William Lock

Congregational Singing in England, Canada, and The United States Since 1950

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Since 1950, there has been more music published for congregational singing than at any other time in the history of the church. Nearly every major denominational body, as well as many independent congregations and publishing companies, have produced official and supplementary hymnals and related collections of songs. In almost every case, these collections evidence a recovery of traditions once lost and relentless pursuit of contemporary music that is both faithful to the gospel and representative of the languages—both verbal and musical—of modern culture.

The 1950s

Several trends continued throughout the decade of the 1950s. Many new publications indicated an increase in the use of some one hundred to two hundred common historic hymns which later became the basic repertoire of congregational songs found in most hymnals. At the same time, the multiplication of simple choruses, sung chiefly in evangelical gatherings, made differences in the musical styles used in the church more pronounced.

Most hymn singing of the 1950s came to sound all the same, almost always sung to organ accompaniment. With the development of technology for sound amplification, numerous sanctuaries were “remodeled” to nullify the distraction of any sound except that which originated from the preacher or singer stationed behind a microphone. This discouraged wholehearted congregational hymn singing.

However, during the same period of time, a new working of God’s Spirit was evidenced in the phenomenon of glossolalia (i.e., speaking in tongues). This new movement claimed participants in the mainline denominations as well as churches of Pentecostal persuasion.

By the end of the decade criticism against traditional forms of worship and musical styles increased. And, although it was most intense among the youth, adults too voiced concern against archaic language and what seemed to them to be medieval music.

The 1960s

The great divide between the past and the present in congregational singing erupted in England with the publication of Geoffrey Beaumont’s Folk Mass in 1957. Written for young people, this work was composed in an innovative manner, calling for a cantor to sing a phrase of the text, which was then repeated by the congregation. This responsive form, along with the popular style of its melodies and harmony, made this work an instant success.

Similarly, in the early 1960s, Michael Baughen, later Bishop of Chester, along with some friends, sought to provide new songs for a new generation. Even though no publisher would support their first endeavor, they published Youth Praise (Michael A. Baughen, ed. [London: Falcon Books, 1966]). The Church Pastoral Aid Society subsequently published Youth Praise 2 (Michael A. Baughen, ed., [London: Falcon Books, 1969]) and Psalm Praise (Michael A. Baughen, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1973]). This cluster of friends, known as the Jubilate Group, includes such outstanding writers and composers as Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926), Christopher Idle (b. 1938), Michael Perry (b. 1942), and Norman Warren (b. 1934). It has grown to forty members, becoming well known in the United States due to the consistent effort of George Shorney, Chairman of the Hope Publishing Company. Their modern language hymnal, Hymns for Today’s Church was published both in England (by Hodder and Stoughton, London) and in the United States (by the Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, Ill.).

Fred Kaan, a one-time pastor of Pilgrim Church in Plymouth, England, also wrote contemporary hymns for his congregation which was used far beyond those sanctuary walls. His first collection of 50 texts was called Pilgrim Praise (Plymouth, England: Pilgrim Church, 1968). After moving to Geneva, Switzerland, where he collaborated with composer Doreen Potter, he published twenty new hymns under the title Break Not The Circle (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1975). Later, in 1985, Hope Publishing Company issued the complete collection of his work, The Hymn Texts of Fred Kaan (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing, 1985).

Other publications appeared with new texts and music. In London, Josef Weinberger became the publisher of a series of supplemental books beginning in 1965. These contained representative works written in a pop style by the Twentieth Century Church Light Music Group. Some of these songs also became available in the United States in the 1970s. In addition, Gailliard (London) published the Sydney Carter song, “Lord of The Dance,” in l963, followed by a collection of other songs by Carter which were recorded and made available in the United States.

Continuing in the tradition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, 100 Hymns for Today (John Dykes Bower, ed., [London: William Clowes and Sons, 1969]) was published as its supplement. Some years later, a similar supplement to The English Hymnal was completed with the title English Praise (George Timms, ed. [London: Oxford University Press, 1975]).

The United States. The earliest work in the United States similar to Beaumont’s Folk Mass was Herbert G. Draesel, Jr.’s immensely popular Rejoice (New York: Marks Music Corp., 1964). Later recorded, this sacred folk mass promoted the use of electric guitars and drums in the regular worship services of churches. Then soon after Vatican II, young Roman Catholic musicians introduced a large number of folk masses intended for unison singing with guitar accompaniment. Each of these was made available both in print and on records, which accelerated their popularity.

The great success of F.E.L. (Friends of English Liturgy) Publications widened the acceptance of these and other new songs into Catholic and non-Catholic circles. Their Hymnal for Young Christians: A Supplement to Adult Hymnals (Roger D. Nachtwey, ed., Chicago: F.E.L. Church Publications, 1966) was released in Roman Catholic and ecumenical editions in 1966. A second volume appeared in 1970. Songs such as “We Shall Overcome,” “Allelu,” “Sons of God,” and “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” were commonly sung by Christian young people.

At the same time, many Methodists sang songs found in New Wine (Jim Strathdee, ed., 2 vols. [Los Angeles: Board of Education of the Southern California—Arizona Conference of the United Methodist Church, 1969,1973]), and some Presbyterians adopted Richard Avery and Donald Marsh’s Hymns Hot and Carols Cool (Port Jervis, N.Y.: Proclamation Productions, 1967).

In evangelical churches, the rapid development of the youth musical (such as Buryl Red’s Celebrate Life [Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972]) coincided with the popularity of compositions for youth by Ralph Carmichael that appeared in films and on record. A number of these songs were printed in the little pocket edition (melody line and texts) of “He’s Everything To Me” (Los Angeles: Lexicon Music, 1969).

More traditional in its orientation, the most important Protestant hymnal published in the 1960s was The Methodist Hymnal (1964), released under the expert supervision of editor/composer Carlton R. Young.

The 1970s

In the 1970s, ecumenical and denominational hymnals continued to be published. A staggering number of smaller supplemental books, often experimental in nature, also appeared.

The continuing ecumenical emphasis of earlier years was evident in the fourth edition (1970) of The Lutheran World Federations Hymnal, Laudamus (a fifth edition was published in 1984). And the more comprehensive work of hymnologist Erik Routley was evidenced in the 1974 Cantate Domino (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), compiled for the World Council of Churches. In 1971 the impressive Hymn Book (Toronto: Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada, 1971) drew together quality selections from past centuries as well as some of the finest new songs, such as Sydney Carter’s imaginative “Lord of the Dance.” During the following year, 1972, the Presbyterian Church in Canada issued its own revision of an earlier book, The Book of Praise edited by William Fitch (Ontario, Canada: The Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1972). This collection adopted the more modern practice of placing all stanzas of the text between the staves of music. The Baptist Federation of Canada followed with their 1973 book, The Hymnal (Carol M. Giesbrecht, ed.) And a joint American/Canadian venture, the General Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, published the Worship Hymnal (Hillsboro, Kans.: Mennonite Brethren Publishing House, 1973) with Paul Wohlgemuth as chairman/editor. The Covenant Hymnal (Chicago: The Covenant Press, 1973) of the Evangelical Covenant Church of America was the result of a careful search for the finest hymns of the past as well as new works, particularly hymns written in response to requests of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Its supplement The Song Goes On (Glen V. Wiberg, ed. [Chicago: Covenant Publications, 1990]) was issued in 1990. Meanwhile, Donald P. Hustad served as editor for one of the more scholarly books to be published by the Hope Publishing Company. That book, Hymns for the Living Church (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1974) proved itself to be a valuable resource for churches with a broad musical taste. At the same time William J. Reynolds, another outstanding national leader in the area of church music, served as editor of the new edition of the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1975).

In the middle of the decade, the editors of the Roman Catholic Worship II (Robert J. Batastini, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1975]) were free to admit that the Roman Catholic Church has its own sacred music tradition, but that tradition does not include a long history of singing in the English language. Unlike their fellow Americans of the same American “melting pot” culture, Catholic parishes for the most part have yet to experience the same vitality of song that echoes from their neighboring Christian Churches.

That vitality of song had already existed in the worldwide Lutheran church for over 450 years. Lutheran immigrants to America sang their chorales in their original languages. However, by the time of the 1960 and 1962 Lutheran church mergers, those various nationalistic branches had become “Americanized,” adopting a larger number of English hymns, along with translations of their ethnic songs. The Lutheran Book of Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1987) is a culminating work that includes these translations and a number of contemporary texts and hymn tunes by recognized American Lutheran authors and composers such as Charles Anders (b. 1929), Theodore Beck (b. 1929), Jan Bender (b. 1909), Paul Bunjes (b. 1914), Donald Busarow (b. 1934), Gracia Grindal (b. 1943), Richard Hillert (b. 1923), Frederick Jackisch (b. 1922), Carl Schalk (b. 1929), and Jaroslav Vajda (b. 1919). Members of the committee which produced this book represented all of the participating American and Canadian churches in the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship.

Also of importance was the innovative and highly influential collection Hymns for the Family of God (Fred Bock and Brian Jeffery Leach, eds. [Nashville: Paragon Associates, 1976]). A new era in congregational singing was proclaimed in its preface:

Whereas it used to take decades or centuries for a hymn or song-style to become an established part of the Christian’s repertoire, today this can happen in a matter of a few month’s time. For example “Alleluia” and “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” are sung almost everywhere by almost everyone.

