In Norway the change in political conditions paved the way for the abandonment of the "Kingo," "Guldberg" and "Evangelical Christian" hymn-books which had been employed there as well as in Denmark, and in 1869 an official service of song was issued under the care of M. B. Landstad, and in 1873 a second authorized hymn-book under the care of A. Hauge. There is also a collection of hymns in the peasant dialect. In Sweden a little collection, Svenska sånger eller visor, was issued by the Reformer, Olaus Petri, and contained ten hymns, four or five of which were by the editor. This was enlarged in new issues of 1530 and 1536. Petri's brother, Archbishop Laurentius Petri, made a new edition of this in 1543, and in 1567 appeared the "Laurentius Petri Hymn-book," containing about 100 hymns, many of them polemics against the Roman Catholic Church. Other hymn-books of no particular moment continued to appear at frequent intervals, until an official publication was published in 1645, containing 166 Swedish and fifteen Latin hymns. A new hymn-book was projected by Jesper Svedberg, assisted by the learned Urban Hjärne and a commission. This began to appear in 1694, but aroused a storm of opposition by the polemic bishop, Carl Carlson. Under a new commission the projected and partly completed book was revised by a new commission, and became known as "The Hymn-book of 1695," the year of its issue. The spread of Pietism to Sweden led to the publication of Mose og Lambsens visor, continually reprinted until the present. The diffusion of the Herrnhut movement in Sweden led to the issue of Zions nya sånger by Anders Karl Rutström, serving for that movement the same end as the Mose og Lambsens visor for Pietism. A revision of the Svedberg book was undertaken by C. J. Lohmann, Samuel Troilius, and the historian Olof Celsius, two parts appearing in
|
429 |
From the Anglo-Saxon period of history only faint indications of sacred song have come down. Thus Bishop Aldhelm (q.v.; d. 709) is said to have mingled sacred and secular songs as an aid to Evangelization. The hymn of Caedmon (q.v.) was not intended for the service of song. There are Latin hymns extant with Anglo-Saxon glosses (cf. The Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, ed. J. Stevenson for the Surtees Society, Newcastle, 1851), and there are, besides, paraphrases of the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria Patri; but these are properly meditational and do not belong to hymnody as a part of divine service. Further indications of early English hymnody are carols and hymns to the Virgin. But all that can be said with assurance of the period before the Reformation is that the practise of the Latin Church governed, that much material is known out of which hymns might be made, and some of it was utilized in later periods, but that this material was not intended as more than pious meditation on religious themes. The best of this material is represented in the so-called Primers, founded on the Sarum Use and the Roman Breviary, which are known to have been in use at least during 1360-1700. They contained prose or rimed translations of parts of the service, including prayers.
After the Reformation the intensity of the contest between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism and the large place taken by the English Bible in popular affection made the use of even the great Latin hymns distasteful. Consequently, while singing became a part of public worship, hardly. anything was used except versions of portions of Scripture, of which large parts, especially the Psalms, were put into metrical form (see Psalmody). As a result, the period 1550-1700 has been called the period of the Metrical Psalters, during which more than 350 versions of the Psalms were begun, and about 125 were completed. Yet throughout there were indications that the hymnody of the Church was not to be confined to Scriptural material. Thus Miles Coverdale's Goodly Psalmes and Spiritual Songs (before 1539) represents the desire to embody the spirit of the German Reformers, and it consequently includes translations of some of the hymns of Luther as well as paraphrases of Latin hymns and versions of the Psalms. The principal trend of the period, however, is exhibited by what came to be known in later times as "The Old Version," begun by Thomas Sternhold, an official at the courts of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Sternhold's purpose in publishing was to provide sacred songs for the people, though the version was begun for his own "godly solace"; the pieces were set to music by him. The meters employed were the short and common meters of popular ballads. The first edition (undated, probably 1548) contained only nineteen psalms, but the number in subsequent editions was enlarged with the aid of Sternhold's disciples, John Hopkins and Thomas Norton, till all the psalms were rendered into English verse as early as 1562, the result being the well-known "Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter" or "Old Version," which, being combined with the Book of Common Prayer, continued in use for about a century. This was followed by two varieties which had more or less of popular favor, the Genevan, influenced by the French version of Marot, and the Scottish, put forth by the General Assembly of 1564, which had more than 140 tunes attached. Another version, known as "The Scottish Psalter," included mainly settings by F. Rous, and was completed by the General Assembly of 1649 and authorized by that of 1650, to which Biblical Paraphrases was added in the period 1745-81. Meanwhile, in 1559 Queen Elizabeth gave permission to use at the beginning and end of divine service "any hymn or such like song to the praise of Almighty God," and this permission both shows that hymn-writing had already begun, and gave a distinct impetus to this kind of composition. Six hymns were appended to the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter and were publicly used, and for seventy-five years such writers as Robert Herrick (1591-1674), John Donne, and George Herbert, composed hymns which were sung, while renderings were made of parts of the treasures of the Latin Church, including "Hierusalem, my happie home."
