VILLE DU HAVRE

Composer: P. P. Bliss

Philip P. Bliss (b. Clearfield County, PA, 1838; d. Ashtabula, OH, 1876) left home as a young boy to make a living by working on farms and in lumber camps, all while trying to continue his schooling. He was converted at a revival meeting at age twelve. Bliss became an itinerant music teacher, making house calls on horseback during the winter, and during the summer attending the Normal Academy of Music in Genesco, New York. His first song was published in 1864, and in 1868 Dwight L. Moody advised him to become a singing evangelist. For the last two years of his life Bliss traveled with Major D. W. Whittle and led the music at revival meetings in the Midwest and Southern United States. Bliss and Ira D. Sankey published a popular series of hym… Go to person page >

The gospel tune by Philip Bliss (PHH 482) was named after the ship on which his friends died; VILLE DU HAVRE (also called IT IS WELL) is best sung in harmony throughout. The refrain may be sung only once–after stanza 4 as a final testimony. Use a moderate organ accompaniment to support confident singing of this testimonial hymn,

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988