Talk:Joy to the World
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The information I've collected on this song suggests this article has at least two factual errors. First, Isaac Watts wrote the words (based on Bible text), not Lowell Mason. Second, Lowell Mason contributed the music, which may have been an arrangement of a Handel work, but this last I have been unable to confirm (nor find a specific reference to what work this is supposedly an arrangement of), and my sources disagree vehemently on the subject. Clearly, some additional research needs to be done here. If this is an arrangement of Handel, someone should be able to state which work it is, so that it can be verified. -- Jeff Q 00:24, 7 May 2004 (UTC)
- Agreed. I found this article through the Wikipedia List of Orphans, and I can contribute the following: First, you are correct on Watts's authorship of the hymn. Second, I recognize the theme as coming from from Handel's Messiah. The music is listed as Antioch and attributed to Handel in my hymnal. I will amend the article based on what I know for certain; perhaps someone else can add more. Quill 05:19, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Small question. Which bit of Comfort ye... does the refrain come from? I'd always got the Messiah link marked down as being that the first line came from Lift up your heads. To confirm, CyberHymnal also attributes the tune to Handel and the hymnal our family has at home says it was based after a piece by Handel (but doesn't specify). Wooster 14:50, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Yes, good question. The Joy to the World refrain is heard in the accompaniment to Comfort Ye. The orchestra plays what we recognize as 'Heaven and nature sing, a-and Heaven and nature sing...' with a stylized ending and then the tenor's voice enters with Comfort Ye. The melody is repeated throughout the piece, arranged differently, sometimes played underneath the voice part. The entire refrain theme is repeated (different notes, same tune) just before the recitative, i.e. just before the tenor sings: 'The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness....' Quill 22:52, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Golly, so it is. I think that the refrain probably bears as much similarity to this bit as the opening to Lift up your heads (although that's only a bar or two), so it's probably bits of Handel mashed together from all over the place. I also took Joy to the World off the Orphans list, as it's now linked to from Watts' biography. Wooster 08:51, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- More, if you ask me. Lift up your Heads.... has only four notes in common with Joy to the World! I would never have even noticed it if a textbook hadn't pointed it out. Quill 09:54, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Ah, well. That all depends on whether you think a similarity comes from the quantity of its notes or the quality of its closeness. [sanctimonious smile] In favour, I'd point out that those four notes occur at the beginning of both pieces, but I think I can agree to disagree on how similar the two are--you're certainly correct that the refrain appears in Comfort ye Wooster 19:23, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Well, wipe that smug grin off your face 'cause you've missed my point (which I'll admit I didn't make all that well out of fear of become monotonous). I'll continue at your TALK page. Discussion continued atUser talk:Wooster Quill 22:04, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Golly, so it is. I think that the refrain probably bears as much similarity to this bit as the opening to Lift up your heads (although that's only a bar or two), so it's probably bits of Handel mashed together from all over the place. I also took Joy to the World off the Orphans list, as it's now linked to from Watts' biography. Wooster 08:51, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)