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George Frideric Handel

1685 - 1759 Person Name: G. F. Händel Composer of "SAMSON" in The Academic Hymnal George Frideric Handel (b. Halle, Germany, 1685; d. London, England, 1759) became a musician and composer despite objections from his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Handel studied music with Zachau, organist at the Halle Cathedral, and became an accomplished violinist and keyboard performer. He traveled and studied in Italy for some time and then settled permanently in England in 1713. Although he wrote a large number of instrumental works, he is known mainly for his Italian operas, oratorios (including Messiah, 1741), various anthems for church and royal festivities, and organ concertos, which he interpolated into his oratorio performances. He composed only three hymn tunes, one of which (GOPSAL) still appears in some modern hymnals. A number of hymnal editors, including Lowell Mason, took themes from some of Handel's oratorios and turned them into hymn tunes; ANTIOCH is one example, long associated with “Joy to the World.” Bert Polman

César Malan

1787 - 1864 Person Name: C. H. A. Malan Composer of "WELTON" in Christ in Song Rv Henri Abraham Cesar Malan, 1787-1864. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, into a bourgeois family that moved to Switzerland to escape religious persecution during the French Revolution, he attended the university in Marseilles, France, intending to become a businessman. Although having some grounding in religious faith by his mother, he decided to attend the Academy at Geneva (founded by Calvin) in preparation for ministry. He was ordained in 1810, after being appointed a college master (teaching Latin) in 1809. Malan was in accord with the National Church of Geneva as a Unitarian, but the Reveil Movement caused him to become a dissident (evangelical) instead of a proponent of the Reformed Church (believing works, not faith, was what mattered). In 1811 he married (wife’s name not found). They had at least two children (one son was Solomon, referenced below). From 1813 on Malan slowly became an evangelical, after being given an understanding of true salvation through grace (not works) in 1816 by two German Lutherans from Geneva. He became saved upon this realization and was so changed that he burned his prized collection of classical authors and manuscripts. In 1817 he preached around Geneva, and one sermon in particular, “Man only justified by faith alone” created a firestorm and brought him into conflict with religious authorities of the region. From then on he wished to help reform the national church from within, but the forces of the Venerable Company were too strong for him and excluded him from the pulpits and caused his dismissal from his regentsship at the college in 1818. Others in agreement with Malan were Charles Spurgeon, Robert Wilcox, Robert Haldane, and Henry Drummond. In 1820 he built a chapel in his garden and obtained the license of the State for it as a separatist place of worship. He preached in that chapel 43 years. In 1823 he was formally deprived of his status as a minister of the national Church. Various events caused his congregation to diminish over the next few years, and he began long tours of evangelization subsidized by religious friends in his land, Belgium, France, England and Scotland. He often preached to large congregations. Malan also authorized a hymn book, “Chants de Sion” (1841). A strong Calvinist, Malan lost no opportunity to evangelize. On one occasion an old man he visited pulled Malan’s hymnal out and told him he had prayed to see the author of it before he died. On a visit to England Malan also inspired author, Charlotte Elliott, to write the hymn lyrics for “Just as I am”, when seeking an answer to her conversion she asked and he advised her to come to Christ ‘just as she was’. Malan published a score of books and also produced many religious tracts and pamphlets largely on questions in dispute between the National and evangelical churches of Rome. He also wrote articles in the “Record” and in American reviews. His hymns were set to his own melodies. He was an artist, a mechanic, a carpenter, a metal forger, and a printer. He had his own workshop, forge and printing press. One of his greatest joys was the meeting of the evangelical alliance at Geneva in 1861 which helped change church views. He retired to his home, Vandoeuvres, in the countryside near Geneva in 1857, dying there seven years later.. He was honored by a visit from the Queen of Holland two years before his death. He is mainly remembered as a hymn writer, having written 1000+ hymn lyrics and tunes. One son, Solomon, a gifted linguist and theologian, became Vicar of Broadwindsor. About a dozen of his hymns appeared translated in the publication “Friendly visitor” (1826). He was an author, creator, composer, editor, correspondent, contributor, translator, owner, and performer. John Perry ================= Malan, Henri Abraham César. The family of Malan traces its origin to the valleys of Piedmont. A branch of it settled at Mérindol, in Dauphiné, but was driven from France by the persecutions that followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Pierre Malan [Cesar's father], after seeing his sister fall a victim to persecution, left Mérindol (1714), and arrived at Geneva (1722). Henri Abraham César Malan was born at Geneva in 1787. After an education at the College, he went to Marseilles, with the intention of learning business: but, soon after, entered the Academy at