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Johann Daniel Falk

1768 - 1826 Person Name: Johannes D. Falk Author of "O Thou Joyful Day" in The Cyber Hymnal Falk, Johannes Daniel, was born Oct. 28, 1768, at Danzig, where his father was a wig-maker. With a stipend from the Town Council of Danzig, he entered the University of Halle in 1791, where he studied the classics and theology, remaining as a private tutor for some time after completing his course. In 1798 he married and settled as a man of letters at Weimar, where he was welcomed by Herder, Goethe and Wieland, and where he gained some reputation as a writer of satirical works. During the Napoleonic wars, after the battle of Jena, 1806, Falk found his true vocation as a philanthropist, first in the field hospitals and then in the care of destitute children. With the court preacher Horn he founded the "Society of Friends in Need," and shortly thereafter began his Refuge for poor children; receiving them without restrictions as to age, birth, country or creed, and after giving them a godly industrial training sought to find the girls places as domestic servants and to apprentice the boys to trade. He lived to see the Refuge in permanent buildings (which in 1829 were made into a public training school for neglected children, under the name of Falk's Institute) and saw some 300 of his scholars fairly started in life. He died at Weimar, Feb. 14, 1826 (Kraus, pp. 120-125; Allg. Deutsche Biographie, vi. 549-551). His hymns are few in number, but one has attained considerable popularity:— 0 du fröhliche. [For the Great Festivals.] Written in 1816, and included in his Auserlesene Werke, Leipzig, 1819, vol. i. p. 357, in 3 stanzas of 6 lines, entitled "Hymn for all the Three Festivals." Stanzas i. is for Christmas, ii. for Easter, iii. for Whitsuntide. This form is No. 667 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, but being easy of expansion we find in the Speier Gesang-Buch 1859, No. 247, two other stanzas for each season added — in all 9 stanzas. The only translation in common use is:— Hail, thou glorious, thou victorious. A free version by Dr. Kennedy of Falk's three stanzas, with original stanzas for Sunday and for the Second Advent, in his Hymnologia Christiana, 1863. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

B. M. Schmucker

1827 - 1888 Person Name: Beale M. Schmucker Translator of "O Thou Joyful Day" in The Cyber Hymnal

Lester Hostetler

b. 1892 Author of "O thou, joyful, O thou blessed" in Worship and Hymns for All Occasions Hostetler, Lester. (Sugarcreek Ohio, April 25, 1892--?). Mennonite. After attending the Sugarcreek public schools, he studied at Goshen Academy, Goshen College, A.B. 1915, and Union Theological Seminary, B.D. 1918, with further summer work at Oberlin, Princeton, and Union. He was ordained at the Walnutcreek [Ohio] Mennonite Church on September 26, 1915. He married Charity E. Steiner on June 26, 1918. They had four children. He held pastorates in the Walnutcreek Mennonite Church, 1918-1926; the First Mennonite Church of Sugarcreek, 1926-1932; the First Mennonite Church of Upland, California, 1933-1941; Bethel College Church, North Newton, Kansas, 1941-1952. From 1925 to 1927 he taught music in the public schools on Sugarcreek and Baltic, Ohio. On leave of absence from Bethel College Church in 1950-1951, he was director of the Nachbarschafsheim, Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany. Returning to the States, he was pastor of the Bethany Mennonite Church in Freeman, South Dakota, 1952-1957. He was secretary to the Church Unity Commission of the General Conference of Mennonites, 1929-1938, a member of the General Conference's Board of Education, 1935-?, of the Board of Directors of Witmarsum Seminary, 1927-1932, and a contributing editor of the Christian Sunday School Quarterly, 1936-?. He contributed several articles and reviews to The Hymn, 1949-1960. Retiring from active ministry, he settled on a small fruit farm in Sugarcreek, Ohio, but for a few years held short interim pastorates back in Upland, Calif., in the First Mennonite Church in Wardsworth, Ohio, Salem Mennonite Church in Kidron, Ohio, Oak Grove Mennonite Church in Smithville, Ohio, and the Moravian Church in Dover, Ohio. A registered craftsman member of the Piano Technicians' Guild since 1957, he augmented his retirement income by repairing and tuning pianos and reed organs. From 1927 to 1928, he was editor of The Christian Experiment. He was co-editor of The Mennonite Hymnary (1940) and author of its handbook (1949). In the latter work, his scholarly accuracy set a new standard for research in hymnology. His Youth Hymnary (1956) with equal sections of classic hymns, gospel songs, spirituals, and canons and rounds, was an ideal songbook for work with young people. He was again a co-editor for The Mennonite Hymnal (1969). After its publication, he conducted many hymn sings in various churches to introduce the new work. --Leonard Ellinwood, DNAH Archives