blog.sinden.org

Lent, 2024

15 July 2015
new worlds - thousands of

Maurice Bevan wrote the hymn tune CORVEDALE (published by Cathedral Music) expressly for the hymn "There's a wideness in God's mercy".

A close reading of the hymn, by Frederick William Faber, reveals the following stanza that is not included in The Hymnal 1982.

There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.

This image of new, ongoing creation is a vital one and is complementary to the very "wideness" of the mercy under discussion. If God's mercy truly is wide, it is not limited to this world of even this universe.

This kind of new creation imagery also takes root in Robert Bridges's famous hymn "All my hope on God is founded" at stanza three.

God's great goodness aye endureth,
deep his wisdom, passing thought:
splendor, light and life attend him,
beauty springeth out of naught.
Evermore 
from his store
newborn worlds rise and adore.

And another hymn has an opening line that acknowledges the creative drive of God: "The great Creator of the worlds". It is a significant but oft overlooked plural. These words come from the Epistle to Diogentus, c. 150, and are translated F. Bland Tucker for the 1982 Hymnal.

Labels: , , , ,

 
08 July 2015
photos - hymnal
Two photos of hymnals from my collection that should have been used to illustrate yesterday's article. 


Confusingly, the 1916 Hymnal of the Episcopal Church was called the "New Hymnal". My copy is anything but. 


This copy of the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 was given to me when I was installed as the organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia in 2010. This book belonged to Raymond F. Glover, who served as general editor of this hymnal beginning in 1980. Immediately prior to this he too served as organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's, Richmond. He was appointed in 1969. 

Labels: , , , ,

 
07 July 2015
2024 - Hymnal

The 1982 hymnal is now 33 years old, and language, musical taste and theological emphasis has changed profoundly over those years.

So begins the "Explanation" section of resolution D060 of the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church which wrapped up in Salt Lake City this past weekend.

Judging books by their covers

When I was walking into Episcopal chapels and churches for the first time as a high schooler (occupational hazard for a young organist) I did notice the name of the hymnal, and I thought it was a bit odd -- it was strange and too specific.

I remembered well the lovely blue hymnals that the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) produced in 1990. The color, logo, gold embossing -- they were new, yet timeless. They were a welcome update to the dusty maroon The Hymnbook that had littered the pews since 1955. Thirty-five years seemed a decent time to wait for that nice, classic update. But unless you were there for that, you wouldn't really know from the cover of the hymnal when it came out.

In the Episcopal Church the date is stamped right there on the cover.

First there's the definite article, then there's a description of the what the book is, and then there's a year: 1982.

But here's the thing about that date on the cover: that's when General Convention approved the texts of the book, not it's publication date. Even before that 1982 gathering, the chair of the hymnal committee, Raymond F. Glover, knew that it would take more time to finalize and publish the book.

it will take the Commission another three years to prepare music editions. Clover [sic] said he foresees publication of pew and accompaniment editions by the Church Hymnal Corporation late in 1985.

Proposed Texts for Revised Hymnal Submitted, Episcopal News Service, 23 July 1982

And wouldn't you know it, he was right! The book bears a copyright date of 1985.

Finding ourselves in the Hymnal

Less than a month after this report from the Episcopal News Service, I was born. So I guess you could say I've grown up with this hymnal, even though I didn't know it very well until I started working with it regularly at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Lakewood, Ohio in 2002.

But boy do I love this hymnal. Let me count the ways.

There are beautiful Anglican hymns which I've also sung in other traditions. But in the context of Episcopal worship and use of the The Hymnal 1982 I understood them as the cornerstone of a great, living hymn culture. From the rising lines of "When morning guilds the skies," to the stately "Praise, my soul, the king of heaven," and the sublime "Come, labor on." Then I found the early American strands: "What wondrous love is this," the startlingly beautiful tune RESIGNATION ("My Shepherd will supply my need"), and the rustic, dry, pentatonic liquidity of BOURBON (found at hymns 147 and 675). There are twentieth century tunes, including those by Herbert Howells (MICHAEL and SANCTA CIVITAS) and Calvin Hampton (ST. HELENA, and DE TAR). There are really modern twentieth century tunes, like those of William Albright (PETRUS, ARBOR STREET, and the self referential ALBRIGHT). And some of the service music -- I'm looking at you Richard Felciano -- is almost post-modern.

