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E. Margaret Clarkson

1915 - 2008 Author of "We Come, O Christ, to You" in Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.)

1818 - 1901 Person Name: Edward John Hopkins Composer of "ELLERS" in Voices United Dr Edward John Hopkins MusDoc United Kingdom 1818-1901. Born at Westminster, England, the son of a clarinetist with the Royal Opera House orchestra, he became an organist (as did two of his brothers) and a composer. In 1826 he became a chorister of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King William IV in Westminster Abbey. He also sang in the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a double schedule requiring skill and dexterity. On Sunday evenings he would play the outgoing voluntary at St. Martin’s in-the-field. He left Chapel Royal in 1834 and started studying organ construction at two organ factories. He took an appointment at Mitcham Church as organist at age 16, winning an audition against other organists. Four years later he became organist at the Church of St. Peter, Islington. In 1841 he became organist at St. Luke’s, Berwick St., Soho. Two Years later he was organist at Temple Church, which had a historic organ (built in 1683). He held this position for 55 years. In 1845 he married Sarah Lovett, and they had four sons and five daughters. He was closely associated with the Bach Society and was organist for the first English performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. In 1855 he collaborated with Edward Rimbault publishing “The organ, its history and construction” (3 editions 1855-70-77). In 1864 he was one of the founders of the “College of organists”. In 1882 he received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He composed 30+ hymn tunes and some psalm chants, used by the Church of England. He died in London, England. John Perry

George Ratcliffe Woodward

1848 - 1934 Harmonizer of "PUER NOBIS NASCITUR" in Voices Together Educated at Caius College in Cambridge, England, George R. Woodward (b. Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, 1848; d. Highgate, London, England, 1934) was ordained in the Church of England in 1874. He served in six parishes in London, Norfolk, and Suffolk. He was a gifted linguist and translator of a large number of hymns from Greek, Latin, and German. But Woodward's theory of translation was a rigid one–he held that the translation ought to reproduce the meter and rhyme scheme of the original as well as its contents. This practice did not always produce singable hymns; his translations are therefore used more often today as valuable resources than as congregational hymns. With Charles Wood he published three series of The Cowley Carol Book (1901, 1902, 1919), two editions of Songs of Syon (1904, 1910), An Italian Carol Book (1920), and the Cambridge Carol Book

Bland Tucker

1895 - 1984 Person Name: F. Bland Tucker Adapter of "Father, We Give You Thanks" in Lift Up Your Hearts Francis Bland Tucker (born Norfolk, Virginia, January 6, 1895). The son of a bishop and brother of a Presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, he was educated at the University of Virginia, B.A., 1914, and at Virginia Theological Seminary, B.D., 1920; D.D., 1944. He was ordained deacon in 1918, priest in 1920, after having served as a private in Evacuation Hospital No.15 of the American Expeditionary Forces in France during World War I. His first charge was as a rector of Grammer Parish, Brunswick County, in southern Virginia. From 1925 to 1945, he was rector of historic St. John's Church, Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Then until retirement in 1967 he was rector of John Wesley's parish in Georgia, old Christ Church, Savannah. In "Reflections of a Hymn Writer" (The Hymn 30.2, April 1979, pp.115–116), he speaks of never having a thought of writing a hymn until he was named a member of the Joint Commission on the Revision of the Hymnal in 1937 which prepared the Hymnal 1940

Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus

540 - 600 Person Name: Venantius Fortunatus, c. 530-609 Author of "The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky" in Worship (3rd ed.) Venantius Honorius Clematianus Fortunatus (b. Cenada, near Treviso, Italy, c. 530; d. Poitiers, France, 609) was educated at Ravenna and Milan and was converted to the Christian faith at an early age. Legend has it that while a student at Ravenna he contracted a disease of the eye and became nearly blind. But he was miraculously healed after anointing his eyes with oil from a lamp burning before the altar of St. Martin of Tours. In gratitude Fortunatus made a pilgrimage to that saint's shrine in Tours and spent the rest of his life in Gaul (France), at first traveling and composing love songs. He developed a platonic affection for Queen Rhadegonda, joined her Abbey of St. Croix in Poitiers, and became its bishop in 599. His Hymns far all the Festivals of the Christian Year is lost, but some of his best hymns on his favorite topic, the cross of Jesus, are still respected today, in part because of their erotic mysticism. Bert Polman ================== Fortunatus, Venantius Honorius Clementianus, was born at Ceneda, near Treviso, about 530. At an early age he was converted to Christianity at Aquileia. Whilst a student at Ravenna he became almost blind, and recovered his sight, as he believed miraculously, by anointing his eyes with some oil taken from a lamp that burned before the altar of St. Martin of Tours, in a church in that town. His recovery induced him to make a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Martin, at Tours, in 565, and that pilgrimage resulted in his spending the rest of his life in Gaul. At Poitiers he formed a romantic, though purely platonic, attachment for Queen Rhadegunda, the daughter of Bertharius, king of the Thuringians, and the wife, though separated from him, of Lothair I., or Clotaire, king of Neustria. The reader is referred for further particulars of this part of the life of Fortunatus to Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography, vol. ii. p. 552. It is sufficient to say here that under the influence of Rhadegunda, who at that time lived at Poitiers, where she had founded the convent of St. Croix, Fortunatus was ordained, and ultimately, after the death of Rhadegunda in 597, became bishop of Poitiers shortly before his own death in 609. The writings, chiefly poetical, of Fortunatus, which are still extant, are very numerous and various in kind; including the liveliest Vers de Societé and the grandest hymns; while much that he is known to have written, including a volume of Hymns for all the Festivals of the Christian Year, is lost. Of what remains may be mentioned, The Life of St. Martin of Tours, his Patron Saint, in four books, containing 2245 hexameter lines. A complete list of his works will be found in the article mentioned above. His contributions to hymnology must have been very considerable, as the name of his lost volume implies, but what remains to us of that character, as being certainly his work, does not comprise at most more than nine or ten compositions, and of some of these even his authorship is more than doubtful. His best known hymn is the famous "Vexilla Regis prodeunt," so familiar to us in our Church Hymnals in some English form or other, especially, perhaps, in Dr. Neale's translation, "The Royal Banners forward go." The next most important composition claimed for him is "Pange, lingua, gloriosi praelium certaminis," but there would seem to be little doubt according to Sirmond (Notis ad Epist. Sidon. Apollin. Lib. iii., Ep. 4), that it was more probably written by Claudianus Mamertus. Besides these, which are on the Passion, there are four hymns by Fortunatus for Christmas, one of which is given by Daniel, "Agnoscat omne saeculum," one for Lent, and one for Easter. Of "Lustra sex qui jam peregit," of which an imitation in English by Bishop. Mant, "See the destined day arise," is well-known, the authorship is by some attributed to Fortunatus, and by some to St. Ambrose. The general character of the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus is by no means high, being distinguished neither for its classical, nor, with very rare exceptions, for its moral correctness. He represents the "last expiring effort of the Latin muse in Gaul," to retain something of the "old classical culture amid the advancing tide of barbarism." Whether we look at his style, or even his grammar and quantities, we find but too much that is open to criticism, whilst he often offends against good taste in the sentiments he enunciates. Occasionally, as we see in the "Vexilla Regis," he rises to a rugged grandeur in which he has few rivals, and some of his poems are by no means devoid of simplicity and pathos. But these are the exceptions and not the rule in his writings, and we know not how far he may have owed even these to the womanly instincts and gentler, purer influence of Rhadegunda. Thierry, in his Récits des Temps Mérovingiens, Récit 5, gives a lively sketch of Fortunatus, as in Archbishop Trench's words (Sacred Latin Poetry, 1874,p. 132), "A clever, frivolous, self-indulgent and vain character," an exaggerated character, probably, because one can hardly identify the author of "Vexilla Regis," in such a mere man of the world, or look at the writer of "Crux benedicta nitet, Dominus qua carne pependit" q.v., as being wholly devoid of the highest aspirations after things divine. A quarto edition of his Works was published in Rome in 1786. [Rev. Digby S. Wrangham, M.A.] - John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ==================== Fortunatus, V. H. C., p. 384, i. The best edition of his poems is F. Leo's edition of his Opera Poetica, Berlin, 1881 (Monumenta Germaniae, vol. iv.). --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Frances Elizabeth Cox

1812 - 1897 Person Name: Frances E. Cox Translator of "Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above" in The Worshipbook Cox, Frances Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. George V. Cox, born at Oxford, is well known as a successful translator of hymns from the German. Her translations were published as Sacred Hymns from the German, London, Pickering. The 1st edition, pub. 1841, contained 49 translations printed with the original text, together with biographical notes on the German authors. In the 2nd edition, 1864, Hymns from the German, London, Rivingtons, the translations were increased to 56, those of 1841 being revised, and with additional notes. The 56 translations were composed of 27 from the 1st ed. (22 being omitted) and 29 which were new. The best known of her translations are "Jesus lives! no longer [thy terrors] now" ; and ”Who are these like stars appearing ?" A few other translations and original hymns have been contributed by Miss Cox to the magazines; but they have not been gathered together into a volume. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Priscilla Jane Owens

