Their Glorious Risen Savior

The Easter story of two disciples on the road to Emmaus who met a stranger and asked him to eat with them is a lesson that doesn't come up on Easter Sunday morning, but sometimes later in the season.  In Luke 24:13-35, we hear this further story of the resurrected Jesus, which brings us to today's hymn.

Hallowed forever be that twilight hour
When those disciples went upon their way,
The deepening shadows o'er their spirits lower,
The tender griefs that come with close of day.

A gentle stranger tarried by their side,
And asked them sweetly why they were so sad?
"Did you not hear our Friend was crucified?"
They answered, "How can we again be glad?"

And when the little village came in view,
They said "Abide with us, for it is late,"
So he went in, and sat down with the two,
And took the bread, and blessed it, ere he ate.

Their watching eyes were fastened on his face;
They caught the look which captured them of old,
Only it wore diviner, loftier grace:
Their glorious, risen Savior they behold!

They felt reward for all their bitter pain,
When, lo! he vanished softly from their sight!
But they could never be so sad again.
Who had the memory of that blessed night.

Martha Perry Lowe, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: ST. WULSTAN (10.10.10.10)
Ivor Atkins, 1916

More Voices Found: Alicia Adelaide Needham

Composer Alicia Needham was born today in 1863 in the Irish town of Oldcastle. Needham is still primarily known for her many secular songs, around four hundred out of her estimated seven hundred compositions, which also included works for piano, marches for brass bands, service music, and of course, hymn tunes. A brief 1904 article in The Sketch reports that she was "particularly happy both in composing martial music and in her lullaby songs."

She studied at Victoria College in Londonderry and later at the Royal Academy of Music (graduating in 1877) where her instructors included composers George Macfarren and Ebenezer Prout. Her songs frequently won prizes, such as for the Irish Music Festival whose competition she won six years in a row. Her most prestigious award was one hundred pounds for The Seventh English Edward, written for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902.  Researcher Christopher Reynolds, on the website of the American Musicological Society ranks her as sixth in a listing documenting the number of songs published by women between 1890 and 1930.

Among her many other accomplishments, she was the first woman to conduct at the Royal Albert Hall, and some of her songs are still sung during the well-known annual Proms celebrations which are held at that venue. She chaired the Pan-Celtic Association for a time and also the Royal National Eisteddfod.

Unfortunately, her hymn tunes are not particularly well-documented. The primary online hymn sites do not list her at all, and I have found only one tune, named SHANNON, which appeared in the Sunday School Hymnary (1905). There are several references to her having written more, but they have not surfaced yet in my research.

Needham died on Christmas Eve in 1945, but apparently stopped composing (or at least publishing) after about 1920.

Since we have no available sound files of her hymn tunes (as with Emma Mundella and so many other women), you can hear her Irish Lullaby (text by Francis Fahy) as sung by tenor William Matteuzzi. If you want to explore further on YouTube, there is also a recording of Needham's song Husheen sung by Dame Clara Butt (who also recorded The Lost Chord by yesterday's hymnwriter Adelaide Procter).

Henry Smart

English composer Henry Thomas Smart was born today in 1813 in London. His father was a well-known violinist who taught him much about music in childhood, but young Henry was also fascinated by mechanical objects. When his uncle procured a regular seat for Henry at Covent Garden, the boy was as interested in the instrments themselves as in the music they produced.  It it perhaps for this reason that he became an authority on pipe organs and organ building as well as a prominent (though self-taught) composer.

As a young man his late mother's relations pushed him into a career in the law, but after four years he found a loophole in his employment agreement 
that enabled him to leave the profession. He became a church organist for several parishes in London, and also began composing sacred music of various types, including anthems, chants and service music, organ music, and of course, hymn tunes. He also wrote some secular music: an opera (Bertha), a cantata for women's voices (The Fishermaidens), and about 140 part-songs and trios. He was the music editor of some hymnbooks, including The Choral Book (1858) and the Presbyterian Psalter and Hymnal (1877).

