It was written by Irish-born Church of England minister's wife and poet, Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895). It is often regarded as a quintessential "Anglican hymn", but can be used in many contexts, especially in harvest-festival celebrations.
Today, one verse (shown below as verse two, starting "the rich man in his castle" etc) is generally regarded as problematic, and left out.
With meter 7.6.7.6 with refrain, the text has been set to a number of tunes. The most commonly-used tunes are:
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
- ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL (Monk) - set for the text by English composer, organist and choirmaster William H. Monk (1823-1889)
- ROYAL OAK - an English traditional tune, from The Dancing Master, 1686.
Downloads
This section may contain affiliate links: I earn from qualifying purchases on these. Free downloads are provided where possible (eg for public domain items).
Examples
Massed choir with organ and orchestra:
Singer with backing track, on -screen animation and lyrics:
Children's choir with orchestra - John Rutter's choral setting:
Singer with orchestra, professional recording, tune TBA
Small group with orchestra, professional recording, on-screen lyrics, tune ROYAL OAK
Singer - mixed track, with guitar, tune ROYAL OAK
Singer with guitar, tune
Instrumental - keyboard:
Lyrics
All things bright and beautiful,All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.
The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.
He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.
Thank you for the words to this song which I learned as a child in the Protestant school I attended. The naughty boys in the class would tell a joke about if God was everywhere they hoped He wasn't in their pocket eating their sandwiches. Yet none doubted that God made all things and existed everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the site.