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Begin my soul, th' exalted lay
Author: Ogilvie Appears in 210 hymnals Scripture: Psalm 148 Used With Tune: ARIEL
Begin my soul, th' exalted lay
WATTS' LYRE
Appears in 1 hymnal Composer and/or Arranger: Annabel Morris Buchanan Tune Sources: Traditional American folk-hymn; Collected by Annabel Morris Buchanan Tune Key: d minor Incipit: 11234 51765 43543 Used With Text: Begin, my soul, th'exalted lay
WATTS' LYRE
Begin, My Soul, Th'Exalted Lay
Author: John Ogilvie, D.D., 1733-1814 Hymnal: The Alleluia #31 (1880) Languages: English Tune Title: [Begin, my soul, th'exalted lay]
Begin, My Soul, Th'Exalted Lay
Begin, My Soul, Th'Exalted Lay
Author: John Ogilvie Hymnal: The Cyber Hymnal #11967 Meter: 8.8.6.8.8.6 First Line: Begin, my soul, th’exalted lay Lyrics: 1 Begin, my soul, th’exalted lay,
Let each enraptured thought obey,
And praise th’Almighty’s name;
Lo! Heav’n and earth, and seas, and skies
In one melodious concert rise
To swell th’inspiring theme!
2 Ye fields of light, celestial plains,
Where gay transporting beauty reigns,
Ye scenes divinely fair!
Your maker’s wondrous power proclaim,
Tell how He formed your shining frame,
And breathed the fluid air.
3 Ye angels, catch the thrilling sound!
While all th’adoring throngs around
His wondrous mercy sing;
Let every listening saint above,
Wake all the tuneful soul of love,
And touch the sweetest string.
4 Join, ye loud spheres, the vocal choir!
Thou dazzling orb of liquid fire
The mighty chorus aid;
Soon as grey evening gilds the plain,
Thou moon, protract the melting strain,
And praise Him in the shade.
5 Thou, Heav’n of heav’ns, His vast abode,
Ye clouds, proclaim your forming God!
Ye thunders, speak His power!
Lo! on the lightning’s gleamy wing
In triumph walks th’eternal King,
Th’astonished worlds adore.
6 Whate’er the gazing eye can find,
The warms or soothes the musing mind,
United praise bestow;
Ye dragons, sound His dreadful name
To Heav’n aloud, and roar acclaim,
Ye swelling deeps, below!
7 Let every element rejoice:
Ye tempests, raise your mighty voice
Praise Him who bid you roll!
His praise in softer notes declare
Each whispering breeze of yielding air,
And breathe it to the soul.
8 To Him, ye graceful cedars, bow!
Ye towering mountains, bending low,
Your great creator own!
Tell, when affrighted nature shook,
How Sinai kindled at His look,
And trembled at His frown.
9 Ye flocks that haunt the humble vale,
Ye insects fluttering on the gale,
In mutual concourse rise!
Crop the gay rose’s vermeil bloom,
And waft its spoils, a sweet perfume,
In incense to the skies.
10 Wake, all ye mounting throngs, and sing!
Ye plumy warblers of the spring,
Harmonious anthems raise,
To Him who shaped your finer mold,
Who tipped your glittering wings with gold,
And tuned your voice to praise.
11 Let man, by nobler passions swayed,
The feeling heart, the judging head,
In heav’nly praise employ;
Spread His tremendous name around,
Till Heav’n’s broad arch ring back the sound,
The general burst of joy.
12 Ye, whom the charms of grandeur please,
Nursed on the silky lap of ease,
Fall prostrate at His throne!
Ye princes, rulers, all adore!
Praise Him, ye kings! who makes your power
An image of His own.
13 Ye fair, by nature formed to move,
O praise th’eternal source of love
With youth’s enlivening fire!
Let age take up the tuneful lay,
Sigh His blest name—then soar away,
And ask an angel’s lyre. Languages: English Tune Title: FRANCES
Begin, My Soul, Th'Exalted Lay
Begin, my soul, th' exalted lay
Hymnal: A Collection of Hymns and A Liturgy #13 (1814) Meter: Irregular Lyrics: 1 Begin, my soul, th' exalted lay;
Let each enraptur'd thought obey,
And praise th' almighty name:
Let heaven and earth and seas and skies,
In one harmonious concert rise,
To swell the glorious theme.
2 Ye angels, catch the joyful sound,
While all th' adoring throngs around
His wondrous mercy sing:
Let all who fill the realms above,
Awake the tuneful soul of love,
And touch the sweetest string.
3 Thou heav'n of heav'ns, his vast abode,
Ye clouds, proclaim your Maker, God;
Ye thunders, speak his power.
Lo! on the lightning's gleamy wing,
In triumph rides th' eternal King;
Th' astonish'd worlds adore.
4 Ye deeps, whose roaring billows rise
To join the thunders of the skies
Praise him who bids you roll.
His praise in softer notes declare,
Each whisp'ring breeze of yielding air,
And breath it to the soul.
