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Louis Bourgeois

1510 - 1561 Topics: Christmas Day 2 Year C Composer of "GENEVAN 42" in Voices United Louis Bourgeois (b. Paris, France, c. 1510; d. Paris, 1561). In both his early and later years Bourgeois wrote French songs to entertain the rich, but in the history of church music he is known especially for his contribution to the Genevan Psalter. Apparently moving to Geneva in 1541, the same year John Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg, Bourgeois served as cantor and master of the choristers at both St. Pierre and St. Gervais, which is to say he was music director there under the pastoral leadership of Calvin. Bourgeois used the choristers to teach the new psalm tunes to the congregation. The extent of Bourgeois's involvement in the Genevan Psalter is a matter of scholarly debate. Calvin had published several partial psalters, including one in Strasbourg in 1539 and another in Geneva in 1542, with melodies by unknown composers. In 1551 another French psalter appeared in Geneva, Eighty-three Psalms of David, with texts by Marot and de Beze, and with most of the melodies by Bourgeois, who supplied thirty four original tunes and thirty-six revisions of older tunes. This edition was republished repeatedly, and later Bourgeois's tunes were incorporated into the complete Genevan Psalter (1562). However, his revision of some older tunes was not uniformly appreciated by those who were familiar with the original versions; he was actually imprisoned overnight for some of his musical arrangements but freed after Calvin's intervention. In addition to his contribution to the 1551 Psalter, Bourgeois produced a four-part harmonization of fifty psalms, published in Lyons (1547, enlarged 1554), and wrote a textbook on singing and sight-reading, La Droit Chemin de Musique (1550). He left Geneva in 1552 and lived in Lyons and Paris for the remainder of his life. Bert Polman

Sydney H. Nicholson

1875 - 1947 Person Name: Sidney Hugo Nicholson Topics: Christmas Day 2 Year A Composer (descant) of "DARWALL" in Voices United Sydney H. Nicholson, (b. St. Marylebone, London, England, 1875; d. Ashford, Kent, England, 1947) was an organist and church music educator who greatly influenced English hymnody. Educated at Oxford's New College, the Royal College of Music in London, and in Frankfurt, Germany, he became organist at several famous cathedrals, including Westminster Abbey (1919-1928). Nicholson founded and administered the School of English Church Music at Chislehurst in 1927; this important institution, with branches throughout the English-speaking world, was renamed the Royal School of Church Music in 1945. Located in Canterbury after World War II, its headquarters were moved to Addington Palace, Croydon, in 1954. Nicholson was music adviser for the 1916 Supplement of Hymns Ancient and Modern and prepared the way for its 1950 edition. He wrote Church Music: a Practical Handbook (1920) and Quires and Places Where They Sing (1932) and composed operettas, anthems, and hymn tunes. In 1938 he was knighted for his contributions to church music. Bert Polman

Samuel Sebastian Wesley

1810 - 1876 Person Name: Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1810-1876 Topics: Years A, B, and C Christmas Day Composer of "ALLELUIA" in Complete Anglican Hymns Old and New Samuel Sebastian Wesley (b. London, England, 1810; d. Gloucester, England, 1876) was an English organist and composer. The grandson of Charles Wesley, he was born in London, and sang in the choir of the Chapel Royal as a boy. He learned composition and organ from his father, Samuel, completed a doctorate in music at Oxford, and composed for piano, organ, and choir. He was organist at Hereford Cathedral (1832-1835), Exeter Cathedral (1835-1842), Leeds Parish Church (1842-1849), Winchester Cathedral (1849-1865), and Gloucester Cathedral (1865-1876). Wesley strove to improve the standards of church music and the status of church musicians; his observations and plans for reform were published as A Few Words on Cathedral Music and the Music System of the Church (1849). He was the musical editor of Charles Kemble's A Selection of Psalms and Hymns (1864) and of the Wellburn Appendix of Original Hymns and Tunes (1875) but is best known as the compiler of The European Psalmist (1872), in which some 130 of the 733 hymn tunes were written by him. Bert Polman

