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Ludwig van Beethoven

1770 - 1827 Person Name: Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827 Topics: Christian Morality Composer of "HYMN TO JOY" in Singing Our Faith A giant in the history of music, Ludwig van Beethoven (b. Bonn, Germany, 1770; d. Vienna, Austria, 1827) progressed from early musical promise to worldwide, lasting fame. By the age of fourteen he was an accomplished viola and organ player, but he became famous primarily because of his compositions, including nine symphonies, eleven overtures, thirty piano sonatas, sixteen string quartets, the Mass in C, and the Missa Solemnis. He wrote no music for congregational use, but various arrangers adapted some of his musical themes as hymn tunes; the most famous of these is ODE TO JOY from the Ninth Symphony. Although it would appear that the great calamity of Beethoven's life was his loss of hearing, which turned to total deafness during the last decade of his life, he composed his greatest works during this period. Bert Polman

Thomas Tallis

1505 - 1585 Person Name: Thomas Tallis, c. 1505-1585 Topics: Christian Morality Composer of "TALLIS' CANON" in Singing Our Faith Thomas Tallis (b. Leicestershire [?], England, c. 1505; d. Greenwich, Kent, England 1585) was one of the few Tudor musicians who served during the reigns of Henry VIII: Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth I and managed to remain in the good favor of both Catholic and Protestant monarchs. He was court organist and composer from 1543 until his death, composing music for Roman Catholic masses and Anglican liturgies (depending on the monarch). With William Byrd, Tallis also enjoyed a long-term monopoly on music printing. Prior to his court connections Tallis had served at Waltham Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral. He composed mostly church music, including Latin motets, English anthems, settings of the liturgy, magnificats, and two sets of lamentations. His most extensive contrapuntal work was the choral composition, "Spem in alium," a work in forty parts for eight five-voice choirs. He also provided nine modal psalm tunes for Matthew Parker's Psalter (c. 1561). Bert Polman

H. W. Baker

1821 - 1877 Person Name: Henry W. Baker, 1821-1877 Topics: Christian Morality Author of "O God of Love, O King of Peace" in Singing Our Faith Baker, Sir Henry Williams, Bart., eldest son of Admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, born in London, May 27, 1821, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated, B.A. 1844, M.A. 1847. Taking Holy Orders in 1844, he became, in 1851, Vicar of Monkland, Herefordshire. This benefice he held to his death, on Monday, Feb. 12, 1877. He succeeded to the Baronetcy in 1851. Sir Henry's name is intimately associated with hymnody. One of his earliest compositions was the very beautiful hymn, "Oh! what if we are Christ's," which he contributed to Murray's Hymnal for the Use of the English Church, 1852. His hymns, including metrical litanies and translations, number in the revised edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern, 33 in all. These were contributed at various times to Murray's Hymnal, Hymns Ancient & Modern and the London Mission Hymn Book, 1876-7. The last contains his three latest hymns. These are not included in Hymns Ancient & Modern. Of his hymns four only are in the highest strains of jubilation, another four are bright and cheerful, and the remainder are very tender, but exceedingly plaintive, sometimes even to sadness. Even those which at first seem bright and cheerful have an undertone of plaintiveness, and leave a dreamy sadness upon the spirit of the singer. Poetical figures, far-fetched illustrations, and difficult compound words, he entirely eschewed. In his simplicity of language, smoothness of rhythm, and earnestness of utterance, he reminds one forcibly of the saintly Lyte. In common with Lyte also, if a subject presented itself to his mind with striking contrasts of lights and shadows, he almost invariably sought shelter in the shadows. The last audible words which lingered on his dying lips were the third stanza of his exquisite rendering of the 23rd Psalm, "The King of Love, my Shepherd is:"— Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed, But yet in love He sought me, And on His Shoulder gently laid, And home, rejoicing, brought me." This tender sadness, brightened by a soft calm peace, was an epitome of his poetical life. Sir Henry's labours as the Editor of Hymns Ancient & Modern were very arduous. The trial copy was distributed amongst a few friends in 1859; first ed. published 1861, and the Appendix, in 1868; the trial copy of the revised ed. was issued in 1874, and the publication followed in 1875. In addition he edited Hymns for the London Mission, 1874, and Hymns for Mission Services, n.d., c. 1876-7. He also published Daily Prayers for those who work hard; a Daily Text Book, &c. In Hymns Ancient & Modern there are also four tunes (33, 211, 254, 472) the melodies of which are by Sir Henry, and the harmonies by Dr. Monk. He died Feb. 12, 1877. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Cyril Taylor

1907 - 1991 Person Name: Cyril V. Taylor, b. 1907 Topics: Christian Morality Composer of "ABBOT'S LEIGH" in Worship (3rd ed.) Cyril V. Taylor (b. Wigan, Lancashire, England, 1907; d. Petersfield, England, 1992) was a chorister at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and Westcott House, Cambridge. Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1932, he served the church as both pastor and musician. His positions included being a producer in the religious broadcasting department of the BBC (19391953), chaplain of the Royal School of Church Music (1953-1958), vicar of Cerne Abbas in Dorsetshire (1958-1969), and precentor of Salisbury Cathedral (1969-1975). He contributed twenty hymn tunes to the BBC Hymn Book (1951), which he edited, and other tunes to the Methodist Hymns and Psalms (1983). He also edited 100 Hymns for Today (1969) and More Hymns for Today (1980). Writer of the booklet Hymns for Today Discussed (1984), Taylor was chairman of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland from 1975 to 1980. Bert Polman