In Handbook to the Church Hymnary (1927), James Moffatt writes that Smart's hymn tunes "are of great purity and excellence," but they have not been included in modern hymnals to the same degree that they were in earlier times. In my own opinion, many of them are worthy of another look, as they generally rise above the tunes of several of Smart's Victorian contemporaries. Today's tune, HEATHLANDS, first appeared in Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1866) and went on to many other hymnals, sometimes matched to texts such as For the beauty of the earth and God of mercy, God of grace (neither of which we probably sing it with today).

Every morning mercies new
Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Every morning let us pay
Tribute with the early day;
For thy mercies, God, are sure;
Thy compassion doth endure.

Let our prayers each morn prevail,
That thy gifts may never fail; 
And, as far as east from west,
Lift the burden from each breast;
Feed us with the Bread of Life;
Fit us for our daily strife.

As the morning light returns,
As the sun with splendor burns,
Teach us still to turn to thee,
Ever blessed Trinity,
With our hands our hearts to raise,
In unfailing prayer and praise.

Greville Phillimore, 1863; alt.
Tune: HEATHLANDS (7.7.7.7.7.7.)
Henry T. Smart, 1867

Sir George Smart, composer of the tune WILTSHIRE (published in 1795, and which still survives in some places today) was Henry Smart's uncle. The book Women Composers (1902) by Otto Ebel lists another musical relative of his, sister Harriet Anne Smart, "the author of a number of hymns and other vocal music." I have not yet discovered any of these tunes, but given my interest in women who wrote sacred music, you can be sure that I am still looking.

P.S. (October 27) While putting away my reference materials for writing this post, I somehow saw a passage which gave me Harriet Smart's married name (Callow).  It turns out that I had previously unearthed one hymn tune by Harriet Ann Callow named SOLITUDE, from the Scottish Hymnal (1898). Now I had another clue to look for more, and then discovered that, credited as "H.A. Callow," her SOLITUDE also appeared in 3 American hymnals (as listed on Hymnary.org). Still more to find.


Eight Years Ago: Henry Smart

Seven Years Ago: Henry Smart

Lydia Sigourney

One of the most widely-read poets in her time, Lydia Howard Huntley Sigourney (September 1, 1791 - June 10, 1865) published fifty-nine books of poetry and prose. She was born in Norwich, Connecticut. the daughter of a gardener, and one of his wealthy employers paid for her education at a private school.  She opened a school for girls in Norwich (sources date its founding to either 1809 or 1811) and she taught there and in Hartford until her marriage in 1819 to Charles Sigourney. She had already published her first book, Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse (1815), but her husband requested that she now publish anonymously.

Lydia agreed to this stipulation and continued to submit to magazines and publish books of her prose and poetry. She initally donated the proceeds from her writing to organizations advancing such social causes as temperance, peace, and abolition, but by the 1830s her husband was no longer entirely able to support their family and she became the primary breadwinner. At that time, she also began to publish under her own name. Her writing was so well known that the publisher of the popular magazine Godey's Lady's Book paid her an honorarium for the use of her name in the masthead beside its other editors (including Sarah Josepha Hale), though Sigourney had no editorial duties. The social concerns that she supported continued to appear in her writing, and she was an early advocate for Native American causes.

A number of hymns later identified as hers first appeared in Village Hymns (1824), a Congregationalist collection assembled by Asahel Nettleton for the General Association of Connecticut, and over the years Sigourney's hymns appeared in several other hymnbooks, including Maria Weston Chapman's abolitionist collection, Songs of the Free (1836).

I found today's hymn in a collection titled Lyra Sacra Americana: or, Gems from American Sacred Poetry (1868), and though it probably appeared earlier I do not know whether Sigourney considered it a poem or a hymn.  As you know, hymnal editors have often believed such authors' intentions to be relatively unimportant.

Prayer is the dew of faith,
Its raindrop, night and day,
That guards its vital power from death
When cherished hopes decay.
And keeps it 'mid this changeful scene
A bright, perennial evergreen.

