“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.”
– John 15.12–14
In Wondrous Love, the tonal center of F-sharp returns, although it is well-obscured amidst the complex weaving and unsettled lines. Hints of previous movements (especially I Wonder) are brought back alongside material drawn from What Wondrous Love Is This, and as the music reaches the height of a furious crescendo, the hymn finally emerges from depths of the chaos in F-sharp Dorian with the double stops in the bass accompanied by rich modal sonorities in the piano. The piece then ends quietly with the pan-chromatic chord alongside the falling triads whispering echoes of the mystery of the Incarnation. The bass dies away with high harmonics reaching upward as the piano has one final echo of I Wonder, bringing the piece to a close.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down beneath God's righteous frown,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside His crown for my soul.To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb Who is the great ‘I Am’;
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing;
While millions join the theme, I will sing.And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on;
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on.
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I'll sing on, I'll sing on;
And through eternity, I'll sing on.
