my ward. After hearing the BYU choir sing it I tried to get a copy of that recording. I finally got one and I listened to it a lot. I also purchased the sheet music. Surprisingly the music that I purchased all those years ago is the exact same sheet music I'm using in choir now.
Robinsons testimony and Wyeth's melody come alive in the arrangement by Mack Wilberg. It is fresh, new and deeply moving.
During our rehearsal of this piece on Thursday there were moments when no sound could come out of my mouth. I choked up more than once. I have felt like a wandering soul in my life. I know what it is like to have the Savior reach out to me. I know what it feels like to want to bind my heart to God. Robinson, Wyeth and Wilberg were able to express my feelings in a way I couldn't. I'm just grateful for my blessings.
I'm sure these men would be amazed at how their work continues to influence me and others after all of these years.
Listen to the choir perform this beautiful arrangement. You should note that while microphones can capture a lot of things there are certain things it does not capture so well. I've heard this on a recording many, many times but being in the space and hearing even the smallest changes and adjustments makes this piece really come to life.