In addition to the appearance of these new hymnals, there was a flurry of publications of a quite different nature, published to fill the need for more contemporary songs with updated language, and using a greater variety of popular musical styles.

In England, the work of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland introduced the newest texts of Albert Bayly (1901–1984), Fred Pratt Green (b. 1903), Fred Kaan (b. 1929), and Brian Wren (b. 1936) as well as the most current music by Peter Cutts (b. 1937) and Michael Fleming (b. 1928). Galliard of Norfolk had a continuing series of books that were made available in the United States, such as Songs for the Seventies (James D. Ross, ed. [New York: Galaxy Music Corporation, 1972]). This collection contained Sydney Carter’s controversial “Friday Morning.”

In America, Hope Publishing Company’s subsidiary, Agape, and editor Carlton Young had their own series of imaginative and innovative books. In both a pocket-size edition and a larger spiral-bound edition, they presented a collection of seventy eclectic songs called Songbook for Saints and Sinners (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1971). The Avery and Marsh folk-song pieces were printed next to Catholic Ray Repp’s “Allelu,” Lutheran John Ylvisaker’s “Thanks be to God,” Southern Baptist William Reynold’s “Up and Get us Gone,” Episcopalian Herbert G. Draesel’s “Nicene Creed” and numerous black spirituals. The Genesis Songbook (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1973) which followed in l973 contained such popular songs as Stephen Schwartz’s “Day by Day,” Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin,” James Thiem’s “Sons of God,” Sy Miller and Jill Jackson’s “Let There be Peace on Earth,” and Gene MacLellan’s “Put Your Hand in the Hand.”

The Exodus Songbook (Carlton Young, ed. [Carol Stream: Agape, 1976]) was next in 1976 with an amazingly different gallery of songwriters: Burt Bacharach, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Paul Simon, Kurt Weil, Malcolm Williamson, and Stevie Wonder. Some of the titles indicated the unusual nature of the group of songs in this collection: “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “What the World Needs Now,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “A Simple Song,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” “Come Sunday,” “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” “Somewhere,” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

By 1977 editor “Sam” Young had turned his attention to a uniquely adventuresome supplement project. Ecumenical Praise (Carlton Young, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1977]) came to be the most experimental and influential work of its kind. The list of its contemporary composers was quite impressive: Samuel Adler, Emma Lou Diemer, Richard Dirksen, Richard Felciano, Iain Hamilton, Calvin Hampton, Austin C. Lovelace, Jane Marshall, Daniel Moe, Erik Routley, Ned Rorem, Carl Schalk, Malcolm Williamson, Alec Wyton, and Carlton R. Young.

In addition, the evangelical “youth” booklets came forth in a steady and seemingly endless stream. Many had only lyrics, melody lines, and guitar chords. They were intended to be used for unison group singing in Sunday school, at camp, in youth meetings, and in coffee houses. The youth in the Lutheran church used a number of books such as David Anderson’s The New Jesus Style Songs (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1972) while those in evangelical churches sang the songs in Ralph Carmichael’s He’s Everything to Me Plus 103 (Los Angeles: Lexicon Music, 1972). Those who participated in Young Life or Campus Life on high school and college campuses sang from Yohann Anderson’s Songs (San Anselmo, Calif.: Songs and Creations, 1972). In time many larger, independent hymnals included other songs of the seventies, such as Andre Crouch’s “My Tribute” (1971), Kurt Kaiser’s “Oh, How He Loves You and Me” (1975), the Gaithers’ “There’s Something About That Name” (1970), Jimmy Owen’s “Clap Your Hands” (1972), and a large number of spirituals that had been revived during the years of civil unrest.

The 1980s

Ecumenical efforts in the publication of hymnbooks continued. The successor to the 1933 English Methodist Hymn Book was the 1983 Hymns and Psalms: A Methodist and Ecumenical Hymn Book (Richard G. Jones, ed. [London: Methodist Publishing House, 1983]) Prepared by representatives of the Baptist Union, Churches of Christ, Church of England, Congregational Federation, Methodist Church in Ireland, United Reformed Church, and the Wesleyan Reform Union, it produced one hymnbook for several denominations, not unlike the idea of the unified Korean Hymnal of 1984 and similar efforts in Sweden. The contemporary British authors represented in this large (888 items) Methodist book include Albert Bayly, Sydney Carter, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Fred Pratt Green, Alan Luff, Erik Routley, and Brian Wren. Some of the notable hymn tune composers are Geoffrey Beaumont, Sydney Carter, Peter Cutts, Erik Routley, Norma Warren, and John Wilson.

The “hymn explosion” that had taken place in Great Britain became the “hymnal explosion” of the 1980s in the United States. This was due in part to the exceptional efforts of George Shorney, chairman of America’s largest publisher of nondenominational hymnals, the century-old Hope Publishing Company. As host to visits of leading English hymn-writers and the publisher of single-author books of texts, he did more than any single person to promote the use of those new texts on this side of the Atlantic.

One of the early volumes contained The Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green (Bernard Braley, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1982]), complete with notes on each text. This collection contained “General Hymns,” “Hymns for Special Occasions,” “Ballads,” “Translations,” “Early Hymns,” and “Anthem Texts.” It seems as though every new American hymnal has adopted his oft-quoted “When in Our Music, God Is Glorified” (Later Hymns and Ballads and Fifty Poems, Bernard Braley, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1989]).

In 1983 The Hymns & Songs of Brian Wren, with Many Tunes by Peter Cutts was published in the United States as Faith Looking Forward (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1983). “Christ is Alive!,” one of his innovative works, found its way into a number of hymnals during the eighties. Another collection followed in 1986. Then in 1989, thirty-five new Wren hymns were issued under the title Bring Many Names (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1989).

The following year the collected hymns of Timothy Dudley-Smith were published as Lift Every Heart (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1984). And in a very short period of time, a number of his widely accepted texts were printed in a variety of denominational and nondenominational books. Likewise, the work of Canada’s leading hymn-writer, Margaret Clarkson, was collected in A Singing Heart (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1987), while American counterpart Jane Parker Huber had her texts published in A Singing Faith (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1987). In the same year, Lutheran Jaroslav J. Vajda had his hymns, carols, and songs published in a volume entitled Now The Joyful Celebration (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1987). In the early 1990s, New Zealander Shirley Erena Murray’s work was introduced in the United States by the collection In Every Corner Sing (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1992).

A few years later the collected hymns for the church year (after the model set in Keble’s Christian Year) were assembled in Carl P. Daw, Jr.’s A Year of Grace (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1990). Eighteen of the metrical canticles from this significant work were published subsequently, each with two musical settings, in To Sing God’s Praise (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1992).

Finally, the single-author collection Go Forth for God (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1991) introduced the complete hymn-writing opus of English clergyman J. R. Peacey to editors and worship leaders in the United States. The British “hymn explosion” had become a significant part of the “hymnal explosion” in the United States.

This decade of the hymnal began with the publication of Lutheran Worship (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982), the authorized hymnal for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It restored original unequal rhythms to a number of the early chorales and included important contributions by such contemporary Lutheran composers as Anders, Beck, Bender, Bunjes, Busarow, Manz, Sateren, and Schalk.

However, it was The Hymnal 1982 (Raymond F. Glover, ed. [New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation, 1985]) which set the standard for future denominational hymnals. A revision of The Hymnal 1940 (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1940), had several noticeable differences: (1) the use of guitar chord symbols; (2) added instrumental parts; (3) metronome markings; (4) black note notation, and (5) music within the musical staff.

In l985 the Reformed Church in America issued its own book, Rejoice in the Lord: A Hymn Companion to the Scriptures (Erik Routley, ed. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985]). It is chiefly the work of editor Erik Routley and it bears the stamp of his genius.

A year later two very different collections of congregational songs were published. In Worship III (Robert J. Batastini, ed. [Chicago, Ill.: GIA Publications, 1986]), Roman Catholics made an effort to move into the mainstream of congregational hymnody. Distinguished composers included in this new revision of the l971 and 1975 editions were Marty Haugen, Howard Hughes, and Michael Joncas.

Remarkably different was The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (Tom Fettke, ed. [Waco, Tex.: Word Music, 1986]). Its brief services (and medleys) with choral introductions and codas and the complete orchestration of its contents made this a distinctively new collection. Moreover, the eclecticism of its contents may best be illustrated in the titles of some of the songs: the “Hallelujah Chorus” (Messiah); Timothy Dudley-Smith’s setting of the Magnificat, “Tell Out My Soul”; Andre Crouch’s solo song “My Tribute”; the country/western song, “I’ll Fly Away”; the spiritual, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands”; Ralph Carmichael’s hit song, “He’s Everything to Me”; and Jack Hayford’s praise chorus, “Majesty.”

Another pair of hymnals was published in 1987. The carefully constructed Christian Reformed Psalter Hymnal (Emily R. Brink, ed. [Grand Rapids: CRC Publications, 1987]) featured metrical versions of all 150 psalms, settings of biblical songs from Genesis to Revelation, and hymns for every act of worship and season of the Christian year.

