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J. W. Elliott

1833 - 1915 Meter: 7.7.7 Composer of "DAY OF GRACE" in The Church Hymnal J.W. Elliott was a popular composer of the Victorian period, and is best known for his nursery rhyme music and for his work on hymnals in the 1870s. He was born James William Elliott, in Warwick, England, on February 13, 1833. As a child, he sang as a chorister in the Leamington Parish Church. In those days, choristers were given lessons in all facets of church music, including organ lessons, counterpoint studies, and more in exchange for providing an extraordinary level of service to their parish church (services throughout the week, all holidays, extra services, etc.). The result is that most choristers who completed their studies received an excellent music education, and James was no exception. After starting his career as an organist and choirmaster for a countryside church, his talent became obvious. He moved to London, where he assisted Sir Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) in editing Church Hymns. In addition, James worked for a music publisher. His compositions include two operettas, numerous anthems, service music, works for instruments including the very popular harmonium, and most particularly for Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs, his children’s music score that sets many of the Nursery Rhymes to delightful music. Several of his hymn tunes are still in use today in many hymnals, most notably his hymn tune “Day of Rest.” He was heavily involved in the preparation of the musical edition of Church Hymns in 1874, the Choral Service Book of 1892, and transcriptions of hymn tunes using harmonies different than the traditional ones found in hymnals. He died in St. Marylebone, London, on February 5, 1915. --www.nursery-songs.com/

Pope Innocent III

1160 - 1216 Person Name: Innocent III, 1160-1216 Meter: 7.7.7 Author (attributed to) of "Holy Spirit, Lord of Light" in The Cyber Hymnal

Robert Hall Baynes

1831 - 1895 Person Name: Robert Hall Baynes, 1831-1895 Meter: 7.7.7 Author of "Jesus, to Thy table led" in The Hymnary of the United Church of Canada Baynes, Robert Hall, M.A., s. of the Rev. Joseph Baynes, b. at Wellington, Somerset, Mar. 10, 1831, and educated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduating B.A. 1856, and M.A. 1859. Ordained in 1855, he held successively the Curacy of Christ Church, Blackfriars, the P. Curacy of St. Paul's, Whitechapel; of Holy Trinity, Maidstone, and of St. Michael's, Coventry. In 1870 he was Bp. designate of Madagascar; but resigned in 1871. In 1873 he was appointed Hon. Canon of Worcester Cathedral, and in 1880 Vicar of Holy Trinity, Folkestone. Canon Baynes is more widely known as the compiler of some most successful books of sacred poetry than as an original hymn-writer, although some of his hymns are of considerable merit, and are in extensive use. Of these the best known are “Jesu, to Thy table led," and "Holy Spirit, Lord of glory." He was editor of Lyra Anglicana, 1862; English Lyrics, 1865; The Canterbury Hymnal, 1864 ; and the Supp. Hymnal, 1869 (all pub. Lond., Houlston & Wright); The Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems, Lond., Cassell & Co., and is the author of original Autumn Memories and other Verses, Lond., Houlston & Wright, 1869. His hymns appeared in The Canterbury Hymnal, the Autumn Memories, and in the Churchman’s Shilling Magazine, of which he was sometime editor. His Home Songs for Quiet Hours were pub. in 1878, and Hymns for Home Mission Services in the Church of England, 1879. To his eucharistic manual, At the Communion Time, a series of hymns for Holy Communion are added. D. March 12, 1895. -John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ==================== Baynes, R. H., p. 119, i. Other hymns in common use are:— i. In his Canterbury Hymnal, 1863. 1. Bend every knee at Jesus' name. Missions. ii. In Mrs. Brock's Children's Hymn Book, 1881. 2. God Almighty, in Thy temple. Holy Trinity. This begins in his Hymns & Other Verses, 1887, "God Almighty, Heavenly Father." 3. Lord Jesu! on our forehead. Confirmation. 4. 'Neath the stars which shone so bright. Christmas Carol. 5. No room within the dwelling. Christmas. 6. O Man of Sorrows, Who didst die to save. Death and Burial. iii. In A. J. Soden's Universal Hymn Book, 1885. 7. Great Shepherd of Thy ransomed flock. Holy Communion. 8. Jesu, Thou true and living Bread. Holy Communion. 9. The day is done; beside the sultry shore. Evening. Eternity. Of these hymns, Nos. 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, are in Canon Baynes's Hymns and Other Verses, 1887. There are also others in the same work which are worthy of notice, especially one for a Flower Service, written in 1885, “Lord Jesu! we adore Thee." --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Contractus Hermannus