Nikolaus Herman

1500 - 1561 Person Name: Nikolaus Herman, c. 1480-1561 Topics: Christmas; Christmas 1; Christmas 2; Christmas; Day of Thanksgiving Author of "Let All Together Praise Our God" in Lutheran Book of Worship Herman, Nicolaus, is always associated with Joachimsthal in Bohemia, just over the mountains from Saxony. The town was not of importance till the mines began to be extensively worked about 1516. Whether Herman was a native of this place is not known, but he was apparently there in 1518, and was certainly in office there in 1524. For many years he held the post of Master in the Latin School, and Cantor or Organist and Choirmaster in the church. Towards the end of his life he suffered greatly from gout, and had to resign even his post as Cantor a number of years before his death. He died at Joachimsthal, May 3, 1561. (Koch, i. 390-398; Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, xii. 186-188, &c.) He was a great friend and helper of J. Mathesius (q.v.) (who in 1532 became rector of the school, but in 1541 diaconus and in 1545 pastor of the church), and it was said that whenever Mathesius preached a specially good sermon Herman straightway embodied its leading ideas in a hymn. His hymns, however, were not primarily written for use in church, but were intended for the boys and girls in the schools, to supplant profane songs in the mouths of the young men and women, or for the daily life of the “housefathers and housemothers" in Joachimsthal, at home, and in their work in the mines. He is a poet of the people, homely, earnest, and picturesque in style; by his naiveté reminding us of Hans Sachs. He was an ardent lover of music and a very good organist. The chorales which he published with his hymns are apparently all of his own composition, and are among the best of the Reformation period. Many of Herman's hymns soon passed into Church use in Germany, and a number are found in almost all books in present use. About 190 in all, they appeared principally in:— (1) Die Sontags Evangelia uber des gantze Jar, in Gesenge verfasset, für die Kinder und christlichen Haussvetter, &c, Wittenberg, 1560 (dedication by Herman dated Trinity Sunday, 1559), with 101 hymns and 17 melodies. The best are those interspersed specially meant for children and not directly founded on the Gospel for the day. (2) Die Historien von der Sindfludt, Joseph, Mose, Helia, Elisa und der Susanna, sampt etlichen Historien aus den Evangelisten, &c., Wittenberg, 1562 (preface by Herman dated St. Bartholomew's Day, 1560), with 73 hymns and 20 melodies. In this case also the general hymns are the best. A selection of 60 (really 61) of his hymns, with a memoir by K. F. Ledderhose, was published at Halle, 1855. One of Herman's hymns is noted under “Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist." The others which have passed into English are:— i. Bescher uns, Herr, das täglioh Brod. Grace before Meat. 1562, as above, and thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 1228, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines; in Ledderhose, p. 70; and in the Berlin Geistliche Lieder, ed. 1863, No. 1133. Translated as:— 1. Thou art our Father and our God. This, by P. H. Molther, a translation of stanza vi., as No. 180 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789 (1849, No. 220, st. v.). 2. As children we are owned by Thee, a translation of stanza vi., as st. iii. of No. 191 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1801 (1849, No. 220, stanza iii.). ii. Die helle Sonn leucht jetzt herfür. Morning. 1560, as above, and thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 1184, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, in Ledderhose, p. 87; and in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 450. Translated as:— The morning beam revives our eyes, a good and full translation by. A. T. Russell, as No. 71 in the Dalston Hospital Hymn Book 1848. iii. Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag. Easter. 1560, as above, in 14 stanzas of 4 lines, entitled, "A new Spiritual Song of the Joyful Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ; for the maidens of the girls' school in Joachimsthal”; and thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 1175; in Ledderhose p. 23, and Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 134. It has reminiscences of the "Erstanden ist der heil'ge Christ". Translated as:— The day hath dawn'd—-the day of days, a good translation by A. T. Russell of stanzas i., ii., xiii., xiv., as No. 113 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. Another tr. is, "At length appears the glorious day," by Dr. G. Walker, 1860, p. 28. iv. Hinunter ist der Sonnen Schein. Evening. 1560, as above, and thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 1184, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines; in Ledderhose, p. 88; and in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen1851, No. 523. Some of the phrases may have been suggested by the "Christe qui lux es et dies" (q. v.). Translated as:— 1. Sunk is the sun's last beam of light, a full and good translation by Miss Cox in her Sacred Hymns from the German, 1841, p. 57. Included in Alford's Psalms & Hymns, 1844, and Tear of Praise, 1867; in Dale's English Hymn Book, 1875; in the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868, and others. It is also given considerably altered and beginning, "Sunk is the Sun! the daylight gone," in W. J. Blew's Church Hymn and Tune Book, 1851-55. 2. The happy sunshine all is gone, in full, by Miss Winkworth in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855, p. 225; repeated in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, and the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. Other translations are: (1) "Did I perhaps Thee somewhat grieve," a translation of stanza iii. in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789, No. 756. In the 1801 and later eds. (1886, No. 1181, st. iii.), it begins, "Where'er I Thee this day did grieve." (2) "The sun’s fair sheen is past and gone," by H. J. Buckoll, 1842, p. 68. (3) "The sun hath run his daily race," by Lady E. Fortescue, 1843, p. 14. v. Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich. Christmas. Written c. 1554, but first published 1560 as above, as the first of "Three Spiritual Christmas Songs of the new-born child Jesus, for the children in Joachimsthal." Thence in Wackernagel iii. p. 1169, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines; in Ledderhose, p. 1; and in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 47. It is one of the most popular German Christmas hymns. The melody set to it in 1560 is also by Herman; in 1554 to his "Kommt her ihr liebsten Schwesterlein" [in the Hymnal Companioncalled "St. George's (old)"]. Translated as :— 1. Let all together praise our God, a good translation of stanzas i., iii., vi., viii., by A. T. Russell, as No. 52 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. Repeated in Kennedy, 1863, adding a translation of st. ii., and beginning, "Let all creation praise our God." 2. Praise ye the Lord, ye Christians I yea, in full, by E. Cronenwett, as No. 31 in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal 1880. Other translations are: (1) "A wondrous change He with us makes," a tr. of stanza viii., ix. as No. 438 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754, repeated 1789-1826. (2) "Come, brethren, lets the song arise," by Dr. G. Walker, 1860, p. 26. (3) "Praise God, now Christians, all alike," by Miss Manington, 1864, p. 9. (4) "Praise God, upon His throne on high," in the Sunday Magazine, 1874, p. 384, signed "P. J." The hymn “Shepherds rejoice, lift up your eyes," given by J. C. Jacobi in his Psalmodia Germanica, 1722, p. 8, to Herman's melody (which was first published 1554) is, as stated in his Preface, taken from Bk. i. of Isaac Watts's Horse Lyricae vi. So wahr ich leb, spricht Gott der Herr. Absolution. 1560, as above, in 11 stanzas of 4 lines, entitled "A hymn on the power of the keys and the virtue of holy absolution; for the children in Joachimsthal." Thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 1183; in Ledderhose, p. 47; and the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 429. It probably suggested the better known hymn, "So wahr ich lebe," q. v., by Johann Heermann. Translated as:— Yea, as I live, Jehovah saith, I do not wish the sinner's death, in full, by Dr. M. Loy, as No. 245, in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John L. Bell

