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Jane M. Campbell

1817 - 1878 Person Name: Jane Montgomery Campbell Scripture: Genesis 1 Translator of "We Plow the Fields, and Scatter" in Moravian Book of Worship Campbell, Jane Montgomery, daughter of the Rev. A. Montgomery Campbell, born in London, 1817, died at Bovey Tracey, Nov. 15, 1878. Miss Campbell contributed in 1861, a number of translations from the German to the Rev. C. S. Bere's Garland of Songs; or, an English Liederkranz, 1862; and also to his Children’s Choral Book, 1869. The best known and most widely used of these translations is a portion of "Im Anfang war's auf Erden," as the harvest hymn, "We plough the fields and scatter.” Miss Campbell also published A Handbook for Singers, Lond., Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, n.d. This small work contains the musical exercises which she taught in her father's parish school. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Worst

Scripture: Genesis 1:31 Harmonizer of "ROYAL OAK" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) John Worst (b. Grand Rapids, MI, 1940) is a professor of music emeritus at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, where he taught from 1966 to 2001. Previously he taught at Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa, and the University of Michigan. Educated at Calvin College, Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan (Ph.D.), Worst was an editor of Songs of Rejoicing: Hymns for Worship, Meditation and Praise (1989). Bert Polman

Mary Babcock Crawford

1909 - 1999 Scripture: Genesis 1:28 Reviser (stanza 2) of "This Is My Father's World" in The Worshiping Church Crawford, Mary Babcock. (Salem, Oregon, 1909- ). Methodist. Occidental College, B.A.; San Francisco Theological Seminary, M.A.; Columbia University, M.A. Taught early childhood education and child development at Monterey Peninsula College, and active in choral singing. --Letters from Mary Babcock Crawford to Mary Louise VanDyke, 1987 DNAH Archives

