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Gerard Francis Cobb

1838 - 1904 Person Name: G. Cobb Hymnal Number: 284 Composer of "MOULTRIE" in The Christian Hymnal Gerard Francis Cobb was born at Nettlestead (near Maidstone), Kent, on 15 October 1838, the youngest of five children of the Reverend William Francis Cobb (1795-1862) - the rector of Nettlestead - and his wife, Mary Blackburn. The five children were:- 1. Mary (1826-1906), 2. Clement Francis (1821-1896), 3. William Francis (1831-1916), 4. Francis (1834-1920), and 5. Gerard Francis (1838-1904). (The patronymic ‘Francis' occurs in several generations. Gerard's grandfather was Francis Cobb (1759-1831), a brewer and banker of Margate, whose sons were William Francis (Gerard's father), John Francis and Thomas Francis. Gerard's brother Clement also had a son Francis William (1872-1938). The parents were both musical, the mother being a pianist (and latterly organist at Nettlestead) and the father a ’cellist. Gerard early showed an aptitude for music and was able to pick out a tune on the piano while still a child, and without any formal instruction. Gerard Francis Cobb was educated at Marlborough College from 1849 to 1857. (His brothers William and Clement were also educated there.) He was a bright pupil, reaching the Sixth Form in September 1854 (still aged 15) and winning several prizes - the Divinity Prize (Summer 1853), the Upper Fifth Prize (Summer 1854), the Lower Sixth Prize (Christmas 1854) and the English Essay Prize (1856). He was also appointed a College Prefect and (when he left school) donated a cup as an inter-house singing trophy. (Inter-house singing competitions continue to be popular at Marlborough to this day.) Two concert programmes from Marlborough College (Christmas 1854 and Christmas 1856) show his active involvement as singer, pianist and harmonium player, although in neither programme is there any indication of a composition by him. From Marlborough Cobb went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1857. He was elected a Scholar in 1860, and graduated B.A. in 1861 with a double first in the Classical and Moral Science Triposes. He then went to Dresden for a short time, to study music. While there, he perfected his knowledge of German, later providing English translations for three of the texts of his own Lieder und Gesang (1885); he was also proficient in French and Italian, as well as being an excellent classical scholar. (Cobb wrote the words of at least one of his own songs - "Reconciliation" (c.1891) - and inserted a verse of his own into another song - "Drawbacks" (1892), words by Henry S. Leigh.) It may have been at this time that he decided not to make music his profession: he returned to Cambridge, where he spent the rest of his life. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1863, proceeding M.A. in 1864, and in 1869 was appointed Junior Bursar of his college. This office, which he held for twenty-five years and in which he showed great business capacity, seems to have centered around the day-to-day running of the college, which included looking after the accommodation of some six hundred students (Trinity was the largest of all the Oxbridge colleges) and even making sure that the brewery horse had the correct number of nails in his shoes! (The college had a small brewery). Cobb's interests were many and varied. There was music, of course, but (appropriately, as the son, brother and uncle of rectors) he was also much interested in Church matters: he was in sympathy with the Tractarian movement (associated with Newman, Pusey, Keble, Forbes and Froude) and at one time contemplated (but finally declined) holy orders. He actively advocated union between the Anglican and Roman communities, and published an elaborate treatise which caused a sensation in ecclesiastical circles. A second edition (with a sequel) followed and this, in turn, was followed by two short tracts. Even as late as the 1860s there was a form of religious intolerance which although not life-threatening (as in the reigns of earlier monarchs) nevertheless ensured that a career in the Church would no longer be an option for Cobb. His appointment at Trinity was timely, and his energies were then directed towards the running of the College and to the pursuit of music. Cobb was a fine organist, and gave occasional recitals at Trinity. His writings include a history of the organ and an account of the choir which, apparently, he also trained. He was, too, the University’s representative on municipal affairs and produced pamphlets on rather more mundane matters than were normally dealt with in "the olive-grove of Academe". When Cobb went up to Trinity in 1857 the Professor of Music was the recently appointed (1856) William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875). Cobb enjoyed Bennett's friendship and was helpful to him in dealing with the Faculty of Music. In the last years of his life, Bennett