Hymns

On Hymns, Hymnals and Hymn Singing

(Notes from Laura Toland)

Adversity Can Bring a Blessing - From the Bulletin Insert, April 2, 2006

The stories of the lives behind our hymns can be quite fascinating. When Pastor Rich gave me the hymns earlier this week, I decided to investigate #384 (O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go). The author of this text was Scottish minister George Matheson, who became blind during his college days. Fortunately, he was blessed with a photographic mind, and he was able to dictate his sermons to his sister, listen to her read it twice, and then preach it word for word. One Sunday in 1880, he drew a blank and had to preach his first extemporaneous sermon. This changed the course of his life, and he became one of the great preachers of the century, summoned even by Queen Victoria. In June 1882, alone in his study, he had a bout of “severe mental suffering”, to which Rev. Matheson responded by writing a hymn text. He later said that “some inward voice” seemed to dictate the lines, that he managed to write down though he could not see, and that it was completed in 5 minutes. This text has been called “poetry of the highest order”. Amazingly, Albert Peace set it to music two years later in a matter of minutes. Hymn #384 may well be the most rapidly written of all hymns, and it still inspires us 124 years later.

No eggs, not here!  Did you ever hear of an Easter egg hymn?!

Where Hymns Come From

Two definitions will help us understand where hymns came from. One is the word PSALTER - it is the name of the book of Psalms, translated into rhymed versions and provided with music for congregational singing. The other is HYMNS - these are songs of praise or adoration of God, newly written poems, as distinguished from the Psalms of our Scriptures.

Our starting point is in the mid 1500's, with John Calvin, whose reverence for Scripture caused him to insist that public praise in church should be confined to the language of the Bible. He was the architect of the tradition of metrical psalmody. These verified Psalms were matched with very singable, non-athletic melodies and were not to be accompanied by choir or instrument. A Psalm could be sung to a number of different tunes, as long as the syllables in the Psalm matched the pulses in a tune. An example of a metrical Psalm from that time that we all know is the Doxology, which here at Potsdam First Presbyterian we sing almost every week in a modernized form.

The tradition of psalm singing, along with many other traditions, came with the settlers of the New World. In the beginning, Presbyterian governing bodies in America left the decision of whether to sing hymns or psalms up to individual congregations. Across the young United States a variety of psalters and hymnals came into being. Often these books just had words; the tunes were imported psalm tunes which the American congregations had to memorize.

In addition to contending with the issue of whether to sing psalms or hymns, early American churches struggled with the consequences of a lack of musical education, not only in the congregation, but in the church leaders as well. To correct this problem, singing schools sprang up across America. With increased musical education, the desire for additional tunes grew, and by 1800 over 130 different collections of tune books were in print. Initially, singers held two books in their hands, one with the words and one with the tunes. By the mid-1800's, many tune books had adopted a split format, with the pages cut horizontally so that the words and tunes could be mixed and matched. After the Civil War, most hymnals comformed to what we have today, with each text printed with its tune.

One of the dominant influences on American musical education was Lowell Mason (1792-1872). As a teenager, he took a leading role in developing the singing schools, and he also became an organist at a Presbyterian Church. For the next 45 years he dedicated himself to the promotion of singing and, in general, to the raising the standards of church music. In his writings he had much to say about the dullness of the music of the churches, and he was instrumental in creating a bridge between church music and what was going on elsewhere in the music world, thus opening up new possibilities for the singers who had long been restricted to using just a few psalm tunes. While not a great composer himself, Lowell Mason encouraged many young musicians to try their hand at hymn composition.

American Presbyterian governing bodies resisted efforts to form a sanctioned hymnal committee until 1819, when a committee was finally formed. At last, in 1831, the first official hymnal was published; it contained both psalms AND hymns. As musical tastes and worship practices changed, Presbyterians compiled new hymnals and hymn collections. The second official hymnal was published in 1874, another in 1895 which was revised in 1911; and new and revised hymnals have continued to be published right into the 21st century.

It was a bit of a challenge to uncover what hymnals the congregation of this church chose to use through the years. Our library of books in classroom 2 and the conference room had a few odd hymnal copies; the rest were unearthed in musty boxes in the basement. The trail of hymnals purchased by this church is a mix of Presbyterian and non-Presbyterian publications. The earliest one found was a 1906 Church Hymns and Tunes. That was followed by The Hymnal, a 1933 Prebyterian publication. Next was the somewhat revolutionary Hymnal for Youth, in 1941, with unusual features such as a section of classical instrumental music and suggestions for creating "worship centers" - really a mixed media book. In 1965 we started using The Service Hymnal, and in 1972 The Worship Book became our official hymnal. We switched to The Presbyterian Hymnal in 1990, and in 2003 the Session voted to purchase Sing the Faith as a supplement. It is quite interesting to compare the individual hymnals, especially reading the prefaces, comparing their layouts and selection of hymns.

