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Samuel Webbe

1740 - 1816 Composer of "MELCOMBE" in Christian Science Hymnal (Rev. and enl.) Samuel Webbe (the elder; b. London, England, 1740; d. London, 1816) Webbe's father died soon after Samuel was born without providing financial security for the family. Thus Webbe received little education and was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker at the age of eleven. However, he was determined to study and taught himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, German, and Italian while working on his apprenticeship. He also worked as a music copyist and received musical training from Carl Barbant, organist at the Bavarian Embassy. Restricted at this time in England, Roman Catholic worship was freely permitted in the foreign embassies. Because Webbe was Roman Catholic, he became organist at the Portuguese Chapel and later at the Sardinian and Spanish chapels in their respective embassies. He wrote much music for Roman Catholic services and composed hymn tunes, motets, and madrigals. Webbe is considered an outstanding composer of glees and catches, as is evident in his nine published collections of these smaller choral works. He also published A Collection of Sacred Music (c. 1790), A Collection of Masses for Small Choirs (1792), and, with his son Samuel (the younger), Antiphons in Six Books of Anthems (1818). Bert Polman

John Warrington Hatton

1710 - 1793 Person Name: John Hatton Composer of "DUKE STREET" in Services for Congregational Worship. The New Hymn and Tune Book John Warrington Hatton (b. Warrington, England, c. 1710; d, St. Helen's, Lancaster, England, 1793) was christened in Warrington, Lancashire, England. He supposedly lived on Duke Street in Lancashire, from where his famous tune name comes. Very little is known about Hatton, but he was most likely a Presbyterian, and the story goes that he was killed in a stagecoach accident. Bert Polman

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Arranger of "HAMBRUG" in Jubilate Deo Dr. Lowell Mason (the degree was conferred by the University of New York) is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man. Lowell Mason was born in Medfield, Mass., January 8, 1792. From childhood he had manifested an intense love for music, and had devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself according to such opportunities as were available to him. At the age of twenty he found himself filling a clerkship in a banking house in Savannah, Ga. Here he lost no opportunity of gratifying his passion for musical advancement, and was fortunate to meet for the first time a thoroughly qualified instructor, in the person of F. L. Abel. Applying his spare hours assiduously to the cultivation of the pursuit to which his passion inclined him, he soon acquired a proficiency that enabled him to enter the field of original composition, and his first work of this kind was embodied in the compilation of a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. The manuscript was offered unavailingly to publishers in Philadelphia and in Boston. Fortunately for our musical advancement it finally secured the attention of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, and by its committee was submitted to Dr. G. K. Jackson, the severest critic in Boston. Dr. Jackson approved most heartily of the work, and added a few of his own compositions to it. Thus enlarged, it was finally published in 1822 as The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, which he thus explains, "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." President Winchester, of the Handel and Haydn Society, sold the copyright for the young man. Mr. Mason went back to Savannah with probably $500 in his pocket as the preliminary result of his Boston visit. The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England, and through this means entering into the church choirs, to whom it opened up a higher field of harmonic beauty. Its career of success ran through some seventeen editions. On realizing this success, Mason determined to accept an invitation to come to Boston and enter upon a musical career. This was in 1826. He was made an honorary member of the Handel and Haydn Society, but declined to accept this, and entered the ranks as an active member. He had been invited to come to Boston by President Winchester and other musical friends and was guaranteed an income of $2,000 a year. He was also appointed, by the influence of these friends, director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation. Finally he made a permanent arrangement with the Bowdoin Street Church, and gave up the guarantee, but again friendly influence stepped in and procured for him the position of teller at the American Bank. In 1827 Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that was to win for him as has been already stated the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Although this may seem rather a bold claim it is not too much under the circumstances. Mr. Mason might have been in the average ranks of musicianship had he lived in Europe; in America he was well in advance of his surroundings. It was not too high praise (in spite of Mason's very simple style) when Dr. Jackson wrote of his song collection: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation," or that the great contrapuntist, Hauptmann, should say the harmonies of the tunes were dignified and churchlike and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious. Charles C. Perkins gives a few of the reasons why Lowell Mason was the very man to lead American music as it then existed. He says, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them." The personality of Dr. Mason was of great use to the art and appreciation of music in this country. He was of strong mind, dignified manners, sensitive, yet sweet and engaging. Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Dr. Mason visited a number of the music schools in Europe, studied their methods, and incorporated the best things in his own work. He founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Dr. Mason resided in Boston from 1826 to 1851, when he removed to New York. Not only Boston benefited directly by this enthusiastic teacher's instruction, but he was constantly traveling to other societies in distant cities and helping their work. He had a notable class at North Reading, Mass., and he went in his later years as far as Rochester, where he trained a chorus of five hundred voices, many of them teachers, and some of them coming long distances to study under him. Before 1810 he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals. As a composer of solid, enduring church music. Dr. Mason was one of the most successful this country has introduced. He was a deeply pious man, and was a communicant of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Mason in 1817 married Miss Abigail Gregory, of Leesborough, Mass. The family consisted of four sons, Daniel Gregory, Lowell, William and Henry. The two former founded the publishing house of Mason Bros., dissolved by the death of the former in 1869. Lowell and Henry were the founders of the great organ manufacturer of Mason & Hamlin. Dr. William Mason was one of the most eminent musicians that America has yet produced. Dr. Lowell Mason died at "Silverspring," a beautiful residence on the side of Orange Mountain, New Jersey, August 11, 1872, bequeathing his great musical library, much of which had been collected abroad, to Yale College. --Hall, J. H. (c1914). Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

