Saint Michael and All Angels

Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Michael and All Angels, sometimes called Michaelmas. Some churches elevate this day to a moveable feast and celebrate it on the nearest Sunday. As observed in the link above, it is a day for us to "give thanks for the many ways in which God's loving care watches over us, both directly and indirectly, and (to be) reminded that the richness and variety of God's creation far exceeds our knowledge of it."

Another Anglican tradition of the day, observed mainly in English boarding schools, universities, and seminaries, is to hold a service of Evensong today to mark the start of the academic year or semester (the corresponding spring semester service is held on Candlemas, or the Feast of the Presentation, February 2). In fact, in some places what we in the US would call the fall semester is known as the Michaelmas term. While this Evensong custom is not widely observed in this country, it does pop up here and there, such as this service tonight at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

There are many more hymns about angels in general than there are specifically for Saint Michael the archangel, but all are appropriate for the day. This anonymous text comes from The Year of Praise (1867), compiled by Henry Alford.

They are evermore around us,
Though unseen to mortal sight,
In the joyful hours of sunshine,
and in sorrow's starless night;
Deep'ning earth's most sacred pleasures
With the pow'r of sin forgiven,
Whisp'ring to the lonely mourner
Of the endless joys of Heav'n.

Lovingly they come to help us,
When our faith is cold and weak,
Guiding us along the pathway
To the blessed home we seek;
In our hearts we hear their voices,
Breathing sympathy and love,
Echoes of a spirit language
From the heav'nly world above.

They are with us in our trials,
With their words of hope and cheer
Bringing news of earth's salvation,
Blessed tidings all may hear;
And a greater One is with us
As we shrink not from the strife,
While the Lord of angels leads us
On the pilgrim-path of life.

Author unknown, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: REX GLORIAE (8.7.8.7.D.)
Henry T. Smart, 1868

I don't often match English Victorian texts to American folk-ish tunes, but NETTLETON might also work well with this one.

Two Years Ago: Around the throne of God

One Year Ago: Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright

Safely Reach My Home

Continuing with hymns on the theme of heaven, we come to an interesting collaboration across a century or so. A simple, four stanza text by Isaac Watts, first published in 1707, which appeared under the epigraph The hope of heaven our support under trials on earth speaks of a sort of celestial real estate. It could be set to many different tunes in Common Meter (8.6.8.6.) such as ST. ANNE or WINCHESTER OLD, tunes which were known in Watts's time. However, it has become more familiar in this country with a folk tune from Scotland which was arranged in an early American tune collection titled Kentucky Harmony (1817).

When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I'll bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.
And wipe my weeping eyes,
And wipe my weeping eyes
I'll bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.

Should earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled,
Then I can smile at Satan’s rage,
And face a frowning world.
And face a frowning world,
And face a frowning world,
Then I can smile at Satan’s rage,
And face a frowning world.

Let cares, like a wild deluge come,
And storms of sorrow fall!
May I but safely reach my home,
My God, my heav’n, my all.
My God, my heav'n, my all,
My God, my heav'n, my all,
May I but safely reach my home,
Ay God, my heav'n, my all.

There shall I bathe my weary soul
In seas of heav’nly rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll,
Across my peaceful breast.
Across my peaceful breast,
Across my peaceful breast,
And not a wave of trouble roll,
Across my peaceful breast.

Isaac Watts, 1707; alt.
Tune: PISGAH (8.6.8.6.6.6.8.6.)
Scottish tune, arr. Joseph C. Lowry, 1817

PISGAH, like many hymn tunes, is named for a place in the Bible, the topmost part of Mount Nebo, from which Moses saw the Promised Land. Though a folk tune, we would probably consider it today somewhat more elaborate than a simple Common Meter tune, partly because the tune requires repeating the last two lines over four lines of the tune. Such repetition was more common in eighteenth and early nineteenth century tunes, though not often used in modern hymn tunes (contemporary Christian songs are a different matter; text repetition is one thing often criticized about them).

There may be a few instances of this text in a modern hymnal with a regular Common Meter tune, but I think this is the way it's mostly still remembered and sung.

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

Saint Matthew

“Arise and follow me!”
Who answers to the call?
Not Ruler, Scribe, or Pharisee,
Proud and regardless all.

“Arise and follow me!”
The tax collector heard;
All Caesar's duties left behind,
Obeyed the Savior's word.

