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Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 - 1750 Person Name: J. S. Bach Adapter of "LIEBSTER IMMANUEL" in The Book of Common Praise Johann Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach into a musical family and in a town steeped in Reformation history, he received early musical training from his father and older brother, and elementary education in the classical school Luther had earlier attended. Throughout his life he made extraordinary efforts to learn from other musicians. At 15 he walked to Lüneburg to work as a chorister and study at the convent school of St. Michael. From there he walked 30 miles to Hamburg to hear Johann Reinken, and 60 miles to Celle to become familiar with French composition and performance traditions. Once he obtained a month's leave from his job to hear Buxtehude, but stayed nearly four months. He arranged compositions from Vivaldi and other Italian masters. His own compositions spanned almost every musical form then known (Opera was the notable exception). In his own time, Bach was highly regarded as organist and teacher, his compositions being circulated as models of contrapuntal technique. Four of his children achieved careers as composers; Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Chopin are only a few of the best known of the musicians that confessed a major debt to Bach's work in their own musical development. Mendelssohn began re-introducing Bach's music into the concert repertoire, where it has come to attract admiration and even veneration for its own sake. After 20 years of successful work in several posts, Bach became cantor of the Thomas-schule in Leipzig, and remained there for the remaining 27 years of his life, concentrating on church music for the Lutheran service: over 200 cantatas, four passion settings, a Mass, and hundreds of chorale settings, harmonizations, preludes, and arrangements. He edited the tunes for Schemelli's Musicalisches Gesangbuch, contributing 16 original tunes. His choral harmonizations remain a staple for studies of composition and harmony. Additional melodies from his works have been adapted as hymn tunes. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Reginald Heber