b. 1949 Person Name: John Bell, b. 1949 Topics: Christmas Day Author of "Who would think that what was needed" in Common Praise John Bell (b. 1949) was born in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock in Ayrshire, intending to be a music teacher when he felt the call to the ministry. But in frustration with his classes, he did volunteer work in a deprived neighborhood in London for a time and also served for two years as an associate pastor at the English Reformed Church in Amsterdam. After graduating he worked for five years as a youth pastor for the Church of Scotland, serving a large region that included about 500 churches. He then took a similar position with the Iona Community, and with his colleague Graham Maule, began to broaden the youth ministry to focus on renewal of the church’s worship. His approach soon turned to composing songs within the identifiable traditions of hymnody that began to address concerns missing from the current Scottish hymnal: "I discovered that seldom did our hymns represent the plight of poor people to God. There was nothing that dealt with unemployment, nothing that dealt with living in a multicultural society and feeling disenfranchised. There was nothing about child abuse…,that reflected concern for the developing world, nothing that helped see ourselves as brothers and sisters to those who are suffering from poverty or persecution." [from an interview in Reformed Worship (March 1993)] That concern not only led to writing many songs, but increasingly to introducing them internationally in many conferences, while also gathering songs from around the world. He was convener for the fourth edition of the Church of Scotland’s Church Hymnary (2005), a very different collection from the previous 1973 edition. His books, The Singing Thing and The Singing Thing Too, as well as the many collections of songs and worship resources produced by John Bell—some together with other members of the Iona Community’s “Wild Goose Resource Group,” —are available in North America from GIA Publications. Emily Brink

Anonymous

Person Name: Unknown Topics: Christmas Day 2 Year A; Christmas Day 2 Year C Author of "Away in a Manger" in Voices United 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.