made use of two bound octavo music note-books in which he jotted down sketches and ideas; these books had been brought to him from Germany by Cobb. On Bennett's death, the Professorship passed to the blind George Macfarren (1813-1887). Cobb proved equally helpful to the new incumbent, particularly in the reform of the Faculty. He had been elected President of the Cambridge University Musical Society in 1874 and became Chairman of the University Board of Musical Studies in 1877, serving in that capacity for fifteen years. Aside from his work at Trinity, and his musical, religious, and municipal interests, there is yet one more facet of this Victorian polymath which must command our attention. He was, perhaps surprisingly, a great lover of outdoor activities - swimming, walking, hill climbing, and - above all - cycling. He was one of the founders - and first President (1878) - of the National Cyclists' Union (originally the Bicycle Union) and was also President of the Cambridge University Cycling Club. For the International Health Exhibition (1884) he contributed a chapter on 'Cycling' to the handbook on athletics, part 11. Cobb thought so much of cycling that his enthusiasm induced not only undergraduates but even many of the Dons to take to it (33). He celebrated his sixtieth birthday by undertaking a cycle run of sixty miles in company with one of his nephews. Cobb was not very tall and was almost equalled in height by his earlier high cycle, although in later years he rode what was then called a 'safety cycle' (which was smaller) and, eventually a 'free wheel bicycle'. (The cycle which features in the accompanying photograph is presumably a 'safety' or 'free wheel' machine.) Little is known of Cobb's life outside Cambridge. His duties at Trinity would have kept him there for most of the year, and his dealings with his London publishers were probably conducted by letter. His name appears on the invitation lists of several of the Royal Society of Musicians' annual dinners in the 1880s and, although he did not attend any of these, he is recorded as having made several donations to the Society. In 1893 Cobb married Elizabeth Lucy Parkinson, widow of Stephen Parkinson, Fellow and Tutor of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and (in accordance with the custom of the time) resigned his offices at Trinity. He continued to reside in Cambridge - at The Hermitage Silver Street - and devoted himself mainly to musical composition. From this last period of his life came the second (1893) and third (1897) sets of Barrack-Room Ballads (the first having appeared in 1892) and his delightful Twenty-four Songs for Little People (1897) to words by Norman Gale (d. 1942), as well as works on a larger canvas, including his most ambitious work - A Song of Trafalgar Op. 41, a Ballad for men's voices (solo and chorus) and orchestra (1900), to words by Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) - remembered today as the author of The Railway Children (1906). Among Cobb's large-scale works is reputed to be a Symphony although no trace of this has yet come to light. What can be stated with certainty, however, is that on 27 November 1902 a concert was held at the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, given by the Municipal Orchestra under the direction of Dan Godfrey, jun. - later Sir Dan Godfrey (1868-1939) - and Gerard Cobb, who conducted "For the first time in Bournemouth" (and probably the first time anywhere) three of his own works - Introduction and Allegro Giocoso in B flat, Valse Pathétique 'Niobe', and Romanza for Orchestra, in E flat (performed at a Prom in 1901); two of Cobb's earlier songs - "I wish to tune my quivering lyre" (written in 1868) and "Mount, Gallants all!" (published c.1890 were sung by Henry Corner. (An orchestral score and band parts for "Mount, Gallants all!" were available for hire from the publishers, and it must be assumed that both songs were given with orchestral accompaniment.) Cobb's last-known compositions were three further settings of poems by Kipling - not from the Barrack-Room Ballads this time, but from a similar collection, Service Songs. The three songs. - "M.I." (Mounted Infantry of the Line), "The Married Man" (Reservist of the Line), and "Lichtenberg" (New South Wales Contingent) - had been commissioned by Charles Sheard, who had published his settings of the Barrack-Room Ballads and they were completed just a few days before his death. Sheard published them later that year. Gerard Francis Cobb died at The Hermitage on 31 March 1904. having succumbed to an attack of pneumonia. He was cremated at Woking on 5 April at 12.00 noon, at which precise time a memorial service was held at Trinity College Chapel; the music was all by Cobb. His ashes were laid to rest on 8 April in the churchyard at Nettlestead, where his widow erected a handsome cross in his memory. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/oct04