1783 - 1826 Person Name: Bishop R. Heber Author of "Brightest and best of the sons of the morning" in The Book of Common Praise Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father's church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include "Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today. -- Greg Scheer, 1995 ==================== Heber, Reginald, D.D. Born at Malpas, April 21, 1783, educated at Brasenose College, Oxford; Vicar of Hodnet, 1807; Bishop of Calcutta, 1823; died at Trichinopoly, India, April 3, 1826. The gift of versification shewed itself in Heber's childhood; and his Newdigate prize poem Palestine, which was read to Scott at breakfast in his rooms at Brazenose, Oxford, and owed one of its most striking passages to Scott's suggestion, is almost the only prize poem that has won a permanent place in poetical literature. His sixteen years at Hodnet, where he held a halfway position between a parson and a squire, were marked not only by his devoted care of his people, as a parish priest, but by literary work. He was the friend of Milman, Gifford, Southey, and others, in the world of letters, endeared to them by his candour, gentleness, "salient playfulness," as well as learning and culture. He was on the original staff of The Quarterly Review; Bampton Lecturer (1815); and Preacher at Lincoln's Inn (1822). His edition of Jeremy Taylor is still the classic edition. During this portion of his life he had often had a lurking fondness for India, had traced on the map Indian journeys, and had been tempted to wish himself Bishop of Calcutta. When he was forty years old the literary life was closed by his call to the Episcopate. No memory of Indian annals is holier than that of the three years of ceaseless travel, splendid administration, and saintly enthusiasm, of his tenure of the see of Calcutta. He ordained the first Christian native—Christian David. His first visitation ranged through Bengal, Bombay, and Ceylon; and at Delhi and Lucknow he was prostrated with fever. His second visitation took him through the scenes of Schwartz's labours in Madras Presidency to Trichinopoly, where on April 3,1826, he confirmed forty-two persons, and he was deeply moved by the impression of the struggling mission, so much so that “he showed no appearance of bodily exhaus¬tion." On his return from the service ”He retired into his own room, and according to his invariable custom, wrote on the back of the address on Confirmation 'Trichinopoly, April 3, 1826.' This was his last act, for immediately on taking off his clothes, he went into a large cold bath, where he had bathed the two preceding mornings, but which was now the destined agent of his removal to Paradise. Half an hour after, his servant, alarmed at his long absence, entered the room and found him a lifeless corpse." Life, &c, 1830, vol. ii. p. 437. Heber's hymns were all written during the Hodnet period. Even the great missionary hymn, "From Greenland's icy mountains," notwithstanding the Indian allusions ("India's coral strand," "Ceylon's isle"), was written before he received the offer of Calcutta. The touching funeral hymn, "Thou art gone to the grave," was written on the loss of his first babe, which was a deep grief to him. Some of the hymns were published (1811-16) in the Christian Observer, the rest were not published till after his death. They formed part of a ms. collection made for Hodnet (but not published), which contained, besides a few hymns from older and special sources, contributions by Milman. The first idea of the collection appears in a letter in 1809 asking for a copy of the Olney Hymns, which he "admired very much." The plan was to compose hymns connected with the Epistles and Gospels, to be sung after the Nicene Creed. He was the first to publish sermons on the Sunday services (1822), and a writer in The Guardian has pointed out that these efforts of Heber were the germs of the now familiar practice, developed through the Christian Year (perhaps following Ken's Hymns on the Festivals), and by Augustus Hare, of welding together sermon, hymnal, and liturgy. Heber tried to obtain from Archbishop Manners Sutton and the Bishop of London (1820) authorization of his ms. collection of hymns by the Church, enlarging on the "powerful engine" which hymns were among Dissenters, and the