Name that tune

Glorious things of thee are spoken …

I rather like most John Newton hymns and this one, to a tune by Haydn, is quite lovely. The tune is called "Austria," and was apparently adapted by the composer from folk melodies.

In the centuries since Newton adapted Psalm 83 to fit this tune, however, the melody has acquired other connotations and associations. And those associations lend a rather sinister air to Newton's verses about "blest inhabitants."

When I hear the organ begin to play this tune, my first thought is not of Newton's words, but of the more famous, or infamous, words sung to the same melody: "Deutschland, Deutschland uber alles …" Thus rather than an attitude of worshipful reverence, I find myself dealing with a mental picture of Major Strasser's car speeding toward the airport in Casablanca (and that's actually one of the least disturbing images this song conjures up).

"Glorious Things …" is one of the hymns occasionally tolled by the church bells at the Nativity BVM up the hill here in everybody's hometown. At least I think they're playing the hymn and not the anthem.

It's a bit disconcerting.