Jacques Berthier

1923 - 1994 Person Name: Jacques Berthier, 1923-1994 Topics: Christian Morality Composer of "[Ubi caritas, et amor]" in Singing Our Faith Jacques Berthier (b. Auxerre, Burgundy, June 27, 1923; d. June 27, 1994) A son of musical parents, Berthier studied music at the Ecole Cesar Franck in Paris. From 1961 until his death he served as organist at St. Ignace Church, Paris. Although his published works include numerous compositions for organ, voice, and instruments, Berthier is best known as the composer of service music for the Taizé community near Cluny, Burgundy. Influenced by the French liturgist and church musician Joseph Gelineau, Berthier began writing songs for equal voices in 1955 for the services of the then nascent community of twenty brothers at Taizé. As the Taizé community grew, Berthier continued to compose most of the mini-hymns, canons, and various associated instrumental arrangements, which are now universally known as the Taizé repertoire. In the past two decades this repertoire has become widely used in North American church music in both Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. Bert Polman

Betty Pulkingham

1928 - 2019 Person Name: Betty Pulkingham, b. 1929 Topics: Christian Morality Harmonizer of "[Will you let me be your servant]" in Singing Our Faith Betty Carr Pulkingham was born in 1928 in Burlington, North Carolina. She received a B.S. in Music in 1949 from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and she did graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music. She was Instructor of Music Theory at the University of Texas. In 1951, she married a seminarian Graham Pulkingham. They ministered together in various places in the U.S., England and Scotland; they were founding members of the Community of Celebration, an Anglican religious order. She travelled widely with "The Fisherfolk," an outreach music ministry connected with the Community of Celebration. Betty Pulkingham was a well known composer and arranger. She co-edited and published a number of songbooks and books on worship; and served on the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Church Music from 1988-1994. She and her husband returned to Burlington and then she later moved to Austin, Texas to live with family. She died in Austin, May 9, 2019 at the age of 90. Dianne Shapiro, from Obituary (https://www.richandthompson.com/tributes/Betty-Pulkingham) (accessed 6-21-2019)

Daniel L. Schutte

b. 1947 Person Name: Dan Schutte, b. 1947 Topics: Christian Morality Author of "Here I Am, Lord" in Singing Our Faith

Jane Marshall

1924 - 2019 Person Name: Jane M. Marshall, b. 1924 Topics: Christian Morality Arranger of "CHEREPONI" in Singing Our Faith Jane Marshall, was born Jane Anne Manton in Dallas in 1924. She became a pianist and organist and composed music as a teenager. She earned a music degree in 1945 from SMU. She married Elbert Marshall. She went on to write more than 200 hymns and other sacred music works. She later earned a Masters degree in 1968 from SMU in choral conducting and composition. She taught at SMU's Perkins School of Theology and tis Church Music Summer School from 1975-2010. She attended Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas for many years, collaborated often with other hymn writers, and encouraged many students. Dianne Shapiro, from UM News article , May 30, 2019 by Sam Hodges (accessed 6-7-2019)

Mrs. C. H. Morris

1862 - 1929 Person Name: Mrs. C. H. M. Topics: Christian Life; Christian warfare; Moral Reform Author of "The Fight Is On" in The King's Message Lelia (Mrs. C.H.) Morris (1862-1929) was born in Pennsville, Morgan County, Ohio. When her family moved to Malta on the Muskingum River she and her sister and mother had a millinery shop in McConnelsville. She and her husband Charles H. Morris were active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and at the camp meetings in Sebring and Mt. Vernon. She wrote hymns as she did her housework. Although she became blind at age 52 she continued to write hymns on a 28-foot long blackboard that her family had built for her. She is said to have written 1000 texts and many tunes including "Sweeter as the years go by." Mary Louise VanDyke

Richard Gillard

b. 1953 Topics: Christian Morality Author of "The Servant Song" in Singing Our Faith Gillard, Richard. (Malmesbury, Wiltshire County, England, May 22, 1953- ). The eldest of six children, he emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was three years old. Writes, "I've had almost no formal musical training. I'm a self-taught guitarist and play mostly in a folk style." Regarding "The Servant Song," he says it "was first published in 1978 on a record album by Scripture in Song called "Father Make Us One" and has appeared subsequently in other Scripture in Song publications including a song book entitled "Songs of Praise" which is widely used by New Zealand congregations. It has also been recorded by the St. Pauls Singers of St Pauls Anglican Church. This album, called New Harvest introduces songs and hymns from their own songbook of the same name." --Letter from Richard Gillard to Mary Louise VanDyke, 25 March 1987, DNAH Archives