SOLID ROCK

Composer: William B. Bradbury

The churchgoing people of today are generally familiar with the name Wm. B. Bradbury. Many have cherished that name from childhood. Most of us began our musical experiences by singing his songs, and as early experiences are the most lasting, we will carry these melodies, with their happy associations, through life. Mr. Bradbury, in his day, created a style of juvenile music, especially Sunday-school music, that swept the country. He set the pattern for his successors in Sunday-school song-making, and those who have harped on the key-note that he struck have been most successful. True, we have improved some in the way of hymns, and a smoother voicing of the parts, but there are still many Sunday-school song writers who regard Mr. Bradbur… Go to person page >

The Sunday school hymn writer William B. Bradbury (PHH 114) composed SOLID ROCK in 1863 for Edward Mote's "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less." The tune name derives from that song's refrain: "On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. . . .” Bradbury published SOLID ROCK in his 1864 children's collection The Golden Censor. The tune exhibits a bar form (AAB) with a coda added to its final line, allowing a repeat of the final phrase in the versification. The final line was originally the refrain line in Mote's gospel hymn. SOLID ROCK is well-suited to singing in harmony; festival use of instruments other than organ heightens the thanksgiving mood of the psalm text. --Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988