Timothy Dudley-Smith

1926 - 2024 Topics: Christmas Day Author of "Sing a New song to the LORD" in Christian Worship Timothy Dudley-Smith (b. 1926) Educated at Pembroke College and Ridley Hall, Cambridge, Dudley-Smith has served the Church of England since his ordination in 1950. He has occupied a number of church positions, including parish priest in the diocese of Southwark (1953-1962), archdeacon of Norwich (1973-1981), and bishop of Thetford, Norfolk, from 1981 until his retirement in 1992. He also edited a Christian magazine, Crusade, which was founded after Billy Graham's 1955 London crusade. Dudley-Smith began writing comic verse while a student at Cambridge; he did not begin to write hymns until the 1960s. Many of his several hundred hymn texts have been collected in Lift Every Heart: Collected Hymns 1961-1983 (1984), Songs of Deliverance: Thirty-six New Hymns (1988), and A Voice of Singing (1993). The writer of Christian Literature and the Church (1963), Someone Who Beckons (1978), and Praying with the English Hymn Writers (1989), Dudley-Smith has also served on various editorial committees, including the committee that published Psalm Praise (1973). Bert Polman

Thomas Aquinas

1225 - 1274 Person Name: St. Thomas Aquinas Topics: Christmas Day The Holy Communion Communion Author of "Humbly I adore thee, Verity unseen" in The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America 1940 Thomas of Aquino, confessor and doctor, commonly called The Angelical Doctor, “on account of," says Dom Gueranger, "the extraordinary gift of understanding wherewith God had blessed him," was born of noble parents, his father being Landulph, Count of Aquino, and his mother a rich Neapolitan lady, named Theodora. The exact date of his birth is not known, but most trustworthy authorities give it as 1227. At the age of five he was sent to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino to receive his first training, which in the hands of a large-hearted and God-fearing man, resulted in so filling his mind with knowledge and his soul with God, that it is said the monks themselves would often approach by stealth to hear the words of piety and wisdom that fell from the lips of the precocious child when conversing with his companions. After remaining at Monte Cassino for seven years, engaged in study, St. Thomas, "the most saintly of the learned, and the most learned of the saints," returned to his family, in consequence of the sack of the abbey by the Imperial soldiers. From thence he was sent by his parents to the University of Naples then at the height of its prosperity, where, becoming intimate with the Fathers of the Dominican Order, and being struck, probably, by the devotedness and ability of the Dominican Professors in the University, he was induced to petition for admission into that order, though he was at that time not more than seventeen years of age. This step gave such umbrage to his mother that she caused him to be waylaid on the road to Paris (whither he was being hurried to escape from her), and to be kept for more than two years in prison, during which time his brothers, prompted by their mother, used all means, even the most infamous, to seduce him from religion. At last the Dominicans' influence with the Pope induced the latter to move the Emperor Frederick to order his release, when St. Thomas was at once hurried back to Naples by the delighted members of his order. He was afterwards sent to Rome, then to Paris, and thence to Cologne. At Cologne his studies were continued under the celebrated Albertus Magnus, with whom, in 1245, he was sent by the Dominican Chapter once more to Paris for study, under his direction, at the University. In 1248, when he had completed his three years' curriculum at Paris, St. Thomas was appointed, before he was twenty-three years of age, second professor and “magister studentium,” under Albertus, as regent, at the new Dominican school (on the model of that at Paris), which was established by the Dominicans in that year at Cologne. There he achieved in the schools a great reputation as a teacher, though he by no means confined himself to such work. He preached and wrote; his writings, even at that early age, were remarkable productions and gave promise of the depth and ability which mark his later productions. His sermons also at that time enabled him to attract large congregations into the Dominican church. In 1248 he was directed to take his degree at Paris; and though his modesty and dislike of honour and distinction made the proposal distasteful to him, he set out and begged his way thither; but it was not until October 23rd, 1257, that he took his degree. The interval was filled by such labours in writing, lecturing, and preaching, as to enable him by the time he became a doctor to exercise an influence over the men and ideas of his time which we at this time can scarcely realise. So much was this the case that Louis IX. insisted upon St. Thomas becoming a member of his Council of State, and referred every question that came up for deliberation to him the night before, that he might reflect on it in solitude. At this time he was only thirty-two years of age. In 1259 he was appointed, by the Dominican Chapter at Valenciennes, a member of a Commission, in company with Albertus Magnus and Pierre de Tarentaise, to establish order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans. In 1261 the Pope, Urban IV., immediately upon his election to the Pontifical throne, sent for St. Thomas to aid him in his project for uniting into one the Eastern and Western Churches. St. Thomas in that same year came to Rome, and was at once appointed by the General of his Order to a chair of theology in the Dominican College in that city, where he obtained a like reputation to that which he had secured already at Paris and Cologne. Pope Urban being anxious to reward his services offered him, first the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and then a Cardinal's hat, but he refused both. After lecturing, at the request of the Pope, with great success at Vitervo, Orvieto, Perugia, and Fondi, he was sent, in 1263, as "Definitor," in the name of the Roman Province, to the Dominican Chapter held in London. Two years later Clement IV., who succeeded Urban as Pope, appointed him, by bull, to the archbishopric of Naples, conferring on him at the same time the revenues of the convent of St. Peter ad Aram. But this appointment he also declined. In 1269 he was summoned to Paris—his last visit— to act as "Definitor" of the Roman Province at the General Chapter of his Order, and he remained there until 1271, when his superiors recalled him to Bologna. In 1272, after visit¬ing Rome on the way, he went to Naples to lecture at the University. His reception in that city was an ovation. All classes came out to welcome him, while the King, Charles I., as a mark of royal favour bestowed on him a pension. He remained at Naples until he was summoned, in 1274, by Pope Gregory X., by special bull, to attend the Second Council of Lyons, but whilst on the journey thither he was called to his rest. His death took place in the Benedictine Abbey of Fossa Nuova in the diocese of Terracina, on the 7th of March 1274, being barely forty-eight years of age. St. Thomas was a most voluminous writer, his principal work being the celebrated Summa Theologiae, which, although never completed, was accepted as such an authority as to be placed on a table in the council-chamber at the Council of Trent alongside of the Holy Scriptures and the Decrees of the Popes. But it is outside the province of this work to enlarge on his prose works. Though not a prolific writer of hymns, St. Thomas has contributed to the long list of Latin hymns some which have been in use in the services of the Church of Rome from his day to this. They are upon the subject of the Lord's Supper. The best known are:— Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis Mysterium; Adoro te devote latens Deitas; Sacris sollemniis juncta sint gaudia; Lauda Sion Salvatorem; and Verbum supernum prodiens. The 1st, 3rd, and 5th of these are found in the Roman Breviary, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae; the 4th in the Roman Missal; all of them appear in Daniel; the 2nd and 4th in Mone; and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Königsfeld. Of these hymns numerous translations have been made from time to time, and amongst the translators are found Caswall, Neale, Woodford, Morgan, and others. [Rev. Digby S. Wrangham, M.A.] -- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

