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Thomas Aquinas

1225 - 1274 Author of "Zion, to Thy Savior Singing" in The Cyber Hymnal Thomas of Aquino, confessor and doctor, commonly called The Angelical Doctor, “on account of," says Dom Gueranger, "the extraordinary gift of understanding wherewith God had blessed him," was born of noble parents, his father being Landulph, Count of Aquino, and his mother a rich Neapolitan lady, named Theodora. The exact date of his birth is not known, but most trustworthy authorities give it as 1227. At the age of five he was sent to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino to receive his first training, which in the hands of a large-hearted and God-fearing man, resulted in so filling his mind with knowledge and his soul with God, that it is said the monks themselves would often approach by stealth to hear the words of piety and wisdom that fell from the lips of the precocious child when conversing with his companions. After remaining at Monte Cassino for seven years, engaged in study, St. Thomas, "the most saintly of the learned, and the most learned of the saints," returned to his family, in consequence of the sack of the abbey by the Imperial soldiers. From thence he was sent by his parents to the University of Naples then at the height of its prosperity, where, becoming intimate with the Fathers of the Dominican Order, and being struck, probably, by the devotedness and ability of the Dominican Professors in the University, he was induced to petition for admission into that order, though he was at that time not more than seventeen years of age. This step gave such umbrage to his mother that she caused him to be waylaid on the road to Paris (whither he was being hurried to escape from her), and to be kept for more than two years in prison, during which time his brothers, prompted by their mother, used all means, even the most infamous, to seduce him from religion. At last the Dominicans' influence with the Pope induced the latter to move the Emperor Frederick to order his release, when St. Thomas was at once hurried back to Naples by the delighted members of his order. He was afterwards sent to Rome, then to Paris, and thence to Cologne. At Cologne his studies were continued under the celebrated Albertus Magnus, with whom, in 1245, he was sent by the Dominican Chapter once more to Paris for study, under his direction, at the University. In 1248, when he had completed his three years' curriculum at Paris, St. Thomas was appointed, before he was twenty-three years of age, second professor and “magister studentium,” under Albertus, as regent, at the new Dominican school (on the model of that at Paris), which was established by the Dominicans in that year at Cologne. There he achieved in the schools a great reputation as a teacher, though he by no means confined himself to such work. He preached and wrote; his writings, even at that early age, were remarkable productions and gave promise of the depth and ability which mark his later productions. His sermons also at that time enabled him to attract large congregations into the Dominican church. In 1248 he was directed to take his degree at Paris; and though his modesty and dislike of honour and distinction made the proposal distasteful to him, he set out and begged his way thither; but it was not until October 23rd, 1257, that he took his degree. The interval was filled by such labours in writing, lecturing, and preaching, as to enable him by the time he became a doctor to exercise an influence over the men and ideas of his time which we at this time can scarcely realise. So much was this the case that Louis IX. insisted upon St. Thomas becoming a member of his Council of State, and referred every question that came up for deliberation to him the night before, that he might reflect on it in solitude. At this time he was only thirty-two years of age. In 1259 he was appointed, by the Dominican Chapter at Valenciennes, a member of a Commission, in company with Albertus Magnus and Pierre de Tarentaise, to establish order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans. In 1261 the Pope, Urban IV., immediately upon his election to the Pontifical throne, sent for St. Thomas to aid him in his project for uniting into one the Eastern and Western Churches. St. Thomas in that same year came to Rome, and was at once appointed by the General of his Order to a chair of theology in the Dominican College in that city, where he obtained a like reputation to that which he had secured already at Paris and Cologne. Pope Urban being anxious to reward his services offered him, first the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and then a Cardinal's hat, but he refused both. After lecturing, at the request of the Pope, with great success at Vitervo, Orvieto, Perugia, and Fondi, he was sent, in 1263, as "Definitor," in the name of the Roman Province, to the Dominican Chapter held in London. Two years later Clement IV., who succeeded Urban as Pope, appointed him, by bull, to the archbishopric