Two Harvest Songs
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About "Two Harvest Songs"
I’ve grouped these songs together based on their common harvest theme, though the songs are very different in nature. They could be sung as a set or seperately.
All Good Gifts is a song of Thanksgiving. The words are from an old hymn collected by Matthias Claudius from local farmers, published first in 1782. The English version comes from a translation by Jane Campbell in the 19th century. I was first exposed to these words in a production of Godspell, which my high school madrigal choir put on for their end of the year show in 1988. The Godspell setting is great, by Stephen Schwartz, but I wanted my own version, so this is it. I purposefully took a very different tack from the Schwartz version. This is one of my brother’s (Matthew) favorite settings that I’ve written.
The text for Behold! the Harvest Wide Extends was taken from three missionary hymns by Parley Parker Pratt. The harvest here is definately the harvest of souls and nations instead of crops. Though Pratt and I are both Latter-day Saints, the text here is quite non-denominational and speaks of missionary work in the broadest of senses. I became interested in Pratt’s hymns when I found a dusty old hymnal that contained more than a hundred of them on the stacks in BYU’s music library. I even wrote a paper on his hymn texts as an undergraduate.
The songs were written 2004 & 2005, respectively. Though the second has undergone various revisions.
Recordings:
At this time there are no recordings available. Send your live recording to be posted here. I’ll be glad to link back to your singer site. Contact info is listed in each edition of the piece.
The Texts:
- All Good Gifts, accredited to Mathias Claudius
We plow the fields, and scatter the good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain.
Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.
He only is the Maker of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.
Refrain
We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food;
No gifts have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.
Refrain - Behold! the Harvest Wide Extends, excepts from three hymns by Parley Parker Pratt
Behold the harvest wide extends,
The fields are white all o’er the plain,
The tares in bundles must be bound
While we with care secure the grain.
How rich is the treasure, ye saints of the Lord,
Entrusted to us as made known by His word,
The plan of Salvation, the Gospel of grace,
To publish a broad unto Adam’s lost race!
Shall we repine when Jesus calls,
or count it sacrifice to spend our lives,
Or lose them for the Gospel sake,
When He, our Savior, did the same,
Without a place to lay His Head?
Shall we behold the nations doomed
to sword, and famine, blood and fire,
Yet not the least exertion make,
but from the scene in peace retire?
No; Gladly we’ll go to the isles and proclaim,
And nations unknown shall then hear of His fame;
Yea, kingdoms and countries, both Gentiles and Jews,
Shall see us and hear us proclaim the glad news.
Give ear, ye isles in every zone,
For every land must hear the sound!
And tongues and nations long unknown
Since they were lost, shall soon be found.
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