tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-207026712012-01-25T09:49:25.025ZWhy, oh why, do the editors of hymns books think that it is a good idea to try to 'improve' on the poetry of the original hymn writers and poets? And why, oh why, do churches buy new hymn books that have ruined the old hymns and substituted garbage for fine words?Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.comBlogger651100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-23963535740799820722012-01-24T12:25:00.002Z2012-01-24T12:25:39.037Z

Friends and followers may be interested in this hymnathon at St Michael and All Angel, Bedford Park: http://www.smaaa.org.uk/news_events/Hymnathon.html which has been brought to my attention by one of our followers. Since they are singing the whole of the New English Hymnal, it will include the editors' mishaps (as so often reported on this Blog) and omissions (occasionally also lamented here)

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-23614818355429553492011-04-03T21:47:00.003+01:002011-04-06T21:48:50.357+01:00

There is a hymn beginning "For Mary Mother of the Lord", which is set in the NEH (number 161) for the Annunciation (March 25th), though we sang it today because we were doing Mothering Sunday, it seems. This hymn was not known to me before I started going to a church afflicted with the New English Hymnal. It wasn't included in the English Hymnal. In fact there's only one place that I can find it

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-55034394485341662902011-03-20T21:13:00.004Z2011-03-30T23:17:46.894+01:00

There is a hymn that begins "My God I love thee not because" which has always been something of a source of amusement, because you can't exactly tell, by the end of the first line whether you are about to explain to God what exactly is the reason why you don't love him, or what exactly is not the reason why you love him. Indeed it is still unclear which is your intention, even when you've added

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-43111617111235878292009-01-02T22:33:00.006Z2009-12-28T11:27:35.475Z

The first line of that carol deserves a comment regarding grammar and punctuation.People comment on two things about it. First, that the word is always "you" and not "ye", and second, that there should be a comma after the word merry, not after the word you, so it goes God rest you merry,... Gentlemen, not God rest you, ... Merry Gentlemen.The two points are related.You is the accusative case of

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-73339833229776013702008-12-27T17:37:00.006Z2009-12-30T08:54:50.437Z

On Christmas morning I found myself singing (in the last line of the last verse of God Rest You Merry Gentlemen) "This holy tide of Christmas all other doth deface" but, realising that everyone round me was singing "all other doth efface", I felt rather stupid. Because, after all, Christmas doesn't deface things. (Well, it does but that can't be what the song is talking about). Momentarily, I

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-27785953372937950092008-12-01T21:29:00.002Z2008-12-01T21:43:00.848Z

A little flurry of messages from friends distressed by being presented with rubbish words at advent carol services round the world alerts me to the fact that the creeping habit of ignorant and offensive interference has now become so prevalent that even the words of things everyone knows off by heart are being messed up. Now what is the point of that? If people really know the words by heart,

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-67726264661458650072008-11-17T22:01:00.006Z2008-11-24T11:23:32.279Z

"In Christ there is no East or West" is one of the hymns that was not included in the English Hymnal but has made an entrance into the New English Hymnal, having become popular by way of Songs of Praise, Hymns A & M New Standard, and a few other twentieth century books. Or at least a bit of it has got into the New English Hymnal, mutilated but not quite so badly mutilated as in some other

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-80887426011342368072008-05-01T22:50:00.004+01:002008-05-04T20:38:00.169+01:00

So, the Dean of Southwark has banned the use of the William Blake Hymn "And did those feet..." from Southwark Cathedral. Time, it seems, to write a protest in defence of that great hymn on this Blog. The campaign is, of course, not helped by the rather ill-informed and badly written article by Julian Lloyd Webber in the Daily Telegraph.Here are my thoughts:Sadly, William Blake's great mystical

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-20050195166495358692008-02-17T18:08:00.010Z2008-02-18T16:30:15.726Z

