Father of heaven, whose love profound

Today is Trinity Sunday. In the musical and liturgical situations that I have served, it is always celebrated with great solemnity and "massive" joy. Favorite hymns are sung, and there are several famous anthems and motets that feature prominently. Often, a "Te Deum" is sung, and in America, this Sunday often marks the "close of the choir season."

The music I'm uploading today is all "early English." It doesn't have the "grandeur" of the music I just described, but hopefully, all of the "quality" of the composers who wrote it.

Orlando Gibbons (baptized 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in England in the early 17th century.

Gibbons was born in 1583 at Oxford, where his father William Gibbons was working as a wait. Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where his brother Edward Gibbons (1568–1650), eldest of the four sons of William Gibbons, was master of the choristers. He entered the university as a sizar in 1598 and achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. King James I appointed him a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where he served as an organist from at least 1615 until his death. In 1623 he became senior organist at the Chapel Royal, with Thomas Tomkins as junior organist. He also held positions as keyboard player in the privy chamber of the court of Prince Charles (later King Charles I), and organist at Westminster Abbey. He died at age 41 in Canterbury of apoplexy, and was buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

A highly versatile composer, he wrote many madrigals such as "The Silver Swan," keyboard works, and many glorious liturgical works.

This hymn is taken from his collection of "songs," and shows his refined style very nicely. The full text being given in the First Comment.

The score is attached below, as well as a portrait of Gibbons, and his monument in Canterbury Cathedral.