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Christina Georgina Rossetti

1830 - 1894 Person Name: Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1830-1894 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "O Ye Who Taste That Love Is Sweet" in Singing the Living Tradition Rossetti, Christina Georgina, daughter of Gabriel, and sister of Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti, was born in London, Dec. 5, 1830, and received her education at home. Her published works include:— (1) Goblin Market, and Other Poems, 1862; (2) The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems, 1866 ; (3) Poems, mainly a reprint of Nos. 1 and 2, 1875; (4) A Pageant, and Other Poems, 1881, &c. In addition, Miss Rossetti has published several prose works, as:— Annus Domini (a book of prayers for every day in the year), 1874; Letter and Spirit of the Decalogue, 1883, and others. She has written very few hymns avowedly for church worship, but several centos have been compiled from her poems, and have passed into several hymn-books. These include:— 1. Dead is thy daughter, trouble not the Master. The raising of Jairus's daughter. From her Goblin Market, &c, 1862, into Lyra Mystica, 1865. 2. God the Father, give us grace. Invocation of the Holy Trinity. From Lyra Mystica into the Savoy Hymnary, for use in the Chapel Koyai, Savoy (see No. 8 below). 3. I bore with thee long weary days and nights. The Love of Christ. From her Goblin Market, &c, 1862, into Lyra Messianica, 1864. 4. I would have gone, God bade me stay. Resignation. From her Poems, Hymns, 1884, &c. 1875, into Horder's Congregational Hymns. 5. Once I thought to sit so high. A Body hast Thou prepared Me, or Passiontide. Contributed to Lyra Eucharistica, 1863. 6. The Advent moon shines cold and clear. Advent. From her Goblin Market, &c, 1862. 7 The flowers that bloom in sun and shade. The Eternity of God. In Mrs. C. Brock's Children's Hymn Book, 1881. 8. What are these that glow from afar? Martyrs. Part of the poem "We meet in joy though we part in sorrow," which appeared in Lyra Mystica, 1865, and then in Miss Rossetti's Prince's Progress, &c, 1866. It is the most widely used of her hymns. No. 2 above is also from the same poem. Miss Rossetti's verses are profoundly suggestive and lyrical, and deserve a larger place than they occupy in the hymnody of the church. Her sonnets are amongst the finest in the English language. [Rev.W. Garrett Horder] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ============== Rossetti, Christina G., p. 978, i. The following hymns by Miss Rossetti have recently come into common use:— 1. A burdened heart that bleeds and bears. [Lent.] In her Time Flies: A Reading Diary, ed. 1897, p. 59, for March 26; and her Verses, &c., ed. 1898, p. 113. Included in Church Hymns, 1903. 2. Give me the lowest place, not that I dare. [Humility.] From her Prince's Progress, 1866, p. 216. 3. In the bleak midwinter. [Christmas.] In her Poetical Works, 1904, p. 246, as "Before 1872"; repeated in The English Hymnal, 1906. 4. None other Lamb, none other Name. [Jesus, All, and in All] From her The Face of the Deep, &c, 1892 (3rd ed. 1895, p. 176); and her Verses, &c, 1898, p. 36. It is the second of two poetical meditations on Rev. v. 6. In Church Hymns, 1903. 5. The shepherds had an angel. [Christmas.] In her Poetical Works, 1904, p. 187, this is entitled "A Christmas Carol. For my Godchildren," and dated 6 October, 1856. Repeated in the Sunday School Hymnary, 1905. 6. We know not a voice of that River. [The River of the Eternal City.] In The Face of the Deep, &c, 1892 (3rd ed. 1895, p. 523), as a poetical meditation on Rev, xxii. Also in her Verses, &c., 1898, p. 81. Additional works by Miss Rossetti to those named on p. 978, i., include Time Flies A Reading Diary, 1885; Called to be Saints, 1881; Seek and Find, 1879; The Face of the Deep, A Devotional Commentary on the Apocalypse, 1892; and Verses ... reprinted fromCalled to be Saints, Time Flies, The Face of the Deep, 1893. It must be noted that (1) the hymn attributed to her, "Dead is thy daughter; trouble not the Master," is not by her, but by Mrs. C. F. Alexander, with whose name it appeared in Lyra Mystica, 1865; and (2) her “I would be gone; God bade me stay," is from her Prince's Progress, 1866, p. 204. Miss Rossetti d. Dec. 29, 1891. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Ralph Vaughan Williams

1872 - 1958 Person Name: Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1872-1958 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Harmonizer of "TRUTH FROM ABOVE" in Singing the Living Tradition 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