Our works, of faith the fruit,
May ripen year by year,
Of health and soundness at the root
An evidence sincere;
Dear Savior! grant your blessing free,
And make our faith no barren tree.

Lydia H. Sigourney, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: BATH (6.6.8.6.8.8.)
William Henry Cooke, 19th. cent.

(Apparently this meter is rather unusual, as I could only find one tune with a sound file available online. BATH by William Cooke is somewhat acceptable, but probably not the best match.)

Sigourney's autobiography, Letters of Life (1866) was published after her death. Fortunately, she did live to see the end of slavery and the Civil War. Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a memorial poem, including these lines:

She sang alone, ere womanhood had known
The gift of song which fills the air to-day:
Tender and sweet, a music all her own
May fitly linger where she knelt to pray.

Christina Forsyth

English hymnwriter Christina Forsyth (1825-1859) died on this date; her birthday remains unknown. She was born in Liverpool, and a brief biographical sketch published in Lyra Britannica: A Collection of British Hymns (1867) claims that, from childhood on, 'she was deeply impressed with religious truth, and devoted to her Saviour.'  Like a number of other female hymnwriters of her day, she was in poor health and considered to be an invalid for most of her life.  All but forgotten today, Forsyth and her hymns may bear some re-examination today.

Some of her hymns were published in pamphlets during her lifetime, and after her death a collection was published as Hymns by C.F. (1861), her full name not appearing anywhere in the book.  Several of the forty-three texts included were based on specific passages from scripture, and some clearly reflected her own life, such as one titled Sabbath Hymn for One Confined to the House by Sickness.

This text is probably the one most often published in hymnals of the nineteenth century, though only four of the original nine stanzas were used.  I've changed the selection of stanzas a bit.

O Holy Spirit, now descend on me
As showers of rain upon the thirsty ground;
Cause me to flourish as a spreading tree;
May all thy precious fruits in me abound.

Be thou my Guide into all truth divine;
Give me increasing knowledge of my God.
Show me the glories that in Jesus shine,
And make my heart the place of thine abode.

Be thou my Comforter, when I'm distressed,
O gently soothe my sorrows, calm my grief;
Help me to find upon my Savior's breast
In every hour of trial a sure relief.

Be thou my Intercessor -- teach me how
To pray according to God's holy will;
Cause me with deep and strong desire to glow
And my whole soul with heavenly longings fill.

Be thou my Quickener, thy graces give;
Do for me more than I can ask or think;
Help me on Jesus day to day to live,
And daily deeper from thy fulness drink.

Christina Forsyth, 1861; alt.
Tune: ELLERS (10.10.10.10)
Edward J. Hopkins, 1869

Six Years Ago: William Henry Monk

Saint Hildegard

Today in some churches the feast day of Hildegard of Bingen (c.1098-1179) is celebrated. Hildegard was a Christian mystic, and an abbess of the Benedictine order at Disibodenberg, in Germany. She was also a writer, philosopher, and botanist, and most especially for our purposes, a composer, one of the oldest composers whose work we still know today.  Her music has been extensively researched, particularly in the last thirty years or so, and many works have been recorded.

There are a number of modern hymn texts, that have been derived from her life, her poetry, and her theology -- perhaps the best known being O Holy Spirit, root of life by Jean Janzen. Today's text below dates from the nineteenth century and is a translation of her poem O ignis Spiritus Paracliti, also about the Holy Spirit.  Richard Frederick Littledale translated many texts from Greek, Latin, and other languages, the most well known being Come down, O love divine.

O Fire of God, the Comforter,
O life of all that live,
Holy art thou to quicken us,
And holy, strength to give:
To heal the broken-hearted ones,
Their deepest wounds to bind,
O Spirit of all holiness,
Thou Love of humankind!
O sweetest taste within the breast,
O grace upon us poured,        
That saintly hearts may give again
Their perfume to the Lord.