irregular use of them in the church, which it was impossible to suppress, and better to regulate. The authorization was not granted. The lyric spirit of Scott and Byron passed into our hymns in Heber's verse; imparting a fuller rhythm to the older measures, as illustrated by "Oh, Saviour, is Thy promise fled," or the martial hymn, "The Son of God goes forth to war;" pressing into sacred service the freer rhythms of contemporary poetry (e.g. "Brightest and best of the sons of the morning"; "God that madest earth and heaven"); and aiming at consistent grace of literary expression.. Their beauties and faults spring from this modern spirit. They have not the scriptural strength of our best early hymns, nor the dogmatic force of the best Latin ones. They are too flowing and florid, and the conditions of hymn composition are not sufficiently understood. But as pure and graceful devotional poetry, always true and reverent, they are an unfailing pleasure. The finest of them is that majestic anthem, founded on the rhythm of the English Bible, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty." The greatest evidence of Heber's popularity as a hymnwriter, and his refined taste as a compiler, is found in the fact that the total contents of his ms. collection which were given in his posthumous Hymns written and adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year. London, J. Murray, 1827; which included 57 hymns by Heber, 12 by Milman, and 29 by other writers, are in common in Great Britain and America at the present time. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] Of Bishop Heber's hymns, about one half are annotated under their respective first lines. Those given below were published in Heber's posthumous Hymns, &c, 1827. Some of them are in extensive use in Great Britain and America; but as they possess no special histories they are grouped together as from the Hymns, &c, 1827:— 1. Beneath our feet, and o'er our head. Burial. 2. Creator of the rolling flood. St. Peter's Day, or, Gospel for 6th Sunday after Trinity. 3. Lo, the lilies of the field. Teachings of Nature: or, Gospel for 15th Sunday after Trinity. 4. 0 God, by Whom the seed is given. Sexagesima. 6. 0 God, my sins are manifold. Forgiveness, or, Gospel for 22nd S. after Trinity. 6. 0 hand of bounty, largely spread. Water into Wine, or, Gospel for 2nd S. after Epiphany. 7. 0 King of earth, and air, and sea. Feeding the Multitude; or, Gospel for 4th S. in Lent. 8. 0 more than merciful, Whose bounty gave. Good Friday. 9. 0 most merciful! 0 most bountiful. Introit Holy Communion. 10. 0 Thou, Whom neither time nor space. God unsearchable, or, Gospel for 5th Sunday in Lent. 11. 0 weep not o'er thy children's tomb. Innocents Day. 12. Room for the proud! Ye sons of clay. Dives and Lazarus, or, Gospel for 1st Sunday after Trinity. 13. Sit thou on my right hand, my Son, saith the Lord. Ascension. 14. Spirit of truth, on this thy day. Whit-Sunday. 15. The feeble pulse, the gasping breath. Burial, or, Gospel for 1st S. after Trinity. 16. The God of glory walks His round. Septuagesima, or, the Labourers in the Marketplace. 17. The sound of war in earth and air. Wrestling against Principalities and Powers, or, Epistle for 2lst Sunday after Trinity. 18. The world is grown old, her pleasures are past. Advent; or, Epistle for 4th Sunday in Advent. 19. There was joy in heaven. The Lost Sheep; or, Gospel for 3rd S. after Trinity. 20. Though sorrows rise and dangers roll. St. James's Day. 21. To conquer and to save, the Son of God. Christ the Conqueror. 22. Virgin-born, we bow before Thee. The Virgin Mary. Blessed amongst women, or, Gospel for 3rd S. in Lent. 23. Wake not, 0 mother, sounds of lamentation. Raising the Widow's Son, or, Gospel for 16th S. after Trinity. 24. When on her Maker's bosom. Holy Matrimony, or, Gospel for 2nd S. after Epiphany. 25. When through the torn sail the wild tempest is streaming. Stilling the Sea, or, Gospel for 4th Sunday after Epiphany. 26. Who yonder on the desert heath. The Good Samaritan, or, Gospel for 13th Sunday after Trinity. This list is a good index of the subjects treated of in those of Heber's hymns which are given under their first lines, and shows that he used the Gospels far more than the Epistles in his work. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Michael Saward

