773. Wondrous Love
'Wondrous Love.' From Dr. W. A. Abrams' recording of the singing of Horton Barker from Qiilhowie, Virginia, at Boone, Watauga county, September 14, 1941. Cf. here SFSEA 114-15, No. 88, where Dr. Jackson says: "I have heard the county folk sing this tune with the Dorian raised sixth." Our singer does likewise. To this should be added that the raised, or should we say the natural sixth, is always characteristic of Dorian, although frequently the sixth is lowered. For a related text cf. WNS 177. For remainder of text consult the various Baptist tune books or SFSEA 114.
F-672
What won-drous love is this, O my soul! O my
soul! What won-drous love is this, O mysoul! What
won-drous love is this! That caused the Lord to send, To
soul, send such per - feet peace to my
to my
to ray soul?
soul, To send such tht - fort peace
For melodic relationship cf: ***TFH 4, No. 2; SFSEA 114, No. 88; FSUSA 348-9-
Scale: Dorian, plagal. Tonal Center: d(m). Structure: abca^b (4,3,4,4,3); c is related to a. Over-all form: aba^ (7,4,7). This is not a three-part song form, especially as b is related to a and has, in varied form, the same cadence. The well-known phenomenon of cutting a sustained tone short causes each of the first and last phrases to drop one measure at the end. What would otherwise be three regular phrases of 8,4,8 measures respectively, turns out to be 7, 4, and 7, the elision being in the seventh and eighteenth measures.