1013 - 1054 Person Name: Hermannus Contractus of Reichenau, b. 1013 Meter: 7.7.7 Author of "Holy Spirit, Lord of light" in Hymnal and Liturgies of the Moravian Church Hermannus Contractus (also known as Herimanus Augiensis or Hermann von Reichenau) was the son of Count Wolverad II von Altshausen. He was born 18 February, 1013 at Altshausen (Swabia). He was a cripple at birth, but intellectually gifted. Therefore his parents sent him to be taught by Abbot Berno on the island of Reichenau. He took his monastic vows here and died on Reichenau 21 September, 1054. He was a mathematician, astronomer, musician, chronicler, and poet, among other things. He is frequently credited as the author of "Alma Redemptoris Mater" and "Salve Regina" Dianne Shapiro, from Schlager, P. (1910). Hermann Contractus. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved October 13, 2014 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07266a.htm ================================== Hermannus Contraecus, so called because of his crippled condition, is also known as Hermann of Vöhringen, Hermann of Reichenau, and Hermann der Gebrechliche. He was the son of the Count of Vöhringen in Swabia, and was born on July 18, 1013. He entered the school of St. Gall, circa 1020, and soon developed, although so young, an intense interest in his studies. It is said of him that he rapidly mastered Latin, Greek, and Arabic. History, music, mathematics, philosophy, and theology engaged his attention, and in each study he attained marked success. Some go so far as to say with confidence that he translated Aristotle's Poetics and Rhetoric from the Arabic, but the statement is disputed by others. At thirty years of age he removed from St. Gall to the monastery of Reichenau, where he remained to his death, Sept. 24, 1054. His name is associated with several hymns of historical importance, and notably the following:— 1. Alma Redemptoris, Mater quae pervia coeli. 2. Rex omnipotens die hodierna. 3. Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia. 4. Salve Regina. 5. Veni Sancte spiritus, Et emitte. 6. Veni Sancte spiritus: Reple. 7. Victimae Paschali. The conclusions arrived at in annotations of these hymns concerning their respective authorship will be found somewhat adverse to Hermannus's claims with regard to Nos. 2 and 4, and positively against him with respect to Nos. 3,5 and 7. Some of these conclusions will be found to be utterly opposed to those of Duffield on the same hymns in his Latin Hymn-Writers, &c, 1889, pp. 149-168. This difference of opinion arises mainly out of the fact that the manuscript at St. Gall and at the British Museum were not examined by Duffield, and are much older and more important than any of those with which he was acquainted. --Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix I (1907)

Martin Moller

1547 - 1606 Person Name: M. Moller Meter: 7.7.7 Author of "Holy Ghost, my comforter!" in The Lutheran Hymnary Moller, Martin, son of Dionysius Moller, mason at Liessnitz (now Kroptädt), near Wittenberg, was born at Liessnitz, Nov. 11, 1547. He attended the town school at Wittenberg and the gymnasium at Görlitz, but was too poor to go to any university. In 1568 he was appointed cantor at Löwenberg in Silesia, but in April, 1572, was ordained as pastor of Kesselsdorf, near Löwenberg. In the autumn of 1572 he was appointed diaconus at Löwenberg, in 1575 pastor at Sprottau, and in July, 1600, became chief pastor at Görlitz. He preached his last sermon, Oct. 30, 1605, and died at Görlitz, March 2, 1606 (Koch, ii. 211, iv. 552, &c). Moller's hymns appeared in his two very popular devotional books, (I) Meditationes sanctorumpatrum, Görlitz, 1584; pt. ii., Görlitz, 1591, and various later eds. This was mostly made up of meditations from St. Augustine, St. Bernard, and Tauler, selected and tr. into German by Moller. (2) Manuale de praeparatione ad mortem. Görlitz, 1593 [Library of the Prediger-Seminar at Hannover]. Wackernagel, v., Nos. 71-75, gives only 5 hymns under Moller's name. Of these No. 72 ("Heiliger Geist, du Tröster mein") is from “Veni Sancte Spiritus, et emitte " (q.v.), and No. 73, (“Nimm von uns Herr") from "Aufer immensam.” Two versions of the "Jesu dulcis memoria " have also often been ascribed to Moller, viz. "Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid", and, with less reason, "O Jesu süss, wer dein gedenkt." [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] ----John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