But I digress. Which is easy to do. There's so much in this book -- 720 hymns, and that doesn't include the Service Music (or the Service Music Appendix, which is only in the accompaniment edition!). I know that we all have our favorites, and I suspect all of my church music colleagues have had great joy in discovering something new in this book.

We find ourselves in this hymnal while we lose ourselves in it. As Thomas Merton said, "art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

There's plenty of time to talk about this hymnal. It's not going anywhere.

My point is that the more I dove into this book and the more I learned about the Anglican tradition -- it's scriptures (both biblical and non-), traditions, and reasons -- the more this book made sense. And as I worked in the church, I found that I could make more and more sense with the resources of this hymnal within the liturgy.

A Revisionist's Rationale

So let's circle back around to the Explanation for resolution D060, the resolution to Establish a Process for the Revision of the Hymnal 1982 that just passed at General Convention 2015.

The 1982 hymnal is now 33 years old, and language, musical taste and theological emphasis has changed profoundly over those years.

Well, I am the same age as the hymnal.

I think this Explanation based on language, taste, and theology just begins way out in left field.

Couple this with the fact that a recent survey conducted by the Church Pension Group revealed that most people do not want hymnal revision.

I think the case for revision can be made, but I don't get it from the text of the resolution.

A Realistic Rationale

And yet, perhaps we just need to own up to the fact that the time has come to revise our hymnal. And one of the reasons may as plain as the light of the "day of radiant gladness". We stamped the date "1982" on the cover of this thing, so it was already "three years old" when it hit the pew racks in 1985. (The 1940 does not bear a date on it's cover.)

Let's look at all the dates for a moment, given that all Episcopal hymnals have an official "year".
Year of Hymnal Number of years since previous revision
1789 n/a
1826 37
1871 45
1892 21
1916 24
1940 24
1982 42
"2024" 42

The average time that has elapsed between revisions is 32.167 years.

If we take the 42 years that elapsed between the 1940 and the 1982 as a modern model for revision, we would expect to see The Hymnal 2024.

The only time that the Episcopal Church has waited longer to revise was between the 1826 and 1871 hymnals.

One could look at these numbers, and the absence of an all out civil war at present, and suggest that it is high time we do this!

Since we're only coming up with a plan now, however, a plan that would be authorized at the General Convention of 2018 in Austin, Texas, and it may well be that we would take at least until 2027 to approve the book (and maybe publish it around 2030?).

Turning the Page

And so, even though we all have intensely strong feelings about this -- Lord knows I do! -- we press onward with our hymnal revision process.

This is a good thing. The benefit of hindsight lets us see the outliers in The Hymnal 1940, and with some conversation and discernment, I trust that the "Hymnal 2024" committee will also be able see those things that have not stood up well in the current book.

A note on music: I don't think that tastes have radically changed since 1982. I do think, as in the 1940 hymnal, some things made it in to the 1982 hymnal that were a bit more "fashionable" at the time than they are now. But there are some of these more "fashionable" things that, in my judgement, transcend their time period. This is called craftsmanship, and it's something to which all composers aspire.

Words: poetry must reign here. I think the Presbyterians, and to a greater extent the United Church of Christ, erred too much with their push toward "politically correct" hymnody.

I would have my suggestions for hymns in the new book. One might be the possibility that we include a little-known Howells tune for a well-known Advent hymn (and maybe even think about moving it to the Advent section of the book!). There are plenty of things we could borrow from Anglican currents and other more ecumenical eddies. A prime hope of mine is disseminating among the wider church the metaphysical text "How shall I sing that majesty" to the powerful COE FEN.

But the real joy in this revision process will be not what we leave behind, but what we discover. Just ask Bruce Neswick how old he was when he contributed his sweeping key-changer TOMTER to the 1982 collection. Will it be preserved in the new book? Perhaps, perhaps not. But we can be quite sure we will find something just as good that we've never sung before.

This post has been corrected because there is no P in TOMTER.

Labels: , , , , , , , ,

 

©MMXVII Sinden.org: a site for fun and prophet

Organ and church music, esoteric liturgics, and a site that changes color with the liturgical year.

Archetypes

Looking for Carol Spreadsheets?

Hungry? Try the Liturgical Guide to Altoids Consumption

Thirsty? Try the Tibia Liquida

The Eric Harding Thiman Fan Page: The greatest composer you've never even heard of.

Infrequently Asked Questions

picture of a chicken

Questions? Problems? email the sexton.

