Albert Haddad: Arabic hymn tunes for the churches

About Albert Haddad

The documented record of Haddad's life is thin, but his work as a hymn composer is not. Hymn indexes credit him with melodies in Arabic, dated 1967, 1970 and 1974 in the index's entries for individual hymns, and gathered in the hymnal “ترانيم الإيمان” (Taraneem al-Iman), printed in 1990 and still used in Arabic-speaking evangelical churches. The words he set came from living writers: Sami Hamarneh and Said Baz supplied texts, and Fawwaz Omeish translated others. At least one entry in the same book credits Haddad with the words as well as the tune, the 1974 “أستطيع كل شيء في المسيح”. Nothing in these sources gives a birth or death date, a birthplace or a profession. What the book does show is a circle: Anis Maqdisi, born in Tripoli in 1885, is another contributor, which places the hymnal in the Lebanese and Syrian Protestant milieu rather than the Coptic one.

The catalogue follows the hymnal's habits rather than a composer's career. All 39 files are filed as classical, none as sacred music, and the difficulty range is narrow: 26 at index 1 and 13 at index 2. Nine files carry a text; the rest are melody only. Arabic titles are kept in their original form, with the composer's name appended after a dash, and one file doubles the name in both scripts, so the credit reads “Albert Haddad ألبير حداد”. Two files lost their first line in the title field and keep it only in the song-name field, which is why one of them is listed below under its first line rather than its file title.

Listening and playing notes

These are vocal lines, so breathe where the words breathe rather than where the bar line falls. The Arabic texts are syllabic and the tunes seldom repeat a phrase without changing the vowel beneath it, which means the words, not the melody, decide the tempo. In the long Hallelujah the refrain returns often enough that a small crescendo on each return works better than one large one. Where a file carries the text, sing through the words before playing the tune; where it does not, the bar count shows how much space a stanza has to fill.

Selected scores

1. تحت السلاح في حمى رب الجنود

   The most-viewed file, 48 bars, whose first line puts the singer under arms in the shelter of the Lord of hosts.

2. يا محبا مات عن جنس البشر

   A 25-bar setting of a line addressed to the lover who died for humankind; a hymn index records the same first line under Haddad's name.

3. هللويا

   A Hallelujah refrain of 55 bars and 888 notes, the largest file in the collection; the title repeats the word five times.

4. إن أبي وأمي قد تركاني

   The first line is Psalm 27:10, “when my father and my mother forsake me”; 31 bars, one of the 13 files at complexity index 2.

5. يا إلهي أعطني قلب المسيح

   An 18-bar prayer asking for the heart of Christ, and one of the shortest complete settings here.

6. ربي سبيت قلبي بودادك

   The first line borrows the language of the Song of Songs, “you have ravished my heart”; 25 bars at complexity index 2.

7. ما أضيق الدرب الذي

   At 13 bars it is the shortest file in the collection, a single stanza on the narrow way of Matthew 7:14.

8. كللت السنة بجودك

   Psalm 65:11, “you crown the year with your goodness”, in 17 bars.

9. إليك فادي الودود

   A 17-bar chorus addressed to the Redeemer, opening “to you, loving Saviour”.

10. حب المسيح أطيب

    The title field holds only the artist credit; the song name preserves the first line, “the love of Christ is sweeter”, which is used here as the display title.