John Wilson

1905 - 1992 Person Name: John Whitridge Wilson (1905-1992) Meter: 7.7.7 Harmonizer of "HEILIGER GEIST" in Church Hymnary (4th ed.) Biographical article in the journal of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

Robert II, King of France

970 - 1031 Meter: 7.7.7 Author (attributed to) of "Holy Spirit, Lord of light, From Thy clear celestial height (Caswall)" Robert the Second, King of France, surnamed "Le Page" and "Le Devot," born circa 970, was the son of Hugh Capet, the first of the line of kings that succeeded the Carlovingian monarchs on the French throne. After having been associated with his father in the government of the kingdom, in 988 he became king in his own right. The story of his life, rather than of his reign, is a sad one; troubles both in his family and without so multiplying upon him that it needed all the consolation that he sought and found in religion to enable him to bear up against them. Having in 995 or 996 espoused Bertha, the widow of Eades, Count of Chartres, and daughter of Conrad the Pacific, his cousin in the fourth degree (a marriage at that time strictly forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church), he was commanded by a decree of Pope Gregory V. to put her away. He was tenderly attached to her, and refused, whereupon he was excommunicated. This sentence caused the unhappy couple to be abandoned by all their courtiers, and even their servants, with the exception of two of the latter. After living together for a while in a state of sore privation, nay, almost absolute destitution, Bertha was delivered of a still-born infant, which was represented to Robert to have been a monster with “a head and neck like a goose." On hearing this (for the fond husband was but a weak and credulous man), Robert repudiated his wife, who thereupon retired into a nunnery. Subsequently, probably about 1002, he married Constance, a daughter of the Count of Aries, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. Much of the misery of his later life resulted from this marriage; for in addition to the antagonism which existed in their tastes and pursuits, Constance endeavoured to secure the kingdom for her youngest son Robert, to the exclusion of the third son Henry (Hugh, the eldest, haying died, and Eudes, the second, being an idiot), and this led to constant domestic broils which embittered the gentle king's existence. In 1024 he refused (and wisely) the Imperial Crown of the House of Saxony, when the Italians offered it to him on the death of Henry II., the last of the Saxon Emperors. Robert spent much of his time in the society of monks, assisting in the services of the Church, and engaging on pious pilgrimages. It was upon his return from one of the latter to some of the principal sanctuaries of France that he was attacked by a fever, to which he succumbed at Thelun in 1031, in the 60th year of his age and the 34th of his reign more deeply lamented by his people, to whom he had attached himself by the sweetness and simplicity of his character, than any other king, probably, who ever reigned in France. Robert had a great love for, and skill in, church music, and it is not improbable that compobitions of his are even at this day in use in the services of his Church. [Rev. Digby S. Wrangham, M.A.] It has been the custom to speak of King Robert as a hymn-writer. But when the different