George Jarvis Geer

1821 - 1885 Person Name: Geer Hymnal Number: 210b Composer of "HOLY VOICES" in The Christian Hymnal Born: February 24, 1821, Waterbury, Connecticut. Died: March 16, 1885, New York. Buried: Saint Paul’s Churchyard, Manhattan, New York. Geer graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut (1842), and the General Theological Seminary, New York (1845). He served as Rector of Christ Church, Ballston Spa, New York; Associate Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, New York (1859); and Rector of St. Timothy’s, New York (1866). He was the first president of the Free Church Guild of New York, and a member of the General Convention of 1874. He received the degree of S. T. D. from Columbia University, and of D.D. from Union in 1862. His works include: Tune-Book of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 1848, with Bishop Bedell & Dr. Muhlenburg The Conversion of St. Paul (New York: 1871) --www.hymntime.com/tch/

Charles W. Bannister

1768 - 1831 Person Name: Bannister Hymnal Number: 200 Composer of "ROMANINE" in The Christian Hymnal

Callcott

Person Name: Calcott Hymnal Number: 246 Composer of "REST" in The Christian Hymnal

Edwin Paxton Hood

1820 - 1885 Person Name: E. P. Hood Hymnal Number: C126 Author of "God who hath made the daisies" in The Christian Hymnal Hood, Edwin Paxton, was born in Half-moon Street, London, Oct. 24, 1820. He was self-educated. In 1852 he became the Independent Minister at Nibley, Gloucestershire, where lie remained until 1857, when he removed to Offord Road, London. He held several charges (Brighton, Manchester, &c), the last being Falcon Square, London. He died in Paris, June 12, 1885. Mr. Hood was a striking and suggestive preacher, and one of the most voluminous writers of the age. His published works, including The Age and its Architects, 1862; Exposition of Swedenborg, 1854; Lamps of the Temple, 1856; Thomas Carlyle, 1875; Oliver Cromwell, 1882, &c, are too numerous to give in detail. He also edited (and was the chief contributor to) The Eclectic Review for 8 years, and The Preacher's Lantern for 2 years. As a hymn-writer he is best known as the author of hymns for children. These hymns have a freshness and simplicity which are attractive to children. Some of the best and most popular were written for Sunday School Anniversaries at Nibley, 1852-7. He also edited:- (1) Our Hymn Book (a similar title, but a distinct work from Mr. Spurgeon's Collection). This was published specially for the use of his own congregations, and was enlarged from time to time. 1st ed. Brighton, 1862, enlarged 1868, 1873, and 1879. The last ed. contains 47 of his hymns. (2) The Children's Choir, 1870. His hymns in common use outside of his own collections are:— 1. Angel of God, thy wings expanded. Missions. In his Our Hymn Book, 1862. 2. Bride of the Lamb, sweet spices bring. Easter. In his Our Hymn Book, 1862. 3. Earth in beauty smiles again. Summer (1852-57). 4. God, Who hath made the daisies. Early Piety (1852-57). 5. Heart-broken and weary, where'er thou may'st be. Christ's Invitation. First published at the end of the first sermon in his Dark Sayings on a Harp, 1865, and then in his Our Hymn Book, 1879. 6. I hear a sweet voice ringing clear. Divine Protection (1862). 7. I love to think, though I am young. Jesus the Holy Child. 8. 0 Jesus, Saviour, we are young. Child's Prayer for Guidance (1852-57). 9. Rest remaineth, 0 how sweet. Heaven our Rest. In his Our Hymn Book, 1862. A pathetic hymn sung at his funeral. 10. Saviour and Master, these sayings of Thine. The Sand and the Rock. Written at the Portland Breakwater, in the winter of 1858-59, and first published in his first volume of Sermons, 1860, at the close of that on "The Sand and the Rock." He says, “I walked the other day over the Great Breakwater at Portland, and there, whilst the rain descended and the floods came I thought and wrote out these verses." The hymn is in his Our Hymn Book, 1879, Horder's Congregational Hymnal, 1884, &c. It has also been printed on a fly-leaf for use in Portland Prison. 11. Sing a hymn to Jesus when the heart is faint. Consecration of Self to Jesus. Suggested by a tune heard at Vespers in Fontainbleau Church, and first published in Bye Path Meadow, 1870, and again in Our Hymn Book, 1879. 12. Sweet hallelujahs! The birds and the blossoms. Universal Praise. Written for the S. S. Anniversary, Offord Road Chapel, 1860, and published in Our Hymn Book. 13. Teach me, O Lord, where'er I move. God's Presence desired. (1852-57) 14. There is a word I fain would speak. Redemption. Written for Sunday School Anniversary at Offord Road Chapel, 1858, and published in Our Hymn Book, 1862. 15. There's a beautiful land where the rains never beat. Heaven. (1852-57.) In his Children's Choir, 1870. &c. 16. Unless the Lord the city keep. God the Pastor's Strength. Written at the request of the Deacons of Offord Road Chapel, for the Recognition Service of the Rev. J. C. Jones. In his Our Hymn Book, No. 317. 17. We love the good old Bible. Holy Scripture. (1852-57.) Given in several collections. The most popular of these hymns are Nos. 4 and 7. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16, 17 are from the Children's Choir, 1870. These are in numerous collections. [Rev. W. Garrett Horder] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Sue M. O. Hoffman

1844 - 1876 Person Name: Mrs. Lue M. Hoffman Hymnal Number: 366 Author of "What have I done for thee, O Christ" in The Christian Hymnal Susan’s husband was song writer Elisha Hoffman. Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, is named after her family. Lyrics God Is Coming Music: SAN JOSE --www.hymntime.com/tch ================= Sister of Aaron W. Orwig.