John Dryden

1631 - 1700 Person Name: John Dryden, 1631-1700 Scripture: Genesis 1:2 Translator of "Creator Spirit, by Whose Aid" in Lutheran Service Book Dryden, John. The name of this great English poet has recently assumed a new importance to the students of hymns, from a claim made on his behalf in regard to a considerable body of translations from the Latin published after his death (1701), in a Primer of 1706. The discussion of this point will preclude us from giving more than an outline of his life. i. Biography.—John Dryden was the son of Erasmus, the third son of Sir Erasmus Dryden, and was born at Aid winkle, All Saints, Northants, Aug. 9, 1631. He was educated under Dr. Busby at Westminster, and entered Trip. College, Cambridge, in 1650. He took his B.A. in 1654, and resided nearly 7 years, though without a fellowship. He was of Puritan blood on both his father's and mother's side, and his training found expression in his first great poem, Heroic Stanzas on the death of Oliver Cromwell, 1658. In 1660, however, he turned, like the bulk of England, Royalist, and in his Astraea Redux, and in A Panegyric on the Coronation (1661), celebrated the Restoration. In 1663 he married Lady Elizabeth Howard. The marriage was apparently not a happy one; and there seems to be plain proof of Dryden's unfaithfulness. In 1670 he was made Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal, and he retained these posts until the accession of William (1688). He had joined the Roman Church in 1685, and remained steadfast to it at the fall of James II. This change is of special significance, as will appear below, in regard to his translations from the Latin. It greatly straitened his means, and compelled him to great literary exertion in his closing years. He died May 18, 1701, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. The poems of Dryden show high excellence in fields widely different from another. He was for years the leader of the English stage, as a writer of tragedy, comedy, and tragi-comedy. The specialities of his plays were a large substitution of the heroic couplet for blank verse, in imitation of Corneille, plots full of exaggerated passion, intrigue, and rant, and a catchword dialogue. These features were caricatured by Buckingham and others in the Rehearsal (acted 1671). The gross immorality of his dramas has long made them unreadable; but his influence on poetry has been enduring. No metre so long dominated style as his heroic couplet, which, though inferior to Pope's in polish and precision, excels it in resonance, freedom and audacity, "The long resounding march and energy divine." He was the first to make poetry a lucid vehicle for political and religious discussion, in the Religio Laid (1682), and The Hind and Panther (1687). The finest satires in English are Absalom and Acnitophel (Part i., 1681; Part ii., 1682, to which he contributed only a portion, the rest being by Nahura Tate), The Medal, and Mac Flecknoe (1682). He gave a new energy and fulness of meaning to the work of translation through his classical reproductions, of which his Virgil is the finest specimen (published in 1697). Alexander's Feast remains one of the most brilliant English odes. His prefaces and dedications had a large influence on our prose style, and are the first material efforts in the province of poetical criticism. The salient points of his genius are a transcendent literary force continually exerting itself in fresh forms; and that narrowing of the work of poetry to matters of political, social, human interest, which ruled supreme in Pope and his followers. (See Dryden by Mr. G. Saintsbury, Men of Letters Series.) ii. Hymn Translations. — Until recently, Dryden's known contributions to hymnody consisted of only three pieces. The best known of these is the translation of “Veni Creator," published in vol. iii. of his Miscellanies, in 1693. Sir Walter Scott, in his Life of Dryden, 1808, published a translation of the "Te Deum " ("Thee Sovereign God our grateful accents praise"), and a translation of "Ut queant laxis," the hymn at Evensong for St. John the Baptist's Day (Scott calls it "St. John's Eve") ("O sylvan Prophet "). Mr. W. T. Brooke has pointed out one or two facts that slightly shake Scott's attribution of these two pieces to Dryden. He has discovered the translation of the "Te Deum” in Dodd's Christian's Magazine, 1760, contributed by J. Duncombe, and attributed to Pope. And Scott's account of the two pieces is confused. He received them from a Mrs. Jackson, who told him that they were mentioned in Butler's “Tour through Italy," and that after Butler's death they passed into the hands of the celebrated Dr. Alban, and so came to hers. They are not however mentioned in the published edition of Butler's Tour; and "Butler" and "Dr. Alban" are the same person—-Dr. Alban Butler, author of The Lives of the Saints. Alban Butler's Tour was edited and published by Charles Butler, his nephew, who also wrote a Life of Alban Butler. The confusion cannot now be unravelled: but is not enough to discredit Scott's decision, which may have rested on the handwriting. The translation of the "Te Deum" is not like Pope, and has a Drydenesque Alexandrine in it, and other marks of Dryden's manner. One great Roman Catholic poet was perhaps confused with the other. These three pieces, however, with slight variation of text, have been discovered independently by Mr. Orby Shipley and Mr. W. T. Brooke, in The Primer, or Office of the B. V. Mary, in English, 1706; and the discovery has led them to a strong conviction that the bulk of the 120 translations of Latin hymns in this book are also Dryden's. It is shown under Primers, that there are remarkable evidences of unity of hand in these translations. Is this hand Dryden's? The case for Dryden is a constructive one, and may be thus summarised:— The translation in Scott, "0 sylvan Prophet," is in a metre unknown to previous editions of the Primer; and there are altogether 11 translations generally representing Latin Sapphics, in the book in this metre. Five of these translations have a further internal link in having the same gloria, three in having another common gloria. The presumption is irresistible that they are all by the author of "0 sylvan Prophet." Again, the translation of the "Te Deum " (also in Scott) is one of 8 pieces in Dryden's great metre, which is also new to the Primers' heroic couplets. Though not linked by common glorias, the tone of all these is Drydenesque, especially the translation of "Sacris Solemniis," which has these characteristic lines, "They eat the Lamb with legal rites and gave Their mother synagogue a decent grave," and closes with an Alexandrine. The translation "Creator Spirit, by Whose aid" is followed by two others in the same metre, which have a variation (in a single word) of its gloria. The three known hymns of Dryden are thus heads of groups presumptively of the same parentage. Proceeding further in the book, the large group of 8-syllable hymns exhibits 35, which are curiously marked as by a single band through their glorias (see Primers). They have several Drydenesque phrases (e.g. "noon of night,” “gleamy white," a technical use of "yielding," “liquid," "equal"), turns of expression and cadences, and a significant link with the translation of the "Te Deum" in the term “vocal blood" (cf. "vocal tears" in 2 other translations) found in the translation of "Deus tuorum militum." This technical method of inquiry when applied still further to other groups linked by a single gloria certainly points in the same direction; Drydenisms, links with groups already named, an occasional appearance of layman freedom of expression, and in one case (“Audit tyrannus" tr.), an echo of the heroic plays, emerge. The least characteristic group is that containing translations of "Ave maris stella" and "Jesu dulcis memoria," in C.M.; and the latter translation ("Jesu, the only thought of Thee"), beautiful as it is, is in the main only the translation from the Primer of 1685 recast in C.M. But the adoption of C.M.