Geneva, as a preparation for the ministry, to which he was ordained in 1810. He had been appointed one of the masters at the College in the previous year. The National Church of Geneva was at that time almost Unitarian, and Malan's convictions were in accord with it. But the great movement known as the Réveil, of which the first products were the dissident church of Bourg de Four and at a later date that founded by Malan himself, and which finally imbued the whole Swiss Church with its spirit, was silently preparing itself. The germ of the movement may be traced in the Société des Amis (1810), of which Empeytaz and A. Bost were leaders; and in Malan's independent attainment to the doctrines of the Divinity of the Saviour and the free gifts of salvation through Him (1816). But the human agency, which gave it force, and determined its Calvinistic direction, was the visit of Robert Haldane (in the autumn of 1816), to whom not only these pioneers of the movement, but F. Monod, E. Rieu, Guers, Gonthier, Merle d'Aubigné, and others, always pointed as their spiritual father. Empeytaz and others sought to attain enfranchisement by the establishment of the "petite Eglise of Bourg de Four." Malan wished to reform the national Church from within: and a sermon at Geneva, which brought on him the obloquy of the professors and theologians that composed his audience, and which Haldane characterized as a republication of the Gospel, was his first overt act (Jan. 19, 1817). But the opposing forces were far too strong for him. The Venerable Company excluded him from the pulpits, and achieved his dismissal from his regentship at the College (1818). In 1820 he built a chapel (Chapelle du Temoignage) in his garden, and obtained the licence of the State for it, as a separatist place of worship. In 1823 he was formally deprived of his status as a minister of the national Church. The seven years that succeeded were the palmy days of the little chapel. Strangers, especially from England, mingled with the overflowing Swiss congregation. But (in 1830) a secession to Bourg de Four, and then the foundation of the Oratoire and the Société Evangelique, which in 1849 absorbed the congregation of Bourg de Four under the title of the Église Evangélique, thinned more and more the number of his adherents. His burning zeal for the conversion of souls found a larger outlet in long tours of evangelization, subsidized by religious friends, in his own land and Belgium and France, and also in Scotland and England, where he had friends among many religious bodies, and where he preached to large congregations. The distinguishing characteristic of these tours was his dealing with individuals. On the steamboat or the diligence, in the mountain walk, at the hotel, no opportunity was lost. On one occasion an old,man whom he visited drew from under his pillow a copy of his great hymnbook, Chants de Sion, 1841, and told him how he had prayed to see the author of it before he died. It is as the originator of the modern hymn movement in the French Reformed Church that Malan's fame cannot perish. The spirit of his hymns is perpetuated in the analysis of Christian experience, the never-wearied delineation of the hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows of the believer's soul, which are still the staple of French Protestant hymns. To this was added, in Malan himself, a marked didactic tone, necessitated by the great struggle of the Réveil for Evangelical doctrine; and an emphatic Calvinism, expressing itself with all the despondency of Newton and Cowper, but, in contrast with them, in bright assurance, peace and gladness. French criticism has pronounced his hymns unequal, and full of literary defects; but their unaffected freshness and fervent sincerity are universally allowed. In the Chants de Sion, hymns 20, ”Hosanna! Béni soit"; 165, “Mon coeur joyeux, plein d'espérance"; 199, "Du Rocher de Jacob"; 200, "Agneau de Dieu"; 239, "Trois fois Jehovah," are in every Protestant French hymnbook; and several others are very widely used. Besides his hymns Malan produced numberless tracts and pamphlets on the questions in dispute between the National and Evangelical Churches and the Church of Rome, as well as articles in the Record and in American reviews. He was a man of varied acquirements. His hymns were set to his own melodies. He was an artist, a mechanic: his little workshop had its forge, its carpenter's bench, its printing press. To the end of his life his strong Calvinism, and his dread of mere external union in church government, kept him distinct from all movements of church comprehension, though freely joining in communion with all the sections of Evangelical thought in Geneva and Scotland. At one time there seemed a prospect of his even rejoining the national Church, which had driven him from her. One of his greatest joys was the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance at Geneva (1861). He left no sect; one of his latest orders was the demolition of his decayed chapel, in which he had preached for 43 years. He died at Vandoeuvres, near Geneva, in 1864, leaving a numerous family, one of whom, the Rev. S. C. Malan, D.D., sometime Vicar of Broadwindsor, is well known as a linguist and a theologian of the English Church. To English readers Malan is chiefly known as a hymn-writer through translations of his "Non, ce n'est pas mourir" (q.v.): "It is not death to die", &c. About a dozen of his hymns appear in a translated form in the Friendly Visitor for 1826. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/César_Malan

