The Lord will come and not be slow

Today is Advent Sunday, the beginning of the Church Year.

The hymn-tune "St. Stephen" is/was very popular, although as the praise bands rise and riff, I don't know how many of these tunes will remain in common use.

William Jones (1726-1800) was born in Lowick, North­amp­ton­shire, Eng­land, and died in Hol­lingbourne, Kent.

He was ed­u­cat­ed at Char­ter­house and Un­i­ver­si­ty Coll­ege, Ox­ford. He be­came Vi­car of Beth­ers­den, Kent (1764); Pluck­ley, Kent; and Pas­ton, North­amp­ton­shire; per­pe­tu­al Cur­ate of Nay­land, Suf­folk (1777); and Rec­tor of Hol­ling­bourne, Kent (1798). He be­came a Fel­low of the Roy­al So­ci­e­ty in 1775. His works in­clude:

Jones was a de­scend­ant of the Col. J. Jones, who was one of the sig­na­tor­ies to the death war­rant of King Charles I of Eng­land. He used to reg­u­lar­ly ob­serve Jan­u­a­ry 30 as a day of fast­ing and hu­mil­i­a­tion for his an­ces­tor’s sin.

The text is by the famous John Milton (1608 – 674), an English poet and intellectual who served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), written in blank verse, and widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written.

Writing in English, Latin, Greek, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his lifetime.

In this performance, I do nothing but set forth the tune in a manner that observes the text (in terms of phrasing), and hopefully encourages the spirit of good hymn-playing.

The complete text is given in the First Comment.

The score is attached below, as well as portraits of Robert Jones and John Milton.

I wish everyone a peaceful and happy Advent season.