—-a new metre in these Primers—-would be natural in one previously long familiar with the metrical Psalms; the translation of “Ave maris stella" has the recurrent use of "equal," which is a mannerism of Dryden: and the word "way " in the translation of "Jesu dulcis memoria" is used similarly in that of "Immense coeli conditor." The result of a minute investigation, purposely conducted on somewhat mechanical lines, is a presumption almost amounting to proof, that the bulk of these 120 translations are not only by the same hand, but by the hand of Dryden. A measure of doubt must however attach to the least characteristic pieces, from the following considerations:— (1) The translations of "Stabat Mater " and "Dies Irae" are reprinted from the Primer of 1687. This fact is of course not decisive against their parentage by Dryden, as it may be argued, that the Primer of 1687 also contains Dryden translations. But (2) the translation of the "Dies Irae "seems to be, notwithstanding some Drydenesque phrases, by Lord Roscommon. It is found in a text considerably varied from that of 1706 in Tate's Miscellanea Sacra 1696 and 1698); and is there attributed to Lord Roscommon. It appears also, but in a text identical with that of 1706, in Tonson's Poems by The Earl of Roscommon, 1717, which professes to give only the "truly genuine" poems of the Earl. If this translation is not Dryden's, others also may not be his. And (3) the Primer of B. V. M. in which these translations are found did not appear till five years after Dryden's death; and may have been edited by some one else. Mr. W. T. Brooke has drawn attention to variations in the text of Scott from that of the Primer; which may be accounted for by editorial revision; and the editor may have had blanks to fill in which Dryden had left. It would be most natural to suppose that the Primer would be edited by a priest; but the fact that it is difficult to say whether the text in Scott or in the Primer is the more characteristic of Dryden either points to the existence of two authentic texts of the poet, or a revision by someone thoroughly intimate with Dryden's manner, e.g. (as Mr. Brooke acutely conjectures), Charles Dryden, who may have taken his father's manuscripts with him to Rome. The argument in favour of Dryden is presented with great force and skill by Mr. Orby Shipley in the Dublin Review, October, 1884, and in the preface to his Annus Sanctus. In corroboration of the evidence given above, Mr. Shipley has collected some Roman Catholic traditions, which ascribe to Dryden "a considerable number" of Latin translations “Jesu dulcis memoria" and "Dies Irae" are said to have been translated as penances. These traditions are however very indefinite; in some cases they do not date earlier than the present century; and in some (see Preface to Annus Sanctus) they are mistaken. He seeks a further corroboration of the theory from the appearance of several of these translations in editions of The Manual of Prayers, 1750, and The Garden of the Soul, 1737. But it is shown under Primers that these books afford no real evidence on this subject. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] - John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Scripture: Genesis 1:3 Composer of "ELTON" in Rejoice in the Lord Dr. Lowell Mason (the degree was conferred by the University of New York) is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man. Lowell Mason was born in Medfield, Mass., January 8, 1792. From childhood he had manifested an intense love for music, and had devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself according to such opportunities as were available to him. At the age of twenty he found himself filling a clerkship in a banking house in Savannah, Ga. Here he lost no opportunity of gratifying his passion for musical advancement, and was fortunate to meet for the first time a thoroughly qualified instructor, in the person of F. L. Abel. Applying his spare hours assiduously to the cultivation of the pursuit to which his passion inclined him, he soon acquired a proficiency that enabled him to enter the field of original composition, and his first work of this kind was embodied in the compilation of a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. The manuscript was offered unavailingly to publishers in Philadelphia and in Boston. Fortunately for our musical advancement it finally secured the attention of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, and by its committee was submitted to Dr. G. K. Jackson, the severest critic in Boston. Dr. Jackson approved most heartily of the work, and added a few of his own compositions to it. Thus enlarged, it was finally published in 1822 as The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, which he thus explains, "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." President Winchester, of the Handel and Haydn Society, sold the copyright for the young man. Mr. Mason went back to Savannah with probably $500 in his pocket as the preliminary result of his Boston visit. The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England, and through this means entering into the church choirs, to whom it opened up a higher field of harmonic beauty. Its career of success ran through some seventeen editions. On realizing this success, Mason determined to accept an invitation to come to Boston and enter upon a musical career. This was in 1826. He was made an honorary member of the Handel and Haydn Society, but declined to accept this, and entered the ranks as an active member. He had been invited to come to Boston by President Winchester and other musical friends and was guaranteed an income of $2,000 a year. He was also appointed, by the influence of these friends, director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation. Finally he made a permanent arrangement with the Bowdoin Street Church, and gave up the guarantee, but again friendly influence stepped in and procured for him the position of teller at the American Bank. In 1827 Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that was to win for him as has been already stated the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Although this may seem rather a bold claim it is not too much under the circumstances. Mr. Mason might have been in the average ranks of musicianship had he lived in Europe; in America he was well in advance of his surroundings. It was not too high praise (in spite of Mason's very simple style) when Dr. Jackson wrote of his song collection: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation," or that the great contrapuntist, Hauptmann, should say the harmonies of the tunes were dignified and churchlike and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious. Charles C. Perkins gives a few of the reasons why Lowell Mason was the very man to lead American music as it then existed. He says, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them." The personality of Dr. Mason was of great use to the art and appreciation of music in this country. He was of strong mind, dignified manners, sensitive, yet sweet and engaging. Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Dr. Mason visited a number of the music schools in Europe, studied their methods, and incorporated the best things in his own work. He founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Dr. Mason resided in Boston from 1826 to 1851, when he removed to New York. Not only Boston benefited directly by this enthusiastic teacher's instruction, but he was constantly traveling to other societies in distant cities and helping their work. He had a notable class at North Reading, Mass., and he went in his later years as far as Rochester, where he trained a chorus of five hundred voices, many of them teachers, and some of them coming long distances to study under him. Before 1810 he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals. As a composer of solid, enduring church music. Dr. Mason was one of the most successful this country has introduced. He was a deeply pious man, and was a communicant of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Mason in 1817 married Miss Abigail Gregory, of Leesborough, Mass. The family consisted of four sons, Daniel Gregory, Lowell, William and Henry. The two former founded the publishing house of Mason Bros., dissolved by the death of the former in 1869. Lowell and Henry were the founders of the great organ manufacturer of Mason & Hamlin. Dr. William Mason was one of the most eminent musicians that America has yet produced. Dr. Lowell Mason died at "Silverspring," a beautiful residence on the side of Orange Mountain, New Jersey, August 11, 1872, bequeathing his great musical library, much of which had been collected abroad, to Yale College. --Hall, J. H. (c1914). Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

