Favourite Music

BUNESSAN

A review of a hymn tune rather than a hymn itself?  The reason - Bunessan is used for many hymns - most commonly for Catholics these are ‘Morning has broken’, ‘Child in the manger’, ‘This day God gives me’ and ‘Christ be beside me’.  Also, the words for most (if not all) of these are in copyright, and so we are unable to reproduce them here!

For many people, though, the tune of a hymn can be more important than the words.  The Gaelic melody comes from a Gaelic collection published in 1900, ‘Macbean’s Songs and Hymns of the Gael’.  The tune ‘Bunessan’ is named after a small village on Mull.  The first text set to it was ‘Child in the manger’.  ‘Morning has broken’ was recorded by Cat Stevens in the 1970s.

Perhaps because of Cat Stevens’ hit, and because it was used a lot in schools in the 1960s/70s/80s, ‘Morning has broken’, has become a favourite hymn for weddings, and so much so that some specific ‘wedding’ hymns have been written to the tune, ‘Bunessan’.  Examples include ‘Lord of all loving’ by Averil Norton (417 in Laudate), ‘We bless the God and Father’ by Stephen Smyth (in Music for Celebrating Marriage by St Mungo Music) and ‘Be our chief guest, Lord’.

Perhaps a comment about speed (especially for those of us who are fast accompanists). ‘Morning has broken’ can go quite quickly; but if you are using other words (for example ‘This day God gives us’ - a bit of a tongue twister) you need to play it a bit more slowly as it can be impossible for singers to fit the words in if it’s fast!