This may be contrasted with the evangelical Gaither Music Company publication, Worship His Majesty (Fred Bock, ed. [Alexandria, Ind.: Gaither Music Company, 1987]). Here the reader will find Christian contemporary solos by Paul Stookey, Dottie Rambo, and Bill and Gloria Gaither, along with nineteenth-century gospel songs by Fanny Crosby and Ira D. Sankey. The Church of God also used contemporary Christian songs in their new hymnal, Worship The Lord (Alexandria, Ind.: Warner Press, 1989).

Until the publication of their new hymnal in 1989, the United Methodists used the 1982 Supplement to the Book of Hymns (Carlton R. Young, ed. [Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1982]) as well as a 1983 Asian-American collection, Hymns from the Four Winds (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983) edited by the distinguished ethnomusicologist, I-to-Loh.

At the end of the decade, a superb collection of congregational songs was completed by the members of the Hymnal Revision Committee of the United Methodist Church under the editorship of Carlton Young. This 1989 book was the result of a careful review of traditional and contemporary materials. Well-known hymns from Greek, Latin, German, Scandinavian, Wesleyan, English, and North American traditions were placed alongside representative and meaningful evangelical songs. Selections from the contemporary popular repertoire were printed with English and American hymns of the “hymn explosion” period. A wide variety of ethnic songs were also given some prominence.

Apart from these large collections of congregational songs, a large number of supplemental books appeared during the eighties—books of every possible kind, many with accompanying cassette recordings. And with the recording of the songs in these very diverse books, the adoption of the new music became increasingly rapid.

Roman Catholics purchased cassette tapes of single artists/composers such as John Michael Talbot as well as the music and tapes of Gather to Remember (Michael A. Cymbala, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1982]). Moreover, the many cantor-congregation publications encouraged an easy form of responsive singing. The Music of Taize (Robert J. Bastastini, ed. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1978]), a Protestant community in France, was promoted by Robert Bastastini, editor of GIA Publication.

Episcopalians made a significant contribution to the growing repertoire of ethnic hymnody in the publication of Lift Every Voice and Sing: A Collection of Afro-American Spirituals and Other Song (New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1981), and the Catholics followed with Lead Me, Guide Me: The African-American Catholic Hymnal (Chicago: GIA Publications, 1987).

The Hope Publishing Company, Agape division, published a 1984 Hymnal Supplement (Carol Stream, Ill.: Agape, 1984) followed by Hymnal Supplement II (Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Co., 1987) with new material from leading British and American writers and composers. Then in 1989, Tom Fettke compiled and edited Exalt Him (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1989) which was issued in a words-only edition, a music edition, and a piano/rhythm book, and was recorded on cassette and CD, along with a variety of accompaniment tapes.

Three major groups emerged as leaders in the publication of praise-and-worship music. Maranatha! Music had early been the leader with its famous Praise (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Maranatha! Music, 1983). Integrity’s Hosanna! Music also developed a continuing stream of both printed and recorded materials, while the Vineyard Ministries spread both their style of worship and their musical repertoire to a number of countries. All three repertoires have been used extensively.

One of the most unusual series of publications of the late 1980s came from the Iona Community in Scotland. The wild goose, a Celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit, was adopted as the symbol of this community of prayer, which is made up of ordained and lay men and women of all denominations sharing a common rule of faith and life. The chief author of each collection of unaccompanied songs was John Bell. Some sixty percent of the fifty songs in each volume were his own compositions. The remainder were mostly British folk tunes such as “O Waly Waly,” “Sussex Carol,” “Scarborough Fair,” and “Barbara Allen.” The first collection, Heaven Shall Not Wait (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Maranatha! Music, 1987), was issued in 1987 and revised in 1989. The second volume, Enemy of Apathy was issued in 1988 (John Bell and Graham Maule, eds. (Chicago: GIA Publications); Heaven Shall Not Wait was revised in 1990. The third in the series, Love from Above (John Bell and Graham Maule, eds. [Chicago: GIA Publications, 1989]) was published in 1989. The main themes here pertain to the Trinity, Jesus as a friend, creation, and the oneness of worship and work. A recording of each compilation was also made available.

The 1990s

The publishing of new hymnals continues and shows no sign of abatement. Under a directive to develop a hymnal using inclusive language with an awareness of the great diversity within the church, the Presbyterian hymnal committee included 695 selections in its Presbyterian Hymnal and its ecumenical edition Hymns, Psalms & Spiritual Songs (Linda Jo McKim, ed. [Louisville, Ky.: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1990]). Their aim—“to provide a book for congregational singing with the expectation that all who use it may be enriched by hymns from gospel, evangelical, Reformed, and racial and ethnic traditions in the church”—is clearly stated in the preface (p. 7). True to the Presbyterian heritage, the book includes one hundred musical settings of selections from the Psalter, including six settings for Psalm 23. And there are 157 congregational songs included in the Christian Year section, indicating the continuing interest in the denomination to observe the Christian year. The remaining 347 songs in the Topical Hymns and Service Music sections comprise a varied selection including music provided for Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese texts.

The leadership of George H. Shorney and the enthusiastic efforts of hymnal editor Donald P. Hustad, one of America’s leading church musicians and hymnologists, resulted in The Worshiping Church: A Hymnal (Donald P. Hustad, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1990]). Of particular interest in this important book are its several adjunct volumes. The three accompaniment books have been published for keyboard, brass, and handbells. The Worship Leader’s Edition contains helpful articles related to worship and congregational singing as well as a brief analysis of each song printed. The concordance tabulates the texts which contain any important word that the user wishes to find. Moreover, the dictionary companion contains complete historical information about all texts and tunes.

The latest Baptist Hymnal (Wesley L. Forbes, ed. [Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1991]) is a magnificent contribution to the ongoing development of heartfelt congregational singing in the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. A hymnal for people of the Book, each text has been carefully examined as to its theological content. From the beginning of congregational singing in Benjamin Keach’s London church (1691) until 1991, the published books for Baptist congregations have included a wide variety of forms and styles. This book features the greatest variety to date, including traditional hymns and gospel songs as well as contemporary classical hymns, contemporary gospel songs, renewal songs, choruses, and ethnic selections.

Likewise, the 1992 Mennonite Hymnal (Kenneth Nafziger, ed. [Scottdale, Pa.: Mennonite Publishing House, 1992]) contains a wide variety of texts. There are twenty by Watts and twenty-three by Wesley, fifteen by Brian Wren, and eight by Fred Pratt Green. The music is also varied. There are fourteen American folk tunes here and thirteen Afro-American songs, ten tunes by Lowell Mason, and thirteen by Vaughan Williams. Ethnic songs are represented by Swahili, Swedish, Taiwanese, Welsh, South African, Slavic, and Spanish melodies.

In England, the work of the early church music reformers continues in the endeavors of the Jubilate group. Hymns for Today’s Church (Michael Baughen, ed. [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1982]), Carols for Today, Church Family Worship, and Songs from the Psalms were followed by Psalms for Today (Michael Perry and David Ibiff, eds. [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990]), also available in the United States from Hope Publishing Company. Intended for Anglican worship, this volume is certain to be widely used in both England and America. Extensive use has been made of folksong-like tunes, as well as newly composed melodies to supplement those selections which continue the use of familiar traditional music.

The printing of supplemental books continues and is well illustrated by Come Celebrate!: A Hymnal Supplement (Betty Pulkingham, Mimi Farra, and Kevin Hackett, eds. [Pacific, Mo.: Mel Bay Publications, 1990]) with its very singable songs. Written for the Community of Celebration of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, a community drawn together for daily worship, this collection, which is a supplement to The Hymnal 1982, is intended to be “a resource for enriching parish family worship with simple songs and hymns, on Sundays, at home, at work, and in the dailiness of life” (Preface). Here one will find unison and part songs (with piano or guitar accompaniment and other instruments, including a bass instrument and percussion) for the Daily Office and for celebrations of the Holy Eucharist and the Church Year.

An additional 1992 book of hymns from the Hope Publishing Company is 100 Hymns of Hope (George H. Shorney, ed. [Carol Stream, Ill.: Hope Publishing Company, 1992]) commemorating the company’s 100-year history. Its contemporary hymn texts and music are by English, American, and Canadian authors such as Michael Baughen, Margaret Clarkson, Peter Cutts, Carl P. Daw, Richard Dirkson, Timothy Dudley-Smith, Fred Pratt Green, Hal Hopson, Alan Luff, Jane Marshall, J. R. Peacey, Michael Perry, Richard Proulx, William Reynolds, Erik Routley, Jeffery Rowthorn, Carl Schalk, John W. Wilson, Brian Wren, and Carlton Young, all members of congregational song’s “Hall of Fame.”

Finally, Word Music has issued a comprehensive collection of Songs for Praise and Worship (Ken Barker, ed. [Waco, Tex.: Word Music, 1992]), an anthology of 253 songs and choruses providing material from a number of praise-and-worship-style music catalogs to serve as either a stand-alone collection or a supplement to any hymnal. The several editions include the pew edition, the singer’s edition, a worship planner’s edition, a keyboard edition, and fifteen instrumental editions. Transparency masters and slides are also available. Its table of contents reveals a growing sensitivity to the need for topical songs and includes sections such as God Our Father, Jesus Our Savior, The Holy Spirit, The Church, The Believer, Opening of Service, and Closing of Service.