1932 - 2015 Author of "LORD, I delight to recall your commandments" in Praise! psalms hymns and songs for Christian worship Michael John Saward (b. Blackheath, Kent, England, 1932) was residentiary Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and a church commissioner and member of the general synod of the Church of England. Educated at Eltham College, Bristol University, and Tyndale Hall, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1956. Saward served in several congregations and was radio and television officer for the Church Information Office (1967-1972). His publications include Leisure (1963), Couldn’t Care Less (1966), Don't Miss the Party (1974), and All Change (1983). Associated with the Jubilate Group for a number of years, he has written some sixty hymns and served as text editor for Hymns for Today's Church (1982). Bert Polman

Martin E. Leckebusch

b. 1962 Author of "Come, see the Lord" in Anglican Hymns Old and New (Rev. and Enl.)

Henry F. Chorley

1808 - 1872 Author of "God, Lord of Sabaoth, Thou Who Ordainest" in The Lutheran Hymnal Chorley, Henry Fothergill, was born at Blackleyhurst, Lancashire, Dec. 15, 1808, and educated at the Royal Institution, Liverpool. In 1834 he was engaged as a member of the staff of the London Athenaeum. This connection he retained for 35 years. He died Feb. 15, 1872. He published some novels and a large number of songs. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) ============ Born: December 15, 1808, Blackley Hurst, near Billinge, Lancashire, England. Pseudonym: Paul Dell. Died: February 16, 1872, London, England. Buried: Brompton Cemetery, London, England. Son of an iron worker and lock maker, Chorley moved with his family to Liverpool after his father’s death in 1816. He was educated by private tutors in Liverpool and at the school of the Royal Institution. His youth was shaped partly by time spent in the household of the wealthy and intellectual Mrs. Benson Rathbone of Green Bank, and he became a close friend of her son Benson, who died in an accident in 1834. Chorley began writing for the London Athenæum in 1830, and was the paper’s music critic and literary reviewer until 1868. He also became music critic for the London Times and wrote, for these and other journals, reviews and musical gossip columns, discussing composers and performers in Britain and on the European continent. He was quite conservative, and was a persistent opponent of innovation, but was a lively chronicler of London life. In the Athenæum and elsewhere, Chorley often criticized the music of Schumann and Wagner for what he called "decadence." In 1850 and 1851, Chorley edited the Ladies’ Companion, which covered fashion and domestic women’s issues. Chorley was also a journalist, novelist, playwright, and poet, and opera librettist. One of his best known pieces was his obituary of Turgenev, mistakenly written while the Russian was still very much alive. Turgenev was not offended by the error nearly as much as he was by the critical opinions of his work Chorley gave in the obituary. Chorley was considered eccentric and abrasive, but was respected for his integrity and kindness. He enthusiastically gave and attended dinner parties, and cultivated friendships with Elizabeth Barrett, Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Dickens, Arthur Sullivan and Charles Santley. After the death of his brother, John Rutter Chorley (1806–1867), Henry inherited enough money to retire from the Athenæum, though he continued to contribute articles for that paper and for The Orchestra. In spite of Chorley’s efforts to promote the music of Charles Gounod in England, the composer disliked Chorley intensely. When Gounod lived in England in the early 1870’s, he wrote a satirical piano piece intended to be a parody of Chorley’s personality. It greatly amused Gounod’s English patron, Georgina Weldon, who described Chorley as having a "thin, sour, high-pitched sopranish voice" and moving like a "stuffed red-haired monkey." Gounod intended to publish the piece with a dedication to Chorley, but died before this was possible. Weldon then invented a new program for the piece, which was re-titled Funeral March of a Marionette. It became popular as a concert piece, and in the 1950s, its opening phrases became well known as the theme music for the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Chorley’s works include: Music and Manners in France and Germany, 1841 Pomfret, 1845 Roccabella, 1859 The Prodigy, 1866 --www.hymntime.com/tch/

Flossette Du Pasquier

Translator (French) of "Brightest and best of the sons of the morning" in Cantate Domino

Johann Rudolf Ahle

1625 - 1673 Person Name: Joh. Rudolph Ahle Composer of "LIEBSTER IMMANUEL" in Christian Chorals Johann Rudolph Ahle, b. Mühlhausen, 1625; Ahle studied theology at Erfurt University. Little is known about his musical education, but be became well known as an organist while he was in Erfurt. He returned to Mühlhausen and became an organist at St. Blasius Church, he composed organ music but is know for his sacred choral music. He was the father of Johann Georg, who was also a composer and succeeded his father as organist at St. Blasius Church. Johann Rudolf became mayor of Mühlhausen late in his life and died there in 1673. Dianne Shapiro (from Bach Cantatas Website www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ahle-Johann-Rudolf.htm)

Helga Rusche

Translator (German) of "Brightest and best of the sons of the morning" in Cantate Domino

Ahasuer Fritsch

1629 - 1701 Person Name: Ahasverus Fritsch Author of "Dearest Immanuel, Prince of the lowly" in Christian Chorals Born: December 16, 1629, Mücheln, Saxony. Died: August 24, 1701, Rudolstadt, Germany. With help from the family of a young noble he tutored, Fritsch received a good education, earning his law degree from the University of Jena in 1661. He later became chancellor of the university and president of the Consistory of Rudolstadt. He wrote on numerous subjects, including antiquities, law, and religion, and collected hymns. Hymns-- "Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen" "Dearest Immanuel, Prince of the Lowly" Music-- WAS FRAG' ICH NACH DER WELT --www.cyberhymnal.org/bio