This year, unusually, I was at Little St Mary's on Ash Wednesday, and we sang the hymn that begins "It is a thing most wonderful". Unfortunately we sang the badly corrupted version of it that appears in the New English Hymnal, so I was not sure whether to be delighted (because it's one of my favourite hymns that I first learnt at Little St Mary's in the good old days before they burned their

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-18791700863327528702008-01-01T18:26:00.000Z2008-01-03T14:15:51.939Z

A year ago I promised that I would one day write a bit about "Conquering Kings their Titles Take" which is one of the two hymns for the circumcision/naming of Jesus that is missing from the New English Hymnal. Today seems a suitable day to do so (since I did the other one last year).Here's how it goes in the Latin (Anonymous Latin of the eighteenth century, from the Paris Breviary of 1736, now

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-84015170433105405132007-12-23T14:00:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:22:15.800Z

There are many Advent hymns that remain to be written about. It so happens that Advent tends to be a busy time and I don't get round to writing about them. Here's one that we sang this morning:Hark a herald voice is calling; "Christ is nigh" it seems to say.It's a translation by E. Caswall from the Latin sixth century original Vox clara ecce intonat. Or rather, the translation by Caswall was what

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-91542672612502074052007-10-28T14:48:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:12:29.714Z

In the English Hymnal there was an excellent hymn for the feast of St Simon and St Jude (October 28th). It's by J. Ellerton and begins "Thou who sentest thine apostles two and two before thy face...". Sung to Brintyrion (in the EH) or alternatively Oriel vel sim, it is (as far as I can see) unexceptionable, indeed perfectly fine.For some reason this has been banished from the New English Hymnal.

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-3432400061272731712007-08-05T21:33:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:14:13.329Z

A hymn starting "Christ is the King, O friends rejoice" was written by Bishop George Bell in 1931 for Songs of Praise. It doesn't appear in the English Hymnal—naturally since that preceded Songs of Praise.However, I doubt many people know it in the original form in which it appeared in Songs of Praise. What we sing from the New English Hymnal bears rather little relation to it and clearly some

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-90622778273161985592007-08-04T21:21:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:14:52.215Z

This is the second line of the hymn by Francis Potts that begins "Angel voices ever singing round thy throne of light."Robin pointed out the day before yesterday that although angel voices sing, it doesn't seem that harps ring. The bells in heaven ring, that's for sure. But do harps ring?This hymn calls for some emendation. My proposal is "Angel harps for ever pinging..."Annie says harps don't

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-55187994397033612652007-07-01T15:52:00.001+01:002010-11-20T22:00:21.114Z

I have fond memories of the hymn "Children of the Heavenly King". I first learnt it at LSM in the days when we still had the English Hymnal and sang real hymns as they should be sung. It's a wonderful hymn for singing on journeys, and it particularly takes me back to a rather peculiar holiday we had in Cornwall with Rowan Williams and Jane and their baby Rhiannon. They had a car, we didn't; so

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-3231204703320379242007-06-24T16:29:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:28:10.860Z

There's a famous hymn for the feast of St John the Baptist, written by Paul the Deacon in the 8th Century A.D., which begins "Ut queant laxis resonare fibris".It's famous mainly because it is the origin of the names ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la to name the notes of the musical scale (the plainsong tune to this hymn, which, alas, we did not sing this morning, starts on the tonic with the word "ut", and

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-58619436459443867682007-05-20T18:19:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:24:07.417Z

More on Bishop William Walsham How. Last week was Rogation Sunday and we sang another of WW How's not very how hymns (see last post for the background on Bishop How). It begins 'To thee our God we fly" and according to the New English Hymnal it is for Rogationtide.According to the English Hymnal it was under the category "National". There it lived with hymns such as Kipling's "God of our fathers

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-20222585597093567482007-05-13T15:03:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:24:38.416Z

A while back I did a post on "Who is this with garments gory" wherein I promised to say something about the hymn whose first line is in the title of this post. Here I am, and here I am going to say something."Who is this so weak and helpless" is a hymn by Bishop William Walsham How 1823-97. Now I've got nothing against Bishop W. W. How, but he does bear responsibility for a number of fairly awful