Conclusion

Because so many materials are available for congregational singing, and since only a small fraction of the various texts and song forms can be assimilated by any one congregation, worship leaders are constantly required to make difficult choices. Also, because there is such rapid change taking place in American society and within the church itself, worship leaders must be sensitive to the needs and requests of a shifting multigenerational and sometimes multicultural membership.

Lyle E. Schaller says it well in his descriptive work, It’s A Different World!: The increase in the range of available choices has made the task of being a leader in the church more complex and more difficult than it was in the 1950s. Being able to recognize that every choice has a price tag, encouraging people to understand the matter of trade-offs, and being able to identify those trade-offs makes the responsibility of serving as a leader in the church today far more difficult than it ever was in 1955. ([Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1987], 239)

One of the major problems which emerged from the church music renewal movement of the 1960s and 1970s is the division between those churches that chose to continue singing traditional songs and those assemblies which adopted praise-and-worship-style music exclusively. Also, there are those church leaders who opted for both by scheduling two services, one traditional and one contemporary. However, this practice has been just as divisive, though confined to the local church. Congregational song, however, is for all of the people of God in united acts of worship. Thus, the convergence so wonderfully advocated by Robert Webber and Chuck Fromm is the most rational and pragmatic response to the problem. In Signs of Wonder (Nashville: Abbott Martyn, 1992) Webber points out the following:

There is a movement among the people of the world to find out each other’s traditions and to share from each other’s experiences. We the people of the church have even more reason to learn what is happening in other worship cultures and to draw from each other’s spiritual insights and experiences. After all, there is only one church, and although there are a variety of traditions and experiences within this church, each tradition is indeed part of the whole. The movement toward the convergence of worship traditions and the spiritual stimulation which comes from borrowing from various worship communities are the results of the worship renewal taking place in our time.

In the final analysis, those responsible for leading congregational singing are required to know the entire repertoire of congregational songs appropriate to the culture in which they live. They need to know the most meaningful and relevant songs from the past, and they must exercise a growing sensitivity to the heartfelt needs of those whom they lead. And they primarily must seek the mind of God—together with pastoral leaders in their churches—in making the crucial decisions of what is to be sung.

American Congregational Song to 1950

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The three hundred year span of time from 1640 to 1940 saw the development of great variety in congregational singing throughout America. Beginning with the Psalters of the first colonists, Americans contributed widely varying styles of songs and hymns, culminating with the popular and influential gospel song.

In the mid-sixteenth century, the Huguenot settlers brought their French metrical psalms and psalm tunes with them to South Carolina and Florida. In the early years of the seventeenth century, the settlers of Jamestown carried their “Sternhold and Hopkins” with them, singing the tunes of the 1592 Este Psalter. Following this, the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620; they sang from the familiar Ainsworth Psalter of 1612 along with its accompanying thirty-nine tunes. But it was left to the Puritans, who settled around Boston, to produce their own Psalter, the first book printed in America. That book, The Whole Booke of Psalms Faithfully Translated in English Metre, came to be commonly called the Bay Psalm Book. From its appearance in 1640 until the printing of the first music edition in 1698, the tunes to be sung were borrowed from the Ravenscroft Psalter. When the music edition finally became available, it contained only 12 tunes, chiefly in one meter (common meter), taken from the eleventh edition (1687) of Playford’s Introduction to the Skill of Music.

As the repertoire of psalm tunes dwindled, the practice of “lining out” the psalms by the cantor became more and more tedious and confusing. The deacon or precentor appointed to line out the psalm would read the first line of the psalm or would sing the first phrase of the psalm tune. This was repeated by the members of the congregation before the leader gave out the second line and so forth. Over a period of time, the tempo of the singing would become excessively slow. In order to keep the congregation attentive during lengthy periods of psalm-singing, the precentor would add some additional notes, thus ornamenting the melody. The result was that psalm-singing became chaotic. One of the early reformers, the Rev. Thomas Walter, described congregational psalm-singing in this manner: Our tunes are left to the Mercy of every unskillful Throat to chop and alter, to twist and change, according to their infinitely divers and no less Odd Humours and Fancies. I have myself paused twice in one note to take breath. No two Men in the Congregation quaver alike or together, it sounds in the Ears of a Good Judge like five hundred different Tunes roared out at the same Time, with perpetual Interfearings with one another. (Edward S. Ninde, The Story of The American Hymn [New York: Abingdon Press, 1921], 76)

Intent on correcting the situation, Walter published a book of music instruction, The Grounds and Rules of Musick Explained, in 1721, one year after the printing of the Rev. Thomas Symmes’s pamphlet, The Reasonableness of Regular Singing or Singing by Note. By these means, the two enlightened ministers proposed a “shocking” new way of congregational singing that necessitated musical instruction. The “old way” of singing by rote without music was about to be changed. This change, however, did not come without considerable resistance, even though interest in the new method was particularly high in urban centers. From this growing interest in learning to sing by note rather than by rote, numerous singing schools were begun in the middle of the eighteenth century. The psalm tunes used in those music classes were printed in oblong tune books, with each tune printed in three or four parts with one stanza of the text. Additionally, the books contained some longer anthems at the back of the book and instructions for reading music at the front of the book.

The first significant book of this kind was James Lyon’s (1735–1794) Urania (1761). This collection was the first to feature some fuging tunes, along with the expected psalm tunes, hymn tunes, and anthems. The fuging tunes had two homophonic chordal sections separated by a central polyphonic section in which the various voice parts, imitating each other, began at different times. The best-known singing teacher/composer of the time was William Billings (1746–1800) who published his first tune book, The New England Psalm Singer, in 1770. The other volumes which followed this important work provided material for the singing schools, which he successfully conducted in the areas in and around Boston.

Oliver Holden (1765–1844) composed the earliest American tune still in common usage. His hymn tune, coronation, which was printed in his Union Harmony in 1793, is still associated with the stirring text “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.”

Moravian Hymns

The year was 1735. The group numbered only twenty-six. But on their way to Savannah, Georgia, the Moravians aboard the Simmonds gave clear testimony to their faith in the singing of their hymns. John Wesley, a fellow passenger, was deeply impressed. Drawn to them, he began his study of German and the first of his attempts at translating their German chorales into English. These actually became the first English hymns to be written and published in America. They appeared in his Charlestown Collection of 1737.

At about the same time, many witnessed the beginnings of the Great Awakening. An early leader in the movement, Jonathan Edwards, was pastor of the Congregational Church in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was in 1739, during the first visit of George Whitefield to America, that the itinerant evangelist demonstrated his keen support for the hymns of Watts by using them to accompany his preaching. Later, Benjamin Franklin and others published Watts’s Psalms and Hymns, which went through fifty editions within fifty years.

Church of England parishioners in America continued to use the “Old Version” of the Psalter along with the “New Version” by Tate and Brady, often having a copy bound to their Book of Common Prayer. Meanwhile, within the Presbyterian church, the “Great Psalmody Controversy” over singing on the “Old Side” from the Psalters of Rous and Barton, or on the “New Side” from the “New Version,” or Watts, caused great division.

After the pioneer settlements on the frontier were affected by the Great Revival of 1800 (which had its beginning in Logan County, Kentucky), outdoor meetings and extended camp meetings grew in popularity among the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists. At these meetings, the simple repetitive style of the song was taught by rote, because most of the audience, both black and white, could not read music. However, they enthusiastically sang their songs day and night. Thus, a new folk hymnody emerged. Songs of repentance, death, and judgment as found in Joshua Smith’s collection Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs were similar to selections found in Samuel Holyoke’s (1762–1820) The Christian Harmonist (1804) and Jeremiah Ingall’s (1764–1828) Christian Harmony (1805).

The “shaped note” tunes which appeared in William Smith and William Little’s book, The Easy Instructor (1809), used various symbols for the fa, sol, la, and mi degrees of the scale: a right angle triangle for fa, a circle for sol, a square for la, and a diamond shape for mi. Between the introduction of Davisson’s Kentucky Harmony in 1816 and the year 1850, about thirty-eight tune books were printed, the majority of them being used in the Southern states.

The two most popular books of this period were The Southern Harmony (1835) by William Walker (1809–1875) and The Sacred Harp (1844) by B. F. White (1800–1879) and co-editor E. J. King. From such books came the folk hymn tunes of contemporary hymnbooks: foundation (“How Firm A Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord”), beach spring (“Come All Christians, Be Committed”), land of rest (“Jerusalem, My Happy Home”), holy manna (“Brethren, We Have Met to Worship”), promised land (“On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand”) and restoration (“Come Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy”).

Lowell Mason

Lowell Mason (1792–1872) single-handedly exerted the greatest influence on congregational singing in American churches in the early nineteenth century. One of the most outstanding American musicians of his day, he first settled in Boston in 1827 where he developed the choir of the Bowdoin Street Church that gained national recognition. While at the church, he also conducted music classes for children, publishing The Juvenile Psalmist and The Child’s Introduction to Sacred Music (1829) for them. Then, in 1832, he founded the Boston Academy of Music. By 1838 he had gained approval to teach vocal music in the Boston public schools. His efforts at promoting music education led to the establishment of the first music institutes for the training of music teachers. He was truly the great pioneer of music education. He was also very eager to improve congregational singing in the churches. By fashioning tunes from European sources, he provided churches everywhere with a different, more sophisticated style of congregational song. Most Christians are familiar with his adaptations, including Antioch (“Joy to the World”), Atzmon (“O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing”), and Hamburg (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”).