William B. Bradbury

1816 - 1868 Person Name: W. B. Bradbury (1816-1868) Composer of "ZEPHYR" in Hymns of the Ages William Bachelder Bradbury USA 1816-1868. Born at York, ME, he was raised on his father's farm, with rainy days spent in a shoe-shop, the custom in those days. He loved music and spent spare hours practicing any music he could find. In 1830 the family moved to Boston, where he first saw and heard an organ and piano, and other instruments. He became an organist at 15. He attended Dr. Lowell Mason's singing classes, and later sang in the Bowdoin Street church choir. Dr. Mason became a good friend. He made $100/yr playing the organ, and was still in Dr. Mason's choir. Dr. Mason gave him a chance to teach singing in Machias, ME, which he accepted. He returned to Boston the following year to marry Adra Esther Fessenden in 1838, then relocated to Saint John, New Brunswick. Where his efforts were not much appreciated, so he returned to Boston. He was offered charge of music and organ at the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn. That led to similar work at the Baptist Tabernacle, New York City, where he also started a singing class. That started singing schools in various parts of the city, and eventually resulted in music festivals, held at the Broadway Tabernacle, a prominent city event. He conducted a 1000 children choir there, which resulted in music being taught as regular study in public schools of the city. He began writing music and publishing it. In 1847 he went with his wife to Europe to study with some of the music masters in London and also Germany. He attended Mendelssohn funeral while there. He went to Switzerland before returning to the states, and upon returning, commenced teaching, conducting conventions, composing, and editing music books. In 1851, with his brother, Edward, he began manufacturring Bradbury pianos, which became popular. Also, he had a small office in one of his warehouses in New York and often went there to spend time in private devotions. As a professor, he edited 59 books of sacred and secular music, much of which he wrote. He attended the Presbyterian church in Bloomfield, NJ, for many years later in life. He contracted tuberculosis the last two years of his life. John Perry