1829 - 1907 Person Name: Priscilla Jane Owens, 1829-1907 Author of "We have heard the joyful sound" in The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook Owens, Priscilla Jane, was born July 21, 1829, of Scotch and Welsh descent, and is now (1906) resident at Baltimore, where she is engaged in public-school work. For 50 years Miss Owen has interested herself in Sunday-school work, and most of her hymns were written for children's services. Her hymn in the Scotch Church Hymnary, 1898, "We have heard a joyful sound" (Missions), was written for a Sunday-school Mission Anniversary, and the words were adapted to the chorus "Vive le Roi" in the opera The Huguenots. [Rev. James Bonar, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix II (1907) ========================= Owens, Priscilla Jane. (July 21, 1829--December 5, 1907). Of Scottish and Welsh ancestry, she spent her entire life in Baltimore. She was a public school teacher there for 49 years. She was a member of the Union Square Methodist Church and took particular interest in its Sunday School. Her literary efforts, both in prose and poetry, appeared in such religious periodicals as the Methodist Protestant and the Christian Standard. --William J. Reynolds, DNAH Archives

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

1809 - 1847 Person Name: Mendelssohn Adapter and Harmonizer of "MUNICH" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (b. Hamburg, Germany, 1809; d. Leipzig, Germany, 1847) was the son of banker Abraham Mendelssohn and the grandson of philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. His Jewish family became Christian and took the Bartholdy name (name of the estate of Mendelssohn's uncle) when baptized into the Lutheran church. The children all received an excellent musical education. Mendelssohn had his first public performance at the age of nine and by the age of sixteen had written several symphonies. Profoundly influenced by J. S. Bach's music, he conducted a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829 (at age 20!) – the first performance since Bach's death, thus reintroducing Bach to the world. Mendelssohn organized the Domchor in Berlin and founded the Leipzig Conservatory of Music in 1843. Traveling widely, he not only became familiar with various styles of music but also became well known himself in countries other than Germany, especially in England. He left a rich treasury of music: organ and piano works, overtures and incidental music, oratorios (including St. Paul or Elijah and choral works, and symphonies. He harmonized a number of hymn tunes himself, but hymnbook editors also arranged some of his other tunes into hymn tunes. Bert Polman

Arthur Sullivan

1842 - 1900 Person Name: Arthur S. Sullivan Composer of "ST. KEVIN" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Arthur Seymour Sullivan (b Lambeth, London. England. 1842; d. Westminster, London, 1900) was born of an Italian mother and an Irish father who was an army bandmaster and a professor of music. Sullivan entered the Chapel Royal as a chorister in 1854. He was elected as the first Mendelssohn scholar in 1856, when he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He also studied at the Leipzig Conservatory (1858-1861) and in 1866 was appointed professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music. Early in his career Sullivan composed oratorios and music for some Shakespeare plays. However, he is best known for writing the music for lyrics by William S. Gilbert, which produced popular operettas such as H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1884), and Yeomen of the Guard (1888). These operettas satirized the court and everyday life in Victorian times. Although he composed some anthems, in the area of church music Sullivan is best remembered for his hymn tunes, written between 1867 and 1874 and published in The Hymnary (1872) and Church Hymns (1874), both of which he edited. He contributed hymns to A Hymnal Chiefly from The Book of Praise (1867) and to the Presbyterian collection Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867). A complete collection of his hymns and arrangements was published posthumously as Hymn Tunes by Arthur Sullivan (1902). Sullivan steadfastly refused to grant permission to those who wished to make hymn tunes from the popular melodies in his operettas. Bert Polman

Ralph Vaughan Williams

1872 - 1958 Adapter and Harmonizer of "KINGSFOLD" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) Through his composing, conducting, collecting, editing, and teaching, Ralph Vaughan Williams (b. Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, England, October 12, 1872; d. Westminster, London, England, August 26, 1958) became the chief figure in the realm of English music and church music in the first half of the twentieth century. His education included instruction at the Royal College of Music in London and Trinity College, Cambridge, as well as additional studies in Berlin and Paris. During World War I he served in the army medical corps in France. Vaughan Williams taught music at the Royal College of Music (1920-1940), conducted the Bach Choir in London (1920-1927), and directed the Leith Hill Music Festival in Dorking (1905-1953). A major influence in his life was the English folk song. A knowledgeable collector of folk songs, he was also a member of the Folksong Society and a supporter of the English Folk Dance Society. Vaughan Williams wrote various articles and books, including National Music (1935), and composed numerous arrangements of folk songs; many of his compositions show the impact of folk rhythms and melodic modes. His original compositions cover nearly all musical genres, from orchestral symphonies and concertos to choral works, from songs to operas, and from chamber music to music for films. Vaughan Williams's church music includes anthems; choral-orchestral works, such as Magnificat (1932), Dona Nobis Pacem (1936), and Hodie (1953); and hymn tune settings for organ. But most important to the history of hymnody, he was music editor of the most influential British hymnal at the beginning of the twentieth century, The English Hymnal (1906), and coeditor (with Martin Shaw) of Songs of Praise (1925, 1931) and the Oxford Book of Carols (1928). Bert Polman