O purest fountain! we can see,
Clear mirrored in thy streams,
That God brings home the wanderers,
That God the lost redeems.
O breastplate strong to guard our life,
O bond of unity,
O dwelling-place of righteousness,
Save all who trust in thee:        
O surest way, that through the height
And through the lowest deep
And through the earth dost pass, and all
In firmest union keep.

From thee the clouds and ether move,
From thee the moisture flows,       
From thee the waters draw their rills,
And earth with verdure glows,
And thou dost ever teach the wise,
And freely on them pour
The inspiration of thy gifts,
The gladness of thy lore.
All praise to thee, O joy of life,
O hope and strength, we raise,
Who givest us the prize of light,
Who art thyself all praise.

Hildegard; tr. Richard F. Littledale; alt.
Tune: NOAH (8.6.8.6.8.6.D.)
Hubert P. Main, 19th cent. 

This is perhaps not exactly the right tune for this text, but the meter is an unusual one and there aren't many choices among the available sound files.

Hildegard has long been regarded as a saint in Germany, but it was not until May 2012 that her sainthood was officially recognized by the Roman church. Later that year, in October, she was also named a Doctor of the Church, one of four women among the total of  thirty-five.



Five Years Ago: Josiah Conder

Emma Mundella

Emma Mundella, a somewhat obscure British composer, died on this day in 1896, but her birth date in 1858 seems to be unknown.  She is described in Otto Ebel's Women Composers (1913) as "a highly gifted lady" who had written part-songs, piano pieces, and "some church music."  She also wrote an oratorio, Victory of Song, for female voices and strings which was published by Novello.

Among her music instructors were Arthur Sullivan and John Stainer, and she attended the Royal College of Music, becoming one of the first students to receive the Associate of the R.C.M. degree.

I mention her here because she was the editor of The Day School Hymn Book (1896)., which was also published by Novello.  She writes in the foreword that it was her aim to

...provide a Hymn Book for school use which should combine throughout an elevated tone of thought and feeling, both in the words and the music, with sufficient sympathy of ideas to make it acceptable to the young people for whom is is especially intended

Of course, dozens, if not hundreds, of other hymnbooks for the use of young persons had already claimed and would continue to express similar intentions.  At any rate, this book included hymns in German, Latin, and French in addition to many standard Church of England hymns.

In the foreword she also thanks her former teacher John Stainer for "his invaluable help and the unfailing interest he has shown throughout the preparation of this book." Stainer had provided her with a previously-unpublished tune by John Bacchus Dykes as well as composing six new tunes for the book.  

Twelve of Mundella's own tunes appear in the book (remember, the best way for women to get their tunes or texts into a hymnbook was to edit it themselves).  Several of these tunes are in unusual meters that would make them unlikely to be used today, but there are a few possibilities. Unfortunately, none of her tunes are available to hear online.  The Cyber Hymnal does not list Mundella at all, and Hymnary.org only acknowledges her as the editor of a hymnbook, without listing any of her tunes.  Maybe someday.

The Baptism of Christ

The Sunday after the Feast of the Epiphany sometimes commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by his cousin John, as told in Matthew 3: 13-16.  Infant or adult baptisms are often performed today in churches which mark this day, but even if there are no such celebrations the people of the congregation may renew their baptismal vows together.

O God, our strength in weakness,
We pray to you for grace,
Patience to trust your promise,
And speed to run the race;
When your baptismal waters
Were poured upon our brow,
We then were made your children
And pledged our earliest vow.

So we on earth are blessèd
For we shall see the Lord,
Forever and forever,
By seraphim adored;
And we shall drink the pleasure
Such as no tongue can tell
From heav'ns clear crystal river,
And life’s eternal well.