Throughout much of the same century many Mennonite, Moravian, and Lutheran congregations continued to use their own repertoire of German hymns and chorales. At the same time, various denominations developed distinctive hymnbooks in English, promoting their preferred song forms. In particular, the Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and Congregationalists retained a large number of English hymns by Watts, Charles Wesley, Newton, and Cowper.

The Gospel Song

Several significant developments in the middle of the nineteenth century resulted in the birth and development of a uniquely American congregational song form, the gospel song.

One such development was the beginning and growth of the Sunday school movement. The idea of Sunday school was first introduced by the Methodists following the Revolutionary War. The lack of public schools had created a pressing need for instruction in reading and writing, a need that was met by the Sunday schools. Instructional materials for these schools were later published by the American Sunday School Union, which was founded in 1824.

The Sunday school hymns of William B. Bradbury (1816–1868) became the amazing success story of sacred popular song. A member of Lowell Mason’s Bowdoin Street Church choir and a student of Mason at the Boston Academy of Music, Bradbury became organist at the Baptist Tabernacle in New York City where he conducted free singing classes for young people and where he was instrumental in having music instruction introduced into the public schools. He supplied the music to Charlotte Elliott’s text, “Just As I Am,” and the simple melody for “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” Today his music for the text “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less Than Jesus’ Blood” is well known still, as is the attractive melody he wrote for the words, “Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us.” Two other equally well-known melodies are settings for “Sweet Hour of Prayer” and “He Leadeth Me, O Blessed Thought.”

The second important development was the founding of the Young Men’s Christian Association in England in 1844 and the establishment of a branch in Boston in 1851. By 1870, the annual conventions of the Y.M.C.A. attracted thousands of young men who were caught up in the spirited singing, many of the songs being selected from Bradbury’s 1867 Y.M.C.A. collection.

Third, about 1857, in the midst of desperate economic conditions, a widespread movement of evangelical revivalism erupted. Daily interdenominational noonday prayer meetings in churches and theaters became commonplace.

The fourth development of great significance was the Civil War, during which the soldier’s hymnbook was used extensively. Nothing could have been more stirring than the singing of patriotic songs and hymns by a large group of men.

Finally, the influence of the “Singing Pilgrim,” Philip Phillips (1834–1895), must not be overlooked. At the age of twenty-one years this singer, composer, and publisher was on the road singing the simple songs of his own composition, accompanying himself on the reed organ, and selling copies of his music at every stop. And although his travels took him around the world, he became best known in America, especially for his exceptionally popular “services of song.”

Another very influential musician was Philip Bliss (1838–1876). It was 1857 when Bliss attended a music convention led by the famous teacher and composer Bradbury. This experience prompted the young Bliss to enter a music education institute. Following his studies, he became a music teacher and, later still, a representative for the Chicago music publishing company Root and Cady, for whom he gave concerts and organized conventions. In 1869 he met Dwight L. Moody, who persuaded him to leave his job and serve as soloist and song leader for Major D. W. Whittle. Bliss was one of the first major leaders in the creation and use of gospel songs. Widely recognized as an outstanding leader in music education and as a promoter of gospel songs at musical conventions, by the 1870s he was associated with the John Church music company of Cincinnati, the company which published his Gospel Songs in 1874. A number of his songs may be found in some contemporary hymnals. The Worshiping Church, for example, has four: (1) “Hallelujah! What a Savior,” (2) “Wonderful Words of Life,” (3) “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” (text only), and (4) “It Is Well With My Soul” (music only).

Meanwhile, Ira D. Sankey was a song leader and soloist for Dwight L. Moody, beginning this work in 1870, after he had led music in Sunday School, the Young Men’s Christian Association, and for the soldiers in the Civil War. While on his first trip to England with evangelist Moody, he used both Philip Phillips’ Hallowed Songs (1865) and his own collection of songs, which he kept in a scrapbook. The demand for these new songs in manuscript form became so great that the English publisher R. C. Morgan volunteered to print a pamphlet of twenty-three songs in 1873. The first five hundred copies were sold in a day. This special collection, Sacred Songs and Solos, passed through several editions and was enlarged to twelve hundred selections. So great was the demand for these popular songs that over eighty million copies were sold within fifty years.

Back in Chicago Sankey was successful in arranging a merger of his collection with the 1874 Gospel Songs collection of the singer/composer Bliss. This joint venture, Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs was published in 1875. Subsequently, five editions were printed between 1876 and 1891. Finally, the entire series was published in one volume in 1894 as Gospel Hymns, Nos. 1–6, Complete. It included a total of 739 hymns.

Although during his lifetime his texts and music for “Faith is the Victory,” “Hiding in Thee,” “A Shelter in the Time of Storm,” “The Ninety and Nine,” and “Under His Wings I Am Safely Abiding” became well known, only one of Sankey’s songs, “Trusting Jesus” (music only), is to be found in the modern hymnal, The Worshiping Church (1990).

The efforts of the two compilers, Bliss and Sankey, and their two publishers, the John Church Company and Biglow and Main, proved to be immensely successful. Furthermore, a large number of men and women as well as music publishers became involved in the writing and composing of gospel songs, promoting the sales of countless other volumes.

Sankey was not only known to Phillips and Bliss, he was also, as the president of Biglow and Main, the publisher of gospel songs by James McGranahan (1840–1907), George C. Stebbins (1846–1945), and George F. Root (1820–1895).

The most familiar music of McGranahan today is set to the Daniel W. Whittle texts, “I Know Not Why God’s Wondrous Grace” and “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing”, and Phillip P. Bliss’s “I Will Sing of My Redeemer.”

The music of Stebbins that has become the most beloved includes the tunes written for Adelaide A. Pollard’s “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” William T. Sleeper’s “Out of My Bondage, Sorrow and Night,” and William D. Longstaff’s “Take Time To Be Holy.” The work of George F. Root is represented by the music of “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”

Later, the texts of the blind poetess Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) became most prominent. A prolific writer, she stored many texts in her mind and dictated them at various times to a secretary. Her amazing output of 9,000 poems rivals that of the famous Charles Wesley. With the kind and supportive friendship of her publisher, Ira D. Sankey, she made weekly contributions that were immediately set to music.

The nine selections by Fanny Crosby to be found in The Worshiping Church focus on Jesus and our redemption and life in him: “Praise Him! Praise Him!” with music by Chester G. Allen; “Tell Me the Story of Jesus” with music by John R. Sweney; “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It!” with music by William J. Kirkpatrick, but here set to the tune Ada by Aubrey L. Butler; “Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine” with music by Phoebe P. Knapp; “To God be the Glory,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” and “Rescue the Perishing”—all with music again by William H. Doane; and “All the Way My Saviour Leads Me” with music by Robert Lowry.

These and other gospel songs possess several distinctive characteristics which made them functional pieces for mass evangelism. The very content of the text was the simple gospel story of the experience of sin and God’s grace and redemption through Christ, the pleading Savior. The words used were readily understood, often using metaphors from everyday life. Also, there were many repetitions of phrases in the text. The music was often in two parts with a lyric melody and spirited rhythm. The combination of an engaging melody, lively pulse, and simple harmonies made these songs ideal for group singing. At times the verses were sung by a soloist or the choir and the refrain sung by all present from memory.

Multitudes found these subjective testimonials inspiring and thus encouraged their use in worship services. With a focus textually upon salvation, these songs found a sympathetic ear in all those seeking an individual Christian experience. Others considered them inappropriate for corporate worship services. Thus, another period of division took place.

The Twentieth Century

During the first half of the twentieth century, many denominational hymnbooks became both scholarly and ecumenical. For instance, the Episcopal hymnal of 1916 was followed by the music edition in 1918, edited by Canon Winfred Douglas (1867–1944). An authority on Gregorian music, Douglas crowned his achievements with The Hymnal 1940, for which he also served as music editor.

Another distinguished expert on hymns was the Presbyterian minister Louis Benson (1855–1930). Editor of several hymnals, he contributed significantly to the study of hymnology through his definitive work The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship.

The two branches of American Methodism, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had published separate hymnals in the late nineteenth century but combined their endeavors in 1905 with the help of music editor Peter Lutkin (1858–1931). Another united effort of three Methodist groups took place in 1935. The editor was the distinguished hymnologist Robert G. Cutchan (1877–1958).

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) produced a high-quality book, The Hymnal 1933, which reflected the expert assistance of music editor Clarence Dickinson (1873–1969).

In 1941 the joint effort of the Disciples of Christ and the American Baptist Church resulted in Christian Worship. The Southern Baptist had their own hymnal in The Broadman Hymnal of 1940, compiled by B. B. McKinney.

From this period also come the hymns of such writers as Julia Cady Cory (1882–1963)—“We Praise You, O God, Our Redeemer, Creator”; Frank Mason North (1850–1935)—“Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life”; and Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1964)—“God of Grace and God of Glory.”

