I have to play Parry's Intercessor on Sunday, to the words "Lord, hear my prayer. My cry shall come before you". (It is no.66 in CH4 and the words are a metrical version of Psalm 102.) In the music there is a long note only at the end of the second and fourth lines, but I find myself wanting to hold the end of the first and third lines too, as I might in a German chorale.

The congregation hardly know it so it is not too late for me to change my mind on this. How do the rest of you play it?

Found a copy here http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/9/9a/Parry-Intercessor.pdf

I'm not sure what the words are, do the lines that end minim crotchet have a softer last syllable?
ie: does it make sense to phrase it off?

I don't think I would bother with the pauses. Are there any lines where the text runs from one to the next (ie: the words don't allow for a breath at the end of a line) if so, its easier to carry on without pauses getting in the way.

Do a different tune!

Thanks for your responses. I have been out all day so am only getting back to this now.

The only other tune that would fit (that we have in our book) is the Londonderry Air. We already sing that to something else and Intercessor is such a good tune that I want to keep it.

There are no lines where the text runs on, and it makes perfectly good sense to have the pauses. They are not marked in my book which is why I posted here, but I see that they are present in the link that vectism kindly posted. I must have heard it played like this somewhere.

So problem solved -- with pauses it is! Many thanks.

Did it work?

Yes it did, thanks. I soloed out the tune for the first two verses, and by the time we got to the end of the hymn they were all singing in fine style.