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Anonymous

Author of "The God Who Sits Enthroned on High (1)" in The Cyber Hymnal In some hymnals, the editors noted that a hymn's author is unknown to them, and so this artificial "person" entry is used to reflect that fact. Obviously, the hymns attributed to "Author Unknown" "Unknown" or "Anonymous" could have been written by many people over a span of many centuries.

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Person Name: Dr. L. Mason Arranger of "ANVERN" in The Chapel Hymnal 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.

Richard Redhead

1820 - 1901 Arranger of "LAUDS" in The Psalter Richard Redhead (b. Harrow, Middlesex, England, 1820; d. Hellingley, Sussex, England, 1901) was a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford. At age nineteen he was invited to become organist at Margaret Chapel (later All Saints Church), London. Greatly influencing the musical tradition of the church, he remained in that position for twenty-five years as organist and an excellent trainer of the boys' choirs. Redhead and the church's rector, Frederick Oakeley, were strongly committed to the Oxford Movement, which favored the introduction of Roman elements into Anglican worship. Together they produced the first Anglican plainsong psalter, Laudes Diurnae (1843). Redhead spent the latter part of his career as organist at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Paddington (1864-1894). Bert Polman

Johann Hermann Schein

1586 - 1630 Person Name: Johann H. Schein, 1586-1630 Composer of "EISENACH" in Psalter Hymnal (Blue) Schein, Johann Hermann, son of Hieronymus Schein, pastor at Griinhain, near Annaberg, in Saxony, was born at Grünhain, Jan. 20,1586. He matriculated at the University of Leipzig in 1607, and studied there for four years. Thereafter he acted for some time as a private tutor, including two years with a family at Weissenfels. On May 21, 1615, he was appointed Capellmeister, at the court of Duke Johann Ernst, of Sachse-Weimar; and in 1616 he became cantor of I3t. Thomas's Church, and music director at Leipzig, in succession to Seth Calvisius (d. Nov. 24, 1615). This post he held till his death, at Leipzig, Nov. 19, 1630. Schein was one of the most distinguished musicians of his time, both as an original composer, and as a harmoniser of the works of others. As a hymnwriter he was not so prolific, or so noteworthy. Most of his hymns were written on the deaths of his children or friends, e.g. on seven of his children, and on his first wife. They appeared mostly in broadsheet form, and were included, along with his original melodies, in his Cantional oder Gesang-Buch Augspurgischer Confession, Leipzig, 1627; 2nd ed., 1645. [Both in Wernigerode Library.] Those of Schein's hymns which have passed into English are:— i. Machs mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Güt. For the Dying. First published, as a broadsheet, at Leipzig, 1628, as a Trost-Liedlein á 5 (i.e. for 5 voices), &c. [Berlin Library.] The words, the melody, and the five-part setting, are all by Schein. It was written for, and first used at, the funeral, on Dec. 15, 1628, of Margarita, wife of Caspar Werner, a builder and town councillor at Leipzig, and a churchwarden of St. Thomas's. It is in 6 stanzas of 6 lines; the initial letters of 11. 1, 3, in st. i.-iv., forming the name Margarita; and the W of st. v. 1. 1 standing for Werner. In Schein's Cantional, 1645, No. 303 (marked as Trost-Liedlein, Joh. Herm. Scheins, á 5), and later hymn-books, as e.g. the Unverfäschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 830, st. vi. was omitted. It is Schein's finest production, and one of the best German hymns for the sick and dying. Translated as:— Deal with me, God, in mercy now. This is a good and full translation by Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 191, set to Schein's melody of 1628. ii. Mein Gott und Herr, ach sei nicht fern. For the Dying. First published, with his name, in his Cantional, 1627, No. 262, in 9 stanzas of 6 lines. The initial letters of the stanzas give the name Margarita, probably one of the daughters who predeceased him. It is included, in 5 st., in the 164-8, and later eds., of Crüger's Praxis. The translation in common use is:— My Lord and God, go not away. A good tr. of st. i., ii., iv., v., vii., by A. T. Russell, as No. 254, in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