Then sing to our Creator,
Who formed us with great love;
And sing to God the Savior
Who leads to realms above;
Sing we with saints and angels
Before the heavenly throne,
To God the Holy Spirit,
Sing to the Three in One.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1881; alt.
Tune: STOKE (7.6.7.6.D.)
Mrs. G. E. Cole, 1889

Christopher Wordsworth wrote this text toward the end of his life, long after his major collection The Holy Year (1862).  He was Bishop of Lincoln from 1868 until his death in 1885, and apparently wrote this hymn for the handbook of the Lincoln Girls' Friendly Society.   Many of his other hymns have already appeared here (click on the tag below).

I am unable to find anything more about Mrs. G. E. Cole, whose tune first appeared in the 1889 supplement of Hymns Ancient and Modern (not even her name!).  It's likely that the initials belong to her husband.



Five Years Ago: 'I come,' the great Redeemer cries

The Feast of the Epiphany

Twelve days after Christmas we come again to the Feast of the Epiphany, marked by the familiar story of three royal visitors to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12).  

Many churches probably celebrated this occasion yesterday but there will be some service today in various places.

Lo! the pilgrim magi
Leave their royal halls,
And with eager footsteps
Speed to Bethlehem's walls;
As they onward journey,
Faith, which firmly rests,
Built on hope unswerving,
Triumphs in their breasts.

Refrain: 
Praise to the Creator,
Fount of Life alone;
who unto the nations,
made Christ's glory known.

O what joy and gladness
Filled each heart, from far
When, to guide their footsteps,
Shone that radiant star;
O'er that home so holy,
Pouring down its ray,
Where the cradled infant
With his mother lay.
Refrain

Costly pomp and splendor
Earthly kings array;
Christ, a mightier Monarch,
Hath a nobler sway;
Straw may be his pallet,
Mean his garb may be,
Yet with power transcendent
He all hearts can free.
Refrain

At his crib they worship,
Kneeling on the floor,
And their God there present,
In that babe adore;
To our God and Savior
We, as seekers true,
Give our hearts o'erflowing,
Give our tribute due.
Refrain

Charles Coffin, 1736;
tr, John David Chambers, 1857; alt.
Tune: ARMAGEDDON (6.5.6.5.D. with refrain)
Luise Richardt, 19th cent.;
adapt. John Goss, 1871 

The Roman Catholic Charles Coffin wrote his hymns in Latin, most for the Paris Breviary (1736).  We saw a much more familiar Epiphany hymn by Coffin a few years ago.

Luise Reichardt (1779-1826), born in Berlin, was the daughter of two composers, Juliane Reichardt and Johann Friedrich Reichardt.  One of her grandfathers had been concert master in the court of Frederick the Great.  Her earliest published songs appeared in 1800 in a collection of her father's work.  This particular melody was adapted into a hymn tune by John Goss, and has been used most often with the text Who is on the Lord's side.




Five Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

Four Years Ago:  Earth has many a noble city

Three Years Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

Two Years Ago: As with gladness those of old

One Year Ago:  O thou, who by a star didst guide

Maundy Thursday

Today we remember the final night that Jesus spent with his friends before his death and the events of their evening together as they gathered for a meal. That Last Supper has been depicted in art and poetry in many different ways (such as the painting above by Tintoretto).

Today's hymn is inspired by just one verse in the Gospel story of the day. Matthew 26:26-30 recounts the disciples' gathering, and ends with "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." This text by Frances Ridley Havergal, part of a longer poem, imagines that the hymn they sang together, the last time they would sing before Jesus died, must have been something very unique.

Within an upper room they met,
A small, yet faithful band,
On whom a deep, yet chast'ning grief
Had laid its soft'ning hand.
Disciples seated 'round have heard
Their friend and Savior tell
That he with them no longer now
As heretofore may dwell.

The hour is come, but ere they meet
Its terrors, yet once more
Their voices blend with his who sang
As none e'er sung before.
Why do they linger on that note?
Why thus the sound prolong?
Ah! 'Twas the last, 'tis ended now,
That strangely solemn song.

