I love my master (Hen Alaw)

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(Posted 2021-11-27) CPDL #66899:

Editor: Stuart Moffatt (submitted 2021-11-27). Score information: A4, 1 page, 197 kB Copyright: CPDL

Edition notes:

General Information

Title: I love my master
Composer: Hen Alaw
Lyricist: Frances Ridley Havergal
Number of voices: 4vv Voicing: SATB
Genre: Sacred, Hymn Meter: 76. 76. D. 876

Language: English
Instruments: A cappella

First published:
Description: Bryniau Casia appears to have been written for a Welsh Eisteddfof. Hen ('old') Alaw, the composer's name, may be a pen name a device traditionally used in the Eisteddfof competitions.

Some editions of I love my master

do not include the refrain
divide Havergal's work into stanzas of four lines.

In Loyal Responses: Or, Daily Melodies for the King's Minstrels (1882 New York) Havergal's work is laid out as nine stanzas of four lines. The extra lines required by the five verse eight line text below are provided by a repetition of the first four line stanza as the first lines of the fifth verse.

External websites:

Entry at "Loyal Responses: Or, Daily Melodies for the King's Minstrels (1882 New York)" page 72

Original text and translations

English text

I love, I love my master
I will go not out free
For he is my redeemer
He paid the price for me
I would not leave his service
It is so sweet and blest;
And in the weariest moments
He gives the truest rest.

Lord, Lord, thine ever will I be.
I love, I love my master
I will go not out free

* The missing personal pronoun at the beginning of the (as shown here) fourth verse is correct. The first hour has one syllable, the second two. See also the fifth line of this verse.

I would not halve my service
His only it must be,
His only who so loved me
And gave himself for me.
My master shed his life blood
My vassal life to win.
And save me from the bondage
Of tyrant self and sin.

He chose me for his service
And gave me power to choose
That blessed perfect freedom
Which I shall never lose.
For he hath met my longing,
With word of golden tone
That I shall serve for ever
Himself, himself alone.

Shall serve him, hour by hour*
For he will show me how
My master is fulfilling
His promise even now.
Shall serve him, and for ever
O hope, most sure, most fair.
The perfect love outpouring
In perfect service there!

I love, I love my master
I will go not out free
For he is my redeemer
He paid the price for me
Rejoicing and adoring
Henceforth my song shall be
I love, I love my master
I will not go out free.