William H. Burleigh

1812 - 1871 Author of "Abide not in the realm of dreams" in Christian Science Hymnal (Rev. and enl.) Burleigh, William Henry, an active reformer and member of the Unitarian body, was born at Woodstock, Connecticut, Feb. 12, 1812, and brought up on a farm at Stainfield in the same state. In 1837 he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where, having been previously apprenticed to the printing trade, he published the Christian Witness and Temperance Banner. In 1843 he undertook the duties of editor of the Christian Freeman, at Hartford. From 1849 to 1855 he was agent of the New York State Temperance Society; and from 1855 to 1870 Harbour Master at New York. Died at Brooklyn, March 18, 1871. His poetical pieces and hymns were contributed to various periodicals and journals. Many of these were collected and published as Poems, Phila. in 1841. This volume was enlarged by additional pieces, and republished by his widow, in 1871. The dates of these hymns and poems are most difficult to determine. Where possible they are given in detail. It is somewhat curious that Burleigh's hymns are generally more extensively used in England than at home. The introduction of some of his best compositions into the English collections is due to the Lyra Sacra Americana, whence they were mostly taken by the compilers. Those in use in Great Britain and America are:— 1. Fades from the west the farewell nigh. Night . This poem, entitled “A Psalm of Night," is given in his Poems, N. Y., 1871, pp. 275-6. Although not in the 1st edition of his Poems, 1841, it was in common use as early as 1844. It is in 5 stanzas of 8 lines. From it the following centos have come into common use:— (1) “Day unto day uttereth speech." This is composed of stanzas iii.-v., and was given in the Christian Hymns of the Cheshire Pastoral Association (Amer. Unitarian), 1844, as an "Evening Hymn." (2) "O Holy Father, mid the calm." This cento In Longfellow and Johnson's Book of Hymns, 1846, and their Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, &c, is composed of stanzas iv.-v. (3) "Not only doth the voiceful day," No. 324 in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, is composed of st. ii.-iii. Another arrangement beginning with the same stanza is in the Lyra Sacra Americana, p. 41. (4) “The brightening dawn and voiceful day." In the Hymnary (Lond.), 1872, is, altered from the Lyra Sacra Americana as above, with the addition of a doxology. In and through these various forms, the use of this hymn is very extensive. 2. Father, beneath Thy sheltering wing. Trust and Peace. Appeared in Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, No. 471, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines. It is given in many American collections, and in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879, Horder's Cong. Hymns , 1884, and others in Great Britain. Orig. text in Lyra Sacra Americana, p. 39, with "that" for "which” in st. ii. line 4. 3. For the dear love that kept us through the night. Morning. From Poems, 1871, into Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. 4. From profoundest depths of tribulation. Lent. This appeared in the Supplement to Hedge and Huntington's Hymns, &c. (Unitarian), 1853, No 843. 5. Lead us, 0 Father, in the paths of peace. Divine Guidance. No. 32 of the Lyra Sacra Americana, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, being "A Prayer for Guidance." With English compilers this hymn ranks amongst Burleigh’s productions next in popularity to No. 8, and is found in most of the collections there named. 6. Not in vain I poured my supplication . Lent. This is a continuation of the same thought as No. 4 preceding, and follows it in the same Supplement. 7. O deem not that earth's crowning bliss. Mourning. This, passed from the Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, into the Eng. Bap. Hymnal , 1879; Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, and others. It is in his Poems, 1i871, p. 258. The hymn, "From lips divine, like healing balm," in the Methodist Episcopal Hymnal, N. Y., 1878, is a cento from this hymn. 8. Still will we trust though earth seems dark and dreary. Faith. Appeared in the Lyra Sac. Amer., 1868, pp. 43-44, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. This is the most widely adopted of this author's hymns by the English compilers. It is given in some of the best collections, as the New Congregational Hymn Book, Thring, Horder, the Baptist Hymnal, Allon, &c. 9. There is a beautiful land by the spoiler untrod. Heaven. Dr. Cleveland Lyra Sac. Americana, 1868, p. 298) says, "This piece was first published in the Independent, Jan. 18, 1866." 10. They who have kept their spirit's virgin whiteness. Purity. In Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, p. 46. 11. Thou Who look'st with pitying eye. Lent. In Lyra Sacra Americana, 1868, p. 47. 12. Through the changes of the day. Evening. From his Poems, 1841. It is given in the Lyra Sac. Amer., p. 50, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Psalms. and Hymns, 1852, Thring's Collection, and others. 13. We ask not that our path be always bright. Trust in God. From the Lyra Sac. Amer, 1868, into Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884. 14. When gladness gilds our prosperous day. Good in all. Also from Lyra Sacra Americana into Horder's Cong. Hymns, 1884. It has been already noted that Burleigh's hymns have a more extended use in Great Britain, than in his own country. The foregoing notes will also show that his productions are more widely known and used outside of his own denomination than by his own people. Concerning the hymns included in the Lyra Sac. Amer., Dr. Cleveland, the editor, says, "Most of these beautiful hymns of Mr. Burleigh's were given to me in manuscript by the author," but he does not indicate what was new and what was old. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Charles Zeuner