Samuel Longfellow

1819 - 1892 Person Name: Samuel Longfellow, 1819-1892 Topics: Humanist Teachings Hope Author of "With Joy We Claim the Growing Light" in Singing the Living Tradition Longfellow, Samuel, B. A., brother of the Poet, was born at Portland, Maine, June 18, 1819, and educated at Harvard, where he graduated in Arts in 1839, and in Theology in 1846. On receiving ordination as an Unitarian Minister, he became Pastor at Fall River, Massachusetts, 1848; at Brooklyn, 1853; and at Germantown, Pennsylvania, 1860. In 1846 he edited, with the Rev. S. Johnson (q. v.), A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion. This collection was enlarged and revised in 1848. In 1859 his Vespers was published, and in 1864 the Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit , under the joint editorship of the Rev. S. Johnson and himself. His Life of his brother, the Poet Longfellow, was published in 1886. To the works named he contributed the following hymns:— i. To A Book of Hymns , revised ed., 1848. 1. Beneath the shadow of the Cross. Love. 2. 0 God, thy children gathered here. Ordination. ii. To the Vespers 1859. 3. Again as evening's shadow falls. Evening. 4. Now on land and sea descending. Evening. iii. To the Hymns of the Spirit, 1864. 5. A voice by Jordan's shore. Advent. 6. Father, give Thy benediction. Ordination. 7. Go forth to life, 0 child of earth. Life's Mission. 8. God of ages and of nations. Holy Scriptures. 9. Holy Spirit, Truth divine. The Holy Spirit desired. 10. I look to Thee in every need. Trust in God. 11. In the beginning was the Word. The Word. 12. Love for all, and can it be? Lent. The Prodigal Son. 13. 0 God, in Whom we live and move. God's Law and Love. 14. 0 God, Thou Giver of all good. Prayer for Food. 15. O still in accents sweet and strong. Missions. 16. 0 Thou, Whose liberal sun and rain. Anniversary of Church dedication. 17. One holy Church of God appears. The Church Universal. 18. Out of the dark, the circling sphere. The Outlook. 19. Peace, peace on earth! the heart of man for ever. Peace on Earth. 20. The loving Friend to all who bowed. Jesus of Nazareth. 21. ’Tis winter now, the fallen snow. Winter. Of these, hymn No. 2 was written for the Ordination of E. E. Hale (q. v.), at Worcester, 1846. Several are included in Martineau's Hymns, 1873. Died Oct. 3, 1892. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907), p. 685 =============== Longfellow, S., p. 685, i. Since Mr. Longfellow's death on Oct. 3, 1892, his hymns have been collected by his niece, Miss Alice Longfellow, as Hymns and Verses(Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1904.) From this work we find many of the hymns signed Anon, in the Index to Longfellow and Johnson's Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, were his; several of these, including E. Osier's "O God unseen, yet ever near," were popular English hymns which he rewrote from his own theological standpoint. These re¬written hymns are very widely used by Unitarians and others. During the last ten years the following additional hymns by S. Long¬fellow have come into common use:— 1. Eternal One, Thou living God. Faith in God. 2. God of the earth, the sky, the sea. God in Nature. 3. God's trumpet wakes the slumbering world. Call to duty. 4. Light of ages and of nations. God in and through all time. 5. Lo, the earth is risen again. Spring. (1876.) 6. Now while we sing our closing psalm. Close of Worship. 7. O Life that maketh all things new. Unity. (1874.) 8. O Thou in Whom we live and move. The Divine Law. 9. The summer days are come again. Summer. From his hymn,"The sweet[bright] June days are come again." 10. Thou Lord of lite, our saving health. In Sickness. (1886.) Of these hymns Nos. 2, 3 appeared in the Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and all with the dates appended in Hymns and Verses, 1904. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Longfellow

Martin Luther

1483 - 1546 Person Name: Martin Luther, 1483-1546 Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "EIN' FESTE BURG" in Singing the Living Tradition Luther, Martin, born at Eisleben, Nov. 10, 1483; entered the University of Erfurt, 1501 (B.A. 1502, M.A.. 1503); became an Augustinian monk, 1505; ordained priest, 1507; appointed Professor at the University of Wittenberg, 1508, and in 1512 D.D.; published his 95 Theses, 1517; and burnt the Papal Bull which had condemned them, 1520; attended the Diet of Worms, 1521; translated the Bible into German, 1521-34; and died at Eisleben, Feb. 18, 1546. The details of his life and of his work as a reformer are accessible to English readers in a great variety of forms. Luther had a huge influence on German hymnody. i. Hymn Books. 1. Ellich cristlich lider Lobgesang un Psalm. Wittenberg, 1524. [Hamburg Library.] This contains 8 German hymns, of which 4 are by Luther. 2. Eyn Enchiridion oder Handbuchlein. Erfurt, 1524 [Goslar Library], with 25 German hymns, of which 18 are by Luther. 3. Geystliche Gesangk Buchleyn. Wittenberg, 1524 [Munich Library], with 32 German hymns, of which 24 are by Luther. 4. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert. Wittenberg. J. Klug, 1529. No copy of this book is now known, but there was one in 1788 in the possession of G. E. Waldau, pastor at Nürnberg, and from his description it is evident that the first part of the Rostock Gesang-Buch, 1531, is a reprint of it. The Rostock Gesang-Buch, 1531, was reprinted by C. M. Wiechmann-Kadow at Schwerin in 1858. The 1529 evidently contained 50 German hymns, of which 29 (including the Litany) were by Luther. 5. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert. Erfurt. A. Rauscher, 1531 [Helmstädt, now Wolfenbüttel Library], a reprint of No. 4. 6. Geistliche Lieder. Wittenberg. J. Klug, 1535 [Munich Library. Titlepage lost], with 52 German hymns, of which 29 are by Luther. 7. Geistliche Lieder auffs new gebessert. Leipzig. V. Schumann, 1539 [Wernigerode Library], with 68 German hymns, of which 29 are by Luther. 8. Geistliche Lieder. Wittenberg. J. Klug, 1543 [Hamburg Library], with 61 German hymns, of which 35 are by Luther. 9. Geystliche Lieder. Leipzig. V. Babst, 1545 [Gottingen Library]. This contains Luther's finally revised text, but adds no new hymns by himself. In pt. i. are 61 German hymns, in pt. ii. 40, of which 35 in all are by Luther. For these books Luther wrote three prefaces, first published respectively in Nos. 3, 4, 9. A fourth is found in his Christliche Geseng, Lateinisch und Deudsch, zum Begrebnis, Wittenberg, J. Klug, 1542. These four prefaces are reprinted in Wackernagel’s Bibliographie, 1855, pp. 543-583, and in the various editions of Luther's Hymns. Among modern editions of Luther's Geistliche Lieder may be mentioned the following:— Carl von Winterfeld, 1840; Dr. C. E. P. Wackernagel, 1848; Q. C. H. Stip, 1854; Wilhelm Schircks, 1854; Dr. Danneil, 1883; Dr. Karl Gerok, 1883; Dr. A. F. W. Fischer, 1883; A. Frommel, 1883; Karl Goedeke, 1883, &c. In The Hymns of Martin Luther. Set to their original melodies. With an English version. New York, 1883, ed. by Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon and Nathan H. Allen, there are the four prefaces, and English versions of all Luther's hymns, principally taken more or less altered, from the versions by A. T. Russell, R. Massie and Miss Winkworth [repub. in London, 1884]. Complete translations of Luther's hymns have been published by Dr. John Anderson, 1846 (2nd ed. 1847), Dr. John Hunt, 1853, Richard Massie, 1854, and Dr. G. Macdonald in the Sunday Magazine, 1867, and his Exotics, 1876. The other versions are given in detail in the notes on the individual hymns. ii. Classified List of Luther's Hymns. Of Luther's hymns no classification can be quite perfect, e.g. No. 3 (see below) takes hardly anything from the Latin, and No. 18 hardly anything from the Psalm. No. 29 is partly based on earlier hymns (see p. 225, i.). No. 30 is partly based on St. Mark i. 9-11, and xvi., 15, 16 (see p. 226, ii.). No. 35 is partly based on St. Luke ii. 10-16. The following arrangement, however, will answer all practical purposes. A. Translations from the Latin. i. From Latin Hymns: 1. Christum wir sollen loben schon. A solis ortus cardine 2. Der du bist drei in Einigkeit. O Lux beata Trinitas. 3. Jesus Christus unser Heiland, Der von. Jesus Christus nostra salus 4. Komm Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist. Veni Creator Spiritus, Mentes. 5. Nun komm der Beidenheiland. Veni Redemptor gentium 6. Was flirchst du Feind Herodes sehr. A solis ortus cardine ii. From Latin Antiphons, &c.: 7. Herr Gott dich loben wir. Te Deum laudamus. 8. Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich. Dapacem, Domine 9. Wir glauben all an einen Gott. iii. Partly from the Latin, the translated stanzas being adopted from Pre-Reformation Versions: 10. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott. 11. Mitten wir im Leben sind. Media vita in morte sumus. B. Hymns revised and enlarged from Pre-Reformation popular hymns. 12. Gelobet seist du Jesus Christ. 13. Gott der Vater wohn uns bei. 14. Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet. 15. Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist. C. Psalm versions. 16. Ach Gott vom Himmel, sieh darein. 17. Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir. 18. Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott. 19. Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl. 20. Es wollt uns Gott genädig sein. 21. War Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit. 22. Wohl dem, der in Gotten Furcht steht. D. Paraphrases of other portions of Holy Scripture. 23. Diess sind die heilgen zehn Gebot. 24. Jesaia dem Propheten das geschah. 25. Mensch willt du leben seliglich. 26. Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin. 27. Sie ist mir lieb die werthe Magd. 28. Vater unser im Himmelreich. E. Hymns mainly Original. 29. Christ lag in Todesbanden. 30. Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam. 31. Ein neues Lied wir heben an. 32. Erhalt uns Herr bei deinem Wort. 33. Jesus Christus unser Heiland, Der den, 34. Nun freut euch lieben Christengemein. 35. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her. 36. Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar. In addition to these — 37. Fur alien Freuden auf Erden. 38. Kyrie eleison. In the Blätter fur Hymnologie, 1883, Dr. Daniel arranges Luther's hymns according to what he thinks their adaptation to modern German common use as follows:— i. Hymns which ought to be included in every good Evangelical hymn-book: Nos. 7-18, 20, 22, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 38. ii. Hymns the reception of which into a hymn-book might be contested: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 33. iii. Hymns not suited for a hymn-book: Nos. 1, 5, 6, 27, 31, 37. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