And forth they go, the song is past;
But like the roseleaf, still,
Whose fragrance does not die away,
Its soft, low echoes thrill.
Through many a soul, and there awake
New strains of glowing praise
To Christ who, on that fateful eve,
That last sweet hymn did raise.

Frances Ridley Havergal, 1855; alt.
Tune: PENMAENMAWR (C.M.D.)
Sarah G. Stock, 1887

It's unlikely that this hymn would find its way into a service nowadays, dealing as it does with such a small part of the Passion story, but it's the part we celebrate here, of singing hymns together.

Sarah Geraldina Stock wrote both hymn tunes and texts, as well as several popular books for children on religious subjects. PENMAENMAWR (named for the town in Wales where she lived) seems like a tune that's just as unusual as this text, so they made a good pairing.


Three Years Ago: Maundy Thursday

Two Years Ago: Maundy Thursday

One Year Ago: Maundy Thursday

Eliza Scudder

Hymnwriter Eliza Scudder was born today in Massachusetts in 1821. In childhood she was very close to her older sister Rebecca; this closeness lasted throughout their lives, and the sisters actually died on the same day in 1896.

Scudder was greatly influenced by the abolotionist movement and two of its leaders in particular: the philanthropist Gerrit Smith and the author Lydia Maria Child. It is believed that her association with Child led her away from the Congregational faith of her family and into an interest in the Unitarian Church (though it's not clear she ever formally joined it), which caused a break with many of her friends. Some years later she was drawn to the Episcopal Church through the preaching and then the friendship of Phillips Brooks, the popular rector of Trinity Church in Boston.

This flexibilty in her religious thought probably means that it's difficult to assign her hymn texts to any particular set of beliefs, and her hymns were indeed sung in several different denominations. Her short 1880 collection, Hymns and Sonnets, contained this text.

Grant us your peace, down from your presence falling
As on the thirsty earth cool night-dews sweet,
Grant us your peace, to your own paths recalling,
From distant ways, our worn and wand'ring feet.

Grant us your peace, through winning and through losing,
Through gloom and gladness of our pilgrim way,
Grant us your peace, safe in your love's enclosing,
Who o'er all things in heav'n and earth hold sway.

Grant us your peace, that like a deep'ning river
Swells ever onward to a sea of praise;
Jesus, of peace the only Source and Giver,
Grant us your peace, O Savior, all our days!

Eliza Scudder, 1880; alt.
Tune: EIRENE (11.10.11.10)
Frances Ridley Havergal, 1871

Two Years Ago: Eliza Scudder

Emma L. Ashford

Eighty years ago today, composer Emma Louise Ashford died in Nashville, Tennessee. As described here two years ago, she had written about 600 works for voice, chorus, or organ. Though I have learned little more about her life, I have dug up some brief nuggets of information about some of her compositions.

She first published many of her anthems in the Choir Leader, which was a long-running monthly magazine put out by Edmund S. Lorenz for small-to-medium church choirs (his company remains in business today). A Palm Sunday anthem, Lift up your heads, is still in print, and was released on a 1960 recording by Mahalia Jackson, You'll Never Walk Alone.

In addition to the two hymn tunes that appeared in the 1905 Methodist Hymnal, I've also found a song called Christmas Bells in Triumphant Songs (1890), as well as two older gospel songs, none listed yet at the Cyber Hymnal. I also discovered a reference to her writing tunes for temperance songs, but thus far none of the temperance hymnals I've looked at has anything by Ashford.

I have already used Ashford's tune EVELYN for a few different texts, so today we have the second one from the Methodist Hymnal. This text is from the Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit (1864) which was compiled by Samuel Longfellow and Samuel Johnson, but its author remains obscure.

In every human mind we see
A temple made for Deity,
And righteous thoughts and acts declare
The Holy Spirit's presence there.

The Living God who Moses saw,
Whose pow'r revealed the ancient law,
Within the reason and the will
Makes known God's truth and goodness still.

In every age the hallowed light
Of revelation shines more bright;
Our creeds, like meteors, rise and fall;
Faith, Hope, and Love survive them all.