Thenceforth in joy or woe,
Wherever Jesus trod,
Among the Twelve his place was near
The Holy One of God.

“Arise and follow me!”
So Matthew heard that voice;
Apostle, Saint, Evangelist,
For whom we now rejoice.

Henry Alford, 1845; alt.
Tune: HOLYROOD (S.M.)
James Watson, 1867


Two Years Ago: Saint Matthew

One Year Ago: Saint Matthew

Josiah Conder

Author Josiah Conder was born today in London in 1789. His father was a bookseller, and Josiah worked in the shop as a boy, eventually taking it over when he was twenty-one. However, he had already begun his writing career by this time (his first published essay appeared when he was ten) and nine years later he gave up the bookshop for writing and editing.

For twenty-three years he was the editor of The Eclectic Review, a popular and respected literary magazine, and later of The Patriot, a Nonconformist newspaper that was a strong supporter of abolition. In 1839 Conder became a founding member of the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society for the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave-trade Throughout the World, an organization still in existence today as Anti-Slavery International. He was one of the main organizers of the world's first anti-slavery convention held in London in 1840.

Conder published several books of his own, including The Modern Traveler, which was a thirty-volume collection covering the geography of many of the countries of the world. His first book of religions verse, The Star in the East, from where his earliest hymns have been taken, appeared in 1824. This was followed by The Choir and the Oratory (1837), his second collection.

In 1836 he published the first Congregational Hymn Book which had been authorized by a resolution of the Congregational Union three years earlier. It contained 620 hymns by eighty different writers (including fifty-six of his own), and was to be used in conjunction with the Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts, Watts being so revered by the Congregationalists that he deserved a separate volume devoted to his works. Conder too believed in the primacy of Watts and later wrote The Poet of the Sanctuary (1851), a centenary commemoration of Watts, and edited a revised version of Psalms and Hymns (1852), hoping that Watts would continue to have his own volume in the Congregational pew-racks.

Conder's many hymn texts are largely unknown today. The most recent US Congregational hymnal, Hymns for a Pilgrim People (2007), which was intended to emphasize hymns by Gongregationalist authors, unfortunately contains none by Conder. In looking over several possibilities for today I settled on this Trinitarian text that probably hasn't appeared anywhere for a while.

'Tis good, with tuneful verses,
Our God's high praise to sing;
Creator of all mercies,
Our Maker and our King.
Praise God for all creation,
The wonders of our birth;
For daily preservation
And all the joys of earth.

And for the the great Redemption,
Let equal anthems swell,
For pardon and exemption
From woes no tongue can tell.
To Christ all glory render,
Himself, who freely gave;
Our Shepherd, our Defender,
Omnipotent to save.

We bless the Holy Spirit,
For all the means of grace;
The hopes that we inherit,
The faith that we embrace;
The seal of our high calling,
The word that makes us wise,
And strength to keep from falling,
And win the heav'nly prize.

Josiah Conder, 1836; alt.
Tune: MUNICH (7.6.7.6.D.)
Neuvermehrtes Gesangbuch, 1693
harm. Felix Mendelssohn, 1847

Conder died in 1855 from an attack of jaundice. The following year, one of his sons, Eustace, a Congregational minister, compiled his hymn texts into one volume, Hymns of Praise, Prayer, and Devout Meditation.

P.S. - The "portrait" of Josiah Conder above is actually excerpted from a much larger painting by Benjamin Haydon which depicted the delegates at the Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840. You can't even make him out in the full painting online, he's somewhat near the speaker but in the third or fourth row.

Horatio W. Parker

Composer Horatio William Parker, born today in Auburndale, Massachusetts in 1863, is pictured here in his Yale academic robes (he was the first Dean of the Yale School of Music from 1904 to 1919).

In The History of American Music (1915), author Lewis Charles Elson recounts some recollections of Horatio's mother, Isabella, who was a church organist. According to her, the child Horatio showed no interest in music. His interest developed rather suddenly when he was fourteen (she pinpointed it to October, 1877), when he began "to ask all sorts of questions about it, and to spend literally whole days at the piano, beginning at daylight, and stopping only when his father sent him to bed." She began to teach him piano and organ, and within two years he was the organist at St. Paul's Church in Dedham, Massachusetts.

He also started to compose during these years; among his first works was a set of fifty songs with texts by childrens' writer and illustrator Kate Greenaway, described as having "good melody and sufficient accoampaniment."