5 Wake, all ye feather'd throngs, and sing;
Ye cheerful warblers of the spring,
Harmonious anthems raise
To him, who shaped your finer mould,
Who tipped your glittering wings with gold,
And tun'd your voice to praise.
6 Let man, by nobler passions sway'd,
the feeling heart, the judging head,
In heav'nly praise employ;
Spread the Creator's name around,
Till heav'n's extended arch rebound
The gen'ral burst of joy. Topics: Praise and Thanksgiving Languages: English
Begin, my soul, th' exalted lay
Lowell Mason
1792 - 1872 Composer of "ARIEL" in African Methodist Episcopal hymn and tune book 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.
Lowell Mason
James McGranahan
1840 - 1907 Composer of "FRANCES" in The Cyber Hymnal James McGranahan USA 1840-1907. Born at West Fallowfield, PA, uncle of Hugh McGranahan, and son of a farmer, he farmed during boyhood. Due to his love of music his father let him attend singing school, where he learned to play the bass viol. At age 19 he organized his first singing class and soon became a popular teacher in his area of the state. He became a noted musician and hymns composer. His father was reluctant to let him pursue this career, but he soon made enough money doing it that he was able to hire a replacement farmhand to help his father while he studied music. His father, a wise man, soon realized how his son was being used by God to win souls through his music. He entered the Normal Music School at Genesco, NY, under William B Bradbury in 1861-62. He met Miss Addie Vickery there. They married in 1863, and were very close to each other their whole marriage, but had no children. She was also a musician and hymnwriter in her own right. For a time he held a postmaster’s job in Rome, PA. In 1875 he worked for three years as a teacher and director at Dr. Root’s Normal Music Institute. He because well-known and successful as a result, and his work attracted much attention. He had a rare tenor voice, and was told he should train for the operatic stage. It was a dazzling prospect, but his friend, Philip Bliss, who had given his wondrous voice to the service of song for Christ for more than a decade, urged him to do the same. Preparing to go on a Christmas vacation with his wife, Bliss wrote McGranahan a letter about it, which McGranahan discussed with his friend Major Whittle. Those two met in person for the first time at Ashtubula, OH, both trying to retrieve the bodies of the Bliss’s, who died in a bridge-failed train wreck. Whittle thought upon meeting McGranahan, that here is the man Bliss has chosen to replace him in evangelism. The men returned to Chicago together and prayed about the matter. McGranahan gave up his post office job and the world gained a sweet gospel singer/composer as a result. McGranahan and his wife, and Major Whittle worked together for 11 years evangelizing in the U.S., Great Britain, and Ireland. They made two visits to the United Kingdom, in 1880 and 1883, the latter associated with Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey evangelistic work. McGranahan pioneered use of the male choir in gospel song. While holding meetings in Worcester, MA, he found himself with a choir of only male voices. Resourcefully, he quickly adapted the music to those voices and continued with the meetings. The music was powerful and started what is known as male choir and quartet music. Music he published included: “The choice”, “Harvest of song”, “Gospel Choir”,, “Gospel hymns #3,#4, #5, #6” (with Sankey and Stebbins), “Songs of the gospel”, and “Male chorus book”. The latter three were issued in England. In 1887 McGranahan’s health compelled him to give up active work in evangelism. He then built a beautiful home, Maplehurst, among friends at Kinsman, OH, and settled down to the composition of music, which would become an extension of his evangelistic work. Though his health limited his hours, of productivity, some of his best hymns were written during these days. McGranahan was a most lovable, gentle, modest, unassuming, gentleman, and a refined and cultured Christian. He loved good fellowship, and often treated guests to the most delightful social feast. He died of diabetes at Kinsman, OH, and went home to be with his Savior.
John Perry
James McGranahan
John Ogilvie
1732 - 1813 Person Name: Ogilvie Author of "Begin my soul, th' exalted lay" in African Methodist Episcopal hymn and tune book John Ogilvie was born in 1733, and was minister of Midmar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, from 1759 until his death in 1814. He published some theological and philosophical treatises, and a number of poems.
--Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872.
=============
Ogilvie, John, D.D., eldest son of the Rev. James Ogilvie, or Ogilvy, of Aberdeen, was born at Aberdeen in 1733. After studying at the University of Aberdeen (Marischal College), which, in 1766, conferred upon him the degree of D.D., he became parish minister of Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, in 1759, and of Midmar, Aberdeenshire, in 1760. He died at Midmar, Nov. 17, 1813. He published a number of poetical works, and among others Poems on Several Subjects, in 2 vols. (London, 1769). This includes his well known paraphrase of Psalm cxlviii.— "Begin, my soul, the exalted lay." He was a member of the Committee appointed by the General Assembly of 1775, to revise the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases of 1745, and is said to have contributed No. 62, “Lo, in the last of days behold", to the 1781 authorized ed. of the same. [Scottish Translations and Paraphraphs] [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
=================
Ogilvie, John, p. 856, ii. From his psalm version, "Begin, my soul, the exalted lay," the cento “Ye fields of light, celestial plains" is taken.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)
John Ogilvie