T. L. Harris, 19th cent.?; alt.
Tune: SUTHERLAND (L.M.)
Emma L. Ashford, 1905

Two Years Ago: More Voices Found: Emma Ashford

More Voices Found: Alice Nevin

Today we celebrate the birthday of the little-known composer Alice Nevin, born in 1837 in Pittsburgh. Her father, John Williamson Nevin, was a theologian in the German Reformed Church and taught at various seminaries before becoming the president of Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1866. It was in Lancaster that Alice lived for most of her adult life, and where she is still remembered today.

As with many other women hymn tune composers, only scraps of information can be gathered from various sources. For example, a house that she lived in after 1903 is today part of a walking tour of historic homes in Lancaster. By that time she was quite well-known there, having founded the Iris Club in 1895. She invited seventy women to her home and proposed the formation of a women's club (to be named for the the Greek goddess of the rainbow) which would "further the education of women and encourage movements for the betterment of society, and foster a generous spirit in the community." The Iris Club founded the first free kindergarten in Lancaster and also a well baby clinic in its early years. It remains in existence today, and its facilities (a historic house bought by the club in 1898) can apparently be rented for special events. Another Lancaster history site adds that Nevin was active in the cause of women's suffrage.

For several years Nevin was the organist at the First Reformed Church. While there, she edited a hymnbook which was published by the Philadelphia firm of J.B. Lippincott, Hymns and Carols for Church and Sunday School (1879). Unfortunately it is not yet available online, but it was well-reviewed in its day. From the Reformed Quarterly Review:

The object of the author was to provide something above the light, jingling tunes that have run Sunday-school singing into a sort of secular jollification, and that are fast becoming a nuisance. (...) It is music that will wear. Let our Sunday-schools test it by a fair trial, and we are sure it will win favor.

More succinctly, The Churchman said that the book was of "a much higher order than usual, and it deserves to become popular."

Today's tune by Nevin was published in that same year (probably in her hymnal) but it had perhaps been sung earlier in her church. It was written for The Lord of Life is risen, an Easter hymn originally in German that was translated by Henry Harbaugh, an earlier pastor of the First Reformed Church, in 1860. Since we're rather past the Easter season, I've matched it to another general text (also originally in German and translated by Catherine Winkworth).

The golden morn is breaking;
I thank you, God once more,
Beneath your care awaking,
I find the night is o’er.
I thank you that you call me
To life and health anew;
I know, whate’er befalls me,
Your care will still be true.

O Israel’s Guardian, hear me,
Watch over me this day;
In all I do be near me.
For others, too, I pray;
Grant us your peace and gladness,
Give us our daily bread,
Shield us from grief and sadness,
On us your blessings shed.

You are the Vine -— oh, nourish
Your heirs on shore and sea,
And let them grow and flourish,
A fair and fruitful tree.
Your Spirit pour within us
Such boundless gifts of grace,
And life eternal win us,
That all shall sing your praise.

Johannes Mühlmann, 1618
tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1863; adapt.
Tune: RESURRECTION (7.6.7.6.D.)
Alice Nevin, 1879

Nevin's tune has also been matched with The day of resurrection, another translation by John Mason Neale, but the tune name shouldn't limit it to Easter texts alone. I think it's pretty singable. Though the Cyber Hymnal lists only this tune by Alice Nevin, I have found three others in various hymnals, and I suspect that her own hymnal might contain more.

She died in 1925, and The Lord of Life is risen was sung at her funeral, which was held in the chapel at Franklin & Marshall College. As described later, the people gathered there heard Nevin's RESURRECTION once more, "its triumphant notes ringing from the old organ which had often responded to her own fingers..."

More Voices Found: Caroline Atherton Mason

The poet Caroline Atherton Mason was born today in 1823 in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a coastal town north of Boston. She and her seven sisters attended the nearby Bradford Academy, where they were collectively nicknamed "the Pleiades."