Of course, as recounted here on his previous birthdays, he went on to become one of the most prominent composers of his day, particularly renowned for his contributions to church music with his oratorios, anthems, service music, and hymn tunes. Since we've already some of his tunes, today I'm directing you to one of his anthems. Perhaps his most lasting one is the Easter anthem Light's glittering morn, sung here at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Columbia, SC during a regional convocation of the American Guild of Organists (text is below). Listen for when the familiar hymn tune VICTORY comes in from the choir, over the soloist - it's my favorite moment in this favorite piece.

Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky;
heaven thunders forth its victor cry;
the glad earth shouts her triumph high,
and groaning hell makes wild reply.

While he, the King, the mighty King,
despoiling death of all its sting,
and, trampling down the powers of night,
brings forth his ransomed saints to light.

[solo]
That Eastertide with joy was bright,
the sun shone out with fairer light,
when, to their longing eyes restored,
the glad apostles saw their Lord.

He bade them see his hands, his side,
where yet the glorious wounds abide;
the tokens true which made it plain
their Lord indeed was risen again.

[quartet]
O Jesus, King of gentleness,
do thou thyself our hearts possess
that we may give thee all our days
the tribute of our grateful praise.

[solo]

O Lord of all, with us abide,

in this our joyful Eastertide;

from every weapon death can wield

Thine own redeemed forever shield.

[Congregation joins:]

The strife is o'er, the battle done,
The victory of life is won,
The song of triumph has begun.

Alleluia, alleluia! (et repetitur)

All praise be thine, O risen Lord,
from death to endless life restored.
All praise to God the Father be,
and Holy Ghost, eternally.
Alleluia, Amen!

Text: Aurora lucis rutilat, formerly attributed to Ambrose of Milan;

tr John Mason Neale, 1851

Two Years Ago: Horatio W. Parker

One Year Ago: Horatio W. Parker

Caleb Simper

Sung throughout the civilized world.

That slogan was printed on millions of copies of church anthems written by composer Caleb Simper in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, though like many of his contemporaries, he is largely unknown today.

Simper was born today in 1856, in Wiltshire. Though his father is usually described as a shoemaker, he also played the violin in local ensembles. Caleb received little or no formal musical training, but he probably learned some at home, from his father. As an adult, his first entry into the music business was working at a music store in Worcester, but soon after he was appointed organist and choirmaster at the church of St. Mary Magdalene in that city. It was here that he wrote his first anthem for his choir to dine at Easter, He is risen, which he published under the pseudonym of Edwyn Clare.

After about ten years in Worcester, he moved his family to Barnstaple, where he went into partnership with John Thomas White in a music warehouse, selling pianos, organs, and sheet music. He continued to hold organist positoins, and to publish his anthems, which became extremely popular. Less than a year after entering the partnership, he sold his half to White in order to devote more time to composition. He also began to write for the organ, publishing the first of twelve volumes of organ music in 1898. This book also included a piece written by his son Roland at the age of eight.

Like many other Victorian church musicians, Simper also wrote hymn tunes, including two which won prizes in a contest sponsored by the Manchester Sunday School Union, believed to be BARNSTAPLE and SUPPOSE, both of which appear in the Sunday School Hymnary of 1905 (at #42 and #13 respectively). He wrote carols, several of which appear in the American collection Carols Old and Carols New (1916). Today's tune, the only one of his listed at the Cyber Hymnal, was named for his son Roland, who followed in his footsteps as an organist and composer.

Who are these in bright array?

This innumerable throng,
Round the altar night and day,
Tuning their triumphal song?
"Worthy is the Lamb, once slain,
Blessing, honor, glory pow'r,
Wisdom, riches to obtain,
New dominion every hour."

These through fiery trials trod;
These from great affliction came;
Now, before the throne of God,
Sealed with God's eternal Name,
Clad in raiment gleaming bright,
Victor palms in every hand,
Through their great Redeemer's might,
More than conquerors they stand.

Hunger, thirst, disease unknown,
On immortal fruits they feed;
Them the Lamb amidst the throne'
Shall to living fountains lead.
Joy and gladness banish sighs;
Perfect love dispels their fears'
And forever from their eyes
God shall wipe away all tears.

James Montgomery, 1819; alt.
Tune: ROLAND (7.7.7.7.D.)
Caleb Simper, 19th cent.

