Fairest Lord Jesus and Crown Him with Many Crowns

Jun 13

Continuing with my series of pieces from Grand Creations, please listen to the music in this selection about Jesus. What kind of person was he? Can piano music capture some of his personality?

Arguably the most influential person in history is Jesus. And yet, what are we to make of him? Is he loving and kind, or is he severe and powerful? Is Jesus just a nice guy, or merely a good teacher, or is he majestic, or is he only a gentle soul? Is he like God on high or like the friend next door?

In my arrangement of two old-time hymns I attempted to capture a sense of his majesty and his gentleness, and most of all his beauty. Some of the lyrics to “Fairest Lord Jesus” are:

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,

Robed in the blooming garb of spring;

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

The poets who wrote these words, German Jesuits in the 17 century, were captivated by his beauty. ("Fair" means beautiful.) My arrangement, patterned roughly after the style of Johannes Brahms, is meant to reflect the quiet majesty, the beauty, and the gentleness of Jesus.

The other hymn, "Crown Him with Many Crowns," includes these lyrics:

Crown Him the Lord of lords,

Who over all doth reign...

"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (Psalm 27:4) "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." (Revelation 19:6; see also "Hallelujah" from Messiah)

Please tell me what you think of the music.

Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com

Fairest Lord Jesus and Crown Him with Many Crowns

His Eye Is on the Sparrow

A very brief history of the piano (bonus article)

Edward Wolfe