The first attempt at a hymn-book as distinguished from a psalter was Hymns and Songs of the Church by George Wither issued in 1623 with a patent from James I. permitting it to be bound with the Psalter. It consisted of two parts, (1) metrical paraphrases of Scripture, (2) hymns for the church festivals and special occasions. It was republished in enlarged form as Hallelujah, Britain's Second Remembrancer in 1641. But the Puritan sentiment, which soon became dominant, preferred the Psalms in meter, while the hymn-writers were principally royalists. This led the way in England to "The New Version" known also as "Tate and Brady" (1st ed. 1696; 2d ed. 1698; with supplement, 1702), issued with the approval of William III., and in America to the Bay Psalm Book. The New Version differed from the Old in that it was written in varied meter, and it became the standard and influenced all subsequent hymnody. In 1782 five hymns were added to it, and later others were admitted. Meanwhile such writers as Henry Vaughan, Jeremy Taylor, Thomas Ken (morning and evening hymns and the Doxology), and Joseph Addison ("The spacious firmament on high") had been writing hymns which, in original or revised form, have been permanent possessions. In 1683 John Mason published Songs of Praise, which ran through many editions, and furnished the basis for several hymns still in current use. But under lingering Puritan sentiment the singing of hymns was still prohibited. The Baptists became involved in controversy
|
430 |
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed the rise of a large number of "poets of the Church" who produced compositions which became deservedly popular and seem assured of lasting fame. Some of these are the following: Joseph Hart (1712-68), "Come, Holy Spirit"; Anne Steele (1716-78), "Father, whate'er of earthly bliss"; William Williams (1717-91), a Welsh hymnist, who wrote 800 hymns, including "Guide me, O thou great Jehovah"; John Cennick (1718-55), "Children of the heavenly king"; John Newton (1726-1807) and William Cowper (1731-1800), who cooperated in producing the "Olney Hymns"; William Hammond (1719-83), "Awake and sing the song"; Thomas Gibbons (1720-85), "Now let our souls on wings sublime"; Edward Perronet (1726-92), "All hail the power of Jesus' name"; Samuel Stennett (1727-95), "Majestic sweetness site enthroned"; Thomas Haweis (1732-1820), who wrote 256 hymns; the brothers Wesley, foremost of whom as a hymn-writer was Charles (1739-86), who wrote some 6,000 hymns, 3,000 of which were left in manuscript; John Fawcett (1739-1817), "Blest be the tie that binds"; Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-78), "Rock of Ages, cleft for me" and 132 others; Mrs. Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825), "Come, said Jesus' sacred voice" and 143 others; Rowland Hill (1744-1833), "Cast thy burden on the Lord"; James Montgomery (1771-1834), "Oh! where shall rest be found"; Harriet Auber (1773-1862), "Our blest Redeemer, ere he breathed"; Reginald Heber (1783-1826), "By cool Siloam's shady rill"; Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871), "Just as I am, without one plea"; Henry Kirke White (1785-1806), "Oft in danger, oft in woe"; Sir Robert Grant (1785-1838), "Oh! worship the king, all glorious above"; Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), "In the cross of Christ I glory"; James Edmeston (1791-1867), "Savior, breathe an evening blessing"; Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847), "Abide with me, fast falls the eventide"; Sarah Flower Adams (1805-48), "Nearer, my God, to thee"; Christopher Wordsworth (1807-85), "Oh! day of rest and gladness"; Horatius Bonar (1808-89), "I heard the voice of Jesus say"; Henry Alford (1810-71), "Come, ye thankful people, come"; Thomas Toke Lynch (1818-71), "Gracious Spirit, dwell with me" and 166 others; William Walsham How (1823-97), "For all thy saints who from their labors rest"; Edward Henry Bickersteth (1826-1906), "O God, the rock of ages"; Catherine Winkworth (1829-78) who produced the Lyra Germanica which has so influenced modern church singing; Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), "I gave my life for thee": and George Matheson (1842-1906), "O Love that will not let me go." Not mentioned in the foregoing are the members of a little circle, all connected with the Oxford movement, who influenced English hymnody less by the number of hymns which they produced than by the high value of their compositions as expressions of devotion. This circle comprised: John Keble (1792-1866), who produced the Christian Year; Frederick William Faber (1814-83), "Paradise, O paradise" and "Hark! hark, my soul"; John Mason Neale (1818-1866), whose rendering "Jerusalem the golden" is in every hymnal of note, and who produced also the splendid Medieval Hymns and Sequences (London, 1852); Edward Caswell (1814-78), who produced Lyra Catholica; and John Henry Newman (1801-90), whose "Lead, kindly light" is one of the best known of English hymns.