Here is a quote from the 1955 Hymnbook, an eloquent statement which justifies all the effort that has gone into hymnals through the years:

"The Christian religion is a singing faith, and thus stands in striking contrast to most of the great religions of mankind. From the dawn of creation, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, psalms, hymns and spiritual songs have been a vehicle of the faith, the aspiration, and the joy of God's people. The corporate praise and choral prayer of a worshiping congregation have been characteristic expressions of its reponse to divine grace."

Our church has long had a reputation for having a SINGING FAITH. It is reported that the average congregation uses only about three dozen hymns a year, repeating its familiar favorites over and over. Our Potsdam First Presbyterian pastors have been blessed with the freedom to select a wide variety of hymns to go with the scripture readings and semons. We are willing to sing with instruments, with choirs, something new, or something old from hundreds of years of hymnody. And how blessed we are to have a real live (and lively!) hymnist in our midst: Art Frackenpohl. This has indeed been a congregation singing its faith through the years, and hopefully through many more years to come.

The history of hymnody (adapted from http://history.pcusa.org/cong/heritage/2005/exhibit/) and remarks by Laura Toland

From the June, 2005, Parish Paper

Some of you heard these words in church June 5th as we celebrated our heritage of Presbyterian hymnals. How often have we taken for granted these blue volumes in our pews and sung our hymns with only half a mind? Do we notice the poetry, the way they have been selected to support the lectionary and sermon of the day? Do we miss certain hymns that were cut from the current edition, do we resist singing unfamiliar ones? Have we noticed all the information on the page with each hymn? Do we understand what all the indexes are about? Do we wonder what personal life experiences might have influenced a hymnwriter? In reseraching the "Hymn Heritage Moment," I came to a renewed appreciation of hymnody, and certainly uncovered more information than could be shared in a few minutes. Perhaps over the next months we can continue to have a "Hymn Heritage Moment," and understand our "singing faith" better. Stay tuned!

From the July, 2005, Parish Paper 

Last month we celebrated our Presbyterian Heritage during the morning worship, which included a brief look at the various hymnals we have used through the years. The earliest one I could find was the 1906 Church of Hymns and Tunes. Although it describes itself in the PREFACE as “a book of a moderate number of hymns for singing”, it actually turned out to be the largest one we have used, weighing in at 661 hymns. Skimming through it revealed many unfamiliar hymns that have passed into disuse, and many others that have emerged as “classics” or beloved favorites. The look and layout of this hymnal is very similar to what we have now. The biggest difference seemed to be that only the first verse was printed between the lines of music (the remaining verses were printed below – awkward!) and the hymns were pitched higher than the average hymn today. What a job the editors have in trying to decide which hymns to include, and which old favorite to drop (you have probably mourned some of the losses) in favor of a more contemporary text. The criteria the 1906 editors used included:
“tunes that have dignity, worth and appropriateness as music, and their rhythmical accents shall always, as far as possible, coincide with the natural reading accents of hymns… the best of the old and well-known hymns shall be retained…some of the later and less known productions shall be included, to the end that our available possessions of worthy hymns and music may be enlarged and enriched.”

I wonder if our earlier First Presbyterian Church or Potsdam congregations were as adventuresome as we are now. We sing far more hymns than the average congregation (2 to 3 dozen general hymns, plus Christmas and Easter). We do it, not to show off our musical abilities, but because we are seeking hymn texts that support the readings and sermon of the day. You probably have no idea how much time our pastors spend in selecting hymns. Do you notice how often Pastor Rich’s hymns dovetail with the themes of the worship? As you sing something old, something new, does the beauty of the poetry, or some new thought touch you? Hymn texts are not only a wonderful corporate singing experience, they are a source of private quiet meditation. They are a rich part of our heritage.

And speaking of hymns, could you guess what part of the service new organists (and old) most worry about? That’s right, the hymns! Hymns often have the most involved footwork, a good singing tempo needs to be set, the organist needs to “breathe” with the congregation, it is sometimes difficult to hear the congregation from the bench, and some pastors select the hymns at the very last moment. (NOT the case here!)