Mark Andrews

Mark Andrews was born in Erith, Kent, England in 1875 and emigrated to the United States in 1903. Trained at Westminster Abbey under organist John Thomas Ruch, he served as organist for St. Luke’s Episcopal, First Baptist, and First Congregational churches in Montclair, New Jersey. Andrews was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and an Associate of the Royal College of Organists, and he taught many pupils who became noted church musicians. A prolific composer of more than three hundred works, Andrews is remembered for hymn tunes such as Audrey (likely memorializing his daughter), Exultation, Fosdick, Whitney, and a distinct tune also titled Lauda Anima, written as an alternative setting for “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven.” His music reflects the English cathedral tradition blended with American congregational song, and several of his tunes remain in hymnals today.
J.S. McDuff (from Montclair church archives and early 20th-century hymnals including Hymns of the Living Church 1910, retrieved 9/15/2025)