Philip Doddridge

1702 - 1751 Author of "Why do we waste on trifling cares" in The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book Philip Doddridge (b. London, England, 1702; d. Lisbon, Portugal, 1751) belonged to the Non-conformist Church (not associated with the Church of England). Its members were frequently the focus of discrimination. Offered an education by a rich patron to prepare him for ordination in the Church of England, Doddridge chose instead to remain in the Non-conformist Church. For twenty years he pastored a poor parish in Northampton, where he opened an academy for training Non-conformist ministers and taught most of the subjects himself. Doddridge suffered from tuberculosis, and when Lady Huntington, one of his patrons, offered to finance a trip to Lisbon for his health, he is reputed to have said, "I can as well go to heaven from Lisbon as from Northampton." He died in Lisbon soon after his arrival. Doddridge wrote some four hundred hymn texts, generally to accompany his sermons. These hymns were published posthumously in Hymns, Founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures (1755); relatively few are still sung today. Bert Polman ======================== Doddridge, Philip, D.D., was born in London, June 26, 1702. His grandfather was one of the ministers under the Commonwealth, who were ejected in 1662. His father was a London oilman. He was offered by the Duchess of Bedford an University training for ordination in the Church of England, but declined it. He entered Mr. Jennings's non-conformist seminary at Kibworth instead; preached his first sermon at Hinckley, to which Mr. Jennings had removed his academy. In 1723 he was chosen pastor at Kibworth. In 1725 he changed his residence to Market Harborough, still ministering at Kibworth. The settled work of his life as a preceptor and divine began in 1729, with his appointment to the Castle Hill Meeting at Northampton, and continued till in the last stage of consumption. He sailed to Lisbon, in 1751, where he died October 26, the same year. Two hundred pupils in all, gathered from England, Scotland and Holland, were prepared in his seminary, chiefly for the dissenting ministry, but partly for professions. The wide range of subjects, including daily readings in Hebrew and Greek, Algebra, Trigonometry, Watts' Logic, outline of Philosophy, and copious Divinity, is itself a proof of Doddridge's learning. He was presented with his D.D. degree by the University of Aberdeen. His fame as a divine, combined with his wide sympathies and gentle, unaffected goodness, won for him the friendship of Watts, Col. Gardiner and Hervey, and the esteem of Seeker and Warburton. He welcomed the work of Wesley and Whitefield, and entertained the latter on his visit to Northampton. His Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul and The Family Expositor both did good work in their day. For criticism of his hymns see English Hymnody, Early, § XIV. [Rev. H. Leigh Bennett, M.A.] After Dr. Doddridge's death his hymns were published by his friend Job Orton, in 1755, as:— "Hymns founded on Various Texts in the Holy Scriptures. By the late Reverend Philip Doddridge, D.D. Published from the Author's Manuscript by Job Orton . . . Salop. Printed by J. Eddowes and J. Cotton, &c. MDCCLV." Concerning the text of the hymns, Orton says in his Preface:— "There may perhaps be some improprieties, owing to my not being able to read the author's manuscript in particular places, and being obliged, without a poetical genius, to supply those deficiencies, whereby the beauty of the stanza may be greatly defaced, though the sense is preserved." The 1st edition contained 370 hymns; the 2nd, 1759, 374; and the 3rd, 1766, and later editions, 375. In 1839 Doddridge's great-grandson re-edited the hymns from the original manuscript and published the same as:— Scriptural Hymns by the Rev. Philip Doddridge, D.D. New and corrected edition containing many hymns never before printed. Edited from the Original Documents by the Author's great-grandson, John Doddridge Humphreys, Esq. Lond. Darton & Clark, 1839. This work contains 22 additional hymns. The text differs in many instances