Hymn Notes
Weekly Hymn Notes
Learn about the origin of hymns, lyrics, and melodies, and other music that will be used during Sunday worship service. Contact Don De Bruin, Director of Music Ministries for more information at 608.233.9751.
Hymn Notes for November 17, 2019
From The New Century Hymnal Companion, Copyright 1998, The Pilgrim Press.
#1 Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
Walter Chalmers Smith (1824-1908) based the words of this hymn on 1 Timothy 1:17 for his 1867 Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life. It subsequently appeared with Smith's own revisions in Congregational Hymns (1884), edited by W. Garrett Horder, a Congregational minister in England.
A minister of the Free Church of Scotland, Walter C. Smith served churches in London, Milnathort, Glasgow, and Edinburgh. His interest in poetry led to the publications of a number of collections, including The Bishop's Walk (1860) and A Heretic and Other Poems (1891).
This hymn's tune, ST. DENIO, known in Wales as JOANNA, was based on an old folk melody traditionally sung with words about a cuckoo. It was modified and first used as a hymn tune by John Roberts in his Canaidaeth y Cysegr (1839). St. Denio is the Latin form of St. Dennis.
Many Welsh hymn tunes originated from folk songs or ballads that were already familiar in secular settings. These typically strong tunes adapted well to hymn textw and are often memorable in their predictable structure. ST. DENIO was first used with this text in The English Hymnal (1906) - a pairing that has proved widely successful for over a century.
#462 Creating God, Your Fingers Trace
Jeffery Rowthorn (b. 1934) assigned his students at Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music the task of paraphrasing a psalm in modern language. Never having done this himself, he decided to complete the assignment as well. This text was the result of that exercise and has appeared in many hymnals.
Jeffery Rowthorn was born in Wales, educated and ordained in England, worked as a seminary professor and dean in the United States, and in 1987 was consecrated bishop suffragan of Connecticut. In 1993, he moved to Paris, France to serve as bishop of the American Convocation of Churches in Europe.
Eugene W. Hancock (1929-1993) composed this tune, now titled HANCOCK in his honor, in 1989. It was played at an organist guild meeting and later brought to the attention of the committee for the Presbyterian Hymnal (1990), in which it was published.
Eugene W. Hancock was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but raised in Detroit, Michigan. Beginning in 1970, he served as professor of music at the Borough of Manhattan (New York) Community College. Hancock also served as director of music at West End Presbyterian Church in New York.
#589 Let There Be Light, O God of Hosts
William Merrill Vories (1880-1964) wrote this poem in 1908 after reading an account of the rise of German militarism. Published by the American Peace Society, it later was set to music and translated into Japanese. Vories was a lay missionary to Japan who devoted his life to nondenominational missions work.
William M. Vories was born October 28, 1880, in Leavenworth, Kansas. In college, he decided to enter the missionary field but did not want to work under the auspices of his own denomination (Congregational) or any other. He established the Omi Mission in Japan and spent the remainder of his life working for that cause.
William Boyd (184701928) composed the tune PENTECOST for his teacher Sabine Baring-Gould's text "Come, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire" for use at the author's parish. Boyd was seventeen at the time. The tune was published in a small collection, Thirty-Two Hymn Tunes (1868), at Oxford University.
William Boyd was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, but moved to England for his education at Worcester College, Oxford. In addition to his accomplishments as an organist, he studied for the ministry and was ordained in 1877 by the Church of England.
Hymns by Title
Hymns by Date
| Service Date | |
|---|---|
| November 17, 2019 | |
| November 10, 2019 | |
| November 3, 2019 | |
| October 27, 2019 | |
| October 20, 2019 | |
| October 13, 2019 | |
| October 6, 2019 | |
| September 29, 2019 | |
| September 22, 2019 | |
| September 15, 2019 | |
| September 8, 2019 | |
| September 1, 2019 | |
| August 27, 2019 | |
| August 25, 2019 | |
| August 18, 2019 | |
| August 11, 2019 | |
| August 4, 2019 | Hymn #433: In the Bulb There Is a Flower |
| July 28, 2019 | |
| July 21, 2019 | |
| July 14, 2019 | |
| July 7, 2019 | |
| June 30, 2019 | |
| June 23, 2019 | |
| June 16, 2019 | Hymn #530: God Our Author and Creator |
| June 9, 2019 | |
| June 2, 2019 | |
| May 26, 2019 | |
| May 19, 2019 | |
| May 12, 2019 | |
| May 5, 2019 | |
| April 28, 2019 | |
| April 21, 2019 | |
| April 18, 2019 | |
| April 14, 2019 | |
| April 10, 2019 | |
| April 7, 2019 | |
| April 3, 2019 | |
| March 31, 2019 | |
| March 27, 2019 | |
| March 24, 2019 | |
| March 20, 2019 | |
| March 17, 2019 | |
| March 13, 2019 | |
| March 10, 2019 | |
| March 6, 2019 | |
| February 27, 2019 | |
| February 24, 2019 | |
| February 17, 2019 | |
| February 3, 2019 | |
| January 27, 2019 | |
| January 20, 2019 | |
| January 13, 2019 |
