Now the day is over ("Dowston Castle") - pipe organ, Nanstallon Village Hall (ex-Methodist Church)

Описание: The classic 1865 children's hymn "Now the day is over", to the 1891 tune "Dowston Castle" by Clarence Hudson (1857-1893), played by Peter Tylor on the 1920 Trudgian pipe organ at the Village Hall (formerly the Methodist Church) at Nanstallon near Bodmin, Cornwall (NPOR T00807), 23/10/2024.

Now the day is over,
Night is drawing nigh,
Shadows of the evening
Steal across the sky.

Now the darkness gathers,
Stars begin to peep,
Birds, and beasts, and flowers
Soon will be asleep.

Jesus, give the weary
Calm and sweet repose;
With Thy tenderest blessing
May their eyelids close.

Grant to little children
Visions bright of Thee;
Guard the sailors tossing
On the angry sea.

Comfort every sufferer
Watching late in pain;
Those who plan some evil
From their sin restrain.

Through the long night-watches
May Thine angels spread
Their white wings above me,
Watching round my bed.

When the morning wakens,
Then may I arise
Pure, and fresh, and sinless
In Thy holy eyes.

Glory to the Father,
Glory to the Son,
And to Thee, blest Spirit,
Whilst all ages run. Amen.

(Words by Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834-1924)

Having been here earlier this year, I am now making a second, final visit before the organ is dismantled, which is likely to happen over the next few weeks. Fortunately, someone living in the area has come forward with an offer to store it temporarily; better still, I am informed that, subject to structural checks, a new home has been found for it in a building that is well within my catchment area - so watch this space!

I played this hymn from the Wesleyan "Methodist School Hymnal" of 1911 (also published as the "United Methodist School Hymnal"), which may well have been in use in this former Wesleyan chapel when the organ was opened in 1920. It there appears at no. 509 (2nd tune); I have reinstated the second verse which the editors of that collection omitted for some reason.

As with the previous video, I noticed later on that the Great 4ft Principal stop (heard in the last two verses) had not been quite fully drawn - a recurrent problem on this visit, due probably to atmospheric conditions making it more sticky than it was in July. Annoyingly, when I did what turned out to be my best take of this hymn (with the 4ft Principal fully out), my camera had stopped recording without my knowing it; however, I have used that take as the basis of a lyric video which I will upload in due course.

Many thanks once again to Sheila Trethewey and the other members of the Nanstallon Community Trust for making me welcome to visit and play this lovely instrument.

Links:

Music score available online, free of charge, at: https://archive.org/details/unitedmet...

Information about the organ and its builders:
https://cornishnationalmusicarchive.c...
https://npor.org.uk/survey/T00807
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c...
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?id...

Nanstallon Community Trust website:
https://nanstalloncommunitytrust.co.uk/

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