A Welsh men’s choir, Bryn Terfel, sings Hyfrydol–in Welsh, so don’t ask me for the lyrics. It’s one of my very favorite hymns, and it uplifts me even though I don’t understand the words. The name of the melody, “Hyfrydol,” means “Delightful.” I think there’s a set of lyrics for every denomination, but the melody remains the same: delightful.
Looking for a hymn to post, I came upon Our Great Savior. Ah, a new one–haven’t heard it before. Only it turns out that I have. Often! I’m beginning to think each and every denomination has its own set of lyrics for the Welsh melody, Hyfrydol. And each and every one of them makes a joyful noise unto the Lord.
Sung by the choir and congregation at Temple Baptist Church in Powell, Tennessee.
While we enjoy Bert Kaempfert’s 1960s classic, Afrikaan Beat, I can wonder what’s going on with this blog today. As I write this, we have 585 views–585!–and 327 referrals from Facebook, well over the daily average of, oh, 13 or 14. The record is 644 views on Nov. 7, 2016; and today we’re making a run at breaking it.
Does anybody out there know a lot about blogging? If so, can you clue me in? Like, we’ve got some 350 views Hyfrydol, a Welsh hymn I posted… a couple of years ago. Why is it so hot today? What factors might have come into play, to pump up the viewership? If I could only understand it, maybe I could learn how to do it on purpose.
Well, I’ve got to tear myself away to write my weekly Newswithviews column. I’ll check our stats again after I’ve finished.
Someone out there must know more about blogging than I do. I am merely dazzled by it all.
(And now it’s 590–wahoo!)
The Welsh hymn, Hyfrydol (the word in Welsh means “tuneful” or “pleasant”), is certainly one of my favorites. Naturally I post it now and then.
This morning when I woke, Patty called, “Come down, you’ve got to see this! Your blog–I don’t know what’s happening with it!” I thought, “Gee, maybe I’ve got 100 views already.” A hundred views before I finish breakfast is a spectacular start that hardly ever happens.
Imagine my surprise to find over 350! And most of them for this hymn, Hyfrydol: most of them from the U.K.
So in case you missed it the first time around, here it is again, sung by Bryn Terfel and the Black Mountain Male Chorus.
The traditional Welsh melody, Hyfrydol, goes with more hymns than I can list. Here it is–along with gorgeous video of the seaside–as Alleluiah, Sing to Jesus, sung by the choir at St. Mary’s Church in Scarborough, England. I love to play this hymn on my harmonica.
This is the hymn that came to me while I was riding my bike this morning–the classic Welsh hymn, Hyfrydol. It has as many different sets of lyrics as there are denominations who have put it in their hymnals. Here we have it as Love Divine All Loves Excelling, sung by the Melbourne (Australia) Welsh Male Voice Choir. And it sounds like they brought in a women’s choir to sing with them, but I can’t be sure of that.
You may want to bump up the volume on this one!
Our esteemed colleague Dave, aka “thewhiterabbit,” heard this at church on Sunday, inspiring me to choose it for today’s hymn: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, by Charles Wesley, sung to the Welsh melody, “Hyfrydol.” Here it’s sung as the processional hymn at St. John’s in Detroit. Beautiful. We hear it through a crack in heaven’s door.
Hyfrydol has been a favorite of mine ever since Sunday school. There are several sets of English lyrics written for it, but here it is in its original Welsh, sung by the Black Mountain Choir. I don’t understand a single word of it–but I don’t think I have to. The hymn speaks to me anyway! Turn up the volume, and imagine yourself standing somewhere on the mountain in the picture…
So many hymns go with this Welsh melody, Hyfrydol. It was composed by Rowland Prichard in 1844, when he was 20 years old, and is now played in churches of all denominations all over the world. The Welsh word means “cheerful.”
This is Alleluia, Sing to Jesus, sung to Hyfrydol by the choir and congregation of St. Francis Xavier Church in Carfin, Scotland.
I wonder if I’ll ever know how many different sets of lyrics there are for the old Welsh hymn melody, Hyfrydol. Here’s one I hadn’t heard before: Where the Cross Still Casts Its Shadow, with choir, organ, and congregation of First Presbyterian Covenant Church in Erie, Pennsylvania.
