Controversies

SINGING THE 'FAITH OF OUR FATHERS'

You all know this hymn by F W Faber, usually sung to the tune Sawston.  (It appears in Liturgical Hymns Old and New as number 246).

1        Faith of our fathers, living still
in spite of dungeon, fire and sword;
O, how our hearts beat high with joy
whene’er we hear that glorious word!

Faith of our fathers!  Holy Faith!
We will be true to thee till death,
we will be true to thee till death.

2        Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
were still in heart and conscience free;
how sweet would be their children’s fate,
if they, like them, could die for thee!

3        Faith of our fathers, Mary’s prayers
shall win our country back to thee;
and through the truth that comes from God
this land shall then indeed be free.

4        Faith of our fathers, we will love
both friend and foe in all our strife,
and preach thee too, as love knows how,
by kindly words and virtuous life.

My question is . . . . how should it be sung . . . . ?

To me, playing through the tune without thinking about the words, the style is very much that of a ‘march’.  It is a strong, rousing tune with a strong beat.  Having played it through with a metronome, 96 beats a minute feels about right (104 feels a little fast, 80 decidedly stately).

The words also are strong, with plenty of ‘fight’ in them.

So why is it, when singing this, most congregations start at a fairly lively speed, approach ‘dungeon, fire and sword’ where there are quavers, and slow down?  These are hard hitting words, they are the ‘enemies’  - surely they should not be dragged out syllable by syllable, but more appropriately ‘spat’ out as fast as possible!

And, from the point of view of an unfortunate musician trying to accompany this hymn, if it does slow down at this point, how are you able to lift the tempo again to something more reasonable for the next part of the verse?

There is also an entry for ‘Faith of our fathers’ on the ‘Favourite Music’ page of this web site.

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Matthew Wright adds:

This hymn was actually one of the first things mentioned in the first 1927 version of the Westminster Hymnal.  Richard Runciman Terry (the first Choirmaster at Westminster Cathedral) says in the preface that there is a need for uniformity and Faith of our Fathers is the first hymn he uses as an example pointing out how few congregations observe the minim and few sing it to the authentic version.

I would think it was the lack of money that was given to Catholic congregations and schools and the fact loads of Catholics don’t like hymns that go on for more than two verses which is the responsibility.