Search Results

God's Surprise

Author: John L. Bell Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Appears in 11 hymnals First Line: Who would think that what was needed Refrain First Line: God surprises earth with heaven

Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Appears in 9 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: John Bell Tune Sources: English Traditional Melody Tune Key: G Major Incipit: 13267 21561 74655 Used With Text: Who Would Think That What Was Needed

WHITE ROSETTES

Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Appears in 3 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: John L. Bell Tune Key: F Major Incipit: 35432 65557 13532 Used With Text: Who Would Think That What Was Needed

REX GLORIÆ

Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Appears in 101 hymnals Composer and/or Arranger: Henry Smart, 1813-1879 Tune Key: G Major Incipit: 15123 43251 23432 Used With Text: Who would think that what was needed

Instances

Published text-tune combinations (hymns) from specific hymnals

Who Would Think That What Was Needed

Author: Graham Maule; John L. Bell Hymnal: Glory to God #138 (2013) Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Refrain First Line: God surprises earth with heaven Topics: Christian Year Nativity/Christmas; Christian Year Epiphany; Jesus Christ Birth Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-6 Languages: English Tune Title: WHITE ROSETTES

Who Would Think That What Was Needed

Author: Graham Maule; John Bell Hymnal: The New Century Hymnal #153 (1995) Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Topics: Christmas; Jesus Christ Birth and Infancy; Year A Epiphany; Year B Epiphany; Year C Epiphany Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-6 Languages: English Tune Title: SCARLET RIBBONS

Who would think that what was needed

Author: John Bell, b. 1949; Graham Maule, b. 1958 Hymnal: Common Praise #78 (2000) Meter: 8.7.8.7 D Topics: Christmas; Christmas Day Scripture: Isaiah 11:6 Languages: English Tune Title: REX GLORIÆ

View 8 more instances

People

Authors, composers, editors, etc.

Henry Thomas Smart

1813 - 1879 Person Name: Henry Smart, 1813-1879 Composer of "REX GLORIÆ" in Common Praise Henry Smart (b. Marylebone, London, England, 1813; d. Hampstead, London, 1879), a capable composer of church music who wrote some very fine hymn tunes (REGENT SQUARE, 354, is the best-known). Smart gave up a career in the legal profession for one in music. Although largely self taught, he became proficient in organ playing and composition, and he was a music teacher and critic. Organist in a number of London churches, including St. Luke's, Old Street (1844-1864), and St. Pancras (1864-1869), Smart was famous for his extemporizations and for his accompaniment of congregational singing. He became completely blind at the age of fifty-two, but his remarkable memory enabled him to continue playing the organ. Fascinated by organs as a youth, Smart designed organs for important places such as St. Andrew Hall in Glasgow and the Town Hall in Leeds. He composed an opera, oratorios, part-songs, some instrumental music, and many hymn tunes, as well as a large number of works for organ and choir. He edited the Choralebook (1858), the English Presbyterian Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867), and the Scottish Presbyterian Hymnal (1875). Some of his hymn tunes were first published in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). Bert Polman

John L. Bell

b. 1949 Person Name: John Bell, b. 1949 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