from Orton's, but these changes have not come into common use. In addition to the manuscript used by Orton and J. D. Humphreys, another containing 100 hymns (five of which are not in any edition of the Hymns), all in the author's handwriting, and most of them dated, is referred to in this Dictionary as the "D. Manuscripts." It is the property of Mr. W. S. Booker and family. A manuscript, not in Doddridge's handwriting, of 77 "Hymns by P. Doddridge, Mar. 16, 1739/1740," is in the possession of Mr. W. T. Brooke. The existence of these manuscripts is accounted for from the fact that Doddridge's hymns were freely circulated in manuscript during his lifetime. It is from his correspondence with R. Blair (q.v.) that the few compositions traceable to him in the Scottish Trans. & Paraphrases were derived. The hymns by Doddridge which have attained to the greatest popularity are:— “Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve"; " Do not I love Thee, O my Lord? " "Grace 'tis a charming sound”; " Hark, the glad sound, the Saviour comes"; "My God, and is Thy table spread?" "O happy day, that fixed my choice"; "O God of Jacob [Bethel], by Whose hand”; " See Israel's gentle Shepherd stand"; "Ye servants of the Lord." These hymns, with many besides, are annotated under their respective first lines. Of the rest, taken from the Hymns, &c, 1755, the following are also in common use:— 1. Behold the gloomy vale. Death anticipated. 2. Behold the Great Physician stands. Christ the Physician. 3. Captives of Israel, hear. Spiritual Deliverance. 4. Eternal God, our wondering souls. Enoch's Piety and Translation. 5. Eternal Source of life and thought. Subjection to the Father. G. Exalted Prince of Life, we own. Christ the Prince and Saviour. 7. Father Divine, the Saviour cried. Christ's Submission to the Father. 8. Father Divine, Thy piercing eye. Secret Prayer. 9. Father of mercies, send Thy grace. Sympathy. The Good Samaritan. 10. Go, saith the Lord, proclaim my grace. Forgiveness. 11. God of Eternity, from Thee. Redeeming the Time. 12. God of my life, through all its [my] days. Praising God continually. 13. God. of salvation, we adore. Praise to God for Redemption. 14. Great Father of mankind. Gentiles brought into the Church. 15. Great God, we sing that mighty hand. The New Tear. 16. Great Leader of Thine Israel's host. During Persecution. 17. Great Lord of angels, we adore. Ordination. 18. Great Spirit of immortal love. Purity of Heart desired. 19. Great Teacher of Thy Church, we own. The Divine Precepts. 20. Hail, everlasting Prince of Peace. Sympathy. 21. Hail to the Prince of life and peace. Praise to Christ. 22. Hear, gracious [Saviour] Sovereign, from Thy throne. The Blessings of the Holy Spirit desired. 23. How gentle God's commands. God's Care of His Own. 24. How rich Thy favours, God of grace. God and His Living Temple. 25. How swift the torrent flows [rolls]. Our Fathers, where are they? 26. Jesus the Lord, our souls adore. Christ the Forerunner. 27. Jesus, we own Thy Sovereign hand. Christ to be fully known hereafter. 28. Loud let the tuneful trumpet sound. Gospel Jubilee. 29. My gracious Lord, I own Thy right. Life in Jesus. 30. My [Dear] Saviour, I am [we are] Thine. Joined to Christ through the Spirit. 31. My soul, with all thy waking powers. The Choice of Moses. 32. Now let our voices join. Singing in the ways of God. 33. 0 injured Majesty of heaven. Lent. 34. 0 Zion, tune thy voice. Glory of the Church of Christ. 35. Peace, 'tis the Lord Jehovah's hand. Resignation. 36. Praise the Lord of boundless might. The Father of Lights. 37. Praise to Thy Name, Eternal God. Growth in Grace desired. 38. Remark, my soul, the narrow bounds. The New Year. 39. Repent, the Voice celestial cries. Lent. 40. Return, my roving heart, return. Heart communing. 41. Salvation, O melodious sound. God our Salvation. 42. Saviour of men, and Lord of love. Ministry and Death of Christ. 43. Searcher of hearts, before Thy face. Peter to Simon Magus. 44. Shepherd of Israel, Thou dost keep. Induction or Settlement of a Minister. 45. Shine forth, eternal Source of light. Knowledge of God desired. 46. Shine on our souls, eternal God. Sunday. 