M. C. H. Davis

1795 - 1880 Topics: Humanist Teachings Here and Now Composer of "LIVERPOOL" in Singing the Living Tradition A clock maker and silver smith, Davis grew up in Newberry County, South Carolina, and appears in the 1850 and 1860 censuses there. By 1870, he and his wife Melinda had moved in with their daughter in Concord, South Carolina, and were living there through at least 1880. --www.hymntime.com/tch

Thomas Tallis

1505 - 1585 Person Name: Thomas Tallis, c. 1505-1585 Topics: Humanist Teachings Beauty, Truth, and Goodness Composer of "TALLIS' CANON" in Singing the Living Tradition 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

Alicia S. Carpenter

b. 1930 Person Name: Alicia S. Carpenter, 1930- Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Author of "Where My Free Spirit Onward Leads" in Singing the Living Tradition

John Bacchus Dykes

1823 - 1876 Person Name: John Bacchus Dykes, 1823-1876 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Composer of "NICAEA" in Singing the Living Tradition 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

Carolyn McDade

b. 1935 Person Name: Carolyn McDade, 1935- Topics: Humanist Teachings Hope Author of "Come, Sing a Song with Me" in Singing the Living Tradition

Hu Te-ngai

Person Name: Hu Te-Ai, b. c. 1900 Topics: Humanist Teachings Here and Now Composer of "LE P'ING" in Singing the Living Tradition

Fred Kaan

1929 - 2009 Person Name: Fred Kaan, 1929- Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Author of "Break Not the Circle" in Singing the Living Tradition Fred Kaan Hymn writer. His hymns include both original work and translations. He sought to address issues of peace and justice. He was born in Haarlem in the Netherlands in July 1929. He was baptised in St Bavo Cathedral but his family did not attend church regularly. He lived through the Nazi occupation, saw three of his grandparents die of starvation, and witnessed his parents deep involvement in the resistance movement. They took in a number of refugees. He became a pacifist and began attending church in his teens. Having become interested in British Congregationalism (later to become the United Reformed Church) through a friendship, he was attended Western College in Bristol. He was ordained in 1955 at the Windsor Road Congregational Church in Barry, Glamorgan. In 1963 he was called to be minister of the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth. It was in this congregation that he began to write hymns. The first edition of Pilgrim Praise was published in 1968, going into second and third editions in 1972 and 1975. He continued writing many more hymns throughout his life. Dianne Shapiro, from obituary written by Keith Forecast in Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/fred-kaan-minister-and-celebrated-hymn-writer-1809481.html)

John Coleman Adams

1849 - 1922 Person Name: John Coleman Adams, 1849-1922 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "Our Praise We Give" in Singing the Living Tradition Adams, John Coleman. (Malden, Massachusetts, October 25, 1849--June 22, 1922, Hartford, Connecticut). Universalist. Son of John Greenleaf Adams. He graduated from Tufts College, A.B., 1870; B.D., 1872; S.T.D., 1888. He held pastorates at Newton, Mass., 1872-1880; Lynn, Mass., 1880-1884; Chicago, Illinois, 1884-1890; Brooklyn, New York, 1890-1901; and Hartford, Conn., 1901-1922. He wrote a few hymns for special occasions, one of which, written in 1911 for a church anniversary, begins "We praise Thee, God, for harvests earned." It was included in The New Hymn and Tune Book, 1914, and in Hymns of the Spirit, 1937. --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

