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Hans G. Nägeli

1773 - 1836 Person Name: J. G. Naeglie Composer of "DENNIS" in Hymns of Worship and Remembrance Johann G. Nageli (b. Wetzikon, near Zurich, Switzerland, 1773; d. Wetzikon, 1836) was an influential music educator who lectured throughout Germany and France. Influenced by Johann Pestalozzi, he published his theories of music education in Gangbildungslehre (1810), a book that made a strong impact on Lowell Mason. Nageli composed mainly" choral works, including settings of Goethe's poetry. He received his early instruction from his father, then in Zurich, where he concentrated on the music of. S. Bach. In Zurich, he also established a lending library and a publishing house, which published first editions of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and music by Bach, Handel, and Frescobaldi. Bert Polman

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Composer of "BOYLSTON" in The Coronation Hymnal Dr. Lowell Mason (the degree was conferred by the University of New York) is justly called the father of American church music; and by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man. Lowell Mason was born in Medfield, Mass., January 8, 1792. From childhood he had manifested an intense love for music, and had devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself according to such opportunities as were available to him. At the age of twenty he found himself filling a clerkship in a banking house in Savannah, Ga. Here he lost no opportunity of gratifying his passion for musical advancement, and was fortunate to meet for the first time a thoroughly qualified instructor, in the person of F. L. Abel. Applying his spare hours assiduously to the cultivation of the pursuit to which his passion inclined him, he soon acquired a proficiency that enabled him to enter the field of original composition, and his first work of this kind was embodied in the compilation of a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. The manuscript was offered unavailingly to publishers in Philadelphia and in Boston. Fortunately for our musical advancement it finally secured the attention of the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, and by its committee was submitted to Dr. G. K. Jackson, the severest critic in Boston. Dr. Jackson approved most heartily of the work, and added a few of his own compositions to it. Thus enlarged, it was finally published in 1822 as The Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music. Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, which he thus explains, "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." President Winchester, of the Handel and Haydn Society, sold the copyright for the young man. Mr. Mason went back to Savannah with probably $500 in his pocket as the preliminary result of his Boston visit. The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England, and through this means entering into the church choirs, to whom it opened up a higher field of harmonic beauty. Its career of success ran through some seventeen editions. On realizing this success, Mason determined to accept an invitation to come to Boston and enter upon a musical career. This was in 1826. He was made an honorary member of the Handel and Haydn Society, but declined to accept this, and entered the ranks as an active member. He had been invited to come to Boston by President Winchester and other musical friends and was guaranteed an income of $2,000 a year. He was also appointed, by the influence of these friends, director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation. Finally he made a permanent arrangement with the Bowdoin Street Church, and gave up the guarantee, but again friendly influence stepped in and procured for him the position of teller at the American Bank. In 1827 Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that was to win for him as has been already stated the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Although this may seem rather a bold claim it is not too much under the circumstances. Mr. Mason might have been in the average ranks of musicianship had he lived in Europe; in America he was well in advance of his surroundings. It was not too high praise (in spite of Mason's very simple style) when Dr. Jackson wrote of his song collection: "It is much the best book I have seen published in this country, and I do not hesitate to give it my most decided approbation," or that the great contrapuntist, Hauptmann, should say the harmonies of the tunes were dignified and churchlike and that the counterpoint was good, plain, singable and melodious. Charles C. Perkins gives a few of the reasons why Lowell Mason was the very man to lead American music as it then existed. He says, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them." The personality of Dr. Mason was of great use to the art and appreciation of music in this country. He was of strong mind, dignified manners, sensitive, yet sweet and engaging. Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Dr. Mason visited a number of the music schools in Europe, studied their methods, and incorporated the best things in his own work. He founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Dr. Mason resided in Boston from 1826 to 1851, when he removed to New York. Not only Boston benefited directly by this enthusiastic teacher's instruction, but he was constantly traveling to other societies in distant cities and helping their work. He had a notable class at North Reading, Mass., and he went in his later years as far as Rochester, where he trained a chorus of five hundred voices, many of them teachers, and some of them coming long distances to study under him. Before 1810 he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals. As a composer of solid, enduring church music. Dr. Mason was one of the most successful this country has introduced. He was a deeply pious man, and was a communicant of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Mason in 1817 married Miss Abigail Gregory, of Leesborough, Mass. The family consisted of four sons, Daniel Gregory, Lowell, William and Henry. The two former founded the publishing house of Mason Bros., dissolved by the death of the former in 19G9. Lowell and Henry were the founders of the great organ manufacturer of Mason & Hamlin. Dr. William Mason was one of the most eminent musicians that America has yet produced. Dr. Lowell Mason died at "Silverspring," a beautiful residence on the side of Orange Mountain, New Jersey, August 11, 1872, bequeathing his great musical library, much of which had been collected abroad, to Yale College. --Hall, J. H. (c1914). Biographies of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company.

