"Break Forth, O beauteous heav'nly light"
Recorded by the Composer's Choir, Middlefield, Connecticut, July 27, 2010.
The text of this hymn was written by Johann Rist and published in his Himlischer Lieder in 1641. The melody of the original hymn was composed by Johann Schop. Bach later uses the ninth stanza of the hymn in two of his cantatas. The words were originally translated by John Troutbeck in 1885 from German into English. My translation mainly follows Troutbeck’s with some modernizations.
Break forth, O beauteous heav’nly light
And usher in the morning!
Ye shepherds shrink not with afright,
But hear the angel’s story.
This child, now frail in infancy,
Our confidence and joy shall be.
The power of darkness breaking,
At last, our peace awaking.