In addition to the above, the important efforts of the leaders of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, which began in 1922, have encouraged the writing of new texts and music and the enthusiastic singing of many forms of congregational song throughout the United States and Canada.

English Hymnody to 1950

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Over a period of time, the writers of metrical psalms turned to fashioning free paraphrases of psalm texts. Eventually, in the seventeenth century, several English authors began to write hymn texts independent of the specific words of Scripture. Nineteenth-century fervor for hymn singing culminated with the publication of the most famous and influential of all hymnbooks, Hymns Ancient and Modern. The first half of the twentieth century witnessed growth in the study of hymnology, which led, in turn, to a variety of carefully planned hymnals that have had great influence to the present day.

Foremost among the early English hymn writers was Benjamin Keath (1640–1704). In 1668, he became the pastor of the Particular Baptist Church in Southwark. Then, as early as 1674, he published some hymns for use in his church—in particular, hymns written to be sung at the close of the Lord’s Supper. His second collection of 300 original hymns appeared in print in 1691 under the title Spiritual Melody. By this time those in favor of singing hymns each week prevailed over the opposing minority.

Similarly, another Baptist pastor, Joseph Stennett (1663–1713) of London began writing hymns to be used by his congregation at the service of the Lord’s Supper. In 1697, his significant collection of Hymns in Commemoration of the Sufferings of Our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, Compos’d for the Celebration of His Holy Supper appeared.

Isaac Watts

However, it was another pastor, Isaac Watts (1674–1748), who was to become the “Father of English Hymnody.” A Nonconformist, he felt no obligation to follow the Church of England ordinance that only the inspired psalms of scripture were to be sung in corporate worship services, a rule that was held in effect until 1821. Nor did he feel limited by the adherence of the Calvinists to the literal Scripture text.

In order to gain acceptance of his ideas, he published The Psalms of David imitated in the language of the New Testament in 1719. In this collection, he versified and paraphrased 138 psalms in hymn form. He had decided to treat the majority of these psalms using the three best-known meters—the common meter, long meter, and short meter. In this process, Watts strove for two primary goals: to interpret psalms in the light of Christ and to write in a language readily acceptable to those who would sing his paraphrases. His first goal was particularly well accomplished. This is evident to the careful reader who will compare any Watts paraphrase with the psalm text on which it is based. Compare, for example, the text, “Jesus Shall Reign,” with the text of Psalm 72, the stanzas of “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” with Psalm 90, “Joy to the World” with Psalm 98, and “Give to Our God Immortal Praise” with Psalm 136.

His contribution to hymnody is even more significant, beginning with his 1707 collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs. The 210 hymns of this collection appear under three headings: (1) hymns based upon Scripture, (2) hymns composed upon divine subjects, and (3) hymns for the Lord’s Supper. Subsequently, an additional 135 hymns were added in the 1709 edition. Among these was his model hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” Here, he ideally combines objective realities and subjective sensitivities, expressing thoughts and feelings common to all Christians. This hymn and so many others by Watts are still in regular use throughout America. In fact, apart from Charles Wesley, it may well be that there are more hymns by Watts in current American hymnbooks than by any other single author.

There are ten hymns by Watts in the Psalter Hymnal (1987). The Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990) each have thirteen. The Baptist Hymnal (1991) lists fourteen, The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) has fifteen. Seventeen are indexed in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982; there are eighteen hymns in The Worshiping Church (1990), and Rejoice in the Lord has an amazing thirty-nine!

The contemporaries of Watts who lived in his shadow are also represented in the collections of hymns used by various denominations today. Joseph Addison (1672–1719) is remembered by “The Spacious Firmament on High” and Joseph Hart (1712–1768) by “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy.” Philip Doddridge (1702–1751) a pastor of the Congregational Church, had seven hymns in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 and eight hymns in the Reformed Church in America’s Rejoice in the Lord. The best known of these hymns might well be his jubilant Advent hymn, “Hark, the Glad Sound! The Saviour Comes.”

The Wesleys

The two brothers, John (1703–1791) and Charles (1707–1788) Wesley, were inseparable. From their days at Oxford and the Holy Club, John, the great organizer, had the support of his younger brother Charles, “the first Methodist.” Together they boarded the Simmonds in 1735 and sailed for America, John to serve as a missionary to Native Americans, and Charles to serve as personal secretary to the Governor of Georgia, General James Oglethorpe.

During a storm at sea, John was deeply impressed by the conduct of the twenty-six Moravians traveling with them. While the English cried out in fear of being drowned, the Moravians—men, women, and children—calmly prayed and sang hymns. So impressed with their confident faith, John eagerly began his study of the German language and earnestly sought to translate their hymns into English. After his return to England, he journeyed to Hernhut where he made the acquaintance of the founder of the Moravian Church, Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf (1700–1760), himself a hymn writer. Back in London, John pursued an association with the Moravians there.

However, while John was still in America, he edited the first hymnal to be published in America, including in it some of his own translations of Moravian hymns. This Charles Town book of 1737 was entitled A Collection of Psalms and Hymns. A second collection was printed in London in 1738. In 1739, the Wesley brothers began their cooperative work of compiling hymnals, a work that was to include some fifty-six publications within fifty-three years. The culminating book was the famous and influential work of 1780, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists. Arranging hymns according to Christian experience instead of by the church year, they placed Charles’ “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing My Great Redeemer’s Praise” first. More than two centuries later, this same hymn was accorded the honor of being the first hymn in The United Methodist Hymnal (1989).

This hymn is at once personal, evangelical, and scriptural. The nine stanzas, printed in 1780, were selected from eighteen stanzas previously written in 1739 “for the Anniversary Day of One’s Conversion.” The original text begins with the words “Glory to God, and praise and love”. However, the stanzas in the 1780 collection were rearranged and are, in reality, stanzas 7–10, 12–14, 17 and 18 of the original work. The first line echoes the words of Moravian Peter Bohler to Charles: “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise him with them all.” The song was likely sung to the tune birstall at the time of its publication.

This and other music that the Wesleys used in their open-air meetings and field preaching was collected in the 1742 Foundry Collection, named after the main Methodist meeting house in London, an abandoned foundry. Only a few psalm tunes from the music editions of the New Version were included. Only four years later, in 1746, their friend, J. F. Lampe (1703–1751), the London bassoonist and composer, issued a collection of twenty-four tunes. And later in 1753, another friend, Thomas Butts, published a complete collection of all of the tunes used by the Methodists at that time. John Wesley compiled an additional collection of tunes in 1761, which appeared ten years later in a second edition.

The tunes were popular in character and were sung at a lively tempo. Old tunes were refashioned and made to sound contemporary. And whereas the older psalm tunes were communal music in which everyone sang the melody together in unison, the new tunes, written out as melody and bass, were better suited for a soloist with accompaniment. They were the ideal vehicle to accompany the evangelical preaching of the two brothers and their associates. They were tuneful, catchy melodies adapted from the opera entertainments heard in London at that time. The Beggar’s Opera and other light operas cast in a more simple style than the Italian operas of the day provided the reservoir which the Methodists tapped for new materials. This adapted music had instant appeal.

Contemporaries of the Wesleys

An early associate of the Wesleys, the evangelistic preacher George Whitefield (1714–1770), is still represented in the current United Methodist Hymnal by his alteration of Charles Wesley’s Christmas song, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” as is John Cennick by his table grace, “Be Present at Our Table, Lord.” Moreover, the work of Augustus Toplady (1740–1778) is signaled by the popular song, “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me.” Toplady, one of several Calvinist preachers who with Whitefield were a part of Lady Huntingdon’s (1764–1865) “Connexion,” was appointed one of her chaplains. Although she wrote no hymns herself, she encouraged a number of hymn-writing friends in their efforts and promoted the publication of their works. Edward Perronet (1726–1792) had already left the Wesleys when he wrote “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” William Shrubsole, the composer of the tune Miles Lane used for the hymn, was the organist of one of the chapels established by Lady Huntingdon.

The Olney Hymns

Within the Church of England, the ban on hymn singing in worship services continued. Only psalm-singing was allowed. However, the evangelical influence grew within the ranks of the clergy, and hymn singing was permitted at meetings held outside the sanctuary. Beginning with publications issued in 1760 by Martin Madan (1725–1790) and in 1767 by Richard Convers, new texts became available. However, it was not until 1779 that a truly significant book appeared. That book was Olney Hymns by John Newton (1725–1807) and William Cowper (1731–1800). The two men lived close by each other in the village of Olney, where Newton was the Church of England curate. Together they prepared hymns for the meetings held in the “Great House,” which included weekday services, children’s activities, and prayer meetings.

Cowper is still remembered for his hymns, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” “O For a Closer Walk with God,” and “There Is A Fountain Filled with Blood.” Newton, who at one time had been employed in the slave trade, is remembered by his autobiographical hymn, “Amazing Grace,” the most popular of all hymns in America. He was also the author of “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds” and “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken.”

During the transition period which followed the publication of the Olney Hymns, James Montgomery (1771–1854) wrote the Christmas favorite, “Angels From the Realms of Glory,” and Thomas Kelly (1769–1855) wrote, “The Head That Once Was Crowned With Thorns.”