S. Roxana Wince

Hymnal Number: 388 Author of "The glad tidings of the kingdom" in The Christian Hymnal

Alice Flowerdew

1759 - 1830 Person Name: Anne Flowerdew Hymnal Number: 171 Author of "Fountain of mercy, God of love" in The Christian Hymnal Flowerdew, Alice, was born in 1759, and married to Mr. Daniel Flowerdew, who for a few years held a Government appointment in Jamaica, and died in 1801. After his decease Mrs. Flowerdew kept a Ladies' Boarding-school at Islington. During her residence at Islington she was a member of the General Baptist congregation, in Worship Street (now at Bethnal Green Road). Subsequently she removed to Bury St. Edmunds, and some years later to Ipswich, where she died Sept. 23, 1830. In 1803 she published a small volume of Poems on Moral and Religious Subjects. This work reached a 3rd edition in 1811, and in that edition appeared her well-known harvest hymn, "Fountain of mercy, God of love," q.v. Mrs. Flowerdew's maiden name has not been ascertained. [Rev. W. R. Stevenson, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Gaetano Donizetti

1797 - 1848 Person Name: Donizetti Hymnal Number: 202 Composer of "KENYON" in The Christian Hymnal Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (born 29 November 1797 – died 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. Donizetti came from a non-musical background but, at an early age, he was taken under the wing of composer Simon Mayr who had set up the Lezioni Caritatevoli and had enrolled him by means of a full scholarship. There he received detailed training in the arts of fugue and counterpoint, and it was from there that Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for the young man at the Bologna Academy. In Bologna, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione, although it does not appear to have been performed during his lifetime. Through his life, Donizetti wrote about 70 operas, but an offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to that city and the composition of 28 operas which were given their premieres at that house or in one of the city's smaller houses including the Teatro Nuovo or the Teatro del Fondo. This continued until the production of Caterina Cornaro in January 1844. In all, Naples presented 51 of Donizetti's operas. During this period, success came primarily with the comic operas, the serious ones failing to attract significant audiences. However, the situation changed with the appearance in 1830 of the serious opera, Anna Bolena which was the first to make a major impact on the Italian and international opera scene and, at the same time, to shift the balance for the composer away from success with only comedic operas. However, even after 1830, his best-known works did also include comedies such as L'elisir d'amore (1832) and Don Pasquale (1843). But significant historical dramas did appear and became successful, sometimes outside Naples before reaching that city. Most significantly, they included Lucia di Lammermoor (the first to be written by librettist Salvadore Cammarano) in 1835, as well as "one of [his] most successful Neapolitan operas", Roberto Devereux in Up to that point, all of his operas had been written to Italian librettos. However, moving to Paris in 1838, Donizetti set his operas to French texts; these include La favorite and La fille du régiment and were first performed in that city from 1840 onward. It appears that much of the attraction of moving to Paris was not just for larger fees and prestige, but his chafing against the censorial limitations which existed in Italy, thus giving him a much greater freedom to choose subject matter. By 1845 severe illness caused him to be moved back to Bergamo to die in 1848. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of bel canto opera during the first fifty years of the Nineteenth Century. The youngest of three sons, Donizetti was born in 1797 in Bergamo's Borgo Canale quarter located just outside the city walls. His family was very poor and had no tradition of music, his father Andrea, being the caretaker of the town pawnshop. Simone Mayr, a German composer of internationally successful operas had become maestro di cappella at Bergamo's principal church in 1802 and he then founded the Lezioni Caritatevoli school in Bergamo in 1805 for the purpose of providing musical training, including classes in literature, beyond that which choirboys ordinarily received up until the time that their voices broke. In 1807, Andrea Donizetti attempted to enroll both his sons, but the elder, Giuseppe (then 18), was considered too old. Gaetano (then 9) was accepted. While not especially successful as a choirboy during the first three trial months of 1807, there being some concern about a diffetto di gola (throat defect), in every other regard Mayr was reporting that Gaetano "surpasses all the others in musical progress". Mayr was able to persuade the