Unbounded Love

Description

Ralph Hultgren

Unbounded Love is a simple fantasia on the hymn tune, ‘Blaenwern.’ This
setting seeks to draw out the substance of the text and the narrative it
possesses. The words tell of a love that was the “joy of heaven”, that
“to earth come down”; it’s what Christians describe as the incarnation.
That essence of God, manifest on earth in the person of Jesus Christ –
to be with humanity and bear with it in adversity and trial, and to lift
up it up in choruses of praise – is the core of the hymn’s message.
‘Blaenwern’ was composed by William Rowlands during the Welsh Revival of
1904-1905. The text is the hymn “Love Divine, all loves excelling”, by
Charles Wesley, written sometime before 1747. The title of this setting
emanates from the second half of the first verse where Wesley speaks of
“Jesus” who is “all compassion”, and that He is “pure, unbounded love”.
The fantasia opens reverently, concluding on a note of triumph – “Till
we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder love and praise” – before
ebbing away into contemplative reverence once more.

Duration: 7’25”
Grade: 4