This text by James Montgomery uses some well-known imagery from the Book of Revelation, which we have also seen in another hymn, and though that one is a favorite of mine, I like this one as well. If we can have multiple hymns based on Psalm 23, we can have multiples here also.

Sources have identified more than a hundred choral anthems and cantatas by Caleb Simper, and nearly two hundred organ pieces, though no one has yet tracked the hymn tunes and carols, it appears (I have seen more than the few mentioned here). His music has been called overly simplistic and repetitive, yet at the same time it's said that the anthems work well with small choirs without great resources. Some are apparently still in print, though nearly all should be out of copyright in this country and some can be seen at the Choral Public Domain Library. You can also look him up on YouTube and find performances, which is more than can be said of some other Victorian composers I've discussed here.

While Simper was dismissed by later composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Erik Routley, it may be that some critics closer to our time are taking a second look at his work. Last year, for the anniversary of one of the parish churches he served as organist, a celebration of his work was held.

At any rate, in his own day Caleb Simper was perhaps, as they say, laughing all the way to the bank. By 1920 his anthems had sold more than five million copies, and at the time of his death in 1942 his estate was valued at more then twenty thousand pounds, quite substantial in that time. His music may not have been sung in the great cathedrals, but thousands of choirs and congregations knew and loved them in smaller churches throughout the civilized world.

One Fold, One Faith, One Hope Restore

Today's hymn of unity, one of this year's ordinary time themes, was adapted from a longer poem by the Quaker activist John Greenleaf Whittier, which was written for a somewhat different purpose.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Thy grace impart! in time to be
Shall one great temple rise to thee
Thy Church our broad humanity.
Alleluia!

Sweet flow'rs of love its walls shall climb,
Soft bells of peace shall ring its chime
Its days shall all be holy time
Alleluia!

A sweeter song shall then be heard,
The music of the world's accord
Proclaiming Christ, the living Word!
Alleluia!

That song shall swell from shore to shore,
One fold, one faith, one hope restore
The seamless robe that Jesus wore.
Alleluia!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

John Greenleaf Whittier, 1864; adapt.
Tune: VICTORY (8.8.8. with Alleluias)
Giovanni da Palestrina, 1591
adapt. William H. Monk, 1861

This four-stanza text may have been first adapted for congregational singing in the Unitarian New Hymn and Tune Book (1914) but the Whittier poem dates back to the Civil War. It was written for the dedication of "Thomas Starr King's house of worship," which was the second church building of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco (pictured here), which was at 133 Geary Street (now the site of the Neiman-Marcus department store).

Thomas Starr King was a prominent Unitarian minister and respected orator of his day, who came to California in 1860 and used his political influence to ensure that California remained part of the Union in the months leading up to the Civil War. In addition, he helped organize the West Coast division of the United States Sanitary Commission (predecessor to the Red Cross) and raised a great deal of money for that organization. Whittier's original theme of unity in his fifteen-stanza poem for Starr King was more about the divisions of the war and its causes, as seen in these two stanzas:

But through the war-cloud, pray to thee

For union, but a union free,

With peace that comes of purity!

That thou wilt bare thy arm to save,

And, smiting through this Red Sea wave,

Make broad a pathway for the slave!

The familiar tune used for this hymn was arranged by William H. Monk from a choral piece by Palestrina, and is most often sung at Easter, with The strife is o'er, the battle done.

Two Years Ago: Amy Beach

One Year Ago: Amy Beach

Fill Us With Refining Fire

Choosing one of our Sunday themes during ordinary time we come around again to hymns of the Holy Spirit. They come from many denominations and different musical styles, but most of them contain similar images of wind, fire, and the breath of God. They are often prayers for change and renewal, which I think everyone can sing together, regardless of your own background or circumstances.

Breathe upon us now from heaven,
Fill us with the Holy Ghost;
Promise of the Savior given,
Send anew your Pentecost.

Refrain
Breathe upon us, breathe upon us,
With your love our hearts inspire.
Breathe upon us, breathe upon us,
O baptize us now with fire.

