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February 16, 2014

His Cross Stands Empty

Painting by James Tissot - Courtesy of Wikipedia

His Cross Stands Empty is written by the Benedictine Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. In the Divine Office (1974), it is used with the Office of Readings on Holy Saturday. The suggested musical setting in the Divine Office is the 1861 tune: Eventide by William Henry Monk (1823-1889), as featured in the following video. Curiously, Eventide's hymn meter (10.10.10.10) does not match the meter of His Cross Stands Empty (11.8.11.8). The Divine Office makes note of this and has likely recommended Eventide because the words can be adapted to fit this melody, and (because 11.8.11.8 is so rarely used) there are very few 11.8.11.8 meter tunes that could otherwise be used.

Tune: Eventide (Meter: 10.10.10.10)

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