Caroline began writing at an early age, but her first successful poem, Do they miss me at home?, was published originally in the Salem Register in 1844, the same year she graduated from the Academy. Though the poem was written as the lament of a homesick schoolgirl, it was later set to music by Sidney M. Grannis and became especially popular during the Civil War as a soldier's song.

Her first collection of poetry, Utterance, or Private Voices to the Public Heart, was published in 1852. She also wrote short stories and articles for many journals of the day, as divergent as the St. Nicholas Magazine and the Anti-Slavery Standard. Reportedly she was also a prolific correspondent to local newspapers where her missives were signed "C.A.M.".

In 1868 she was one of six women who wrote hymns for the February 19 ordination and installation services of Universalist minister Phebe Hanaford, the fourth woman ordained in this country. Mason's hymn opened the ordination service in the morning, and was read by the Reverend James Marsden of Abingdon, MA (it's unclear whether it was also sung by the congregation; no record of any tune survives).

Savior! in this sacred hour
With thy grace our spirits dower;
Let thine influence from above
Fill our hearts with light and love.

Lo! thy waiting servant stands,
Asking blessings at thy hands;
Saying, "Who shall speak for thee?"
Saying, "Here am I, send me!"

Oh! sustain her, comfort, guide;
Compass her on every side;
Let thy truth inspire her tongue
Ministering thy flock among.

Clothed with thine own pow'r and might,
Make her earnest for the right;
Strong to do and brave to bear,
Ever watching into prayer,

So her ministry shall be
Owned and blessed, dear Christ, of thee;
Souls be giv'n her, and thy name
Have the glory and acclaim.

Caroline Atherton Mason, 1868; alt.
Tune: EVELYN (7.7.7.7.)
Emma L. Ashford, 1905

Several of Mason's other hymn texts were included in various hymnals, among them the first Harvard University Hymn Book (1895). A year after her death in 1890, her husband Charles Mason published one final collection of her work, The Lost Ring and Other Poems.

Saint Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene, sometimes called the "apostle to the apostles" because she was the first witness to Jesus' resurrection on Easter morning, is commemorated on some church calendars today. As I've written before, some of the other New Testament stories which supposedly feature Mary are now thought perhaps to be stories of other women.

It was Pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century who declared Mary Magdalene, Mary of Bethany (Martha's sister) and the penitent woman who washed the feet of Jesus to be the same person, and it was not until the twentieth century that Western religions separated those women and their stories (1969 for the Roman Catholic Church). During all that time, Mary Magdalene was frequently portrayed in art and literature carrying the jar of perfume that was used to anoint Jesus' feet in the story from Luke 7:36-50. This hymn for the day also puts her in that story.

When Mary, moved by grateful love,
The precious ointment poured
Upon the head and feet of him
She owned as Christ and Lord,
The odor of the costly gift
Pervaded all the room;
How grateful to the sense it seemed --
How sweet the rich perfume.

An off'ring similar I bring
In thanks and praise to thee
My heart's devoted love is all,
O Christ, accept of me
This gift, and may its fragrance rise
As incense to thy throne
And seal me with thy gracious hand
To work for thee, thine own.

Mrs. R. F. Williams, 1884; alt.
Tune: PETERSHAM (C.M.D.)
Clement W. Poole, 1875

This hymn text appeared in Women in Sacred Song (1889), a two-volume collection of hymn and song texts and tunes written by women and compiled by Eva Munson Smith, and I'm not sure if it appeared anywhere else. There were many more texts than tunes in Smith's collection, and this one was printed without music. Unfortunately, not much more can probably be determined about the author, not even her own first name, as the initials probably belonged to Mr. Williams.

P.S. The painting above is by the seventeenth-century Florentine artist Carlo Dolci.


***UPDATE***  This hymn with words and music together is now posted on Facebook (but with a different, more familiar tune).  Go to "Conjubilant W. Song" and click on "Photos" -- it's in the Downloadable Hymns section.


Two Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

One Year Ago: Emily E. S. Elliott