authorities come to specify the pieces which he is said to have composed, their statements are hopelessly at variance. For the purposes of this article we shall take four ancient authorities:— (a) and (b) In the Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, vol. x., Paris, 1760, pp. 297-300, there are extracts "ex chronico Sithiensi" (a); and also "ex chronico Alberici ad annum 997 " (b). (c) In the Junius manuscript, 121, in the Bodleian there is a list of authors of sequences, written about 1300. (d) William Durandus (d. 1296) in his Rationale, Bk. iv., has a section "De prosa seu sequentia." This occurs in two manuscripts of the 14th century in the British Museum [Add. 18304, f. 20 b; Reg. 7 E., ix. f. 53. An earlier and finer manuscript than either (Add. 31032) has unfortunately lost the leaf containing this section]. By these four authorities the following hymns and sequences are ascribed to King Robert :— 1. Chorus novae Hierusalem. 2. Rex omnipotens die hodierna. 3. Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia. 4. Veni Sancte Spiritus. 5. Victiniae Paschali. But of these a only ascribes to him No. 3, and does not mention Nos. 1,2, 4 or 5, while b ascribes to him Nos. 2 and 3, and does Dot mention Nos. 1, 4 or 5. On the other hand c ascribes to him No. 5, while No. 3 it ascribes to Hermannus Contract us, and Nos. 1, 2, 4 it does not mention at all. Lastly d ascribes to him Nos. 1 and 4, but ascribes Nos. 2 and 3 to Hermannus Contractus, and does not mention No. 5. Taking these in detail, we find No. 1 is only ascribed to King Robert by d, and seems more probably to be by Fulbert of Chartres (see p, 224, i.). No. $. seems without doubt to be by Notker Balbulus (see note on "Sancti Spiritus adsit"). For No. 5 see note on "Victimae Paschali." No. 2 is noted at p. 958, ii, and, according to the common opinion, is there ascribed to Hermannus Contractus; but this ascription is very doubtful, seeing that he d. in 1054, and was only b. in 1013, while the Bodleian manuscript 775 was written in England about 1000, so that the ascription of b deserves attention. As to No. 4 the subject of authorship is treated more fully under "Veni Sancte Spiritus," but here it may be said that Durandus and those who followed him are alone in ascribing it to King Robert, for the French tradition was clearly against this, e.g. neither a nor b ascribe it to him, and Clichtovaeus in his Elucidatorium, Paris, 1516, and the Augustinian Missal, printed at Paris, 1529, which may be taken to represent the later French tradition, while agreeing in ascribing No. 3 to King Robert, agree also in treating No. 4 as of un¬known authorship. To sum up then it seems to us that No. 2 is possibly by King Robert; that Nos. 3 and 4 are clearly not by him; and that his claim to Nos. 1 and 5 is exceedingly doubtful. The French chronicles a and b as above also ascribe to King Robert other liturgical pieces, viz.:—(1) "O Constantia martyrum," (2) "Judaea (O Juda) et Hierusalem," (3) "Eripe me," (4) " Ounctipotens genitor"(5) "Cornelius centurio," (6) "Pro fidei meritis," (7) “Concede nobis quaesumus." These appear to be Responsories and Antiphons, but whether rightly or wrongly ascribed to Robert the present writer cannot say. No. 7 is also ascribed to him by c as above. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Christian Karl Josias, Freiherr von Bunsen