Anonymous

Person Name: Anon. Author of "With Jesus in our midst" in The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book In some hymnals, the editors noted that a hymn's author is unknown to them, and so this artificial "person" entry is used to reflect that fact. Obviously, the hymns attributed to "Author Unknown" "Unknown" or "Anonymous" could have been written by many people over a span of many centuries.

Robert C. Chapman

1803 - 1902 Author of "With Jesus in the midst" in Hymns of Worship and Remembrance Robert Cleaver Chapman (1 April 1803 – 6 December 1902), known as the "apostle of Love", was a pastor, teacher and evangelist. Chapman was born in Helsingor, Denmark, in a wealthy Anglican merchant family from Whitby, Yorkshire. Robert was educated by his mother whilst the family was in Denmark and later at a boarding school in Yorkshire, after the return of the family to England. At the age of 15 Robert moved to London to work as an apprentice clerk in the legal profession. Robert completed his 5 year apprenticeship and became an attorney in 1823. In the same year he became a Christian after listening to the gospel preached by James Harrington Evans in a nonconformist chapel in London. He prospered in his career and also spiritually and spent most of his spare time visiting and helping the poor of London. His dedication to the poor made a great impression on his cousin's husband, a Mr. Pugsley, from Barnstaple, Devon. So much so that Puglsey, another lawyer, also became a Christian and began working with the poor in Barnstaple. In 1831 Robert visited Barnstaple on a holiday and helped out in preaching and other Christian work in the vicinity. On returning to London he became convinced that he was being called into full time Christian work, he also increasingly felt that some aspects of his legal work sat uncomfortably with his faith. In 1832 he was invited by the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Barnstaple to be their pastor. In April 1832 he left the lucrative legal profession and stepped down the social ladder and moved to Barnstaple to become pastor. He accepted the post as pastor of a Strict Baptist chapel only on the condition that he would only be bound by what was written in the Bible and not by any denominational creeds or beliefs. Fellowship, for example, he believed was open to all true believers in Christ, and not restricted to those who had been baptised by full immersion on a profession of faith. His views on fellowship were similar to those of Anthony Norris Groves. Over time, the chapel changed from being Strict Baptist to a non denominational one ran on similar grounds to the assembly led by George Muller in Bristol, with a building at Grosvenor Street eventually being known as Grosvenor Street Chapel. In 1994 this church moved from Grosvenor Street to another part of Barnstaple occupying a converted railway shed and is now known as Grosvenor Church – http://www.grosvenorchurch.org Other examples of the assembly moving to a non denominational position are one man ministry being replaced by the priesthood of all believers and Chapman refusing any clerical salary. Chapman never enforced these changes onto the chapel and never forced his viewpoint but was prepared to wait for every believer meeting at the chapel to see the need for change. Chapman rose to become an influential figure within the Plymouth Brethren alongside John Nelson Darby and George Muller. His zeal and compassion for people led to him being referred to by many as the "apostle of love". For example, Chapman preferred to live very frugally in a deprived area of Barnstaple in order to reach the poor. In 1848 he sided with George Muller in regards to a dispute over the independency of each assembly and believed that John Nelson Darby should have waited much longer before excommunicating Muller's assembly in Bristol for not supporting Darby in his dispute with Benjamin Wills Newton. This riled some supporters of Darby who were wanting to discredit Chapman. Darby, however reproved them, saying, "You leave that man alone; We talk of the heavenlies, but Robert Chapman lives in them." In regards to the timing of the rapture of the Church, an issue which became prominent within the brethren movement, Chapman held a partial rapture view with part of the saved being raptured before the Great Tribulation and a part of them after the Great Tribulation. Charles Spurgeon called Chapman "the saintliest man I ever knew". Chapman became so well known that a letter from abroad addressed only to "R.C. Chapman, University of Love, England" was correctly delivered to him. --en.wikipedia.org ============================== Chapman, Robert Cleaver, was born Jan. 4, 1803, and has been for more than fifty years a "Minister of tho Gospel" at Barnstaple. In 1837 he published:— Hymns for the Use of the Church of Christ. By R. C. Chapman, Minister of the Gospel, Barnstaple. 1837. This was reprinted in 1852. Some copies of the 1852 edition have bound up with them An Appendix selected from Various Sources. By John Chapman. Several of these hymns were repeated in the Plymouth Brethren Hymns for the Poor of the Flock, 1838; A Few Hymns and Some Spiritual Songs, selected 1856 for the Little Flock; and in other collections. These include:— 1. Go behold [and search] the tomb of Jesus. Easter. 2. God's tender mercies follow still. Heaven. Com¬posed of stanza xxi. of "The Lamb of God exalted reigns." 3. King of glory set on high. Ascension. 4. My soul, amid this stormy world. Longing for heaven. 5. No condemnation—0 my soul. Peace in Believing. 6. 0 God, Whose wondrous Name is Love. Resignation. 7. The Prince of Life, once slain for us. Advent. Mr. Chapman's hymns and poems number 162, and are mainly in use with the Plymouth Brethren, with whom he was a Minister. They are given in his Hymns and Meditations, Barnstaple, 1871. He died June 12, 1902. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Robert Schumann