William Moore

1790 - 1850 Scripture: Genesis 1 Composer (attr.) of "HOLY MANNA" in The Presbyterian Hymnal William B Moore USA 1790-1850. He was born, possibly in TN. He was a composer, having contributed tunes to” Wyeth’s Repository” (1810) and known for his tunebook “Columbian Harmony” (1825) in TN. He also composed and arranged several tunes in William Walker’s “Southern Harmony” (1835). John Perry

R. B. Y. Scott

1899 - 1987 Person Name: Robert Balgarnie Young Scott, 1899- Scripture: Genesis 1:3 Author of "O Day of God, Draw Nigh" in The Presbyterian Hymnal Scott, Robert Balgarnie Young. (Toronto, Ontario, July 18, 1899--November 1, 1987). United Church. University of Toronto, B.A., 1922; M.A., 1924; Ph.D., 1928. Pastorate at Long Branch, Ont., 1926-1928; professor of Old Testament at Union College (Vancouver), 1928-1931; United Theological College (Montreal), 1931-1955; Princeton University, 1955-1968; also dean of divinity at McGill University (Montreal), 1945-1955. Published many translations of, and commentaries on, Old Testament material, as well as on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Most of his hymns date from his years in Montreal. --Hugh D. McKellar, DNAH Archives

R. T. Brooks

1918 - 1985 Person Name: R. T. Brooks, 1918-1985 Scripture: Genesis 1 Author of "Thanks to God Whose Word Was Spoken" in Worship and Rejoice Also known as Rev. Peter Brooks, Reginald Thomas Brooks

Raquel Mora Martínez

b. 1940 Scripture: Genesis 1 Arranger of "ROSAS" in With One Voice Raquel Martinez (b. January 17, 1940) is a well-known composer and arranger of Hispanic songs and hymns. She has degrees from the University of Texas at El Paso and Perkins School of Theology and the School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University. She served as editor of the official United Methodist hymnal, Mil Voces Para Celebrar (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996). --www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/hymn-studies/

Richard Runciman Terry

1865 - 1938 Person Name: Richard Runciman Terry (1865-1938) Scripture: Genesis 1:26-27 Composer of "HIGHWOOD" in Church Hymnary (4th ed.) Terry, Richard R., was born at Morpeth, Jan. 3, 1868, and was Tate Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge. In 1896 he became organist and music-master at Downside R. C. College and Abbey, Bath; and in 1901 organist and director of the choir at Westminster Cathedral (R. C.) London. He contributed to A. E. Tozer's Catholic Hymns, 1898, thirteen tunes and the words of two hymns:— 1. Christ, the Lord, is my true Shepherd. Ps. xxiii. 2. Peaceful eve, so still and holy. Christmas Carol. It is marked as D. C. B., i.e. for Downside Coll., Bath. The tune by Mr. Tozor was published in 1881 to a carol beginning with the same first line, but otherwise entirely different. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)