While the Spirit hovers o’er us,
Open all our hearts, we pray;
To your image, God, restore us,
Witness in our souls today.
Refrain

Lift us, Spirit, lift us higher,
From our fears and doubts set free;
Fill us with refining fire,
Give us perfect liberty.
Refrain

R. Kelso Carter, 1891; alt.
Tune: MEDJUGORJE (8.7.8.7. with refrain)

Russell Kelso Carter was for a time a Methodist minister, though he later became a physician. He was associated with the Holiness Movement (like fellow hymnwriters Phoebe Palmer, Alma White, and Margaret J. Harris) and also organized and led campmeetings. He wrote both texts and tunes, sometimes together, as in this case, and sometimes separately. His most well-known song is probably Standing on the promises, which is still sung today, but I'd make a case for reconsidering this one as well.

Carter also collaborated on at least three gospel song collections, including Hymns of the Christian Life (1891), where today's song was first published (as the first selection in the book). He contributed 51 texts and 68 tunes to that book, in addition to arranging 26 more tunes from the melodies of others.

Two Years Ago: Oliver Wendell Holmes

Saint Bartholomew

For thy dear saints, O Lord,
Who strove in thee to live,
Who followed thee, obeyed, adored,
Our grateful hymn receive.

They all in life and death,
With thee, O Christ, in view,
Learned from thy Holy Spirit’s breath
Thy healing work to do.

Thine earthly members fit
To join thy saints above,
In one communion ever knit,
One in the bond of love.

Jesus, thy Name we bless,
And humbly pray that we
May follow them in holiness,
Who lived and died for thee.


Richard Mant, 1837; alt.
Tune: ST. HELENA (S.M.)
Benjamin Milgrove, 1769

These "lesser"saints rarely have multiple hymns for their feast days, and for the most part, the useful ones have already been seen here (though I'm always looking). There are a great number of St. Bartholomew's Churches out there, but I'd imagine that many of them would be more likely to sing a general saints' day hymn like this one on their patronal feast.

The hymn presented here two years ago (see link below) is a good one, I think, but clearly not everyone agrees. Though technically it remains in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 it has been cut to half its original length, turning a hymn of four eight-line stanzas to one of four four-line stanzas, but maybe somewhere some church actually sings the whole thing. That's the nice thing about the internet - more resources are avaiilable than ever before and no one is really limited to the hymnal they happen to own.


Two Years Ago: Saint Bartholomew

Seemly So to Do

We have often talked about psalm paraphrases, which in many places

were first used for congregational singing, but not so much about the tunes that were sung with those paraphrases.

John Calvin believed that congregational singing in the language of the people should be an integral part of worship, and that such singing would help to reinforce the message of his sermons. The psalms were chosen because there could be nothing questionable in their doctrine, and this argument was used for a long time to come in order to discourage the singing of anything but psalms.

The Genevan Psalter was developed under Calvin's supervision over many years. The earliest edition (1539) contained only 22 selections, but gradually all 150 were paraphrased and set to 126 different tunes in the 1562 edition.

Calvin had also given much thought to the music to be used. In the preface to one edition, he wrote:

...we find by experience that (music) has a sacred and almost incredible power to move hearts in one way or another. Therefore we ought to be even more diligent in regulating it in such a way that it shall be useful to us and in no way pernicious.

He believed that the psalms needed their own tunes, which should not be derived from or even suggestive of secular music. There have been various claims that some tunes from the Genevan Psalter were arranged from popular tunes of the time, and this is still apparently a subject of debate, though a few of the tunes do seem to have been derived from common chants used in the Catholic church.

The tunes and texts of the Genevan Psalter have survived to our time, some more widely used than others. Initially they were intended to be sung in unison in worship, and harmonized versions were only to be used at home. Over the centuries there have been many different arrangements and harmonizations, though some churches even today still sing them in unison. In our internet age, there are many sites devoted to Calvin's psalter, even some which still maintain that only the psalms should be sung in worship.

Today's tune comes from the Genevan Psalter, by Louis (or Loys) Bourgeois, who was the musical editor of the 1551 edition and composed several of its tunes. The name by which we know it today comes from its pairing with this paraphrase of Psalm 100, which was written by William Kethe for the Anglo-Genevan Psalter used by Protestant refugees in Geneva from England during the Catholic reign of Mary. At any rate, it is probably the oldest tune we know and sing regularly.

All people that on earth do dwell,

Sing to you, God, with cheerful voice:
Serve you with mirth, your praise forth tell,
We come before you and rejoice.

We know that you are God indeed;
Without our aid you did us make:
We are your folk, you will us feed,
And for your sheep you will us take.

