The
Morning
a hymn of the Restoration of the
Gospel ofBreaks
Jesus Christ
presented by kathryn
duncan
General Information
Text: Parley P. Pratt
 Music: George Careless
 Tune name: Hudson (has also been
sung to Duke Street)
 Hymn #1
 Printed in the “Millennial Star” in 1840,
and appeared as the first hymn in the
Manchester Hymnal published later
that same year

Text: Parley P. Pratt
(1807-1857)
Born April 12, 1807
 Baptized August of 1830
 Printer, writer, and
editor of “Millennial Star”
 Led a company of
pioneers to the
Salt Lake Valley

Parley P. Pratt
(continued)

Killed May 13, 1857
by his wife’s first
husband
 Wrote lyrics to nine
hymns, including:
The Morning Breaks
Jesus, Once of Humble Birth
Come, O Thou King of Kings
Father in Heav’n, We Do Believe
Music: George
Careless (1839-1932)

George E. P. Careless
born in London on
September 24, 1839
 Baptized at age eleven
 Named “Chief Musician
of the Church”
George Careless
(continued)

Directed the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir for
ten years
 Also directed the
Theatre Orchestra
 Composed more than
80 hymn settings
Text Analysis
Verse 1:
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Lo, Zion’s standard is unfurled!
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.
Reference: Isaiah 60:1-2
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of
the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the
darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and
his glory shall be seen upon thee.”
Text Analysis
Verse 2:
The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine;
The glory bursting from afar
Wide o’er the nations soon will shine.
Reference: 2 Nephi 19:2
“The people that walked in darkness have seen
a great light; they that dwell in the land of the
shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined.”
“Truly the bright light of the Restoration,
bursting forth from the time of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, makes clear the fundamental,
eternal principles of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. That light, revealed through the
Prophet, replaced doctrinal shadows and
clouds of error the world had inherited as a
result of the great Apostasy nearly 2,000
years ago.”
Larry E. Dahl
Text Analysis
Verse 3:
The Gentile fulness now comes in,
And Israel’s blessings are at hand.
Lo, Judah’s remnant cleansed from sin,
Shall in their promised Canaan stand.
Reference: 3 Nephi 16:7-20
“Behold, because of their belief in me, saith the Father,
and because of the unbelief of you, O house of Israel,
in the latter day shall the truth come unto the Gentiles,
that the fulness of these things shall be made known
unto them.”
Text Analysis
Verse 4:
Jehovah speaks! Let earth give ear,
And Gentile nations turn and live.
His mighty arm is making bare
His cov’nant people to receive.
Reference: Numbers 21:6-9
“...and the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a
fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it
shall come to pass, that every one that is
bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.”
Text Analysis
Verse 5:
Angels from heav’n and truth from earth have met
And both have record borne;
Thus Zion’s light is bursting forth,
To bring her ransomed children home.
Reference: Isaiah 35:10
“And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and
come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon
their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
“There is still so much of conflict in the world. There is
terrible poverty, disease, and hatred. Man is still
brutal in his inhumanity to man. Yet there is this
glorious dawn. The “Son of Righteousness” has
come “with healing in his wings.” God and His
Beloved Son have revealed Themselves.
Perilous times? Yes. These are perilous times. But
the human race has lived in peril from the time
before the earth was created. Somehow, through all
of the darkness, there has been a faint but beautiful
light.”
President Gordon B. Hinckley
The Morning Breaks
Verse 1: all parts, forte
Verse 2: women begin in 3 part (SAT)
harmony; men join at “the glory
bursting…”
(omit verse 3)
Verse 4: all parts unison melody, break
after “speaks!”; back to SATB at “His
mighty arm…”
Verse 5: all parts, begin mezzo piano and
crescendo to forte at the end