David Hurd

b. 1950 Person Name: David Hurd, 1950- Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "NEXUS" in Singing the Living Tradition David Hurd (b. Brooklyn, New York, 1950) was a boy soprano at St. Gabriel's Church in Hollis, Long Island, New York. Educated at Oberlin College and the University of North Carolina, he has been professor of church music and organist at General Theological Seminary in New York since 1976. In 1985 he also became director of music for All Saints Episcopal Church, New York. Hurd is an outstanding recitalist and improvisor and a composer of organ, choral, and instrumental music. In 1987 David Hurd was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, by the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. The following year he received honorary doctorates from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California, and from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois. His I Sing As I Arise Today, the collected hymn tunes of David Hurd, was published in 2010. Bert Polman and Emily Brink

Orlando Gibbons

1583 - 1625 Person Name: Orlando Gibbons, 1583-1625 Topics: Humanist Teachings Insight and Wisdom Composer of "SONG 1" in Singing the Living Tradition Orlando Gibbons (baptised 25 December 1583 – 5 June 1625) was an English composer, virginalist and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day. Gibbons was born in Cambridge and christened at Oxford the same year – thus appearing in Oxford church records. Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where his brother Edward Gibbons (1568–1650), eldest of the four sons of William Gibbons, was master of the choristers. The second brother Ellis Gibbons (1573–1603) was also a promising composer, but died young. Orlando entered the university in 1598 and achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. James I appointed him a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal, where he served as an organist from at least 1615 until his death. In 1623 he became senior organist at the Chapel Royal, with Thomas Tomkins as junior organist. He also held positions as keyboard player in the privy chamber of the court of Prince Charles (later King Charles I), and organist at Westminster Abbey. He died at age 41 in Canterbury of apoplexy, and a monument to him was built in Canterbury Cathedral. A suspicion immediately arose that Gibbons had died of the plague, which was rife in England that year. Two physicians who had been present at his death were ordered to make a report, and performed an autopsy, the account of which survives in The National Archives: We whose names are here underwritten: having been called to give our counsels to Mr. Orlando Gibbons; in the time of his late and sudden sickness, which we found in the beginning lethargical, or a profound sleep; out of which, we could never recover him, neither by inward nor outward medicines, & then instantly he fell in most strong, & sharp convulsions; which did wring his mouth up to his ears, & his eyes were distorted, as though they would have been thrust out of his head & then suddenly he lost both speech, sight and hearing, & so grew apoplectical & lost the whole motion of every part of his body, & so died. Then here upon (his death being so sudden) rumours were cast out that he did die of the plague, whereupon we . . . caused his body to be searched by certain women that were sworn to deliver the truth, who did affirm that they never saw a fairer corpse. Yet notwithstanding we to give full satisfaction to all did cause the skull to be opened in our presence & we carefully viewed the body, which we found also to be very clean without any show or spot of any contagious matter. In the brain we found the whole & sole cause of his sickness namely a great admirable blackness & syderation in the outside of the brain. Within the brain (being opened) there did issue out abundance of water intermixed with blood & this we affirm to be the only cause of his sudden death. His death was a shock to peers and the suddenness of his passing drew comment more for the haste of his burial – and of its location at Canterbury rather than the body being returned to London. His wife, Elizabeth, died a little over a year later, aged in her mid-30s, leaving Orlando's eldest brother, Edward, to care for the children left orphans by this event. Of these children only the eldest son, Christopher Gibbons, went on to become a musician. One of the most versatile English composers of his time, Gibbons wrote a quantity of keyboard works, around thirty fantasias for viols, a number of madrigals (the best-known being "The Silver Swan"), and many popular verse anthems. His choral music is distinguished by his complete mastery of counterpoint, combined with his wonderful gift for melody. Perhaps his most well known verse anthem is This is the record of John, which sets an Advent text for solo countertenor or tenor, alternating with full chorus. The soloist is required to demonstrate considerable technical facility at points, and the work at once expresses the rhetorical force of the text, whilst never being demonstrative or bombastic. He also produced two major settings of Evensong, the Short Service and the Second Service. The former includes a beautifully expressive Nunc dimittis, while the latter is an extended composition, combining verse and full sections. Gibbons's full anthems include the expressive O Lord, in thy wrath, and the Ascension Day anthem O clap your hands together for eight voices. He contributed six pieces to the first printed collection of keyboard music in England, Parthenia (to which he was by far the youngest of the three contributors), published in about 1611. Gibbons's surviving keyboard output comprises some 45 pieces. The polyphonic fantasia and dance forms are the best represented genres. Gibbons's writing exhibits full mastery of three- and four-part counterpoint. Most of the fantasias are complex, multisectional pieces, treating multiple subjects imitatively. Gibbons's approach to melody in both fantasias and dances features a capability for almost limitless development of simple musical ideas, on display in works such as Pavane in D minor and Lord Salisbury's Pavan and Galliard. In the 20th century, the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould championed Gibbons's music, and named him as his favorite composer. Gould wrote of Gibbons's hymns and anthems: "ever since my teen-age years this music ... has moved me more deeply than any other sound experience I can think of." In one interview, Gould compared Gibbons to Beethoven and Webern: ...despite the requisite quota of scales and shakes in such half-hearted virtuoso vehicles as the Salisbury Galliard, one is never quite able to counter the impression of music of supreme beauty that lacks its ideal means of reproduction. Like Beethoven in his last quartets, or Webern at almost any time, Gibbons is an artist of such intractable commitment that, in the keyboard field, at least, his works work better in one's memory, or on paper, than they ever can through the intercession of a sounding-board. To this day, Gibbons's obit service is commemorated every year in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. --wikipedia.org

Leo Smit

1921 - 1999 Person Name: Leo Smit, 1921- Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Composer of "SMIT" in Singing the Living Tradition