While, during the whole period just sketched, the production of hymnals was steady, with 1830 began a better use of the earlier material, evident in more careful editing and a larger employment of the earlier treasures of the Church, made available by the writers named above and others whose work was perhaps no less worthy. Critical study was made of sources, attention was paid to the reproduction of the spirit of the originals, and greater faithfulness was manifested in the employment of earlier hymns, while the tunes used were not only of a higher quality in composition, but were made to accord in their flow with the rhythm of the hymns. In this way improvement almost inestimable has been brought about in the song service of the Church. In this movement one of the most influential leaders was Sir Henry Williams Baker (1821-77), whose famous Hymns Ancient and Modern was at the time of its appearance high-water mark as a medium of congregational devotion. This compiler is hardly less celebrated for his setting of Psalm xxiii., "The king of love my shepherd is." In this movement the Church of England has taken great interest, and at present its hymnals are recognized as models for the compilation of service-books of song.
The connection between the colonies and England was so close until about 1770 that American hymnody had little distinctively its own. The first American praise-book was the famous Bay Psalm-Book, which was often reprinted. Then Tate and Brady's Psalter came into popular use, with a supplement of hymns largely by Watts, of which many editions were issued. After the War of the Revolution, denominational activity in the production of hymnals became intense, and this movement, stimulated by the production of meritorious hymns, soon passed beyond the use of the versified psalms. Official hymnals were issued by the Protestant Episcopal Church (1789, 1808, 1826), by the Baptists (The Philadelphia Collection, 1790), by the Methodists (prior to 1790); the Universalists published two collections in 1792, the Unitarians one in 1795, the Congregationalists one in 1799, while the first official
|
431 |
Among the individual writers whose work justifies the perpetuation of their memory are: Samson Occom (Ockum, Occum, 1723-92), a Montauk Indian and successful missionary to his own people, who wrote "Waked by the gospel's joyful sound," and with Joshua Smith and others compiled a small hymnal originally published at Wilkes-barre, Pa.; Samuel Davies (1723-61), who wrote sixteen hymns, among them "Lord, I am thine, entirely thine." Nathan Strong (1748-1816), principal editor of the Hartford Selection (1799) and author of "Swell the anthem, raise the song"; Timothy Dwight, the editor of Barlow's revision of Watts and the author of "I love thy kingdom, Lord"; Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), the author of the Star-Spangled Banner, who also wrote several hymns; Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), the compiler of Village Hymns (a constant source for later hymnals) and is said to have written "Come, Holy Ghost, my soul inspire"; Thomas Hastings (1784-1872), known both for his services to the music of hymnody as distinguished from the words and for the hymn "Gently, Lord, oh, gently lead us"; William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), whose hymns have not the celebrity of his other poems; William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877), "I would not live alway"; George Washington Donne (1799-1859), "Softly now the light of day"; James Waddell Alexander (1804-59), whose splendid rendering "O sacred head now wounded" so faithfully reproduces the spirit of the original (see Gerhardt, Paul); Frederic Henry Hedge (1805-1890), author of the favorite rendering of Luther's battle hymn, "A mighty fortress is our God," which is rivaled only by Carlyle's rendering "A firm defense our God is still"; John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92), "We may not climb the heavenly steeps"; Ray Palmer (1808-87), perhaps the most prolific of fine hymns of all American hymnodists, "My faith looks up to thee"; Samuel Francis Smith (1808-95), "My country,'tis of thee"; Oliver Wendell Holmes (1806-94), "Lord of all being, throned afar"; James Freeman Clarke (1810-88), compiler of hymnals and writer of "Father, to us thy children humbly kneeling"; Samuel Longfellow (1819-92), editor of hymnals and author of "Go forth to life, O child of earth"; Frances Jane van Alstyne ("Fanny Crosby," 1823-), "'Tis the blessed hour of prayer." Phoebe Cary (1827-71) collaborated with Dr. Deems on Hymns for all Christians (1869) and wrote "One sweetly solemn thought"; and Washington Gladden (1836-), "O master, let me walk with thee."