We enter then your gates with praise,
Approach with joy your courts unto;
Praise, laud, and bless your Name always,
For it is seemly so to do.

For why? We know our God is good,
Your mercy is for ever sure;
Your truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.

Wiliam Kethe, 1560; alt.
Tune: OLD HUNDREDTH (L.M.)
Louis Bourgeois, 1551

Though the melody is by Bourgeois, the great number of harmonizations done in the last 450 years make it difficult to assign this one to anyone in particular.

Bernard of Clairvaux

The French monk who became known as Bernard of Clairvaux was born into a noble family in 1091, near Dijon, and died on August 20, 1153 (hence his commemoration today).

As a young man he was a soldier, but left the military with 30 others, including his brothers, and joined a monastery at Citeaux. A few years later he was asked to go and found another monastery, which he named Clairvaux. During the course of his life he was involved with the founding of 163 communities across Europe.

His surviving writings became part of the theology of the Catholic Church. He was especially devoted to the Virgin Mary, and helped formulate much of the doctrine around her. He was canonized in 1174 by Pope Alexander III, only about twenty years after his death.

Bernard was much admired during the Reformation as well; both Martin Luther and John Calvin thought he embodied the best of the Catholic faith. Today, some of the poetry of Bernard is sung in many churches, several hymns excerpted from longer poems, a few of which we have seen here on the blog. Today's hymn is part of a longer one, Jesu, Rex admirabilis, translated by Edward Caswall in 1849.

O Jesus, Light of all below,
Great Fount of life and fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can desire!

Thy wondrous mercies are untold,
Through each returning day;
Thy love exceeds a thousandfold,
Whatever we can say.

May every heart confess thy Name;
And ever thee adore;
And seeking thee, itself inflame,
To seek thee more and more.

Thus may our tongues forever bless;
Thee may we love alone;
And ever in our lives express
The image of thine own.

Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th cent.
tr. Edward Caswall, 1849
Tune: ST. LEONARD (C.M.)
Henry T. Smart, 1867


P.S. The painting above is a portion of The Vision of St. Bernard by Fra Bartolomeo (1504), currently in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.


Two Years Ago: Bernard of Clairvaux

George William Warren

Composer and church musician George William Warren was born on this day in 1828, in Albany, NY. His family was descended from early American settler Richard Warren, one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact in 1620.

Though Warren reportedly showed some musical talent as a child, he did not study music in school. As a young adult, he spent several years in business only then teaching himself music in his spare time. He began to play the organ at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Albany and eventually became the regular organist there, giving up business for a career in music. While still in Albany he began coaching a soprano named Isabella Hinkley who went on to an important career on the opera stage in the mid-nineteenth century.

Warren moved to New York City in 1860 where he became the organist and music director at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Brooklyn. He was also the Brooklyn correspondent for Dwight's Journal of Music, where he wrote under the pseudonym of "Jem Baggs." He had became friends with the composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk and the two worked together on some compositions, also appearing in concert together in pieces for two pianos (one of these was Warren's The Andes which is available for download).

After ten years in Brooklyn he was named organist at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. His first Sunday there in 1870 was also the first service held in a new building for the congregation (the third of four they have had up to the present). Most of Warren's church music, including anthems, service music, and hymn tunes was written during the next twenty years at St. Thomas', and he became one of the best-known Episcopal musicians of his time. In 1888 he compiled many of his tunes into a book published by Harper Brothers: Hymns and Tunes as Sung at St. Thomas's Church, New York.

His one tune that we would recognize today (which we have already heard here) was written later, in 1892, for a commemoration of the centennial of the United States Constitution, and to be paired with a text that had been written for the centennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1876. NATIONAL HYMN is still sung in many churches on Independence Day and other national occasions.

But there were those other tunes as well, many of them for texts that we would recognize, though we sing them to different tunes today, for one reason or another. We all know today's hymn, but I suspect that it is so familiar because it has been paired with a great tune. However, that tune had not yet been written in Warren's day, and he wrote this one, which we might still know today if CWM RHONDDA had not been written 23 years later.

Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
Hold me with thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven
Feed me till I want no more.

Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing stream doth flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer
Be thou still my Strength and Shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises
I will ever give to thee.

William Williams, 1745
tr. Peter Williams, 1771; alt.
Tune: GUIDE ME (8.7.8.7.4.7.)
George W. Warren, 1884

Now, it's also possible that with Warren's tune, which I think is not at all bad, but lacks that certain something that CWM RHONDDA has, this text might not be particularly well-known today.