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-35307482213489864452007-04-22T21:32:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:28:10.862Z

Tonight's office hymn was "The lamb's high banquet we await". The translation is by J.M. Neale but has been substantially altered at various points in the New English Hymnal.I think the one that most annoys me is the fact that they have changed "and tasting of his roseate Blood" to "and tasting of his precious Blood".Now why do that?The original in the Latin is sed et cruorem roseumgustando, Dei

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-74896462567917175832007-04-06T16:55:00.000+01:002007-04-06T16:59:45.900+01:00

Nice to discover a little appreciative mention of this Blog on the History Carnival hosted this month by Mary Beard. Find it here.

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-43013432939801585852007-04-06T16:49:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:26:39.399Z

Another thing missing from the Palm Sunday experience as I remember it at LSM in Fr James Owen's days is the magnificent hymn "Who is this with garments gory, triumphing on Bozrah's way?". It's surprising it's taken me so long to get round to writing about this one, since it's a special favourite of mine. I've just scoured various old floppy disks and aged computers to see if I could discover

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-79752262615286622752007-04-01T18:44:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:27:32.745Z

Many years ago when I was a student and later when I was a research fellow and a young mum in Cambridge, we used to go to LSM when not at King's Chapel or wherever else, and every year on Palm Sunday there was a procession from Laundress Green to LSM. That's still true, but what are no longer there are some hymns of which I have particularly fond memories.Today's subject is "Come Faithful People

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-35161315840579226862007-03-24T20:06:00.000Z2008-01-01T20:28:10.864Z

When we went to sing evensong at Bury St Edmunds one of the hymns prescribed for the service was "The Royal Banners Forward Go". There was a great to-do among us the visiting choir "because," (said some) "they've added two verses which aren't normally there."Well I think the truth is this (though I've lost the service sheet so I'm not absolutely sure). It's not that they'd added two verses. It's

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-90990280857382413732007-02-24T14:47:00.000Z2008-01-01T20:28:10.865Z

Last Sunday I was a bit surprised to find that the office hymn set for Evensong was O Lux beata Trinitas (O Trinity of Blessed Light). It appears in the New English Hymnal as the office hymn for the period from Epiphany to Lent. This struck me as odd, since I felt sure that we used to sing it in the summer, in Trinity season; but the book said so, so I didn't complain.I was also troubled to see

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-76613796266509689812007-02-11T15:31:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:30:13.840Z

I thought it worth observing, briefly, that the hymn "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" has seven verses in the English Hymnal (three of them starred) and only six verses in the New English Hymnal (two of them starred) and that the origin of the starred verses is something of a mystery.The hymn is (purports to be) a translation of Lobe den Herren, a German hymn published in 1680 in A und Ω Glaub-

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-39902405214433461342007-01-27T11:56:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:30:50.603Z

A hymn by Jean Baptiste de Santeuil (1630-97):Supreme quales arbiterTibi ministros eligis,Tuas opes qui vilibusVasis amas committere.Haec nempe plena lumineTu vasa frangi praecipis;Lux inde magna rumpitur,Ceu nube scissa fulgura.Totum per orbem nuntiiNubes velut citi volant:Verbo graves, Verbo DeoTonant, soruscant, perpluunt.Christum sonant: versae ruuntArces superbae daemonum;Circum tubis

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-73744933373473694102007-01-01T14:38:00.000Z2008-01-01T18:29:13.035Z

Some hymns just get left out of the new hymn books, not always with justice.There's a hymn set in the English Hymnal for the feast of the Circumcision, which I don't think I've ever sung in Church. Its first line is "O happy day when first was poured..."The fact that I've never sung it in Church might have something to do with the fact that no one used to go to Church on New Year's Day until the

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-42935483422309615862006-12-31T20:55:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:32:55.187Z