Bibliography: The two dictionaries are Julian, Hymnology, and A. F. Fischer, Kirchenlieder Lexicon, Gotha, 1879. In Julian special sections deal with the subject as treated in the text, with Latin, English, German, etc, hymnology. For sources the reader is referred to: H. A. Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologus, 5 vols., Leipsic, 1841-56 (in which a vast number of texts are given): Analecta hymnica medii avi, ed. C. Blume and G. M. Droves, vols. i.-xlix., Leipsic, 1886-1906 (the largest collection of sources); C. U. J. Chevalier, Repertorium hymnologicum, 3 vols., Louvain, 1892-1904; P. Wackernagel, Das deutsche kirchenlied von der ältesten Zeit bis . . . 14. Jahrhundert, 5 vols., Leipsic, 1864-77; idem, Das deutsche Kirchenlied van Martin Luther bis auf Nicolaus Hermann, Stuttgart, 1841; MGH, Poet. Lat. arai Car., and Poet. Lot. mod. avi; F. J. Furnivall, Hymns to the Virgin and Christ, London, 1895 (edited for the English Tract Society); J. H. Todd, The Book of Hymns of the Ancient Church of Ireland, 2 parts, Dublin, 1855-69 (edited for the Irish Archeological Society); J. H. Bernard and R. Atkinson, The Irish Liber Hymnorum, 2 vols., Oxford, 1898 (with glossary and translation).
Of anthologies the following may be mentioned: A. J. Rambach, Anthologie christlicher Gesänge aus allen Jahrhunderten der Kirche, Altona, 1817; J. M. Neale, Hymni ecclesiae et sequentiae, London, 1851-52; F. Mone, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, 3 vols., Freiburg, 1853-55; F. Bäsler, Auswahl altchristlicher Lieder, B.-16. Jahrhundert, Berlin, 1858; F. D. Huntingdon, Hymns of the Ages, 3 vols., Boston, 1860-64; R. C. Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, London, 1864; K. Simrock, Lauda Sion, Cologne, 1868; P. Schaff, Christ in Song, New York, 1860; W. Christ and M. Paranikas, Anthologia Graeca oarminum Christianorum, Leipsic, 1871; D. T. Morgan, Hymns of the Latin Church Translated, London, 1871; W. J. Loftie, The Latin Year, ib. 1873; F. A. March, Latin Hymns with English Notes, New York, 1874; P. Schaff and A. Gilman, Library of Religious Poetry, New York, 1886; D. Morrison, Great Hymns of the Church, London, 1890; W. A. Merrill, Latin Hymns Selected and Annotated, Boston, 1904; D. J. Donahoe, Early Christian Hymns; Translations of the Verses of the most notable Latin Writers of the Early and Middle Ages, New York, 1908.
On the hymnody of the Eastern Church consult: J. B. Pitra, Hymnographie de 1'églies grecque, Rome, 1867; E. Bouvy, Poètes et Mélodes. Etude sur les origines du rhythms tonique dans l'hymnographie de 1'église grecque, Nimes, 1886; J. M. Neale, Hymns of the Eastern Church, London, 1888; G. S. Barrett, The Earliest Christian Hymn, ib. 1897; R. M. Moorsom, Renderings of Church Hymns from Eastern Office Books, London, 1901; J. Brownlie, Hymns of the Eastern Church, Paisley, 1902.
On the hymns of the Latin Church consult: P. A. Schubiger, Die Sängerschule St. Gallens, 8.-12. Jahrhundert, New York, 1858; J. Pauly, Hymni breviarii Romani, 3 vols. Aachen, 1868-70; J. C. F. Bähr, Die chrislichen Dichter . . . Roms, Carlsruhe, 1872; S. G. Pimont, Les Hymnes du bréviaire romain, vols. i.-iii., Paris, 1874-84; K. A. Beck, Geschichte des katholischen Kirchenliedes von seinen ersten Anfängen, Cologne, 1878; S. W. Duffield, Latin Hymn Writers and their Hymns, New York, 1887; A. Devaux, De 1'Hymnologie latine, Lyon, 1890; M. Manitius, Geschichte der christlich-latinischen Poesis bit zur Mitte des 8. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart, 1891; C. U. J. Chevalier, Poésie liturgique du moyen dge, Paris, 1893; idem, Poésie liturgique de 1'eglis catholique en Occident, Tournai, 1894; A. Dechevrens, Du rhythms dans l'hymnographie latine, Paris, 1895; N. Spiegel, Untersuchungen über die altere thristliche Hymnenpoesie, 2 parts, Würzburg, 1896-97; C. Blume and G. M. Dreves, Hymnologische Beiträge. Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte der lateinischen Hymnendichtung, vols., i.-iii., Leipsic, 1897-1901; C. F. S. Warren, The Dies Irae, London, 1897; C. Albin, La Poésie du bréviare, vol. i., Lyons, 1899; F. Leitner, Der gottesdisnstliche Volksgesang im juadischen und christlichen Altertum, Freiburg, 1906.