In 1890 Warren added the organist position at Columbia University to his duties at St. Thomas, and he also lectured on music there despite having no degree in music except an honorary doctorate awarded by Racine College in Wisconsin. The Episcopal Diocese of New York honored him with a special service to mark his twenty-fifth year at the church, which was reported in the New York Times on November 4, 1895.

His obituary in the Columbia University Quarterly began: On Sunday morning, March 16, 1902, the soul of George William Warren separated from the body by the process called death. It continued:

Years before there was in this country any intelligent appreciation of church music, or adequate facilities for the scientific study of any kind of music, George William Warren became the apostle of a movement which largely through his efforts and influence has come now to be recognized as an integral part of the instruction of a university. (...) Those who laid foundations are not to be ignored when the roll of those who are great is called in any field of work.

You might think that Warren has been largely ignored by many in the century since his death, but NATIONAL HYMN, at least, will still be sung for years to come. There is also a current exhibit on his life and work at the Albany Institute of History and Art (from which I got the photograph of Warren above) which is running through the end of this month.

Saint Mary the Virgin

August 15 is the feast day of Saint Mary the Virgin, or the Feast of the Assumption, or the Dormition of the Theotokos, depending on your church; different names all referring to the same event, the Mother of God going up to heaven following her death. The painting above is part of a huge fresco in Parma by the sixteenth century artist Antonio da Correggio, depicting Mary, borne aloft by angels, joining the saints.

For appropriate hymns, we generally have to turn to the Roman Catholic church, and I found this one in the Catholic Church Hymnal of 1905. Though it may not be sung anywhere but here today, its author is certainly remembered. Frederick William Faber was a convert to Catholicism from the Church of England and was one of the first to write new hymns in English for Catholics as opposed to translations from Latin.

Sing, sing, ye angel bands,
All beautiful and bright!
For higher still and higher,
Through fields of starry light,
The Queen of heav'n ascends,
Like the sweet moon at night.

A fairer flow'r than she
On earth has never been;
And save the throne of God,
Your heav'ns have never seen
A wonder half so bright
As your ascending Queen.

O happy angels, look!
How beautiful she is!
See, Jesus bears her up,
Her hand is locked in his;
Oh, who can tell the height
Of that fair Mother's bliss?

On then, dear pageant, on!
Sweet music breathes around;
And love, like dew distils
On hearts in rapture bound;
The Queen of heav'n goes up
To be proclaimed and crowned!

Frederick William Faber, c. 1861
Tune: ST. VERONICA (6.6.6.6.6.6.)
Francis H. Champneys, 1889

The picture below shows the ascending Mary with (I think) her hand held by her son, described here in the hymn but generally not a part of artistic depictions of the event.



Two Years Ago: Saint Mary the Virgin

One Year Ago: Saint Mary the Virgin

Sir Joseph Barnby

Composer and conductor Joseph Barnby (pictured here at work, on a Victorian postcard) was born today in 1838. His father was an organist, which led to his early training on that instrument. Young Joseph also sang in the cathedral choir at York Minster beginning at age seven.

in 1854 he went to study at the Royal College of Music, and two years later was one of nineteen applicants for the first Mendelssohn Scholarship in England. Unfortunately, he came in second to Arthur Sullivan. After graduation, he held organist and music director positions as well as teaching positions at Eton College and the Guildhall School of Music.

In 1867 he began as the conductor of a group that became known as "Barnby's Choir." In 1872 that group combined with another choir started by Charles Gounod and became the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society, which still sings today. Barnby conducted the first English performances of several important works, including the Stabat Mater of Dvorak (1883) and Wagner's last opera Parsifal (1884), and earlier, the first English church performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion at Westminster Abbey in 1871.

As noted here before, Barnby wrote several anthems and other sacred choral works (his oratorio Rebekah is now downloadable at the Sibley Music Library site) and 246 hymn tunes. collected in one volume after his death in 1896 (and mostly unknown today). The 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship is perhaps the most recent hymnal to contain as many as six of his tunes (someone on that committee must have liked Barnby!); these days, if a hymnal has any of his tunes at all, this is the most likely one.

When morning gilds the skies
My heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
When evening shadows fall,
Then rings my curfew call,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

When mirth for music longs,
This is my song of songs:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
God's holy house of prayer
Has none that can compare
With: Jesus Christ be praised!

