Eternal Father, Strong to Save
John Bacchus Dykes (MELITA)
Recording
Choir of Llandaff Cathedral, Richard Moorhouse
- Album
- The Complete New English Hymnal, Vol. 19
- Year
- 2004
- Period
- Hymn
- Listen
Painting
Winslow Homer
The Herring Net, 1885
The piece
William Whiting wrote the text in 1860, and it appeared with Dykes's tune MELITA in the first edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern in 1861. The tune takes its name from the old form of Malta, where Paul was shipwrecked in Acts 27 and 28.
The recording
The Choir of Llandaff Cathedral under Richard Moorhouse sang it for Priory's complete recording of the New English Hymnal. The American Organist called this volume "one of the best in Priory's long series".