Melancthon Woolsey Stryker

1851 - 1929 Person Name: M. Woolsey Stryker Translator of "Dearest Immanuel, Prince of the lowly" in Christian Chorals Stryker, Melancthon Woolsey, D.D., son of the Rev. Isaac Pierson Stryker, was born at Vernon, New York, Jan. 7, 1851, and educated at Hamilton College (1872) and Auburn Theological Seminary (1876). In 1876 he entered the Presbyterian ministry as Pastor at Auburn, New York. In 1878 he removed to Ithaca, N. Y.; in 1883 to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and in 1885 to Chicago, Illinois. He received his degree of D.D. from Hamilton College in 1889. He has edited Christian Chorals, 1885 ; New Alleluia, 1880-86; and Church Song, 1889. He was also joint editor with H. P. Main of The Church Praise Book, 1882. He has also published Hymns and Verses, 1883, and Song of Miriam, and Other Hymns and Verses, 1888. To two of these works which have been designed for daily use in divine worship Dr. Stryker contributed the following original hymns:— i. The Church Praise Book, 1882. 1. Burst forth, 0 Bridegroom, from Thy chamber bright. Second Advent Desired. (1880.) 2. Death cannot make my soul afraid. Death Contemplated. (1881.) 3. Eternal day hath dawned. Heaven. (1881.) 4. Mighty God, Thy Church recover. Missions. (1881.) 5. King again, ye starry chime. Christmas. (1881.) 6. Sing, Israel, for the Lord your strength. Passing the Red Sea. (1878.) 7. The tribes of faith from all the earth. Heaven. (1881.) 8. Thy Kingdom come, 0 blessed Son of God. Second Advent Desired, (1880.) Re-written in Church Song, 1889, as "Thy Kingdom come, 0 everlasting Lord." 9. When the everlasting Lord. Morning. (1880.) ii. Church Song, 1889. 10. Arouse Thy Church, Almighty God. Missions. (1887.) 11. Father, as here we bow. Holy Trinity. (1886.) 12. Four hundred years their course have sped. American National Hymn. (1888.) 13. God of our Fathers, our God to-day. National Hymn. (1889.) 14. Lo, where that spotless Lamb for sin provided. Passiontide. (1884.) 15. My Maker, at Thy holy throne. Holy Baptism. (1888.) 16. O God, Thy judgments give the King, Thy Son. Missions. (1883.) 17. O Thou, Eternal, Changeless, Infinite. Praise to God. (1882.) 18. 0 Thou, Omnipresent. Omnipresence of the Father. (1885.) 19. O Thou Shepherd of Thine Israel, hear us. Ps. lxxz. (1883.) 20. Our God, and our Redeemer. Opening of a Place of Worship. (1883.) 21. Robbed, bruised, and dying, once I lay. The Good Samaritan. (1886.) 22. Sing, every boy and maiden. Praise to God. (1885.) 23. Thou, Lord of my life, by the words Thou hast said. Lent. (1887.) 24. Thy grace is all of grace. Divine Grace. (1886.) 25. To Thee, our God, these babes we bring. Holy Baptism. (1886.) 26. Tranquilly, slowly, solemnly, lowly. Burial. (1884.) 27. We close Thy blessed Word. Sunday Evening. (1S87.) 28. While all the night-stars fade and wane. Easter. (1884.) In addition to these original hymns Dr. Stryker has several translations from the German which are in common use. One of his hymns, No. 513, "Now I lay me down to sleep" (Child's Evening hymn), in Church Song, 1889 (dated 1884), begins with a stanza by another hand. In the same work there are also several of his tunes. Dr. Stryker's hymns are massive and rugged, full of dogmatism and fire, but they lack unity and purity of rhythm. In some instances words stand for thoughts, and exclamations for ideas. Nevertheless a few will live. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================= Stryker, M. W., pp. 1098, i.; 1525, ii. 7; 1615, iv. In 1892, Dr. Stryker became Presi¬dent of Hamilton College and also received the LL.D. from Lafayette College. His College Hymnal, 1897, 1904, contains 28 of his hymns, the majority of which date 1890-1894. Of these "From doubt and all its sullen pain" (Faith), written in 1890, is found in other collections. Dr. Stryker d. in 1905. His Dies Irae was published 1892, and his Latermath (verse) 1896. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)