1795 - 1857 Person Name: C. Zeuner Composer of "MISSIONARY CHANT" in Songs for the Lord's House Also: Zeuner, Heinrich Christoph, 1795-1857 Zeuner, Heinrich Christopher, 1795-1857

Joseph Barnby

1838 - 1896 Person Name: Sir Joseph Barnby Composer of "LITLINGTON TOWER" in Isles of Shoals Hymn Book and Candle Light Service Joseph Barnby (b. York, England, 1838; d. London, England, 1896) An accomplished and popular choral director in England, Barnby showed his musical genius early: he was an organist and choirmaster at the age of twelve. He became organist at St. Andrews, Wells Street, London, where he developed an outstanding choral program (at times nicknamed "the Sunday Opera"). Barnby introduced annual performances of J. S. Bach's St. John Passion in St. Anne's, Soho, and directed the first performance in an English church of the St. Matthew Passion. He was also active in regional music festivals, conducted the Royal Choral Society, and composed and edited music (mainly for Novello and Company). In 1892 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. His compositions include many anthems and service music for the Anglican liturgy, as well as 246 hymn tunes (published posthumously in 1897). He edited four hymnals, including The Hymnary (1872) and The Congregational Sunday School Hymnal (1891), and coedited The Cathedral Psalter (1873). Bert Polman

John Bishop

1665 - 1737 Person Name: J. Bishop Composer of "ILLSLEY" in Hymns of Hope and Courage John Bishop was born in 1665 in Winchester, Hampshire, England He served as lay vicar at King’s College, Cambridge (1687), as the organist (1695-1737) and lay clerk (1697) at Winchester College, and also as tge organist at Winchester Cathedral (1729-37). He died about December 19, 1737 in Winchester. His works include: A New Set of Psalm Tunes, 1710 A New Set of Psalm Tunes, 1722 A Supplement to the New Psalm-Book, 1725 A New Set of Psalm Tunes, 1730 NN, Hymnary. Source: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/i/s/bishop_j.htm

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