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 - 1750 Person Name: J. S. Bach, 1685-1750 Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Harmonizer of "EIN' FESTE BURG" in Singing the Living Tradition Johann Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach into a musical family and in a town steeped in Reformation history, he received early musical training from his father and older brother, and elementary education in the classical school Luther had earlier attended. Throughout his life he made extraordinary efforts to learn from other musicians. At 15 he walked to Lüneburg to work as a chorister and study at the convent school of St. Michael. From there he walked 30 miles to Hamburg to hear Johann Reinken, and 60 miles to Celle to become familiar with French composition and performance traditions. Once he obtained a month's leave from his job to hear Buxtehude, but stayed nearly four months. He arranged compositions from Vivaldi and other Italian masters. His own compositions spanned almost every musical form then known (Opera was the notable exception). In his own time, Bach was highly regarded as organist and teacher, his compositions being circulated as models of contrapuntal technique. Four of his children achieved careers as composers; Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Chopin are only a few of the best known of the musicians that confessed a major debt to Bach's work in their own musical development. Mendelssohn began re-introducing Bach's music into the concert repertoire, where it has come to attract admiration and even veneration for its own sake. After 20 years of successful work in several posts, Bach became cantor of the Thomas-schule in Leipzig, and remained there for the remaining 27 years of his life, concentrating on church music for the Lutheran service: over 200 cantatas, four passion settings, a Mass, and hundreds of chorale settings, harmonizations, preludes, and arrangements. He edited the tunes for Schemelli's Musicalisches Gesangbuch, contributing 16 original tunes. His choral harmonizations remain a staple for studies of composition and harmony. Additional melodies from his works have been adapted as hymn tunes. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Ludwig van Beethoven

1770 - 1827 Person Name: Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827 Topics: Humanist Teachings Beauty, Truth, and Goodness Composer of "HYMN TO JOY" in Singing the Living Tradition A giant in the history of music, Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Bonn, Germany, 1770; d. Vienna, Austria, 1827) progressed from early musical promise to worldwide, lasting fame. By the age of fourteen he was an accomplished viola and organ player, but he became famous primarily because of his compositions, including nine symphonies, eleven overtures, thirty piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, the Mass in C, and the Missa Solemnis. He wrote no music for congregational use, but various arrangers adapted some of his musical themes as hymn tunes; the most famous of these is ODE TO JOY from the Ninth Symphony. Although it would appear that the great calamity of Beethoven's life was his loss of hearing, which turned to total deafness during the last decade of his life, he composed his greatest works during this period. Bert Polman

John Andrew Storey

b. 1935 Person Name: John Andrew Storey, 1935- Topics: Humanist Teachings Here and Now Author (v. 2) of "Golden Breaks the Dawn" in Singing the Living Tradition Unitarian-Universalist

Annabel Morris Buchanan

1888 - 1983 Person Name: Annabel Morris Buchanan, 1899-1983 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Arranger of "LAND OF REST" in Singing the Living Tradition Born: October 22, 1888, Groesbeck, Texas. Died: January 6, 1983, Paducah, Kentucky. Buried: Round Hill Cemetery, Marion, Virginia. Daughter of William Caruthers Morris and Anna Virginia Foster, and wife of John Preston Buchanan, Anna received her musical training at the Landon Conservatory of Music, Dallas, Texas (to which she received a scholarship at age 15); the Guilmant Organ School, New York; and studying with Emil Liebling, William Carl, and Cornelius Rybner, among others. She taught music in Texas; at Halsell College, Oklahoma (1907-08); and at Stonewall Jackson College, Abingdon, Virginia (1909-12). In 1912, she married John Preston Buchanan, a lawyer, writer, and senator, from Marion, Virginia; they moved to their home, Roseacre, in Marion, where they had four children. Buchanan served as president of the Virginia Federation of Music Clubs in 1927, and helped organize the first Virginia State Choral Festival in 1928, and White Top Folk Festivals (1931-41). After her husband’s death in 1937, she sold Roseacre and moved to Richmond, Virginia, with her two youngest children. She taught music theory and composition and folk music at the University of Richmond (1939-40); during the summers, at the New England Music Camp, Lake Messalonskee, Oakland, Maine (1938-40); and at the Huckleberry Mountain Artists Colony near Hendersonville, North Carolina, in 1941. She later moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia, and taught at Madison College (1944-48). In 1951, she moved to Paducah, Kentucky. She later became the archivist of the folk music collecting project of the National Federation of Music Clubs, serving until 1963. Buchanan’s works include: Folk-Hymns of America (New York: J. Fischer, 1938) American Folk Music, 1939 Sources: Findagrave, accessed 15 Nov 2016 Hughes, pp. 329-30 Hustad, p. 213 © The Cyber Hymnal™. Used by permission. (www.hymntime.com

Henry Purcell

1659 - 1695 Person Name: Henry Purcell, 1659-1695 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Composer of "WESTMINSTER ABBEY" in Singing the Living Tradition Henry Purcell (b. Westminster, London, England, 1659; d. Westminster, 1695), was perhaps the greatest English composer who ever lived, though he only lived to the age of thirty-six. Purcell's first piece was published at age eight when he was also a chorister in the Chapel Royal. When his voice changed in 1673, he was appointed assistant to John Hingston, who built chamber organs and maintained the king's instruments. In 1674 Purcell began tuning the Westminster Abbey organ and was paid to copy organ music. Given the position of composer for the violins in 1677, he also became organist at Westminster Abbey in 1679 (at age twenty) and succeeded Hingston as maintainer of the king's instruments (1683). Purcell composed music for the theater (Dido and Aeneas, c. 1689) and for keyboards, provided music for royal coronations and other ceremonies, and wrote a substantial body of church music, including eighteen full anthems and fifty-six verse anthems. Bert Polman

Carl Schalk

1929 - 2021 Person Name: Carl Flentge Schalk, b. 1929 Topics: Humanist Teachings Insight and Wisdom Composer of "FLENTGE" in Singing the Living Tradition Carl F. Schalk (b. Des Plaines, IL, 1929; d. 2021) is professor of music emeritus at Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois, where he taught church music since 1965. He completed graduate work at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. From 1952 to 1956 he taught and directed music at Zion Lutheran Church in Wausau, Wisconsin, and from 1958 to 1965 served as director of music for the International Lutheran Hour. Honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 1992, Schalk was editor of the Church Music journal (1966-1980), a member of the committee that prepared the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), and a widely published composer of church music. Included in his publications are The Roots of Hymnody in The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (1965), Key Words in Church Music (1978), and Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise (1988). His numerous hymn tunes and carols are collected in the Carl Schalk Hymnary (1989) and its 1991 Supplement. Bert Polman

