TRURO
TRURO is an anonymous tune, first published in Thomas Williams’s PsalmodiaEvangelica (second vol., 1789) as a setting for Isaac Watts’s “Now to the Lord a noble song.’’Virtually nothing is known about this eighteenth-century British editor of the two-volume PsalmodiaEvangelica, a collection of three-part psalm and hymn tunes for “Churches, Chapels, and Dissenting Meetings in England, Scotland, and Ireland.” The tune is named for an ancient city in Cornwall, England, famous for its cathedral and for its pottery. TRURO’s opening phrase ascends the octave. The entire tune is influenced by George E Handel’s style and bears relationship to similar tunes (see comments at PHH 412). Sing stanzas 1 and 5 in unison, stanzas 2-4 in harmony with stanza 4 unaccompa nied. Use clear articulation on the organ and a moderate tempo. Try also to frame the singing of this hymn with “Clap Your Hands” (166); that rendition would be very fitting for Ascension services. Wren believes that more meditative tunes than TRURO are also appropriate for this text; try the familiar ROCKINGHAM (178). [Liturgical Use] Easter; Ascension; other worship services that focus on contemporary human condi tions.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Christ's resurrection transforms past memory into present encounter, empowering Spirit-filled witness and costly service to a broken world
Associated Hymn Texts (13)
- Christ is Alive Let Christians Sing
- Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates
- Lift Up Your Heads, You Mighty Gates
- Christ, Our Human Likeness Sharing
- Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord
- Father, We Praise Thee
- Fling Wide the Door Unbar the Gate
- How Wide the Love of Christ
- If Christ Had Not Been Raised From Death
- Jesus Shall Reign (Where'er the Sun)
- O Thou from Whom All Goodness Flows
- Spread Abroad, O Mighty Word
- Your Kingdom Come O Father