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Thomas Tallis

1505 - 1585 Composer of "TALLIS' CANON" in Hymnal of the Church of God Thomas Tallis (b. Leicestershire [?], England, c. 1505; d. Greenwich, Kent, England 1585) was one of the few Tudor musicians who served during the reigns of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I and managed to remain in the good favor of both Catholic and Protestant monarchs. He was court organist and composer from 1543 until his death, composing music for Roman Catholic masses and Anglican liturgies (depending on the monarch). With William Byrd, Tallis also enjoyed a long-term monopoly on music printing. Prior to his court connections Tallis had served at Waltham Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. He composed mostly church music, including Latin motets, English anthems, settings of the liturgy, magnificats, and two sets of lamentations. His most extensive contrapuntal work was the choral composition, "Spem in alium," a work in forty parts for eight five-voice choirs. He also provided nine modal psalm tunes for Matthew Parker's Psalter (c. 1561). Bert Polman

John Warrington Hatton

1710 - 1793 Person Name: John L. Hatton Composer of "DUKE STREET" in Heart and Voice John Warrington Hatton (b. Warrington, England, c. 1710; d, St. Helen's, Lancaster, England, 1793) was christened in Warrington, Lancashire, England. He supposedly lived on Duke Street in Lancashire, from where his famous tune name comes. Very little is known about Hatton, but he was most likely a Presbyterian, and the story goes that he was killed in a stagecoach accident. Bert Polman

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Composer of "HEBRON" in Hymns for Today 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.

Edward Miller

1735 - 1807 Composer of "ROCKINGHAM OLD" in At Worship Edward Miller, Born in the United Kingdom. The son of a pavior (stone paver), Miller left home to study music at King's Lynn. He was a flautist in Handel's orchestra. In 1752 he published “Six Solos for the German Flute”. In 1756 he was appointed organist of St. George Minster Doncaster, continuing in that post for 50 years. He also gave pianoforte lessons. He published hymns and sonatas for harpsichord, 16 editions of “The Institues of Music”, “Elegies for Voice & Pianoforte”, and Psalms of David set to music, arranged for each Sunday of the year. That work had over 5000 subscribers. He published his thoughts on performance of Psalmody in the Church of England, addressed to clergy. In 1801 he published the Psalms of Watts and Wesley for use by Methodists, and in 1804 the history and antiques of Doncaster with a map. John Perry

Bartholomäus Crasselius

1667 - 1724 Person Name: B. Crasselius Composer of "WINCHESTER NEW" in The Hymnal for Boys and Girls Crasselius, Bartholomäus, son of Johannes Crasselt, sheepmaster at Wemsdorf near Glauchau, Saxony; was born at Wernsdorf, Feb. 21, 1667. After studying at Halle, under A. H. Francke, he became, in 1701, pastor at Nidda, in Wetteravia, Hesse. In 1708 he was appointed Lutheran pastor at Düsseldorf, where he died Nov. 30, 1724, after a somewhat troubled pastorate, during which he felt called upon to testify strongly and somewhat bitterly against the shortcomings of the place and of the times (Koch, iv. 418-421; Allg. Deutsche Biographie, iv. 566-67; Bode, p. 55; manuscript from Pastor Baltzer, Wernsdorf; the second dating his call to Dusseldorf 1706). Of the 9 hymns by him which Freylinghausen included in his Geistreiches Gesang-Buch, 1704, two have been translated:— i. Dir, dir, Jehovah, will ich singen. Prayer. A hymn of supplication for the spirit of grace rightly to praise and worship God, founded on St. John, xvi. 23-28, the Gospel for Rogation Sunday. First published in the Geistreiches Gesang-Buch &., Halle, 1697, p. 587, in 8 stanzas of 6 lines. Repeated as No. 291 in Freylinghausen's Gesang-Buch, 1704, and since in almost all collections, as in the Berlin Geistliche Liedersegen. ed. 1863, No. 936. The well-known tune (known in England as Winchester New as reduced to L. M. in Hymns Ancient & Modern, No. 50) which appeared with this hymn in Freylinghausen, 1704, is altered from a melody to “Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten," in the Musicalisch Handbuch der Geistlichen Melodien, Hamburg, 1690. See L. Erk's Choralbuch, 1863, No. 63, and p. 247; also No. 261. The common, but erroneous ascription of this tune to Crasselius arose from confusion between the authorship of the tune and the words. There is no evidence that Crasselius wrote any tunes. Translations in common use:— 1. Jehovah, let me now adore Thee, a good and full translation by Miss Winkworth, as No. 117, in her Chorale Buch for England, 1863, set to the 1704 melody. 2. To Thee, 0 Lord, will I sing praises, in full, by Dr. M. Loy, in the Evangelical Review, Gettysburg, July 1861, and as No. 216 in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880. Other translations are:— (i) "To Thee, Jehovah, I'll be singing," in the Supplement to German Psalmody, ed. 1765, p. 41, and in Select Hymns from German Psaltery, Tranquebar, 1754, p. 72. (2) "Draw me, O Father, to the Son," a translation of stanza ii., by P. H. Molther, as No. 185 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1789. In the ed. of 1886 it is enlarged to 3 stanzas by the addition of the translation of stanzas i. and viii., and in this form it begins:—“To Thee, Jehovah, will I sing." (3) "To Thee, O Lord, I come with singing," by Miss Burlingham, in the British Herald, April, 1866, p. 248, repeated as No. 402 in Reid's Praise Book, 1872. ii. Erwach, 0 Mensch, erwache. Lent. Appeared in Freylinghausen's Gesang-Buch, 1704, No. 266, in 4 stanzas of 9 lines. Included in Bunsen's Versuch, 1833, No. 298, and Allgemeine Gesang-Buch 1846, No. 13. Translated as "Awake, O man, and from thee shake," by Miss Winkworth, 1855, p. 61. The hymn, "Heiligster Jesu, Heiligungsquelle," ascribed to Crasselius, is noted under J. v. Lodenstein. See also "Hallelujah! Lob, Preis und Ehr." [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Bacchus Dykes