In the English Hymnal, in the children's section called At catechism, there is a hymn that begins "Once in Royal David's City...". It's become rather well known as a result of the fact that it's sung at the beginning of the Nine Lessons and Carols from King's on Christmas Eve every year [prompt for another rant, about the fraudulent service put out on TV on Christmas Eve under the description "

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-82888747235224164962006-12-27T21:36:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:33:34.502Z

The English Hymnal didn't have Charles Edward Oakley's hymn "Hills of the North Rejoice" in it.Nor does the New English Hymnal have it.But the New English Hymnal has a kind of fraudulent version that is apt to catch you unawares. There's a hymn in that book that begins "Hills of the North Rejoice" and if you're not on your guard, you'll think you're going to be lucky, when hymn 7 is announced,

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1165785273637319382006-12-10T20:45:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:34:04.917Z

Last week we sang "Ye servants of the Lord". It's number 18, in the advent section of the NEH.Double dagger, however.That's because the words which were written by Philip Doddridge in the eighteenth century are no longer presented in their original form."Each in his office wait" has been changed to "Each for your master wait". I guess there are two reasons. One is that it sounds as if we all work

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1162745555786391192006-11-05T16:19:00.000Z2007-12-23T17:35:48.000Z

Ah lovely words, how they capture the true agony and all the gory details of the lives and deaths of the saints we celebrate around this time!How could anyone think that the hymn "Hark the sound of holy voices" is better without these graphic images? It beats me.But these are, I am afraid, among the many wonderful things that we have lost in the so-called "progess" of changing to the New English

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1159736182030901272006-10-01T21:43:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:37:01.464Z

Today was what passes for Harvest Thanksgiving at Little St Mary's. Thankfully not too much of it.We did sing some of those jolly hymns about how we plough the fields and scatter the seed (singing this hymn is the nearest I've ever got to actually ploughing any fields, and I don't suppose many of the rest of the congregation do these things very often either, but I'm sure the 'we' there is

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1159735286672088592006-10-01T21:27:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:37:35.374Z

Friday was Michaelmas day. At the sung mass we had a number of wonderful angelic hymns, lots of my favourites.Among them was NEH 343, Bright the Vision that Delighted.This hymn is by Richard Mant (or at least it once was). The NEH hasn't put a dagger on it, but it's not as it should be.The problem is in verse 5. Here's what it should say:With his seraph train before him,With his holy Church

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1157294362374585912006-09-03T14:45:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:38:16.496Z

I wasn't in Church at the Gradual Hymn today, because I was out in the parish room catechising the children. But if I had been in Church I would have had to sing hymn 318 in the New English Hymnal.Hymn 318 begins "My God accept my heart this day and make it always thine..."According to the New English Hymnal it is by "Matthew Bridges and EDITORS."Matthew Bridges lived in the 19th Century (1800-

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1156077382488434492006-08-20T13:34:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:40:46.720Z

The hymn From glory to glory advancing we praise thee, O Lord is a translation into English (or perhaps rather a paraphrase) from the Greek, of a prayer from the Liturgy of St James. The Liturgy of St James is an ancient liturgy of the Orthodox Churches, relatively rare (in most places it is celebrated only on St James's day). Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the Greek text to hand (I'd need

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1154291966249261352006-07-30T20:59:00.000+01:002008-01-20T15:26:54.404Z

On Tuesday, which was St James's day, we sang a hymn (number 228 in the New English Hymnal) which begins "Jerusalem thou city blest".The words, according to the foot of the page, are by the EDITORS.In the English Hymnal there was a hymn in three parts with 26 verses, for a saint's day procession, which began "Jerusalem my happy home." It seems clear that the NEH editors were trying to model their

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1150667146600449102006-06-18T22:45:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:44:34.660Z

St Barnabas's day was June 11th. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get round to finishing this post, but I started it some time after the day in question (because I'd forgotten about it, and then I had to put it aside due to other things, and since then I've been away).The New English Hymnal provides a hymn for St Barnabas, which begins "The 'Son of Consolation', St Barnabas the good". We sang