of Naples, conferring on him at the same time the revenues of the convent of St. Peter ad Aram. But this appointment he also declined. In 1269 he was summoned to Paris—his last visit— to act as "Definitor" of the Roman Province at the General Chapter of his Order, and he remained there until 1271, when his superiors recalled him to Bologna. In 1272, after visit¬ing Rome on the way, he went to Naples to lecture at the University. His reception in that city was an ovation. All classes came out to welcome him, while the King, Charles I., as a mark of royal favour bestowed on him a pension. He remained at Naples until he was summoned, in 1274, by Pope Gregory X., by special bull, to attend the Second Council of Lyons, but whilst on the journey thither he was called to his rest. His death took place in the Benedictine Abbey of Fossa Nuova in the diocese of Terracina, on the 7th of March 1274, being barely forty-eight years of age. St. Thomas was a most voluminous writer, his principal work being the celebrated Summa Theologiae, which, although never completed, was accepted as such an authority as to be placed on a table in the council-chamber at the Council of Trent alongside of the Holy Scriptures and the Decrees of the Popes. But it is outside the province of this work to enlarge on his prose works. Though not a prolific writer of hymns, St. Thomas has contributed to the long list of Latin hymns some which have been in use in the services of the Church of Rome from his day to this. They are upon the subject of the Lord's Supper. The best known are:— Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis Mysterium; Adoro te devote latens Deitas; Sacris sollemniis juncta sint gaudia; Lauda Sion Salvatorem; and Verbum supernum prodiens. The 1st, 3rd, and 5th of these are found in the Roman Breviary, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae; the 4th in the Roman Missal; all of them appear in Daniel; the 2nd and 4th in Mone; and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th in Königsfeld. Of these hymns numerous translations have been made from time to time, and amongst the translators are found Caswall, Neale, Woodford, Morgan, and others. [Rev. Digby S. Wrangham, M.A.] -- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

F. Melius Christiansen

1871 - 1955 Person Name: F. Melius Christiansen Arranger of "NAGLET TIL ET KORS" in Concordia F. Melius Christiansen (April 1, 1871-June 1, 1955) was a Norwegian-born violinist and choral conductor in the Lutheran choral tradition. Fredrik Melius Christiansen, the son of a Norwegian factory worker, was born in Eidsvold, municipality in Akershus county, Norway and emigrated to the United States at the age of 17. He settled in Washburn, Wisconsin. He studied at Augsburg College. In 1897, he returned to Europe to study three years at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Leipzig, Germany. In 1901, Christiansen was recruited by St. Olaf College president John N. Kildahl. The St. Olaf Choir was founded as an outgrowth of the St. John's Lutheran Church Choir in Northfield. For the next 30 years, Christiansen led the St. Olaf Choir, striving for perfect intonation, blend, diction and phrasing. He was a skilled conductor, directing bands and choirs alike. He assumed direction of the St. Olaf Band in 1903, and took the ensemble on tour to Norway in 1906 to play for King Haakon VII, making it the first college music ensemble to conduct a tour abroad. Though his first love was the violin, he received international fame as founding director of the St. Olaf Choir of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA from 1912 to 1944. Christiansen was considered a pioneer in the art of a cappella (unaccompanied) choral music. Christiansen composed and arranged over 250 musical selections and his choral techniques were spread throughout the U.S. by St. Olaf graduates. The great Christiansen choral tradition is a recognized feature of American Lutheranism. Four of Dr. Christiansen's children survived to adulthood two of them adding their own legacy to the Christiansen tradition of choral music in America. --en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Gerard Francis Cobb

1838 - 1904 Person Name: Gerard Francis Cobb, 1838-1904 Composer of "COBB" in The Cyber Hymnal Gerard Francis Cobb was born at Nettlestead (near Maidstone), Kent, on 15 October 1838, the youngest of five children of the Reverend William Francis Cobb (1795-1862) - the rector of Nettlestead - and his wife, Mary Blackburn. The five children were:- 1. Mary (1826-1906), 2. Clement Francis (1821-1896), 3. William Francis (1831-1916), 4. Francis (1834-1920), and 5. Gerard Francis (1838-1904). (The patronymic ‘Francis' occurs in several generations. Gerard's grandfather was Francis Cobb (1759-1831), a brewer and banker of Margate, whose sons were William Francis (Gerard's father), John Francis and Thomas Francis. Gerard's brother Clement also had a son Francis William (1872-1938). The parents were both musical, the mother being a pianist (and