1791 - 1860 Person Name: Christian C. J. Bunsen Meter: 7.7.7 Translator (from Latin to German) of "Holy Ghost, My Comforter" in The Cyber Hymnal Bunsen, Christian Carl Josias, Baron, Prussian Minister at Rome, 1823-1838; at Berne, 1839-1841; Ambassador to England, 1841-1854; was born at Corbach in Waldeck, 25th August, 1791; died at Bonn, November 28th, 1860. Having gained high honours in the Universities of Marburg and Gottingen, he began life as an assistant master in the Gymnasium of Gottingen, but soon quitted that post to prosecute the enquiries which he felt to be the true aim of his life, and for which he had already, at the age of 24, conceived the idea of a comprehensive plan of philological and historical research, culminating in a synthesis of philology, history and philosophy, with the application of that synthesis to religious and civil legislation. To the accomplishment of this youthful scheme it may truly be said that his whole life was dedicated; for though employed in the diplomatic service of his country fur 37 years, he unremittingly carried on his labours as a scholar, and always regarded public questions under the aspect of their bearing on the moral and religious welfare of man, governing his publications by his convictions on these points, in the pursuit of the aims thus indicated, he studied successively the languages and antiquities of the Germanic, Indo-Peraie, Semitic, and Egyptian peoples, the fruit of his investigations being enbodied in his:— (1) "Description of Borne," 1819; (2) "Egypt's Place in the World's History," 1848; (3) "Hippolytus and his Age," 1852; (4) "Outlines of a Philosophy of Cniversal History," 1854; (5) "Signs of the Times," 1855; (6) "God in History," 1857-58; and lastly his (8) "Bibel-Werk," or Critical Text of the Bible, with com¬mentaries, which he did not live to complete. The titles of these writings will indicate the fact that the studies and employments which aver came nearest to his heart lay in the direction of theology, believing as he did that the revivification of practical Christianity was the "essential condition of universal well-being"—of "the salvation of Church and State." ” It is my conviction," he says (1821, set. 29), "that all communion essentially consists in a common belief in the facts of the redemption of the human race through Christ; but when ... a congregation is to be thereby formed, three points must be considered: first, agreement by means of a theological expression of the points of faith; secondly, congregational discipline; thirdly, a common form of worship." It was for the third of these that Bunsen felt himself especially called to labour; writing in 1821:— "When I thought myself in my late illness on the brink of eternity ... I enquired what I ought to make my calling if God should prolong my life . . . and upon my theological labours I rested as the quarter in which my calling was to be sought. My thoughts were bent principally on my liturgical enquiries." In 1822 he composed the Liturgy still in use at the German Chapel on the Capitol, followed in 1833 by his Versuch eines allgemeinen evangelischen Gesang- und Gebeibuclis, containing 934 Hymns and 350 prayers. In Germany the tendency of the centuries that had elapsed since the great age of hymn-writers had been to adapt their language and modify their thoughts in accordance with modern taste till, as Bunsen says, "Almost everywhere do weo find the admirable ancient hymns driven out of use by modern ones which are feeble and spiritless." Luther's asperities of diction and metre had to be softened down, in order to fit them to be sung in an age rejecting nearly all but iambic or trochaic verses, and moreover each government, sect, or school of opinion, thought them¬selves justified in remodelling the older National Hymnody according to their own ideas, till at length little remained of their pristine rugged glory, they were defaced past recognition. Bunsen's object in his Versuch was to provide materials for a national hymn-book for the whole of Protestant Germany, irrespective of territorial, ecclesiastical or sectarian divisions. To this end he sought out the finest German hymns, and his selection includes a large pro¬portion of the best hymns in the language with no limitations of party. The success of Bunsen's work in Germany at large was attested by the rapid sale of an enormous edition, but when a reprint was called for he published instead a smaller edition of 440 hymns. The motive was his patriotic ambition to produce a handy volume like the English Book of Common Prayer, and he fondly hoped that when the volume was printed at the Rauhe Haus in 1846, it would speedily supplant the locally introduced Gesangbücher of the 18th and 19th centuries. This hymn-book has in fact been adopted for public worship by some individual congregations in Germany, and by many scattered throughout Australia, New Zealand, &c, but it never became a National Hymn-book. Bunsen was among the first to go back to the authors and their original texts, and the abridgments and alterations he made were done with tact and circumspection. Perhaps nothing, however, can better prove the high estimation in which Bunsen's first "epoch-making" work is held than the fact that his work of 1833 has been republished as:— Allgemeines Eoangelisches Gesang-und-Gebet-bueh turn, Kirchen-und-Hausgebrauch: In vollig neuer Bearleitung von Albert Fischer. Gotha, F. A. Perthes, 1881. and that this republication, or rather recast, was conducted by the first German hymnologist living. A parallel case of inability to command universal acceptance for public use on the one hand, and of renovating influence on national hymnody on the other, is that of Lord Selborne's Book of Praise. Before the date of its publication in 1862, little or no regard was paid to original texts. Since then, however, few collections have been published in Gt. Britain and America in which the principle laid down by him has not been followed with more or less fidelity. But it is not Germany alone, or even perhaps most widely, that has profited by Bunsen's zeal for hymnology: Through the medium of translations such as those of Miss Catherine Winkworth, Mr. Massie, Miss Cox, and others, many German hymns are as familiar to English and American readers as to Germans. The Lyra Germanica (of which more than 30,000 copies have been sold in England and probably as many more in America; is a household book wherever English is spoken, and few, if any, collections of hymns that have appeared in England or America since its publication have been compiled without some hymns taken from the Lyra. But no sketch of Bunsen would be complete without mentioning that he himself had no mean talent as a writer of sacred poems. Some of these pieces are given in his Biography, and one is noted under "O lux beata Trinitas." Perhaps the whole scope of Bunsen's life-work can scarcely be summed up better than in his own words written in 1817 [aet. 26]. "To study and then to set forth the consciousness of God in the mind of man, and that which, in and through that consciousness, he has accomplished, especially in language and religion." [Susanna Winkworth] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)