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1150667011573713142006-06-18T21:36:00.000+01:002007-12-23T17:45:09.903Z

On Thursday, which was Corpus Christi, we sang All for Jesus, All for Jesus.It's a splendid catholic hymn (or was), which comes from Stainer's Crucifixion. The words are (or were) by W.J. Sparrow-Simpson. It wasn't in the English Hymnal, but a version of it is in the New English Hymnal.Here's how it should go:All for Jesus—all for Jesus,this our song shall ever be;for we have no hope, nor Saviour

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1149447012311355892006-06-04T19:39:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:37:43.421Z

I noticed this morning again, looking at hymn 421 "O King Enthroned on High", that the NEH doesn't give the Greek for the first line of hymns translated from the Greek, as the EH used to do.It does for Latin, but not for Greek. Not for Syriac either, nor Slavonic, nor Irish, nor Welsh. Since the Welsh wouldn't involve a funny script, it's presumably not for reasons of typesetting. So why?Dumbing

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1149444883332301052006-06-04T18:36:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:35:31.993Z

Yet another preacher after my own heart!Today we had a sermon from the Revd Canon Donald Gray (Canon Emeritus of Westminster and former Speaker's Chaplain).It being Whitsun we'd been singing the Whitsun hymns, including Veni Sancte Spiritus, aka the Golden Sequence, which appears in the New English Hymnal at 139 and also at 520 where it has its proper plainsong tune (pity we didn't sing that if

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1148824551292919272006-05-28T14:52:00.001+01:002009-11-06T16:17:34.161Z

Please join in the discussion of the English Hymnal on the Radio Three message board by clicking the link on the title of this post.

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1148235484868349252006-05-21T18:45:00.000+01:002007-12-23T18:13:07.998Z

Today we sang Judge Eternal, Throned in Splendour. It's one of the hymns that has suffered at the hands of misguided political correctness, with rather unfortunate effects.The hymn was written in 1902 by Henry Scott Holland. He was not just a committed Christian Socialist but also an academic theologian, and at the end of his life was Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford from 1910 until his

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1147777002445602652006-05-16T11:53:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:40:15.644Z

This 21st century updated version of "The day thou gavest" is by Amy Robinson, passed on to me by Annie Osborne.EVENING HYMNThe day thou gavest, Lord, is endedThe darkness falls at thy behestTo thee my morning prayers should have ascendedBut I was grumpy and sleepy and stressed.I'm sorry, Lord, that I have stumbledThrough today without your word; And any prayer I might have mumbledI'd be

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1147623966449249142006-05-14T17:16:00.000+01:002006-05-17T18:19:24.976+01:00

Well I said this blog is about other sad tales as well... Today's entry is not about the damage done to hymn books but about baptism.Baptism is the rite of initiation into the Church. It involves the believer making a commitment, the basic minimum commitment that counts for making you a Christian. To mark that commitment the person is baptised, with water, in the name of the three persons of the

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1145817453664745062006-04-23T18:34:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:38:45.157Z

The English Hymnal included three of the four versions of the hymn Salve festa dies, one for Easter, one for Ascension, one for Whitsun. They were provided separately, though there was one common verse repeated in the first two hymns. The fourth hymn, for Corpus Christi, is apparently not included in any of our current hymn books and was not included in the English Hymnal.The New English Hymnal

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1145295075318092122006-04-17T17:13:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:43:09.776Z

Now is eternal life If risen with Christ we stand...Words by Canon George Wallace Briggs, scholar of Emmanuel College Cambridge and sometime vicar of St Andrew's Church in Norwich, in the which parish I am one of only ten residents. Twentieth Century hymn writer, lived from 1875-1959.Well I'm puzzled by this hymn. It turns out not to be in the English Hymnal (not surprisingly I suppose since the

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1144002468996875402006-04-02T19:14:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:48:38.441Z

