AS WITH GLADNESS, MEN OF OLD
For Epiphany
Words: William Chatterton Dix, 1860. He wrote this on the day of the Epiphany, while sick in bed. It was first published in Dix' Hymns of Love and Joy.
Music: "Dix," adapted by William Henry Monk from the original "Treuer Heiland, Wir Sind Heir" by Conrad Kocher,01 Stimmen aus dem Reiche Gottes, 1838.
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Meter: 77 77 777
Sheet music available at RoDeby Music
1. As with gladness, men of old
Did the guiding star behold
As with joy they hailed its light
Leading onward, beaming bright
So, most glorious02 Lord, may we
Evermore be led to Thee.
2. As with joyful steps they sped
To that lowly manger bed03
There to bend the knee before
Him Whom heaven and earth adore;04
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek Thy5 mercy seat.
3. As they offered gifts most rare
At that manger rude and bare;
So may we with holy joy,
Pure and free from sin's alloy,
All our costliest treasures bring,
Christ, to Thee, our heavenly King.
4. Holy Jesus, every day
Keep us in the narrow way;
And, when earthly things are past,
Bring our ransomed souls at last
Where they need no star to guide,
Where no clouds Thy glory hide.
5. In the heavenly country bright,
Need they no created light;
Thou its light, its joy, its crown,
Thou its sun which goes not down;
There forever may we sing
Alleluias to our King!
Notes:
1. Other sources give the name as Konrad Kocher Return2. Or: gracious Return3. Or: Savior to Thy lowly bed, Return4. Or: Thee whom heav’n and earth adore, Return5. Or: the. Retur
Also found in Roundell Palmer, ed., The Book of Praise. Boston: Sever, Francis, & Co., 1870, # XLI, p. 48, who notes:
“This hymn is from Hymns Ancient and Modern, for Use in the Services of the Church (London, Novello, 1861). I am indebted to the Rev. Sir Henry Baker, Bart. (one of the editors of that collection) for the permission, which he has kindly obtained for me from the author, to publish his name, as well as for the authentication of the text. I am also indebted to him and his co-editors for their consent to the use which I have made of this hymn, and three others, contributed by Sir Henry Baker himself to the same collection, to which he has allowed me to affix his name.”
Sheet Music by H. Wolford Davies from Rev. Charles Lewis Hutchins, Carols Old and Carols New (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916), Carol #617
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Verses 1, 2 and 4 above.
In four parts with piano accompaniment.
Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Sheet Music by C. Kocher from Hutchins, Carol #654
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Sheet Music by Rev. R. F. Smith from Rev. Richard R. Chope, Carols For Use In Church (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1894), Carol #126
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Sheet Music "Dix" from Henry Sloane Coffin and Ambrose White Vernon, eds., Hymns of the Kingdom of God. New York: The A. S. Barnes Company, 1910, #50, p. 86.
Sheet Music "Treuer Heiland, Wir Sind Hier" by C. Kocher from O. Hardwig, ed., The Wartburg Hymnal (Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House, 1918), #146
"Dix," adapted by William Henry Monk As With Gladness, Men of Old - Dix, Adapted By WH Monk Sheet Music by H. Wolford Davies from Hutchins, Carol #617 As With Gladness, Men of Old - H. Wolford Davies Sheet Music by C. Kocher from Hutchins, Carol #654 As With Gladness, Men of Old - C. Kocher Sheet Music by Rev. R. F. Smith from Rev. Richard R. Chope As With Gladness, Men of Old - R. F. Smith Only tested by Noteworthy for Netscape, Opera, and IE Browsers (Versions 4 or 5) |
Text Notes
William Studwell, The Christmas Carol Reader
Very few famous carols have been written on the biblical theme of the Wise Men who journeyed from afar, followed a beckoning star, discovered the infant Jesus, and presented gifts to him. Only one famous carol, furthermore, avoids the common misconception that these men were necessarily kings or magi, or that they were three in number. The sole survivor of the "three king" myth is the popular nineteenth-century song "As with Gladness Men of Old."
On January 6, 1859, twenty-one-year-old William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898) of Bristol, England, was ill. During his stay in bed, he read the scripture lesson for the day, which was the Epiphany story of the Wise Men in Matthew 2:1-12. The passage sparked his imagination and his poetic propensities, and before long he had created the well-known carol. His artistic endeavors did not end there, for he also penned the verses for "What Child is This?" around 1865 and for "Like Silver Lamps in a Distant Shrine" in 1871. In between poems, he earned his living as an insurance executive.
Two years later, William Henry Monk (1823-1889) adapted a tune to Dix’s lyrics and published the combination in the the 1861 English collection, Hymns Ancient and Modern. The tune originally was published in an 1838 German collection edited by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872). The authorship of the melody, which was written for the chorale "Treuer Heiland," is uncertain, but Kocher himself was most likely the composer. Reportedly, Dix did not like the tune, which ironically acquired the name "Dix." Yet, in spite of Dix’s opinion, and other tunes attempted as substitutes, Kocher’s melody is used almost exclusively. Its fine esthetics and high public acceptance can only be inferred from its successful transfer to another well-known hymn, "For the Beauty of the Earth." A tune which is a standard setting for two top hymns must be regarded as a real winner.
William L. Simon, ed., Reader’s Digest Merry Christmas Songbook (1981)
On the Epiphany, the Twelfth Day of Christmas, probably in 1858, William Chatterton Dix was sick in bed. Dix was a devout churchman who ran a marine insurance company in England during the week and composed hymns on Sunday. While sick, he managed to read the Gospel for the day, which inspired him to write this classic Christmas hymn. It was set to a melody written several decades earlier by an eminent German organist, Conrad Kocher, but Dix is often credited with the tune. Dix eventually came to dislike his abridgment of the Kocher setting, but realized that since the combination of words and music had already entered the literature it was too late to change it.