On German hymnody: K. Severin Meister and W. Bäumker, Das katholische deutsche Kirchenlied . . . bis . . . 17. Jahrhundert, 2 vols., Freiburg, 1862-83; Catherine Winkworth, Christian Singers of Germany, London, 1869; idem, Lyra Germanica, new issue, ib. 1901; E. E. Koch, Geschichte des Kirchendieds . . . der deutsch-evangelischen Kirche, 6 vols., Stuttgart, 1866-72; O. Wetstein, Des deutsche Kirchenlied im 16.-18. Jahrhundert, Neuatrelitz, 1888; T. Odinga, Das deutsche Kirchenlied der Schweiz im Reformationsalter, Frauenfeld, 1889; P. Wolfrum, Du Entstehung des deutchen evangelischen Kirchenliedes in musikalischer Beziehung, Leipsic, 1890; R. Wolkan, Das Kirchenlied der Bömischen Brüder im 16. Jahrhunderte, Prague, 1891; R. von Liliencron, Zur Liederdichtung der Wiedertäufer, Prague, 1892; E. Wolff, Das deutsche Kirchenlied des 16.-17. Jahrhunderts, Stuttgart, 1894; J. Westphal, Das evangelische Kirchenlied nach seiner geschichtlichen Entwickelung, Leipsic, 1901; A. F. W. Fischer, Das deutsche evangelische Kirchenlied des 17. Jahrhunderts, 3 vols., Gütersloh, 1902-05; W. Nelle, Unsere Kirchenliederdichter, Hamburg, 1905.
On French hymnody: F. Bovet, Hist. du psautier des
églises reformées, NeuchAtel, 1872; O. Douen,
Clement
432
Marot et 1s peautier hugvenot, Paris, 1879; E. Levy, Po"iu
rdip:waas prosanpales et francaices, ib. 1887.
For Scandinavian hymnology consult: C. J. Brandt
and L. Helweg, Den dansks Psalmediptninp, 2 vols.; Copenhagen,
1848-47; J. N. Skaar, Norske Balmehistorie,
Bergen, 1879-80; C. J. Brandt~ Yore dansk Kirk,-Balme
boiler, Copenhagen, 1886; Klemming, Hymni et sequentia
in repno Suecia, vol: i., Hall% 1886; H. Sohfisk, Scenek
Litaraeurhistoria, vol: i., Stockholm, 1890.
On English and American hymnology (remembering that many of these volumes deal also with the hymns of the other branches of the Church) consult: J. C3adeby, Memoirs of the Hymn Writers of the 17th-l9th Centuries, London, 1861; C. D. Cleveland, Lyra sacra Americana, 2 vols., New York, 1868; J. C. Miller, Singers and Songs of the Church, London, 1869; H. Butterworth, Story of the Hymns, New York, 1875; E. F. Hatfield, Poets of the Church, ib. 1884; J. King, Anglican Hymnology, London, 1885; S. W. Duffield, English Hymns, New York, 1886; H. S. Burrage, Baptist Hymn Writers, Portland, Maine, 1888; H. A. (Sloes, Story of the Psalters, London, 1888; H. E. Lewis, Sweet Singers of Wales, ib. 1889; D. Morrison, Great Hymns of the Church, ib. 1890; A. Palmer, Hymns, their History and Development, ib. 1892 (comprehensive); S. W. Christopher, Hymn Writers and their Hymns, reissue, New York, 1898; W. (1. Horder, Hymn Loser: Rise and tirouth of English Hymnody, London, 1900 (of unusual excellence); D. B. Breed, Hiss and Use of Hymns and Hymn Tunes, Chicago, 1901; (3. A. Leask, Hymn Writers of the 18th Century, London, 1902; C. S. Nutter, Hymn Studies, reissue, New York, 1902 (based on the Methodist Hymnal); J. A. Jones, Famous Hymns and their Authors, ib. 1903; R. M. Moorsom, Historical Companion to Hymns Ancient and Modern, London, 1903; W. B. Bodine, Some Hymns and Hymn Writers, Philadelphia, 1908. Further literature may be found in Hauck-Herzog, RE, x. 399-438.
| Calvin College. Last modified on 08/11/06. Contact the CCEL. |  |