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This time our Hymn of the Month is the song, “Faithful Shepherd, feed me” accompanied by the beautiful tune “Pastor Pastorum” by Friedrich Silcher (1789-1860). The words, by Thomas Benson Pollock (1836-1896), are appropriate for Communion. Faithful Shepherd is a gentle, serene hymn and Silcher’s simple yet elegant hymn tune Pastor Pastorum provides a perfect…
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In this “Hymn of the Month” we present you with the hymn song “Praise to the Holiest in the height” by John Henry Newman (1801 – 1890). This is accompanied by the hymn tune “Gerontius” by the English musician and clergyman John Bacchus Dykes (1823 – 1876). John B. Dykes was born in Hull, England,…
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In this “Hymn of the Month” we present you with the hymn song “ 0 Thou who at Thy Eucharist didst pray ” by William Harry Turton (1856 -1938). This is accompanied by the hymn tune “Song 1” from the outstanding English composer and organist Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625). Orlando Gibbons was one of the greatest…
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This month we present the hymn “Hail the Day That Sees Him Rise”, by the great hymn writer Charles Wesley (1707 – 1788). This hymn is usually sung to the Welsh tune LLANFAIR, attributed to Robert Williams (1782 – 1821), even though some historians have certain doubts about his authorship. This hymn was written for…
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For this month’s hymn we have appropriately selected the Christian Easter hymn, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”. The author is unknown but early manuscripts suggest that the hymn was written in Germany in the 14th century. The hymn is most frequently set to the hymn tune “Easter Hymn” which was composed in the Lyra Davidica…
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The hymn tune of the month this time is “Passion Chorale” which was originally composed by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612). The most common text associated to this hymn tune is “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” which is a Christian Passion hymn based on a Latin text written during the Middle Ages. Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) originally…
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This month’s hymn, “Tell Out, My Soul”, is a Christian hymn paraphrasing the Magnificat written by Timothy Dudley-Smith (1926 – ) in 1962. In the early days this hymn was paired to a tune by Michael Baughen but it was later paired and greatly enhanced by the sweeping music of Walter Greatorex’s (1877 – 1949)…
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The first tune of this year’s Hymn of the Month series is the famous hymn “We Three Kings”. It is also commonly known as “We Three Kings of Orient Are” or “The Quest of the Magi”, and is a Christmas carol written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. (1820 – 1891). Hopkins wrote the words and…
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Our final tune in this year’s series is befittingly the old English traditional Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”. The composer is unknown but there are records of it being sung within the Christian Church since the 15th century. The hymn was first put into print in 1760 but made available to a wider…
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The hymn tune Thaxted is taken from the middle section of “Jupiter”, one of the seven movements in the orchestral suite “The Planets” by Gustav Theodore Holst (1874 –1934). Holst adapted the theme from Jupiter to suit the patriotic poem “I Vow to Thee, my Country”, by Cecil Spring-Rice (1859–1918), which honours the soldiers who…
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Darwall’s 148th or simply Darwall as it is sometimes known is the tune featured this month. The is an especially confident and optimistic tune with the resounding ascent of the final line, was composed by Reverend John Darwall (1731–1789). It was first published as a setting for Psalm 148 in Aaron William’s New Universal Psalmodist…
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Our tune this month is Golden Sheaves, composed by the very popular man of his time (and ours) Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900). Sullivan was a Member of the Victorian Order (MVO) and an English composer. William Chatterton Dix (1837 – 1898) wrote the words to “To thee, O…
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When choosing the hymn tunes for this first series of ‘Hymn of the Month’ I was determined that we should have at least a couple of ‘Welsh’ ones and Bleanwern is as good an example as you can find. Composed by William Penfro Rowlands (1860–1937), during the Welsh revival of 1904–1905. William is pictured here…
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This tune is possibly one of the best known from its inclusion in almost all hymnals and it is a fitting accompaniment for the words ‘Now thank we all our God’ Both words and music originate in Germany in the early 1600’s. The tune written by Cruger who was simultaneously a teacher at the school Zum Grauen…
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Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, ( 1848 – 1918) was a fine composer, teacher and historian of music. As a composer he is no doubt best known for the choral song Jerusalem which sets the words of William Blake. And recently he came to notice again when his coronation anthem I was Glad was part of…
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Our tune this month is written by a most remarkable American William Howard Doane Doane was born in Connecticut in 1832 to prosperous parents. His father was the head of Doane and Treat, cotton manufacturers. Doane showed impressive musical talent and by early adolescence he was playing the flute, violin and double bass fiddle. Doane attended…
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The first record of this tune is in a hymnal (Gesangbuch) published in 1784 for the Duke of Wurtemberg. Ellacombe takes the name of a village in Devonshire. It was first set to the words “Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern.” During the first half of the nineteenth century various German hymnals altered the tune….
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This month we feature “Lord of All Hopefulness” as part of our Hymn of the Month series played by our in-house organist, Jonathan Kingston. Slane is believed to be an old Irish folk tune and the name is certainly common to a hill near Tara in County Meath, Ireland. It first came to significant attention…
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This month we feature “All My Hope on God is Founded” as part of our Hymn of the Month series played by our inhouse organist, Jonathan Kingston. The original words “Meine Hoffnung stehet feste” were written in around 1680 by Joachim Neander and these are often sung to an early German tune of the same name….
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We have received a number of requests asking us to present music that our instruments would routinely play in a church context. So what better examples than well known and loved hymn tunes? This year we are launching our new tutorial series called ‘Hymn of the Month’. So watch out for them each month. This month we…
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In this final edition of the 2015 series, we bring you a request, the famous Toccata from Widor’s 5th Organ Symphony played on our Regent 356. A hugely demanding piece to play well requiring rock solid tempo and strength for the endless repetition of the arpeggio passages that at times are far from comfortable. But when…
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In this edition of the series, we bring you Chanson De Matin by Edward Elgar in an arrangement for organ by Herbert Brewer. Originally written for piano and violin the arrangement for organ is particularly effective with the melody contrasting well against a quiet accompaniment. An effective presentation of this piece is all about sensitive…
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[This is a series where we share short tutorials on a range of different pieces introduced and played by our colleague Jonathan Kingston, on our Viscount Organs. ] In this edition of the series, we bring you the first movement of a violing concerto by Ernst transcribed for organ by J S Bach. Ernst was…
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[This is a series where we share short tutorials on a range of different pieces introduced and played by our colleague Jonathan Kingston, on our Viscount Organs. ] In this edition of the series, we bring you a Gavotte by William Boyce. William born in 1711 began his musical education when he became a chorister…
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