latterly organist at Nettlestead) and the father a ’cellist. Gerard early showed an aptitude for music and was able to pick out a tune on the piano while still a child, and without any formal instruction. Gerard Francis Cobb was educated at Marlborough College from 1849 to 1857. (His brothers William and Clement were also educated there.) He was a bright pupil, reaching the Sixth Form in September 1854 (still aged 15) and winning several prizes - the Divinity Prize (Summer 1853), the Upper Fifth Prize (Summer 1854), the Lower Sixth Prize (Christmas 1854) and the English Essay Prize (1856). He was also appointed a College Prefect and (when he left school) donated a cup as an inter-house singing trophy. (Inter-house singing competitions continue to be popular at Marlborough to this day.) Two concert programmes from Marlborough College (Christmas 1854 and Christmas 1856) show his active involvement as singer, pianist and harmonium player, although in neither programme is there any indication of a composition by him. From Marlborough Cobb went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1857. He was elected a Scholar in 1860, and graduated B.A. in 1861 with a double first in the Classical and Moral Science Triposes. He then went to Dresden for a short time, to study music. While there, he perfected his knowledge of German, later providing English translations for three of the texts of his own Lieder und Gesang (1885); he was also proficient in French and Italian, as well as being an excellent classical scholar. (Cobb wrote the words of at least one of his own songs - "Reconciliation" (c.1891) - and inserted a verse of his own into another song - "Drawbacks" (1892), words by Henry S. Leigh.) It may have been at this time that he decided not to make music his profession: he returned to Cambridge, where he spent the rest of his life. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1863, proceeding M.A. in 1864, and in 1869 was appointed Junior Bursar of his college. This office, which he held for twenty-five years and in which he showed great business capacity, seems to have centered around the day-to-day running of the college, which included looking after the accommodation of some six hundred students (Trinity was the largest of all the Oxbridge colleges) and even making sure that the brewery horse had the correct number of nails in his shoes! (The college had a small brewery). Cobb's interests were many and varied. There was music, of course, but (appropriately, as the son, brother and uncle of rectors) he was also much interested in Church matters: he was in sympathy with the Tractarian movement (associated with Newman, Pusey, Keble, Forbes and Froude) and at one time contemplated (but finally declined) holy orders. He actively advocated union between the Anglican and Roman communities, and published an elaborate treatise which caused a sensation in ecclesiastical circles. A second edition (with a sequel) followed and this, in turn, was followed by two short tracts. Even as late as the 1860s there was a form of religious intolerance which although not life-threatening (as in the reigns of earlier monarchs) nevertheless ensured that a career in the Church would no longer be an option for Cobb. His appointment at Trinity was timely, and his energies were then directed towards the running of the College and to the pursuit of music. Cobb was a fine organist, and gave occasional recitals at Trinity. His writings include a history of the organ and an account of the choir which, apparently, he also trained. He was, too, the University’s representative on municipal affairs and produced pamphlets on rather more mundane matters than were normally dealt with in "the olive-grove of Academe". When Cobb went up to Trinity in 1857 the Professor of Music was the recently appointed (1856) William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875). Cobb enjoyed Bennett's friendship and was helpful to him in dealing with the Faculty of Music. In the last years of his life, Bennett made use of two bound octavo music note-books in which he jotted down sketches and ideas; these books had been brought to him from Germany by Cobb. On Bennett's death, the Professorship passed to the blind George Macfarren (1813-1887). Cobb proved equally helpful to the new incumbent, particularly in the reform of the Faculty. He had been elected President of the Cambridge University Musical Society in 1874 and became Chairman of the University Board of Musical Studies in 1877, serving in that capacity for fifteen years. Aside from his work at Trinity, and his musical, religious, and municipal interests, there is yet one more facet of this Victorian polymath which must command our attention. He was, perhaps surprisingly, a great lover of outdoor activities - swimming, walking, hill climbing, and - above all - cycling. He was one of the founders - and first President (1878) - of the National Cyclists' Union (originally the Bicycle Union) and was also President of the Cambridge University Cycling Club. For the