Hymn #561: When in Our Music God Is Glorified

Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000) titled this hymn, written as a celebration of music, “Let the People Sing!” It has appeared in the British supplement New Church Praise (1975) and nearly all major hymnals and smaller collections since.

Fred Pratt Green has been called the most important hymnist in Methodism since Charles Wesley, but he personally rejected the comparison. He is considered the leader of a twentieth-century “hymnic explosion” in England and encouraged the production of new hymns for use by the entire church.

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) composed ENGLBERG for William How’s “For All the Saints” in a 1904 English hymnal, but Ralph Vaughan Williams’s tune SINE NOMINE eclipsed its popularity. ENGELBERG is a strong tune in its own right and has grown in popularity since being paired with this text.

Charles V. Stanford was born in Dublin, Ireland, and died in London, England, seventy-two years later. He taught composition at the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge University and counted Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst among his students. Stanford helped introduce unison hymn tunes, in contrast to the traditional four-part settings of the Victorian era.