Let all the World in Every Corner Sing

Let all the World in Every Corner Sing

Words - George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

Music - Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)

The “Young Notes” will be singing our Communion Anthem for Trinity Sunday / Music Sunday.

They have written the following programme notes for you -

We love singing this piece because it is happy. We have worked on this in rehearsals for a long

time, and this is the first time we will sing it in a service at St Mary’s.

The piece celebrates singing, and links to Music Sunday and music travelling around the world.

There are some old-fashioned words in it (like “thither”) but the music feels new.

The melody line works with the words, and goes up for the word “high”, but down for the word

“low”, and gets louder on the word “grow”.

The original text of the poem by George Herbert:

Chorus:

“Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing.

My God and King.”

Verse 1:

“The heav’ns are not too high, His praise may thither flie:

The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.”

Verse: 2

“The church with psalms must shout, No doore can keep them out:

But above all, the hearte must bear the longest parte”

The Young Notes learnt about the poet, George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

He was writing at the same time as William Shakespeare and John Milton. He was born in Wales,

but Herbert grew up in England in a rich family. He went to Cambridge University in 1609,

thinking that he would become a Priest, but he became the University’s Public Orator (Speaker)

and was noticed by King James I, so ended up involved in politics. He became a Church of

England Priest after the death of King James I.

Herbert wrote poetry in English, Latin and Greek.

“Let all the World” is a poem from a set called “The Temple”, which was popular, with a total of

more than 20,000 copies (AMAZING for the 1600s!)

The poem has been set to music by many composers, but our version today is by Malcolm

Archer (b. 1952)

The Young Notes loved learning that Archer is an organist, harpsichordist, conductor and

composer. He studied composition with Herbert Sumsion.

His work has taken him all over the world, promoting music, so the Young Notes think it is really

important to think about the power of music in the whole world, and let us all sing joyfully to “God

and King”.