The Nineteenth Century

The new literary style of the nineteenth century was established by Reginald Heber (1783–1826). Consecrated as Bishop of Calcutta in 1823, he died only three years later. His work, Hymns, Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, was then published posthumously. It included the familiar text, often placed first in hymnals of the past, “Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!” The romantic style is also evident in Charlotte Elliott’s (1789–1871) “Just As I Am” and Robert Grant’s (1779–1838) “O Worship the King.” The musical style changed as well. Harmonic enrichment of the melodies became the distinguishing characteristic of English congregational music.

The Oxford Movement. The Oxford Movement was originally known as the “Tractarian Movement” because of the numerous tracts or pamphlets written between 1833 and 1841 by John Henry Newman (1801–1890), John Keble (1792–1866), and others. It all began in 1833 when Keble preached his famous “Assize Sermon” in the church of St. Mary in Oxford. His public stand against national apostasy came to be printed and widely distributed, serving to rally a response in the Church of England to the growing influence of evangelicalism.

This response included bold attempts at the reformation of the worship services of the Church of England and a renewed interest in reviving the ideals of the pre-Reformation Catholic Church. With great respect for the sacraments, the clergy of the church began to counteract the obvious abuses seen in worship services. They also nurtured personal piety. Moreover, with the re-examination of the Book of Common Prayer, the liturgical hymn gained prominence. Whereas the evangelical hymn of personal experience had been read and sung at home and sounded in the fields and meeting houses, the new hymns (which followed the church year), were designed for corporate worship within the sanctuary. Of particular interest was John Keble’s collection of hymns, The Christian Year (1827).

Much of the repertoire was resurrected from the past and was the work of translators of Greek, Latin, and German Hymns. From John Mason Neale’s Translations of Medieval Hymns and Sequences, modern hymnbook editors have retained the Advent song, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” the Christmas chant, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” and the Palm Sunday hymn, “All Glory, Laud, and Honor”. From Edward Caswell’s (1814–1878) 1849 collection of translations, Lyra Catholica, many still sing “Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee”, and from Catherine Winkworth’s 1855 edition, Lyra Germanica, several hymns have been preserved: “If You Will Only Let God Guide You,” “Now Thank We All Our God”, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” and the two great chorale texts, “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright” and “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.”

All of this laid the groundwork for the amazing success of Hymns Ancient and Modern. Although the Church of England had not authorized a hymnal (and would not until 1921), the wide acceptance of this English companion to the liturgy influenced congregational singing in profound ways. Fully 131 of its 273 hymns were by English men and women and were already in use. Another 132 were translations of Latin hymns and another ten of German hymns. The first edition, under the guidance of Henry Williams Baker, was published in 1860. The next year the music edition was released, having been edited by William Henry Monk (1823–1889). For the first time, text and music were printed together. And although sales records were destroyed in the war years of 1939–1945, it is estimated that 150 million copies of this hymnal have been sold. Since the first editions in the 1860s, a variety of editions and revisions of Hymns Ancient and Modern has been issued, including the 1969 supplement 100 Hymns for Today (London: William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1969).

The new hymns called for appropriate music, and it was decided by the musicians who formed the committee that new tunes needed to be written. Speaking in the musical language of Victorian England, John Bacchus Dykes (1823–1876) contributed Nicaea (“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”) and Henry Thomas Smart (1813–1879) composed regent square (“Angels from the Realms of Glory”). Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900) contributed St. Kevin (“Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain”), George Job Elvey (1816–1893), st. george’s Windsor (“Come Ye Thankful People Come”), Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876), aurelia (“The Church’s One Foundation”); and W. H. Monk contributed the more than 16 tunes and harmonizations which are now in the Hymnal 1982, one of the most familiar tunes being eventide (“Abide With Me, Fast Falls the Eventide”).

During the remainder of the century, efforts in evangelism accompanied by enthusiastic singing increased in England, Scotland, and Wales. The singing generally was focused on the hymns of Watts, Wesley, and Newton. Then in 1873, the American evangelist Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) and his song leader, Ira D. Sankey (1840–1908), introduced the gospel song of America to the English populace. About this time Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane’s (1830–1869) beloved song, “Beneath the Cross of Jesus,” and Joseph Parry’s (1841–1903) tune Aberystwyth (“Jesus, Lover of My Soul”) became well known.

The Twentieth Century. The two most influential hymnbooks of the first quarter of the twentieth century, The English Hymnal (1906) and Songs of Praise (1925) set new textual and musical standards for congregational singing. The scholarly effort that editor Percy Dearmer (1867–1936) brought to these outstanding collections was appreciated by the cooperating musicians. The 1906 hymnal is famous because of the efforts of music editor Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) to improve the quality and variety of its hymn tunes. His search took him to the wealth of British folk song which he both recorded and adapted. One highly successful merger was the tune forest green and the text “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” In addition, his own original tunes, Sine Nomine (“For All the Saints”) and down Ampney (“Come Down, O Love Divine”) have continuously increased in popularity. The 1925 collection followed the lead of The English Hymnal but contained more adventurous music that was written or selected by Martin Shaw (1875–1958) and his brother Geoffrey (1879–1943).

In addition to new tunes, a number of new texts came into common usage during the first half of the century. In 1906, Canon Henry Scott Holland (1847–1918) of St. Paul’s in London, and author of only one hymn, penned “Judge Eternal, Throned in Splendor.” In the same year, Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) contributed “O God of Earth and Altar” to The English Hymnal. In 1908, “In Christ, There is No East or West” by John Oxenham (1852–1941) was borrowed from Bees in Amber. Finally, in 1931 Jan Struthers (1901–1953) wrote the inspiring text, “Lord of All Hopefulness.”

History of Psalmody

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Whereas Martin Luther would admit any suitable text to be sung in worship unless it was unbiblical, John Calvin would allow only those texts which came from Scripture. Calvin commissioned poets to write metrical settings of the Psalms for the congregations in Strassburg and Geneva. Calvinist churches throughout Europe developed large repertories of psalmody, especially churches in England and Scotland.

By about 1532 the French court poet Clement Marot (c. 1497–1544) had already translated some of the Psalms into French verse. These translations were shared at court and sung by an ever increasing circle of admirers. John Calvin selected twelve of Marot’s metrical translations along with five of his own to be printed in his first Psalter, the Aulcunes Pseaulmes et Cantiques Mys En Chant. This was published in Strassburg in 1539. After Marot’s death, the work of translation was continued with the expert aid of Theodore Beza (1519–1605), who moved to Geneva in 1547. A complete Psalter of 150 translations was published in Paris in 1562. It had 125 tunes, 70 of which were composed by Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510–1561), a capable musician and music editor. Today, his best-known tune is old hundredth, which is now sung to the text “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” and commonly known in many churches as the “Doxology.” This 1562 Genevan Psalter was widely accepted and often imitated in the 225 similar publications that appeared within the following one hundred years.

In England, the first Protestant hymnal was Myles Coverdale’s Goostly Psalms and Spiritual Songes Drawn Out of the Holy Scripture (c. 1539). However, this book, with its translations of German chorales, was prohibited by Henry VIII. Thus, the adoption of chorale singing in England was thwarted, while the practice of psalm-singing found acceptance. At first, the metrical psalms of Henry VIII’s wardrobe attendant, Thomas Sternhold (d. 1549), gained the king’s favor. After Sternhold’s death, his disciple, John Hopkins (d. 1570), carried on the work. In 1547, the first edition of nineteen psalms was printed. This was followed by an edition with music in 1556. Intended to be sung to familiar ballad tunes of the day, most of the texts were written in a common meter of two or four lines of fourteen syllables each (8686 or 8686 doubled).

Eventually, the complete Psalter, published in 1562 as The Whole Book of Psalms, came to be known as the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter. At least one edition or revision appeared each year for the next one hundred years, the first harmonized version being the one by John Day (1563), with sixty-five harmonized tunes.

The Sternhold and Hopkins series was replaced by A New Version of the Psalms of David by the poets Nahum Tate and Nicolas Brady. The former was the Poet Laureate to William III, and the latter was a Royal Chaplain. The New Version was published in 1696 and became, in spite of some fierce opposition, a tremendously influential work over a period of more than one hundred years.

Other English and Scottish Psalters

A number of publications retained the metrical psalms of the older Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter with different music. The 1579 edition by William Damon contained a large number of common meter (8686) tunes as well as the short meter (6686) tune, Southwell, often used for the text, “Lord Jesus Think on Me.” Among the composers represented in Thomas Este’s musical edition were the leading composers John Dowland, John Farmer, and Giles Fornaby. This volume also included George Kirbye’s harmonization of the familiar tune, Winchester old, sung today with the Nahum Tate text, “While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks by Night.” An even more extensive collection of tunes, sung throughout England, Scotland, Wales, and the Continent, was Thomas Ravenscroft’s 1621 The Whole Book of Psalms. From this book, modern hymnbook editors have selected the popular tune, Dundee, and placed it with William Cowper’s profound text, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

After John Knox returned from Geneva in 1559, he gave oversight to the publication of the Scottish Psalter in 1564. This particular Psalter had the distinction of including more French psalm tunes than any of the English Psalters. By the time the 1615 Scottish Psalter came into print, the practice of including psalm tunes without a designation to any specific psalm was accepted. This was in contrast to the German custom of assigning one “proper” tune to each text. Thus, the English and Scottish Psalters allowed any given “common” tune to be used with many different texts in the same meter. In the 1635 Scottish Psalter more tunes were provided by Scottish musicians. Finally, the authorized 1650 Scottish Psalter appeared without any music. It introduced the most beloved of all English metrical psalms, the twenty-third Psalm, “The Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want.”