No lovelier antiphon
In all high heav’n is known
Than, Jesus Christ be praised!
There to the eternal Word
The eternal psalm is heard:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

All ye of humankind,
In this your concord find,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let all the earth around
Ring joyous with the sound,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Sing, suns and stars of space,
Sing, ye that see God's face,
Sing, Jesus Christ be praised!
God’s whole creation o’er,
For aye and evermore
Shall Jesus Christ be praised!

Katholisches Gesangbuch, 1828;
tr. Robert Bridges, 1899; alt.
Tune: LAUDES DOMINI (6.6.6.6.6.6.)
Joseph Barnby, 1868

This quintessential "summer hymn" is sung in many different churches across denominations, though they may be singing different translations. The text, published in German in fourteen stanzas (by one account) is now thought to be older than 1828, though I'm not sure it has been specifically traced to any earlier hymnbook. Edward Caswall translated it for his collection The Masque of Mary (1858) and this version later made its way into Hymns Ancient and Modern, where Barnby's tune, written specifically for Caswall's text, appeared in the first Supplement of 1868.

Caswall's last stanza may be the most familiar to many:

Be this, while life is mine,
My canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this th'eternal song
Through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Today's version, however, is a translation by Robert Bridges (later the poet laureate of England)which appeared in his Yattendon Hymnal (1899), and in several other hymnals since. Some hymnals even combine stanzas from both translations, which works of course because both are written in the same meter and thus can be sung to the same tune. Unfortunately, none of the major online hymn sites have sufficiently separated the two versions so that you can easily see Caswall's whole translation and Bridges' whole translation.


Two Years Ago: Sir Joseph Barnby

One Year Ago: Sir Frederick A. Gore Ouseley

Mary Artemesia Lathbury

Today is the birthday of Mary Lathbury, born in 1841 in northern New York state. She attended art school after high school graduation, and went on to teach art for some years before turning more to writing, primarily for childrens' magazines and then books, which she illustrated herself.

She became the associate editor of Sunday School publications for the Methodist Episcopal Church where she continued writing and illustrating. John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist minister and later bishop, was a friend and Lathbury regularly attended the summer sessions at the Chautauqua Institution, which Vincent founded in the 1870s. Lathbury began writing hymns for worship and sometimes for Bible study classes at Chautauqua, often based on particular requests from Vincent, and sometimes set to tunes by the Institute's music director, William Fisk Sherwin. She became known as the poet laureate of Chautauqua, and her songs are still sung there today. In her own time, several were published in Chautauqua Carols (1878) though she continued to write new texts practically every year for many years after that, often for special occasions (such as when President Grant visited Chautauqua) or anniversaries.

Her two most familiar hymns have already been covered here on previous birthdays, and they each have appeared in hundreds of hymnals. Today's hymn is not nearly so well-known; Hymnary.org has only found four appearances of it thus far. Worship at Chautauqua was (and is) always nondenominational, and it may be that the theme of unity expressed here accounts for its scarcity.

O Shepherd of the Nameless Fold,
One promised church to be,
Our hearts with love and longing turn
To find their rest in thee;

And even now its heav’nly walls
Unseen around us rise,
And deep in loving human hearts
Its broad foundation lies.

From out our old, divided state,
And centuries of strife,
Thy hand, O Shepherd of the flock,
Is lifting us to life.

O blest dominion, happy fold,
The unity to be,
Our hearts in love and worship turn
To find themselves in thee!

Its bounds are known to God alone,
For they are set above;
The length, the breadth, the height are one,
And measured by God's love.

Mary Lathbury, 1881; alt.
Tune: ST. STEPHEN (C.M.)
William Jones, 1789

Mary Lathbury also strongly supported the cause of temperance, and some of her hymns appeared in the White Ribbon Hymnal (1892) published by the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Earlier she had co-written the book Women and Temperance (1883) with Frances E. Willard, the president of the WCTU.

Though people had often requested it, Lathbury published no single collection of her verse in her lifetime. Two years after her death in 1913, Poems of Mary Artemesia Lathbury, Chautauqua Laureate was finally issued. including a foreword by Bishop Vincent and a brief sketch of her life by Frances Willard.

Two Years Ago: Mary Artemesia Lathbury

One Year Ago: Mary Artemesia Lathbury