David Evans

1874 - 1948 Person Name: David Evans, 1874-1948 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Adapter of "NYLAND" in Singing the Living Tradition David Evans (b. Resolven, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1874; d. Rosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, 1948) was an important leader in Welsh church music. Educated at Arnold College, Swansea, and at University College, Cardiff, he received a doctorate in music from Oxford University. His longest professional post was as professor of music at University College in Cardiff (1903-1939), where he organized a large music department. He was also a well-known and respected judge at Welsh hymn-singing festivals and a composer of many orchestral and choral works, anthems, service music, and hymn tunes. Bert Polman

Eduard Kremser

1838 - 1914 Person Name: Edward Kremser, 1838-1914 Topics: Humanist Teachings Hope Arranger of "KREMSER" in Singing the Living Tradition Eduard Kremser was born 10 October 1838 in Vienna and died 26 November 1914 in Vienna. He was a choir director, conductor, composer and musicologist. He was the arranger of the music for male voices in Sechs altniederländische Volkslieder, a collection of six Dutch folk songs from Adriaan Valerius' collection Nederlandtsche gedenck-clanck. From this collection comes the tune which is named after him and is sung with the English text "We Gather Together." He also edited and arranged a 3 volume set of German and Austrian folk music: Wiener Lieder und Tänze: im Auftrage der Gemeindevertretimg der Stadt Wien (published 1912-1925) as well as other volumes of folk music. Dianne Shapiro

Lee Hastings Bristol

1923 - 1979 Person Name: Lee Hastings Bristol, Jr., 1923-1979 Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "DICKINSON COLLEGE" in Singing the Living Tradition Born: 1923, Brooklyn, New York. Died: 1979, Syracuse, New York. Bristol was educated at Hamilton College, Clinton, New York (BA); Trinity College of Music, London (organ studies); and the Institute for International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland (graduate studies). He worked in New York for the Bristol-Meyers Company (the family business) in advertising and public relations, 1948-62. From 1962-69, he served as president of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. In 1972, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada made him a fellow of the society. His works include: The Lamb and Other Carols, 1951 Songs for Liturgy, editor More Hymns and Spiritual Songs, editor, 1972 Hymns for Children and Grown-Ups Lyrics: "Let Us Now Depart in Thy Peace" Music: SEDGWICK --hymntime.com/tch/

Nguyen-Duc Quang

Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "CON X'OM LANG" in Singing the Living Tradition

Sophia Lyon Fahs

1876 - 1978 Person Name: Sophia Lyon Fahs, 1876-1978 Topics: Humanist Teachings Author of "For So the Children Come" in Singing the Journey

Thomas Oboe Lee

b. 1945 Person Name: Thomas Oboe Lee, 1945- Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "LEE" in Singing the Living Tradition

Elizabeth Alexander

b. 1962 Person Name: Elizabeth Alexander, 1962- Topics: Humanist Teachings Author of "As We Sing of Hope and Joy" in Singing the Journey

John G. MacKinnon

1903 - 1983 Person Name: John G. MacKinnon, 1903-1983 Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Author of "Ye Earthborn Children of a Star" in Singing the Living Tradition

Elizabeth Bennett

Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author (English, vs. 2-3) of "Die Gedanken Sind Frei" in Singing the Living Tradition

Emily Dickinson

Person Name: Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking" in Singing the Living Tradition

Gerald Wheeler

b. 1929 Person Name: Gerald Wheeler, b. 1929 Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "EMERY" in Singing the Living Tradition

John B. Tabb

1845 - 1909 Person Name: John B. Tabb, 1845-1909 Topics: Humanist Teachings Insight and Wisdom Author of "Once When My Heart Was Passion Free" in Singing the Living Tradition John Banister Tabb, 1845-1910; priest, poet; b. Va.; Confederate solider and prisoner of war; ordained Roman Catholic priest, 1884; taught English at St. Charles College, Md.

Friederich Schiller

1759 - 1805 Person Name: Friedrich Schiller, 1759-1805 Topics: Humanist Teachings Beauty, Truth, and Goodness Author of "Joy, Thou Goddess" in Singing the Living Tradition

W. H. Auden

1907 - 1973 Person Name: W. H. Auden, 1907-1973 Topics: Humanist Teachings Insight and Wisdom Author of "When Shall We Learn" in Singing the Living Tradition

William Wordsworth

1770 - 1850 Person Name: William Wordsworth, 1770-1850 Topics: Humanist Teachings Insight and Wisdom Author of "Alone She Cuts and Binds the Grain" in Singing the Living Tradition Wordsworth, William, the poet, the son of an attorney, was born at Cockermouth in 1770, and educated at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1791. Devoting himself to literature, and especially to poetry, he gradually rose into the front rank of English poets. His works include Lyrical Ballads, 1798; Poems; The Prelude; The Excursion, 1814, &c. All his poetical productions were collected and republished under his own supervision in 7 vols., in 1842. He died at Kydal Mount, near Grasmere, in 1850. Notwithstanding his rank and reputation as a poet, his pieces used as hymns are limited to the following extracts from his poems:— 1. Not seldom clad in radiant vest. Christ, the Unchangeable. This is No. v. of five "Inscriptions supposed to be found In and near a Hermit's cell, 1818." It is in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, and is given in his Poetical Works, 1831, vol. iii., p. 290. It is in Stowell's Selection of Hymns, 1831-77; the American Plymouth Collection, 1855, &c. 2. Up to the throne of God is borne. Noonday. This is entitled "The Labourer's Noon-Day Hymn," is dated 1834, and is in 6 stanzas of 4 lines. (Poetical Work, 1837, vol. v. p. 122.) It is in common use in an abridged form, beginning with stanza i., and the latter part is also given in Martineau's Hymns, 1840, as "Look up to heaven, the industrious sun," as No. 535. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Grace Lewis-McLaren

b. 1939 Person Name: Grace Lewis-McLaren, 1939- Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "Touch the Earth, Reach the Sky!" in Singing the Living Tradition