International Health Exhibition (1884) he contributed a chapter on 'Cycling' to the handbook on athletics, part 11. Cobb thought so much of cycling that his enthusiasm induced not only undergraduates but even many of the Dons to take to it (33). He celebrated his sixtieth birthday by undertaking a cycle run of sixty miles in company with one of his nephews. Cobb was not very tall and was almost equalled in height by his earlier high cycle, although in later years he rode what was then called a 'safety cycle' (which was smaller) and, eventually a 'free wheel bicycle'. (The cycle which features in the accompanying photograph is presumably a 'safety' or 'free wheel' machine.) Little is known of Cobb's life outside Cambridge. His duties at Trinity would have kept him there for most of the year, and his dealings with his London publishers were probably conducted by letter. His name appears on the invitation lists of several of the Royal Society of Musicians' annual dinners in the 1880s and, although he did not attend any of these, he is recorded as having made several donations to the Society. In 1893 Cobb married Elizabeth Lucy Parkinson, widow of Stephen Parkinson, Fellow and Tutor of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and (in accordance with the custom of the time) resigned his offices at Trinity. He continued to reside in Cambridge - at The Hermitage Silver Street - and devoted himself mainly to musical composition. From this last period of his life came the second (1893) and third (1897) sets of Barrack-Room Ballads (the first having appeared in 1892) and his delightful Twenty-four Songs for Little People (1897) to words by Norman Gale (d. 1942), as well as works on a larger canvas, including his most ambitious work - A Song of Trafalgar Op. 41, a Ballad for men's voices (solo and chorus) and orchestra (1900), to words by Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) - remembered today as the author of The Railway Children (1906). Among Cobb's large-scale works is reputed to be a Symphony although no trace of this has yet come to light. What can be stated with certainty, however, is that on 27 November 1902 a concert was held at the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, given by the Municipal Orchestra under the direction of Dan Godfrey, jun. - later Sir Dan Godfrey (1868-1939) - and Gerard Cobb, who conducted "For the first time in Bournemouth" (and probably the first time anywhere) three of his own works - Introduction and Allegro Giocoso in B flat, Valse Pathétique 'Niobe', and Romanza for Orchestra, in E flat (performed at a Prom in 1901); two of Cobb's earlier songs - "I wish to tune my quivering lyre" (written in 1868) and "Mount, Gallants all!" (published c.1890 were sung by Henry Corner. (An orchestral score and band parts for "Mount, Gallants all!" were available for hire from the publishers, and it must be assumed that both songs were given with orchestral accompaniment.) Cobb's last-known compositions were three further settings of poems by Kipling - not from the Barrack-Room Ballads this time, but from a similar collection, Service Songs. The three songs. - "M.I." (Mounted Infantry of the Line), "The Married Man" (Reservist of the Line), and "Lichtenberg" (New South Wales Contingent) - had been commissioned by Charles Sheard, who had published his settings of the Barrack-Room Ballads and they were completed just a few days before his death. Sheard published them later that year. Gerard Francis Cobb died at The Hermitage on 31 March 1904. having succumbed to an attack of pneumonia. He was cremated at Woking on 5 April at 12.00 noon, at which precise time a memorial service was held at Trinity College Chapel; the music was all by Cobb. His ashes were laid to rest on 8 April in the churchyard at Nettlestead, where his widow erected a handsome cross in his memory. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/oct04

Alexander Ramsay Thompson

1822 - 1895 Person Name: Alexander R. Thompson Translator (from Latin) of "Zion, to Thy Savior Singing" in The Cyber Hymnal Thompson, Alexander Ramsay, D.D., a minister of the American Reformed Dutch Church, was born at New York, Oct. 22, 1822, and graduated at the New York University, 1842, and the Princeton Seminary, 1845. He was Reformed Dutch Pastor at various places, including East Brooklyn, St. Paul's (R. P. D.), New York City, North Reformed Church, Brooklyn (1874), and others. Dr. Thompson was joint editor of the Reformed Dutch Hymns of the Church, N. Y., 1869, and the Hymns of Prayer and Praise, 1871. He has contributed original hymns and translations from the Latin to these collections, to Schaff’s Christ in Song, 1869, and to the Sunday School Times, Philadelphia, 1883, &c. In addition two original hymns:— 1. 0 Thou Whose filmed and fading eye. Good Friday. 2. Wayfarers in the wilderness. Life a Pilgrimage. are in the Hymns of the Church, 1869, with the signature "A. R. T." [Rev F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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