Listening to our public radio station as we woke up, I thought, “Hey, I know that.” It was Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity [LISTEN], from The Planets by Gustav Holst. And I do own a CD of The Planets, but my recollection was more recent, more specific.
The Wikipedia led me to I Vow to Thee, My Country, “a British patriotic song, created in 1921 when a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice was set to music by Gustav Holst.” It was sung at both Princess Diana’s wedding to Prince Charles, and her funeral.
Not incidentally, many years later, it evoked controversy. “In August 2004, the Right Reverend Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Hulme, called for the first verse of the hymn to be removed from Church of England services, calling it ‘totally heretical’. He believed it placed national loyalties above religious ones and encouraged racism and unquestioning support of governments. His words sparked a debate on the wider implications of the hymn.”
The verse in question:
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
But nah, those are not the words I was thinking of, but it IS the Thaxted hymn arrangement, named after “the English village where [Holst] resided much of his life. As it turned out it was a hymn called O Spirit All Embracing [LISTEN], which we had just started practicing for choir, and would sing about a month after hearing it that morning on the radio. It is one of several hymns created from that tune.
The Wikipedia is correct, and the Yahoo answer person, who said it was NOT used as a hymn, was incorrect.