Charles Harold Lyttle

1884 - 1980 Person Name: Charles H. Lyttle, 1884-1980 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "Bring, O Past, Your Honor" in Singing the Living Tradition

W. Frederick Wooden

Person Name: W. Frederick Wooden, 1953- Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "ENOCH" in Singing the Living Tradition

Frank W. Price

1895 - 1974 Topics: Humanist Teachings Here and Now Translator (v. 1) of "Golden Breaks the Dawn" in Singing the Living Tradition Frank W. Price was born in Kashing, China, February 25, 1895. His parents P. Frank (Philip Francis) Price and Esther Price were missionaries with the Presbyterian Church U.S.(Southern) near Shanghai. Dr. Price spent his early years in rural China surrounded by native culture and missionary work. Price returned to the United States to finish his education, and in 1915 he received a bachelors degree from Davidson College. From 1915 to 1917, Price was Principal of Hillcrest School, Nanking. He traveled with Chinese labourers to France in December 1918-19 with the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Returning to the United States, Price earned a B.D. from Yale in 1922 and later a Ph.D. in 1938 also from Yale. Price married Essie Ott McClure on June 14, 1923. Mr. and Mrs. Price had two children, Mary and Frank Jr. and a marriage that lasted over 50 years. Returning to China in 1923 as an ordained missionary of the Presbyterian Church U.S., Price became a professor at Nanking Theological Seminary, a post which he held until 1952. With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Frank and Essie Price fled to Western China. Between 1939 and 1945, Dr. Price worked to encourage understanding and aid to China in the United States through a series of articles, lectures, and radio broadcasts during World War II. His close relations with Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek gave Dr. Price a better insight into the problems and workings of the Nationalist Government in China. He was a member of the Chinese delegation at the United Nations Organizational Conference in San Francisco in 1945, and his presence among the other Chinese delegates reiterated the trust that the Chiang government placed in Dr. Price. Dr. Price also worked with the Church of Christ in China between 1948 and 1950. Following the communist victory in China's civil war in 1949, Dr. and Mrs. Price endured three years of denouncements, accusations, and house arrest before being expelled from China in 1952. On his return from the Far East in November 1952, Dr. Price accepted a pastorate at New Momnouth Presbyterian Church near Lexington, Virginia (1953-55) and served as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church U.S. (1953-54). Dr. Price served as director of the Missionary Research Library in New York City between 1956 and 1961. Dr. Price then served as professor in International Studies at Mary Baldwin College (1961-66) before retiring to Lexington, Virginia. He died in Lexington on January 10, 1974. In addition to his work as a missionary in China, Dr. Price also wrote many books and articles and was a noted lecturer and world traveler. Some of his book titles include: We Went to West China (1938), As the Lightning Flashes (compiled from the Sprunt Lectures, 1948), Chinese Christian Hymns (translation, 1953), and Marx Meets Christ (1957). Dr. Price completed trips to Europe in 1956, Ghana and the Congo in 1958, an eighteen month study trip to India and Southeast Asia in 1963-64, and attended the International Missionary Conferences in Madras, India, 1938 and Whitby, Canada, 1947. --www.marshallfoundation.org/Library

Yuri Zaritsky

Topics: Humanist Teachings Composer of "[May your life be as a song]" in Singing the Journey

William Stanley Braithwaite

1878 - 1962 Person Name: William Stanley Braithwaite, 1878-1962 Topics: Humanist Teachings Here and Now Author of "A Long, Long Way the Sea-Winds Blow" in Singing the Living Tradition

Janet Wyatt

b. 1934 Person Name: Janet Wyatt, b. 1934 Topics: Humanist Teachings Insight and Wisdom Arranger of "JERUSALEM" in Singing the Living Tradition

Vincent B. Silliman

1894 - 1979 Person Name: Vincent B. Silliman, 1894-1979 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "Faith of the Larger Liberty" in Singing the Living Tradition Silliman, Rev. Vincent Brown, D.D. (Hudson, Wisconsin, June 29, 1894-Feb. 1979, Yarmouth, Maine). He graduated from Meadville Theological School in 1920 and from the University of Minnesota in 1925. He served Unitarian churches in Buffalo, New York; Portland, Maine; Hollis, N.Y.; and Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of the committee which edited The Beacon Song and Service Book for Children and Young People (1935), and edited We Sing of Life (1955), an unusual collection of songs for children and young people, with a strong ethical emphasis, some set to familiar hymn tunes, others to interesting folk music. Mr. Silliman contributed to words of several songs. One of them, beginning "Morning, so fair to see" is also included in Hymns of the Spirit (1937). --Henry Wilder Foote, DNAH Archives

William De Witt Hyde

1858 - 1917 Person Name: William DeWitt Hyde, 1858-1917 Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Author of "Creative Love, Our Thanks We Give" in Singing the Living Tradition Born: September 23, 1858, Winchendon, Massachusetts. Died: June 29, 1917, Brunswick, Maine. Buried: Pine Grove Cemetery, Brunswick, Maine. Hyde lost both parents an early age, and grew up with relatives in Keene, New Hampshire. He was educated at Phillips Academy in Exeter (1875), Harvard (bachelor’s degree 1879), Union Theological Seminary (1879-80), and Andover Theological Seminary (1882). He was ordained a Congregational minister in 1883, and pastored in Paterson, New Jersey (1883-85), then served as president of Bowdoin College (1885-1917). His works include: Practical Ethics, 1892 Practical Idealism, 1897 God’s Education of Man, 1899 Jesus’ Way, 1902 From Epicurus to Christ, 1904 (reprinted in 1911 as The Five Great Philosophies of Life) Self-Measurement, 1908 © The Cyber Hymnal (www.hymntime.com/tch)

Robert E. Senghas

b. 1928 Person Name: Robert E. Senghas, 1928- Topics: Humanist Teachings Hope Author of "We Gather Together" in Singing the Living Tradition

Mortimer M. Barron

b. 1939 Person Name: Mortimer B. Barron, 1939- Topics: Humanist Teachings Author of "Go Lifted Up" in Singing the Journey

Dana McLean Greeley

1908 - 1986 Person Name: Dana McLean Greeley, 1908-1986 Topics: Humanist Teachings Beauty, Truth, and Goodness Author of "Let All the Beauty We Have Known" in Singing the Living Tradition

