I don’t know why, but this hymn is with me this morning and won’t let go.
Calon Lan, Welsh for “a pure heart”–song by Bryn Terfel, soloist, and the Dunvant Male Choir, at Mynyddbach Cathedral, Wales (where else?)–has become sort of an anthem from the Welsh national soccer team.
I heard this hymn in a Midsomer Murders episode last night–a Welsh hymn, Calon Lan, praising the virtues of a pure heart. This is the Welsh Symphony Orchestra at work.
This hymn kept coming to mind last night, so I thought I’d better post it–spiritual balm for a wounded spirit.
Calon Lan (“A Pure Heart”) in Welsh, at Mynyddbach Chapel, solo by Bryn Terfel, chorus by the Dunvant Male Choir.
No hymn requests this morning, so I’m on my own again. I’ll post the first hymn that comes to mind, and here it is, from Wales–Calon Lan (“A Pure Heart”). This is a whole bunch of Welsh choirs, of all ages, backed up by a full symphony orchestra. Powerful stuff!
“Calon Lan” in Welsh means “A Pure Heart.” Written in the 1890s as a hymn, the melody has become ingrained in Welsh popular culture. There’s a set of lyrics about going to Heaven and finding everyone and everything you’d loved and lost on earth: moved me to tears and stayed with me all night, last night. It has also spawned a kind of anthem for the Welsh national football team.
But we are putting it up here as a hymn, sung by the Dunvant Male Choir at Mynyddbach Chapel, in Wales.
This soothing, lovely Welsh hymn, Calon Lan (“Pure Heart”), is sung by Cerys Matthews. The photos are of locations in West Wales.
You don’t have to understand the language to know that God is in this hymn: that God is nigh. Right there where we need Him.
The title of this traditional hymn means “Pure Heart,” and I don’t understand a word of the Welsh lyrics, sung by Cerys Matthews. I don’t feel any need to translate. Beauty has no need of a translation.
The hymn speaks to me without words. Relax, and let it speak to you.