1823 - 1876 Person Name: John B. Dykes Composer of "RIVAULX" in The Beacon Hymnal As a young child John Bacchus Dykes (b. Kingston-upon-Hull' England, 1823; d. Ticehurst, Sussex, England, 1876) took violin and piano lessons. At the age of ten he became the organist of St. John's in Hull, where his grandfather was vicar. After receiving a classics degree from St. Catherine College, Cambridge, England, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. In 1849 he became the precentor and choir director at Durham Cathedral, where he introduced reforms in the choir by insisting on consistent attendance, increasing rehearsals, and initiating music festivals. He served the parish of St. Oswald in Durham from 1862 until the year of his death. To the chagrin of his bishop, Dykes favored the high church practices associated with the Oxford Movement (choir robes, incense, and the like). A number of his three hundred hymn tunes are still respected as durable examples of Victorian hymnody. Most of his tunes were first published in Chope's Congregational Hymn and Tune Book (1857) and in early editions of the famous British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern. Bert Polman

John Haynes Holmes

1879 - 1964 Person Name: John Haynes Holmes, 1879-1964 Author of "O Father, Thou Who Givest All" in Hymnal of the Church of God Born: November 29, 1879, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Died: April 3, 1964, New York City. Buried: Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist, New York City. Holmes graduated from Harvard University, Phi Beta Kappa. His grandfather, John Cummings Haynes, manager of the Oliver Ditson music publishing house, helped pay his Harvard tuition. Holmes was ordained in 1904, and became minister of the Unitarian Third Congregational Church, Dorchester, Massachusetts. In February 1907, he became junior minister at the Church of the Messiah in New York City. His works include: I Speak for Myself, 1959 Collected Hymns, 1960 --www.hymntime.com/tch/

Robert G. McCutchan

1877 - 1958 Person Name: Robert Guy McCutchan Composer of "DEPAUW" in The Cyber Hymnal A noted hymnologist, McCutchan studied at Park College, Parkville, Missouri, and Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa (BM 1904). He went on to teach voice at Baker University in Baldwin, Kansas, and founded the conservatory of music there in 1910. After further study in Germany and France, in 1911 he became dean of music at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, serving there 26 years. He helped compile the Methodist Hymnal in 1936. His works include: Better Music in Our Churches, 1925 Music in Worship, 1927 American Junior and Church School Hymnal, 1928 The Deluge of New Hymnals (reprint from M.T.N.A. Proceedings, 1933) American Church Music Composers of the Early Nineteenth Century, Church History, September 1933 The Congregation’s Part in the Office of Music Worship (Northwestern University, 1934) Our Hymnody (New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1937) Aldersgate, 1738-1938, 1938 Hymns in the Lives of Men (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1943) Hymns of the American Frontier, 1950 Hymn Tune Names: Their Sources and Significance, 1957 Sources: Erickson, pp. 341-42 Hughes, p. 478 Hustad, pp. 284-85 McCutchan, p. 33 --http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/c/c/mccutchan_rg.htm, 03 July 2014.

Charles Harford Lloyd

1849 - 1919 Composer of "ALDRICH" in Hymns for the Living Age Born: October 16, 1849, Thornbury, Gloss, England. Died: October 16, 1919, Slough, England. Buried: Windsor Cemetery, Windsor, Berkshire, England. Lloyd attended Thornbury Grammar School and Rossall School, and was a Scholar of Magdalen School, Hertford College, Oxford (BMus 1871, BA 1872, MA 175, DMus 1891). He served as organist at Gloucester Cathedral (1876); Christ Church, Oxford (1882, succeeding Samuel Wesley); precentor of Eton College (1892); organist of the Chapel Royal (1914); and editor of Church Hymns (1903). Sources: Frost, p. 680 Music: Credo Domine Lundy Sacramentum Unitatis Savile St. Frideswide http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/l/l/o/lloyd_ch.htm