authorities that the young boy's talents were worthy of keeping him in the school, and he remained there for nine years until 1815. However, as William Ashbrook notes, in 1809 he was threatened with having to leave because his voice was changing. In 1810 he applied for and was accepted by the local art school, the Academia Carrara, but it is unknown whether he attended classes. Then, in 1811, Mayr once again intervened. Having written both libretto and music for a "pasticcio-farsa", Il piccolo compositore di musica, as the final concert of the academic year, he cast five your students amongst them Donizetti, his young pupil, as "the little composer". As Ashbrook notes this "was nothing less than Mayr's argument that Donizetti be allowed to continue his musical studies". In Bologna, he justified the faith which Mayr had placed in him and in 1816 he wrote what Allitt describes as "his initial exercises in operatic style", the opera Il pigmalione, as well as composing portions of Olympiade and L'ira d'Achille in 1817, these two being no more than "suggest[ing] the work of a student". Encouraged by Mayr to return to Bergamo in 1817, he began his "quartet years" as well as composing piano pieces and most likely being part of quartets where he would have played and heard music of other composers. In addition, he began seeking employment. After some minor compositions under the commission of Paolo Zancla, Donizetti wrote his ninth opera, Zoraida di Granata. This work impressed Domenico Barbaia, a prominent theatre manager, and Donizetti was offered a contract to compose in Naples. Writing in Rome and Milan in addition to Naples, Donizetti achieved some popular success in the 1820s (although critics were often unimpressed). It was not until 1830 that he became well known internationally, when his Anna Bolena was premiered in Milan, and this brought him instant fame throughout Europe. L'elisir d'amore, a comedy produced in 1832, came soon after, and is deemed to be one of the masterpieces of 19th-century opera buffa (as is his Don Pasquale, written for Paris in 1843). Shortly after L'elisir d'amore, Donizetti composed Lucia di Lammermoor, based on The Bride of Lammermoor, the novel by Sir Walter Scott. This became his most famous opera, and one of the high points of the bel canto tradition, reaching a stature similar to that of Bellini's Norma. Donizetti's wife, Virginia Vasselli, gave birth to three children, none of whom survived. Within a year of his parents' deaths, on 30 July 1837 his wife died from cholera. By 1843, Donizetti was exhibiting symptoms of syphilis and probable bipolar disorder. After being institutionalized in 1845, he was sent to Paris, where he could be cared for. After visits from friends, including Giuseppe Verdi, Donizetti was taken back to Bergamo, his hometown. After several years in the grip of insanity, he died in 1848 in the house of a noble family, the Scotti. Donizetti was buried in the cemetery of Valtesse but in the late 19th century his body was transferred to Bergamo's Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore near the grave of his teacher Simon Mayr. Donizetti, a prolific composer, is best known for his operatic works, but he also wrote music in a number of other forms, including some church music, a number of string quartets, and some orchestral pieces. Altogether, he composed about 75 operas, 16 symphonies, 19 string quartets, 193 songs, 45 duets, 3 oratorios, 28 cantatas, instrumental concertos, sonatas, and other chamber pieces. --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (excerpts)

Horace H. Hawley

1817 - 1904 Person Name: H. H. H. Hymnal Number: C136 Composer of "[There are lonely hearts to cherish]" in The Christian Hymnal Hawley, H. H., author of "There is a hope, a blessed hope" [Hope in Christ], which appeared in A. C. Thomas's Hymns of Zion, 1839, was born in Lewis County, New York, April 10, 1817. In 1881 he published The Iris; Songs of Jesus for Sunday Schools and Devotional Meetings, to which he contributed seven hymns. The music of this collection is mainly by Mr. Hawley. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) ============================ Hawley, Horace H. (Lewis County, New York, April 10, 1817--?). Baptist. Associated with Bennett, Backus, and Hawley and other bookselling firms in Utica, N.Y. Became secretary of the Aetna Insurance Company in Utica in 1852. Moved to Hartford, Connecticut, shortly thereafter and to Burlington, Iowa, in 1856. Operated a music and book store as well as an insurance agency there. He is listed in the Burlington city directory as late as 1872. In Burrage's Baptist Hymn Writers and Their Hymns, it is noted that his health became impaired that year and he moved to southwestern Wisconsin. In 1886, he was living in Chicago, Illinois. --Paul Hammond, DNAH Archives ============================ Date of death: Perhaps 1904. Find A Grave.