David Hurd

b. 1950 Topics: Christmas Day 2 Year A Composer of "MIGHTY SAVIOUR" in Voices United David Hurd (b. Brooklyn, New York, 1950) was a boy soprano at St. Gabriel's Church in Hollis, Long Island, New York. Educated at Oberlin College and the University of North Carolina, he has been professor of church music and organist at General Theological Seminary in New York since 1976. In 1985 he also became director of music for All Saints Episcopal Church, New York. Hurd is an outstanding recitalist and improvisor and a composer of organ, choral, and instrumental music. In 1987 David Hurd was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, by the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. The following year he received honorary doctorates from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California, and from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. His I Sing As I Arise Today, the collected hymn tunes of David Hurd, was published in 2010. Bert Polman and Emily Brink

Richard Storrs Willis

1819 - 1900 Topics: Christmas Day 1 Year C Composer of "CAROL" in Voices United Richard Storrs Willis (February 10, 1819 – May 10, 1900) was an American composer, notably of hymn music. One of his hymns is "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (1850), with lyrics by Edmund Sears. He was also a music critic and journal editor. Willis, whose siblings included Nathaniel Parker Willis and Fanny Fern, was born on February 10, 1819, in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Chauncey Hall, the Boston Latin School, and Yale College where he was a member of Skull and Bones in 1841. Willis then went to Germany, where he studied six years under Xavier Schnyder and Moritz Hauptmann. While there, he became a personal friend of Felix Mendelssohn. After returning to America, Willis served as music critic for the New York Tribune, The Albion, and The Musical Times, for which he served as editor for a time. He joined the New-York American-Music Association, an organization which promoted the work native of naturalized American composers. He reviewed the organization's first concert for their second season, held December 30, 1856, in the Musical World, as a "creditable affair, all things considered". Willis began his own journal, Once a Month: A Paper of Society, Belles-Lettres and Art, and published its first issue in January 1862. Willis died on May 7, 1900. His interment was located at Woodlawn Cemetery. His works and music compilations include: Church Chorals and Choir Studies (1850) Our Church Music (1856) Waif of Song (1876) Pen and Lute (1883) --en.wikipedia.org