Ian Robins observed to me today that the New English Hymnal has a mistake in the Latin at the headings of both the Pange Lingua hymns.That is Hymn 78 (Sing my tongue the glorious battle) is headed pangue lingua gloriosi proelium certaminisand hymn 268 (Of the glorious body telling) is headed pangue lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium.Since when was the verb pangere (to compose or write verses)

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1143967434607517702006-04-02T09:39:00.000+01:002008-01-01T20:49:52.767Z

Frederick W Faber, 1814-63 was a follower of John Henry Newman, who converted to Roman Catholicism in 1846. He published Souls of men why will ye scatter (a hymn of 13 verses, one of which begins "There's a wideness in God's mercy") in his collection Oratory Hymns of 1854.Here are the 13 verses. I am unsure of the original order but I think it's correct here up to about verse 6.1 Souls of men!

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1143879353252467142006-04-01T09:13:00.000+01:002006-04-01T09:15:53.270+01:00

Apologies for the lackof a blog entry so far this week. The cause is partly Mothering Sunday duties, together with excessive pressure of work and not yet having located any information about "There's a wideness in God's mercy" (nor much information about the content of Mark's sermon).Any reports from my readers of the gist of Mark's sermon would be most welcome.

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1142808524085752632006-03-19T22:40:00.001Z2010-05-15T10:47:26.347+01:00

I forgot to mention the tunes.I've discovered tunes as follows that must have been specially written for this hymn:Wrestling Jacob by SS Wesley at Public School Hymn book 363 tune 2Peniel by Josiah Booth at Congregational Hymnal 400Jabbok by Cyril V. Taylor at BBC hymn book hymn 4I deduce from the names that all of these were designed to suit this hymn. Of the three I think Jabbok the best. The

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1142781933164883062006-03-19T15:18:00.000Z2008-01-01T21:07:01.770Z

Once again I missed the sermon this morning because I was catechising the children, but I gather that even after the sermon there's a lot more to be explored in the Wrestling Jacob hymn—indeed far more than could be covered in a sermon and probably more than I can put into a short blog commentary. I hope you'll agree (by the time we get to the end of today's entry) that it's not entirely

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1142191229395193112006-03-12T18:29:00.001Z2010-02-06T20:58:13.060Z

Unfortunately I missed the sermon on this hymn today (and I missed singing the hymn) because I was instructing the children in the parish room. So forgive me if what I say here betrays ignorance of what was said in the pulpit.There's nothing wrong with this hymn in the New English Hymnal (thankfully) but in the absence of any horrors to report about that book today I thought I might say a bit

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1141582719026070982006-03-05T18:12:00.000Z2008-01-01T20:56:21.409Z

The first sunday in Lent wouldn't be the first sunday in Lent if we didn't have Forty days and forty nights on the hymn list. And this year, being the year of Mark in the Lectionary, it fits quite well, with its emphasis on Christ's superhuman fasting and endurance during his period in the Wilderness, rather than on the more human side of the temptations that we were looking at in connection with

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1141041579804614042006-02-27T11:41:00.000Z2008-01-01T21:07:45.163Z

Rather than re-write what I wrote yesterday, I might as well add this observation separately. It struck me as I was shutting down my computer last night that I'd missed the most obvious piece of incompetence on the part of the NEH editors, the one that will really make you laugh (or squirm). How's this for poetry? Compare these two quatrains:(a) verse 3 of NEH 438Praise to God whose Word

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1140989549190905332006-02-26T21:06:00.000Z2008-01-01T20:58:23.786Z

Annie e-mailed me today to observe that she (and the Selwyn choir) had been singing in Peterborough yesterday and had encountered a hymn she didn't know, number 438 in the New English Hymnal.The hymn (whose first line is "Praise to God whose word was spoken") is set to St Raphael in the NEH. The metre is 87 87 47 (same metre as Cwm Rhondda). Selwyn choir were agreed (I gather) that they liked the