47. Sing, ye redeemed of the Lord. Joy on the Homeward Way. 48. Sovereign of life, before Thine eye. Life and Death in God's hands. 49. The darkened sky, how thick it lours. Sorrow followed by Joy. 50. The day approacheth, O my soul. Judgment anticipated. 51. The King of heaven His table spreads. The Gospel Feast. 52. The promises I sing. The unchanging promises of God. 53. The swift-declining day. Walk in the Light. 54. These mortal joys, how soon they fade. Treasures, Perishable and Eternal. 55. Thy judgments cry aloud. Retributive Providence. 56. Thy presence, Everlasting God. Omnipresence of the Father. 57. 'Tis mine, the covenant of His grace. Death anticipated. 58. To Thee, my God; my days are known. Life under the eye of God. 59. Tomorrow, Lord, is Thine. Uncertainty of Life. 60. Triumphant Lord, Thy goodness reigns. The Divine Goodness. 61. Triumphant Zion, lift thy head. The Church Purified and Guarded. 62. Unite my roving thoughts, unite. Peace. 63. What mysteries, Lord, in Thee combine. Christ, the First and Last. 64. While on the verge of life I stand. Death anticipated with Joy. 65. With ecstacy of Joy. Christ the Living Stone. 66. Ye golden lamps of heaven, farewell. Heaven opening. 67. Ye hearts with youthful vigour warm. The Young encouraged. 68. Ye humble souls, that seek the Lord. Easter. 69. Ye sons of men, with joy record. Praise of the Works of God. 70. Yes, the Redeemer rose. Easter In Dr. Hatfield's Church HymnBook, N. Y., 1872, Nos. 9, 12, 14, 15, 21, 23, 25, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 39, 40, 44, 47, 51, 61, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, as above, are dated 1740. What authority there may be for this date we cannot say, these hymns not being in any “D. MSS." with which we are acquainted, and no dates are given in the Hymns, &c, 1755. Some later American editors have copied this date from Dr. Hatfield. Doddridge's hymns are largely used by Unitarians both in Great Britain and America. As might be expected, the Congregationalists also draw freely from his stores. The Baptists come next. In the hymnals of the Church of England the choicest, only are in use. Taken together, over one-third of his hymns are in common usage at the present time. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================ Doddridge, Philip, D.D. At p. 305 an account is given of a manuscript volume of Doddridge's Hymns, which is the property of the Rooker family. Since that article was written another manuscript vol. has been found. It was the property of Lady Frances Gardiner, née Erskine, an intimate friend of Doddridge, and wife of Col. Gardiner. It is a copy of the Rooker manuscipt, with the revised text, as in the margin of that ms., and is in Doddridge's hand¬writing. It was from this manuscript that the Doddridge hymns were taken for the Scottish Translationsand Paraphrases, 1745. Additional hymns by Dr. Doddridge still in common use include:— 1. My God, how cheerful is the sound. All in Christ. 2. My Saviour, let me hear Thy voice. Pardon desired. 3. My soul, triumphant in the Lord. Divine Guidance assured. 4. No «iore, ye wise, your wisdom boast. Glorying in God alone. From Hymns, No. 128. 5. Now be that Sacrifice survey'd. Christ our Sacrifice. 6. 0 Israel, blest beyond compare. Happiness of God's Israel. 7. Our fathers, where are they? Considering the Past. From Hymns, No. 164. 8. Praise to the Lord on high. Missions. 9. Praise to the radiant Source of bliss. Praise for Divine Guidance. 10. Return, my soul, and seek thy rest. Rest in Jesus. 11. Salvation doth to God belong. National Thanksgiving. 12. Sovereign of Life, I own Thy hand. On Recovery from Sickness. 13. The sepulchres, how thick they stand. Burial. 14. There is a Shepherd kind and strong. The Good Shepherd. From Hymns, No. 216. 15. Wait on the Lord, ye heirs of hope. Waiting on God. 16. We bless the eternal Source of light. Christ's care of the Church. 17. With transport, Lord, our souls proclaim. Immutability of Christ. 18. Ye mourning saints, whose streaming tears. Death and Burial. These all appeared in Dr. Doddridge's Hymns, 1755. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Lowell Mason