Jean Sibelius

1865 - 1957 Person Name: Jean Sibelius, 1865-1957 Topics: Humanist Teachings Humanity: Women and Men Composer of "FINLANDIA" in Singing the Living Tradition Johann Julius Christian [Jean] Sibelius DM Finland 1865-1957. Born at Hameenlinna, Finland, the son of a Swedish-speaking medical doctor, he lost his father to typhoid in 1868, leaving the family in substantial debt. His mother, again pregnant, had to sell their property and move in with her widowed mother. His aunt Julia gave him piano lessons when he was seven on the family upright piano, wrapping him on the knuckles when he played a wrong note. He learned to improvise as he played. His uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, was interested in music, especially the violin, and gave Jean a violin when he was 10. As his musical advisor his uncle encouraged him to play and compose music. He played music with sister on piano, brother on cello, and himself on violin. He attended a Finnish-speaking prep school in 1874 and continued his education at the Hameenlinna Normal Lyceum thereafter. Jean also showed a strong interest in nature, frequently walking around the countryside when the family moved to the Loviisa coast for the summer months. In 1881 he took violin lessons from the local bandmaster, and developed a strong interest in violin. He became an accomplished player, and thought of becoming a virtuoso, but realizing he began study too late in life for that, instead opted to compose. He often played music in quartets with neighboring families, adding to his chamber music experience. He took the French form of his name, Jean. He studied law at the Imperial Alexander University in Finland, but showed far more interest in music. He then studied music at the Helsinki Music Institute (now Sibelius Academy) from 1885-1889. The school’s founder, Martin Wegelius, did much to support education development in Finland and gave Sibelius his first lessons in composition. Another teacher,,Ferruccio Busoni, a pianist-composer, helped him as well and became a life-long friend. Other friends, pianist Adolf Paul, and conductor-to-be, Armas Jarnefelt, also helped him. In 1892 he married Armas ‘s sister, Aino Jarnefelt, daughter of General Alexander Jarnefelt, governor of Vaasa. They had six daughters, Eva, Ruth, Kirsti, Katarina, Margareta, and Heidi. He continued his musical studies in Berlin (1889-1890) with Albert Becker, and in Vienna (1890-1891) with Robert Fuchs and Karl Goldmark. In Berlin he had opportunity to attend concerts and operas. In Vienna he turned to orchestral composition and had much success, although he had gallstone surgery during that period. He also traveled to the UK, France, Germany, and the USA during this time in his life, composing, conducting, and socializing. In 1892 he took on teaching assignments at the Music Institute and at Kajanus’s conducting school, but this left him with little time for composing. Sibelius’ works were more and more appreciated in Helsinki concert halls as he composed and conducted symphonies in the mid-1890s. In 1898 he was awarded a substantial grant, initially for 10 years, and later extended for life, allowing him to concentrate on composition. Much of his music became popular in Finland and in Germany. In 1899 he began work on his first symphony. It went well, but other patriotic music hehad composed did even better, since Russia was trying to restrict the powers of the Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1900 Sibelius went on an international tour with Kajanus and his orchestra, presenting his recent works. In 1901 he wrote his second symphony, which received rave reviews. He continued to compose as he became popular and well-known. In 1903 he had a new home built near Lake Tuusula north of Helsinki, calleed Ainola (after his wife). He gave concerts in and around Finland, spending more and more time away from home, to the chagrin of his wife. After a time he returned home and composed from there. He spent much time wining and dining in Helsinki, and it had a disastrous effect on his wife, who finally entered a sanitorium. He resolved again to give up drinking and concentrate on composing his 3rd symphony. He met Gustav Mahler in Helsinki and they became friends. He performed his 3rd symphony in St Petersburg, Russia. In 1907 he underwent a serious operation for suspected throat cancer, and spent time in the hospital in 1908. His smoking and drinking had now become life-threatening. He cancelled concerts for Rome, Warsaw, and Berlin, but kept one in London. His health deteriorated further, And his brush with death inspired him to compose his 4th symphony. In 1909 his successful throat operation resulted in renewed happiness for him and his wife, Aino. He continued conducting concerts, and met Claude Debussy, who further encouraged his musical efforts. He began working on his 4th symphony in 1910, but had to write other music to compensate for dwindling funds. He finished his 4th symphony in Berlin and conducted concerts in Sweden in 1911. In 1912 he completed short orchestral works. Over the next several years he continued producing a variety of pieces of music, well-received, especially in America. He was given an honorary DM degree from Yale University and also another from the University of Helsinki about the same time. WW1 interrupted his music royalties in 1915, and he was forced to compose smaller works for publication to make ends meet. He completed his 5th symphony at age 50, but he was dissatisfied with it and reworked it three times In 1917 he starting drinking again, triggering arguments with his wife. The Russian Revolution in 1917 caused an improvement in their personal relationship, and he wrote his ‘Jager March’ to celebrate Finnish independence from Russia. The next year the Finnish Civil War began, putting a damper on his march. In 1919, after the war, he completed his 6th symphony. In 1920 George Eastman , of Eastman Kodak, asked him to teach for a year in New York, but he declined. He did enjoy a trip conducting several concerts in England in 1921. He premiered his 6th symphony in 1923. In 1924 he completed his 7th symphony. The next year he composed a number of small pieces. He began drinking again. He did write a few more major works, but for the last thirty years of his life he avoided publicly talking about his music. He tried to write an 8th symphony, but was unsatisfied with it and burned the scores. In fact, he burned a laundry basket full of music he had written, to the chagrin of his wife. But, afterward, he became calmer and gradually had a lighter mood. In 1935 he was awarded the Goethe-Metal, with a certificate signed by Adolf Hitler. A Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939 was repelled, but Finland gave up territory to Russia as a result. In 1941 Sibelius and his wife returned to their Finland home, Ainola, after a long absence. He did not compose much the last few years, and died at Ainola. His wife outlived him by 12 years. John Perry

Charles H. Webb

b. 1933 Person Name: Charles H. Webb, 1933- Topics: Humanist Teachings The Life of Integrity Composer of "LAND OF REST" in Singing the Living Tradition

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