1810 - 1856 Composer of "SCHUMANN" in The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book Robert Alexander Schumann DM Germany 1810-1856. Born at Swickau, Saxony, Germany, the last child of a novelist, bookseller, and publisher, he began composing music at age seven. He received general music instruction at the local high school and worked to create his own compositions. Some of his works were considered admirable for his age. He even composed music congruent to the personalities of friends, who took note of the anomaly. He studied famous poets and philosophers and was impressed with the works of other famous composers of the time. After his father’s death in 1826, he went to Leipzig to study law (to meet the terms of his inheritance). In 1829 he continued law studies in Heidelberg, where he became a lifelong member of Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg. In 1830 he left the study of law to return to music, intending to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist. His teacher, Friedrich Wieck, assured him he could become the finest pianist in Europe, but an injury to his right hand (from a practicing method) ended that dream. He then focused his energies on composition, and studied under Heinrich Dorn, a German composer and conductor of the Leipzig opera. Schumann visited relatives in Zwickau and Schneeberg and performed at a concert given by Clara Wieck, age 13 at the time. In 1834 he published ‘A new journal for music’, praising some past composers and deriding others. He met Felix Mendelssohn at Wieck’s house in Leigzig and lauded the greatness of his compositions, along with those of Johannes Brahms. He also wrote a work, hoping to use proceeds from its sale towards a monument for Beethoven, whom he highly admired. He composed symphonies, operas, orchestral and chamber works, and also wrote biographies. Until 1840 he wrote strictly for piano, but then began composing for orchestra and voice. That year he composed 168 songs. He also receive a Doctorate degree from the University of Jena that year. An aesthete and influential music critic, he was one of the most regarded composers of the Romantic era. He published his works in the ‘New journal for music’, which he co-founded. In 1840, against the wishes of his father, he married Clara Wieck, daughter of his former teacher, and they had four children: Marie, Julie, Eugenie, and Felix. Clara also composed music and had a considerable concert career, the earnings from which formed a substantial part of her father’s fortune. In 1841 he wrote 2 of his 4 symphonies. In 1843 he was awarded a professorship in the Conservatory of Music, which Mendelssohn had founded in Leipzig that same year, When he and Clara went to Russia for her performances, he was questioned as to whether he also was a musician. He harbored resentment for her success as a pianist, which exceeded his ability as a pianist and reputation as a composer. From 1844-1853 he was engaged in setting Goethe’s Faust to music, but he began having persistent nervous prostration and developed neurasthenia (nervous fears of things, like metal objects and drugs). In 1846 he felt he had recovered and began traveling to Vienna, Prague, and Berlin, where he was received with enthusiasm. His only opera was written in 1848, and an orchestral work in 1849. In 1850 he succeeded Ferdinand Hiller as musical director at Dusseldorf, but was a poor conductor and soon aroused the opposition of the musicians, claiming he was impossible on the platform. From 1850-1854 he composed a wide variety of genres, but critics have considered his works during this period inferior to earlier works. In 1851 he visited Switzerland, Belgium, and returned to Leipzig. That year he finished his fourth symphony. He then went to Dusseldorf and began editing his complete works and making an anthology on the subject of music. He again was plagued with imaginary voices (angels, ghosts or demons) and in 1854 jumped off a bridge into the Rhine River, but was rescued by boatmen and taken home. For the last two years of his life, after the attempted suicide, Schumann was confined to a sanitarium in Endenich near Bonn, at his own request, and his wife was not allowed to see him. She finally saw him two days before he died, but he was unable to speak. He was diagnosed with psychotic melancholia, but died of pneumonia without recovering from the mental illness. Speculations as to the cause of his late term maladies was that he may have suffered from syphilis, contracted early in life, and treated with mercury, unknown as a neurological poison at the time. A report on his autopsy said he had a tumor at the base of the brain. It is also surmised he may have had bipolar disorder, accounting for mood swings and changes in his productivity. From the time of his death Clara devoted herself to the performance and interpretation of her husband’s works. John Perry

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