George Kingsley

1811 - 1884 Composer of "[The God who sits enthroned on high]" in Bible Songs Born: July 7, 1811, Northampton, Massachusetts. Died: March 14, 1884, Northampton, Massachusetts. Kingsley played the organ at the Old South Church and Hollis Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He also taught music at Girard College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, served as music supervisor for public schools in Philadelphia, and compiled a number of music books, including: Sunday School Singing Book, 1832 The Harmonist, 1833 The Social Choir, 1836 The Sacred Choir, 1838 The Harp of David, 1844 The Young Ladies’ Harp, 1847 Templi Carmina (Northampton, Massachusetts: 1853) The Juvenile Choir, 1865 --www.hymntime.com/tch

W. Hay M. H. Aitken

1841 - 1927 Person Name: William M. H. Aitken Composer of "BLACKBURN" in The Psalter Aitken, William Hay Macdowall Hunter, M.A., youngest son of Robert Aitken, sometime Vicar of Pendeen, was born at Liverpool Sep. 21, 1841, and educated at Wadham College, Oxford; B.A. in honours in 1865. He was ordained to the Curacy of St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, N., in 1865; became Incumbent of Christ Church, Everton, Liverpool, in 1871, but he resigned in 1875 in order to devote himself entirely to parochial mission work. He became General Superintendent of the Church Parochial Mission Society in 1877, and Canon Residentiary of Norwich in 1900. He has published twelve volumes of sermons, together with other works. His hymns in common use, mainly in Home Mission Hymn Books, include:— 1. Bow down Thine ear, in mercy hearken. [Penitence.] Canon Aitkens account of the origin of this hymn is:—"Mr. Stephens (q.v.), who for long years assisted me in my mission work, shewed me a manuscript of a hymn in this metre that he had written, and asked my criticism. I was pleased with the general character of the hymn, but it seemed to me to be spoilt by the absence of rhyme in the first and third lines of each verse ... I rewrote it, and hence it bears the initials of both of us. It has proved a most useful hymn in our work." 2. Come, ye loyal hearts and true. [Christmas.] Written circ. 1877 at Holmeside, Derby. 3. Father of lights, again these newborn rays. [Morning.] No. 2 in the Home Hymn Book, 1885, was written at Bedford for that work. 4. I have sinned, Thou know'st how deeply. [Repen-tance.] Written at Holmeside, Derby, for Hymns for a Parochial Mission, originally published as the special hymn-book of the Liverpool Mission in 1873, and enlarged in 1877. It was contributed to this second edition. 5. Let it be now! too long hast thou delayed. [Entreaty.) Also written at Holmeside, Derby, for the 2nd ed. of the Hymns for a Parochial Mission, 1877. 6. Look to Jesus and be saved. [Invitation.] Written at Bedford for the new ed. of Hymns for a Parochial Mission, 1888. 7. 0 leave we all for Jesus. [Confirmation.] Canon Aitken's history of this hymn is:—" I was pressed by my dear father, the late Rev. Robert Aitken, to come and help him in his well-remembered mission at St. Paul's, Newport, in 1871. I was reluctant to do so, as I had a very large number of Confirmation candidates at my parish in Everton, Liverpool, and was much interested in them. But there was no escape from his orders, and I had to come to his help. He made me preach when I am sure that the people would have much preferred to hear him, and I retired to my room that night with so much on my mind in connection with my work at home and the fresh responsibilities of the mission that I found it impossible to sleep. At last I got up, struck a light, and wrote this hymn for my candidates to sing at the ensuing Confirmation. It was sung then, and subsequently printed in my Supplement to the Hymnal Companion used at Christ Church, Everton." 8. Once more, my soul. [Deciding for Christ.] Written at Bedford for the 1888 ed. of Hys. for a Parochial Mission. It was composed for a special tune. 9. Pitiful Saviour, mighty and tender. [Resting in Jesus.] Written for the 1888 ed. of Hys. for a Parochial Mission, to an old air attributed to the Crusaders and known as "Crusaders"; but it cannot be traced earlier than 1842. See "Schonster Herr Jesu," p. 1016, i. 10. Quit you like men! Life's battle. [Confession of Christ.] Written at the Rectory, Southampton, in 1887, after preaching to a large congregation of men on the words 'Quit you like men." Printed as a leaflet, and then included in the 1888 ed. of Hymns for a Parochial Mission, and later in other collections. 11. Stricken by the tyrant dread. [Ezekiel’s Vision.] Written at Holmeside, Derby, for the 1877 ed. of Hymns for a Parochial Mission. Canon Aitken edited the two editions of the Hymns for a Parochial Mission, 1873 and 1877, and was also the composer of twenty-four tunes set to Mission Hymns in that collection. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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