History of the Chorale

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The chorale was Martin Luther’s important contribution to church music. Featuring strong rhythmic tunes and vernacular texts, the early chorales were songs for all worshiping people to sing. Since the Reformation, a long line of hymn writers, especially in Germany and Scandinavia, has contributed to this genre, leaving behind one of the richest bodies of music in the Christian church.

Martin Luther

Although more than five hundred years have passed since the birth of Martin Luther in 1483, the influence of this reformer continues to affect congregational singing today. He was the greatest preacher in all of Germany, a thorough biblical scholar, and an influential theologian. He was also both an author and translator, musician and composer.

In writing thirty-seven song texts in German, Martin Luther intended to provide Christians with the truths of Scripture that he himself had worked so hard to recover. He believed that it was imperative for believers to know the Scriptures, to “hide God’s word in their hearts.” Largely because of his experience in singing in a choir as a boy, he was convinced that this should be accomplished through the singing of hymns.

It was the Bohemian Brethren who had earlier adopted the practice of congregational singing for worship and issued their songbook of 1501 with its eighty-nine hymns. However, it was the writings and publications of Luther which firmly established the practice. His strong desire to have musically literate teachers and preachers is evident in his comment:

I have always loved music; whoso have skill in this art, is of a good temperament, fitted for all things. We must teach music in schools; a schoolmaster ought to have skill in music or I should reject him; neither should we ordain young men as preachers unless they have been well exercised in music. (William Hazlett, ed., The Table-Talk of Martin Luther [Philadelphia: United Lutheran Publishing House, n.d.], 416)

In addition to this, Luther wrote the following in the foreword to the first edition of the 1524 Wittenberg Gesangbuch:

St. Paul orders the Colossians to sing Psalms and spiritual songs to the Lord in their hearts, in order that God’s word and Christ’s teaching may be thus spread abroad and practiced in every way. Accordingly, as a good beginning and to encourage those who can do better, I and several others have brought together certain spiritual songs with a view to spreading abroad and setting in motion the holy Gospel. (Luther’s Works, vol. 53: Liturgy and Hymns [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1955], 316)

Because congregational singing in worship services had been banned by a decree of the Council of Laodicia in a.d. 367 and by the Council of Jerusalem in a.d. 1415, there was a need for hymns in the vernacular to be used in the services that Luther conducted. The songs sung in the vernacular at that time were sacred songs for processions and pilgrimages.

At first Luther struggled in an attempt to fit the newly written German texts to existing chant melodies, and his efforts ended in frustration. Thus he was forced to create his own texts and to restructure existing melodies to fit the new words. Using this method, he finished four songs in 1523. They appeared early in 1524 in the famous little leaflet, Achtliederbuch. Very soon thereafter, another nineteen texts were in print. Amazingly, in the next two decades, until his death in 1546, another one hundred new collections of German chorales were published. Five of these were completed under Luther’s own personal supervision.

He began to understand the language of the people more fully when he went among them asking how they would express certain phrases. This increased his own understanding of the type of syllabic singing which the people enjoyed. Previously, several notes of a chant melody were attached to a single syllable of the text. Luther’s chorale tunes however, were written with one note given to each syllable of the text. His famous battle hymn, Ein feste Burg (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”), based on Psalm 46, is a superb example of his style of writing and composing.

Luther’s new songs for worship services were taught to the children in the school. They in turn sang them in the sanctuary for the adults to learn. Thus, the children would lead the congregation in the singing of the hymns. The melody was always sung by all in unison without accompaniment, as the strength of the melodies and the vitality of the original rhythms required no harmony.

Other Chorale and Hymn Writers

Others followed Luther’s lead. Among the important contributors of this first period were Paul Speratus (1484–1551), Nicolaus Hermann (c. 1480–1561) and Nicolaus Decius (c. 1458–1546). The resources which they used for both texts and tunes were chants of the Mass, the office hymns, sacred German folk hymns, Latin spiritual songs, and popular melodies. Decius’ well-known “All Glory Be to God on High” is an example of a translation of a Latin liturgical text (the Gloria) into the vernacular. In other cases, new original texts were attached to pre-existing melodies. Yet other chorales were completely original works, textually and musically.

The next generation of chorale writers/composers continued to compose melodic/rhythmic tunes without harmony. Two outstanding chorales of this form by Philipp Nicolai (1536–1608) are “Wake, Awake for Night is Flying” and “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright.” The first is often referred to as the “King of Chorales” and the second, the “Queen of Chorales.” These chorales were sung to tunes later used by J. S. Bach, Handel, and Mendelssohn in a variety of works for organ and choir.

A pattern of alternation evolved in which the organist played or the choir sang a harmonized version of the chorale music in between the singing of the stanzas which were sung by the congregation. It was only later that harmony was played and sung simultaneously with the singing of the people. And with the addition of harmony, the music became isorhythmic, each note of the melody having the same time value as the other notes.

It was the work of Lucas Osiander (1534–1604) which brought together the congregational singing of the melody and the harmonized version of the choir. In 1586 he published an unusual hymnal in Nuremberg in which the melody of the chorales was put in the soprano part and simple chordal harmony was added underneath. The title of his book makes his purpose clear: Fifty Sacred Songs and Psalms arranged so, that an entire Christian congregation can sing along. This work inspired expressive works by Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612) such as “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” and by Melchior Teschner (1584–1635), who composed “All Glory Laud and Honor.”

Other changes became evident during and after the Thirty Years War of 1618–1648. Paul Gerhardt (607-1676) became the leader of a movement to change the emphasis of chorale texts. The former, more objective viewpoint, gave way to a subjective emphasis, leading to the pietistic period of the latter part of the seventeenth century. With the aid of composers Johann Cruger (1598–1662) and Johann Georg Ebeling (1637–1676), Gerhardt’s texts grew in popularity. Two of his followers were Martin Rinkart (1586–1649), author of “Now Thank We All Our God,” and Georg Neumark (1621–1681), author of “If You Will Only Let God Guide You.”

Cruger provided tunes not only for Gerhardt but also for Rinkart and Johann Franck (1618–1677) in his famous hymnal Praxis Pietatis Melica (The Practice of Piety Through Music) which first appeared in 1644. By 1736 it had passed through forty-four editions. Christians everywhere still raise their voices together to sing his tune, Jesus Meine Freunde, for the text, “Jesus, Priceless Treasure.”

The Paul Gerhardt of the Calvinists was Joachim Neander (1650–1680), a close friend of Jakob Spener, founder of the pietistic movement, and of Spener’s associate, Johann Jakob Schutz (1640–1690). Although a Calvinist, Neander supported pietism. His hymns and those of the prolific writer Gerhard Tersteegen (1697–1769) made increasing use of personal pronouns. The mood of the hymns became more subjective, and they were often used not only in church services but also in private devotions.

By the time of J. S. Bach (1685–1750) hymnals were much larger. The resources at hand were staggering. With great skill he reharmonized the simpler harmonic structures and provided singers with full and rich new harmonies.

During the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries a large number of hymns were also written by Anabaptists, later known as Mennonites and Bohemian Brethren (the Moravians). The current hymnals of these groups have a generous supply of translations and music from their own rich heritage.

Scandinavian Hymns

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a large number of chorales by Scandinavians were published. Much of Denmark’s contribution to contemporary hymnology comes from three great hymnists. Denmark’s first great hymnist, Thomas Kingo (1634–1703), known as the “Poet of Eastertide” because of his many hymns on the theme of Christ’s resurrection, contributed the texts, “Print Thine Image, Pure and Holy” and “Praise to Thee and Adoration.” The second great hymn writer was the pietist Hans Adolf Brorson (1694–1764), known as the “Poet of Christmas.” Children everywhere enjoy singing his song, “Thy Little Ones, Dear Lord, Are We,” and adults in the Lutheran faith (as well as other communions) hold dear his inspiring hymn, “Behold a Host Arrayed in White,” along with its Norwegian folk tune. The third member of this celebrated trio of Danish hymn writers was the “Poet of Whitsuntide,” Nikolai F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872). For Christmas he wrote “The Happy Christmas Comes Once More” and “Bright and Glorious is the Sky.” Moreover, in his struggle to revive the life of the church, he wrote the well known hymn of the church, “Built on a Rock.”

Johan Olof Wallin (1770–1839), considered to be Sweden’s leading hymn writer, made numerous contributions to Swedish hymnals. And now some translations have found their way into American Lutheran hymnals. However, none of his hymns are as familiar as Caroline Vilhelmina Sandell-Borg’s (1832–1905) “Children of the Heavenly Father.” And certainly, no other Swedish song has been so popularized in the United States as Carl Boberg’s (1859–1940) “How Great Thou Art.”