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1140385588371254582006-02-19T21:34:00.000Z2008-01-01T21:08:39.427Z

Today was a good day for hymns with very little noticeable interference from the editors as far as I could see.However, there was a single dagger on the hymn "Come let us join our cheerful songs" so I thought I'd better look it up and see what had been changed there. Actually I can't see that they've done anything except leave out one of Isaac Watts's original verses (there were once five but we

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1139771079625403242006-02-12T17:51:00.000Z2008-01-20T15:06:45.271Z

Today's hymn is not quite the usual story.When Percy Dearmer and his companions were inventing the English Hymnal in 1906, they included a version of the poem "Who would true valour see" from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Prior to the English Hymnal no one had used Bunyan's poem as a hymn. It didn't appear in Hymns Ancient and Modern until the second supplement of 1916, ten years after the

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1139334222293975962006-02-07T17:42:00.000Z2006-02-08T11:02:58.820Z

James has a brief disquisition on the hymn "The Lord is come! In every heart" and there are some replies and comments on his livejournal post here.

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1139333697505127482006-02-07T17:20:00.000Z2006-02-08T10:57:25.583Z

Since I circulated news of this Blog to the LSM social mailing list I've had a couple of responses by e-mail. Here are some extracts from the e-mails.Michael Waring writes (from Pauanui in New Zealand)Thanks for your email and the link to your blog which I read with interest here in my Godless bit of paradise. I sympathise greatly with what you say, and rather regret that I probably won't be

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1139155710412490082006-02-05T15:44:00.000Z2008-01-20T15:07:55.488Z

"Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go" is one of the best hymns in the book. Better still in partnership with Gibbons's lovely tune (Angel's Song) which has a particularly interesting structure: a change of time signature that speeds it up from a stately 4/4 in the first line, to some kind of skipping triple time (or better still, one in a bar) for the last three lines. And then there's a dramatic

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1138560484127094732006-01-29T18:17:00.000Z2008-01-20T15:09:29.601Z

Here's another hymn we sang two weeks ago: "Jesus calls us! O'er the tumult Of our life's wild restless sea..."In the New English Hymnal it has a single dagger, meaning that some small change has been made to the author's original. The words are by Mrs C.F. Alexander, and were originally written in 1852. I'm not quite sure what the dagger is for. It might be for the punctuation in the first line.

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1137946561207719462006-01-22T15:58:00.000Z2008-01-20T15:10:10.357Z

There's a superb Epiphany hymn written in 1821 by James Montgomery (1771-1854) that begins "Hail to the Lord's Anointed". We should have sung it last week (which was the second sunday of Epiphany), and, indeed, we did sing some of it: those verses of it that have survived into the New English Hymnal. There were eight verses in the original hymn. They'd already been hacked about in most hymn books

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1137421699345411672006-01-16T14:25:00.000Z2006-01-16T14:28:55.786Z

http://www.livejournal.com/users/jy100/2005/12/05/

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1137360968967878582006-01-15T21:25:00.000Z2008-01-20T15:24:31.582Z

Today was a bad day for bowdlerised hymns.Let's begin with 'lone and dreary, faint and weary, through the desert thou didst go'.This is perhaps the greatest scandal in the New English Hymnal, and one that it seems to be curiously proud of: the editors have excised these wonderful words from one of our best loved hymns, 'Lead us heavenly father lead us', by James Edmeston (1791-1867).In their

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20702671.post-1136756055426754772006-01-08T21:27:00.000Z2006-01-16T22:25:42.036Z

Why, oh why, do the editors of hymns books think that it is a good idea to try to 'improve' on the poetry of the original hymn writers and poets? And why, oh why, do churches buy new hymn books that have ruined the old hymns and substituted garbage for fine words?Some time, when I feel strong enough to face up to the enormity of the situation, I shall start sharing some of the sad cases in the

Catherine Rowetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15356313351798903675noreply@blogger.com1