1792 - 1872 Composer of "WARD" in The Old Story in Song Number Two 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.

John Bacchus Dykes

1823 - 1876 Composer of "ILKLEY" in The American Hymnal for Chapel Service As a young child John Bacchus Dykes (b. Kingston-upon-Hull' England, 1823; d. Ticehurst, Sussex, England, 1876) took violin and piano lessons. At the age of ten he became the organist of St. John's in Hull, where his grandfather was vicar. After receiving a classics degree from St. Catherine College, Cambridge, England, he was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. In 1849 he became the precentor and choir director at Durham Cathedral, where he introduced reforms in the choir by insisting on consistent attendance, increasing rehearsals, and initiating music festivals. He served the parish of St. Oswald in Durham from 1862 until the year of his death. To the chagrin of his bishop, Dykes favored the high church practices associated with the Oxford Movement (choir robes, incense, and the like). A number of his three hundred hymn tunes are still respected as durable examples of Victorian hymnody. Most of his tunes were first published in Chope's Congregational Hymn and Tune Book (1857) and in early editions of the famous British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern. Bert Polman

Daniel Read

1757 - 1836 Person Name: Read Composer of "WINDHAM" in The Everlasting Joy Daniel Read; b. 1757, Rehoboth, Mass.; d. 1837, New Haven, Conn.An American composer and a primary figure in early American classical music. He was one of the “Yankee Tunesmiths” (1st New England School of Music) when classical music was popular in Europe. Read was a private in Massachusetts militia and later a comb maker and owner of a general store in New Haven, CN. He was only the 3rd composer in the U. S. to put out a collection of his own music. His work, “The American Singing Book” went through 5 editions, making him the most popular composer in the nation. Others often plagarized his tunes in those days. Tunebook sales supplemented his general store income, including “The Columbian Harmonist” (3 volumnes) with 3 revisions, and “The New Haven Collection of Sacred Music” 1818. Read also published “The American Musical magazine” in 12 annual issues in 1786 and 1787. In later years he came to appreciate European music more and imitated that styling in devotional music. Some of Read's music is still being performed, and selections have been published in “The Sacred Harp”, 1991 Edition, and the “Stoughton Music Society” (Centennial Collection 1980). John Perry

John E. Gould

1821 - 1875 Composer of "BERA" in The Voice of Thanksgiving John Edgar Gould USA 1821-1875. Born in Bangor, ME, he became a musician. He managed music stores in New York City and Philadelphia, PA., the latter with composer partner, William Fischer. He married Josephine Louisa Barrows, and they had seven children: Blanche, Marie, Ida, John, Josephine, Josephine, and Augusta. He compiled eight religious songbooks from 1846 thru 1869. He died while traveling in Algiers, Africa, and was buried in Philadelphia, PA. John Perry

Ignaz Pleyel

1757 - 1831 Person Name: I. Pleyel Composer of "SEASONS" in Laudes Domini Ignaz Joseph Pleyel; b. Ruppertstahl, near Vienna, 1757; d. Parice France, 1831 Evangelical Lutheran Hymnal, 1908

Ami Bost

1790 - 1874 Person Name: Bost Composer of "GRATITUDE" in Songs for the Lord's House Rev. Paul Ami Isaac David Bost, was born on June 10, 1790 in Geneva, Switzerland. He studied theology at the Moravian Institute at Neuwied and at the University of Geneva. He was an itinerant preacher in Switzerland, Germany and France. In 1825, he co-founded the Reformed Free Church of Geneva. From 1828-37 he worked as an evangelist in Carouge, After a brief pastorate at Asnires and Bourges in France, he was appointed chaplain of the prison of the Maison Centrale at Melun, where he remained until 1848, then lived in Geneva. He died on December 24, 1874 in Prigonrieux, Aquitaine, France. © The Cyber Hymnal™ (hymntime.com/tch)