Archon

The author of this website is an organist whom the New York Times calls “repeatedly, insisting that he pay for his subscription”. He likes to read parking meters, music, Indianapolis Monthly, and weather forecasts in Celsius, particularly whilst wearing cassock and surplice. He serves lasagna, overhand, as an example to many, and on ecclesiastical juries. He mixes salads, drinks, and metaphors. He takes photos, lots of dinner mints, and a little bit of time to get to know.

about

contact

Archbishops

Anglicans Online
Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise
Book of Common Prayer
Brain Pickings
The Daily Office
The Lectionary Page
Sed Angli
Ship of Fools
The Sub-Dean's Stall
Vested Interest - Trinity Church in the City of Boston

Archenemies

Andrew Kotylo - Concert Organist
Aphaeresis
Anne Timberlake
Bonnie Whiting, percussion
conjectural navel gazing: jesus in lint form
Friday Night Organ Pump
Halbert Gober Organs, Inc.
in time of daffodils
Joby Bell, organist
Musical Perceptions
Musings of a Synesthete
My Life as Style, Condition, Commodity.
Nathan Medley, Countertenor
Notes on Music & Liturgy
The Parker Quartet
Roof Crashers & Hem Grabbers
Steven Rickards
That Which We Have Heard & Known
This Side of Lost
Wayward Sisters
Zachary Wadsworth | composer

Archenemies Aviary

@DanAhlgren
@dcrean
@ericthebell
@jwombat
@larrydeveney
@nmedley
@samanthaklein
@sopranist
@voxinferior

Arches

Advent (Medfield MA)
All Saints, Ashmont (Boston MA)
All Saints (Indianapolis IN)
Atonement (Bronx NY)
Broadway UMC (Indianapolis IN)
Cathedral of All Saints (Albany NY)
Christ Church (Bronxville NY)
Christ Church (Madison IN)
Christ Church (New Haven CT)
Christ Church Cathedral (Indianapolis IN)
Christ's Church (Rye NY)
Church of St. Stephen (Hamden CT)
Congregational (Belmont CA)
Coventry Cathedral (UK)
First UMC (Lancaster SC)
Gloria Dei ELCA (Iowa City IA)
Immanuel Lutheran (St Paul MN)
Immanuel Lutheran (Webster NY)
John Knox PCUSA (Houston TX)
St Andrew (Marblehead MA)
St Andrew's, Oregon Hill (Richmond VA)
St Bartholomew the Great, (London, England)
St James's (Lake Delaware NY)
St James's (Richmond VA)
St James Cathedral (Chicago IL)
St Mary's Cathedral (Memphis TN)
St Matthew and St Timothy (NYC)
St Paul's (Cleveland Heights OH)
St Paul's (Indianapolis IN)
St Paul's Cathedral (Buffalo NY)
St Paul's, K Street (Washington DC)
St Peter's (Lakewood OH)
St Peter's ELCA (NYC)
St Stephen's (Richmond VA
St Thomas (New Haven CT)
St Thomas ELCA (Bloomington IN)
Second PCUSA (Indianapolis IN)
Towson Presbyterian Church (MD)
Tremont Temple Baptist (Boston MA)
Trinity (Indianapolis IN)
Trinity on the Green (New Haven CT)

Auraling

BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong
New College (Oxford, England)
St John's College (Cambridge, England)
St Thomas (New York NY)

Argyle

Like the site? Buy the shirt.

Areyou . . .

selling diphthongs?
Yes, but they're not the kind you buy on Wheel of Fortune.

the owner of a bower at Bucklesfordberry?
Full daintily it is dight.

interested in touch lamps?
And fountain pens.

Archives
this site used to be better:

March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
December 2012
January 2013
March 2013
April 2013
May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
November 2013
December 2013
January 2014
February 2014
March 2014
April 2014
May 2014
June 2014
August 2014
September 2014
October 2014
November 2014
December 2014
January 2015
February 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
October 2015
November 2015
December 2015
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
April 2016
June 2016
July 2016
August 2016
September 2016
October 2016
November 2016
December 2016
January 2017
February 2017
March 2017
April 2017
May 2017
June 2017
July 2017
August 2017
September 2017
October 2017
November 2017
December 2017
January 2018
February 2018
March 2018
April 2018
May 2018
June 2018
August 2018
September 2018
October 2018
December 2018
February 2019
March 2019
October 2019
December 2019
September 2020
December 2020
January 2021
September 2021
October 2021
December 2021
November 2022
December 2022
March 2023
July 2023
March 2024