I collect hymnbooks, and my New Year’s Resolution for 2022 was to record at least one hymn (it quickly became two hymns) each weekend. These, then, are the hymns I recorded; the hymnbooks credited are the ones I used for that particular hymn.
All these hymns are, so far as I know, in the public domain.
Title | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|
Zangbundel Ten Dienste Van Huisgezin En Samenkomsten (2e Druk) | 1906 | At least I think it’s the 2nd edition from 1906. The cover is too faded for me to tell. The cover also looks very similar to pictures of the 3rd edition, but also similar to pictures of the 4th edition, and it’s clearly not that. This book was a gift from my aunt, who is from The Netherlands. |
The Psalter Hymnal | 1927 | Published by the United Presbyterian Board of Publication and Bible School Work. |
The Hymnary Of The United Church of Canada | 1930 | Published by the United Church Publishing House in Toronto. This particular hymnal came from the Airdrie church. |
Tabernacle Hymns Number 4 | 1960 | Published by the Tabernacle Publshing Company, Chicago |
The New Church Hymnal | 1976 | Published by Lexicon Music Inc. This hymnal was the one my church used when I was a kid. |
Praise! Our Songs And Hymns | 1979 | Published by Singspiration Music of the Zondervan Corporation in Grand Rapids, Michigan |
Worship The Lord | 1979 | Published by Warner Press for The Church of God |
The Hymnal For Worship and Celebration | 1986 | Published by Word Music in Nashville, Tennessee |
Trinity Hymnal | 1990 | Published by Great Commission Publications for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. |
This song—like many hymns—has a tragic backstory. Horatio Spafford was scheduled to go from the United States to Europe on the ship Ville Du Havre with his wife and four daughters. Spafford was delayed, but sent his wife and daughters on ahead. Unfortunately, the ship collided with another on the trip and sank. None of his daughters survived; only his wife did.
Horatio learned of this by a telegram from his wife that simply read saved alone
. He promptly left for Wales to comfort her and on the way he wrote the lyrics to this hymn.
Philip Bliss, a friend of the family, wrote the tune for those lyrics and named it for the ship that took the Spaffords’ daughters.
It was inevitable that I’d do a hymn by the very prolific hymnwriter Fanny Crosby in this challenge; in fact, I’d have to be consciously avoiding her works, and I really see no reason to do that.
This hymn praises God for His assurance that our faith in Christ will save us from eternal punishment.
The recorder version. I wasn’t satisfied with it, as my soprano didn’t sound good near the bottom of its range, so I re-recorded it.
This was an attempt at a mixture of instruments. I think it came out okay.
A song about the joy of prayer.
The Gospel of Mark (specifically Mark 4:39) tells of Christ calming a storm on The Sea of Galilee (notorious for its storms), and encourages us to remember how God can calm the storms of life.
The Book of Psalms is, quite simply, the Bible’s hymnal. Unsurprisingly, the Psalms have been adjusted and paraphrased so they read like traditional English poetry and can thus be set to music (see With A Gladsome Mind and Hail To The Lord’s Annointed above for a couple of examples).
The Psalter I used does not tell who adapted the lyrics, nor can I find anything on Hymnary.org about who adapted it.
This song talks about total surrender to God.
Psalm XXIII—known as the Pastoral Psalm—is probably the most famous of all the psalms.
I asked my aunt for a Dutch hymnbook out of sheer curiosity, so she got me one from around 1900 (so far as I can tell). Unfortunately, I don’t speak Dutch, so I don’t know what the lyrics mean.
The title—which unabbreviated is Als Gij In Nood Gezeten—means If You’re In Dire Straits
. Tidy Roger was kind enough to translate the phrase for me.
Also known as Lord, Through All The Generations, this is based on the oldest Psalm in the entire book: Psalm XC, which was written by the prophet Moses.
Another from my Dutch hymnal. According to Kerkliedwiki (or rather, it’s translation by Google Translate, as the website is in Dutch) it is a sung version of a Trinitarian blessing—that is, a blessing that refers to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
A hymn of trust and peace with Christ.
Seeing as May 8 was Mother’s Day, this entry seemed appropriate.
A song praising the power and glory of God. Just a note: there may be some unfamiliar lyrics on the song page; what I've posted are the original lyrics. Most hymnals abridge the last two verses and make them one.
Take Up Thy Cross
In the story of a would-be disciple of Christ (found in Mark 10:17-22), Christ tells the disciple to sell all he has, take up his cross, and follow him. The phrase Take up thy cross and follow Me
has become part of the description of being a follower of Christ.
A cry to God for help during times of persecution and trouble.
This hymn was written as a call to praise God as Lord of all the earth. It was originally written in German, but has been translated into other languages, including English and Dutch—I know about the Dutch translation because the hymnal I used was Zangbundel Ten Dienste Van Huisgezin En Samenkomsten (2e Druk);, with the first line reading Alles, wat adem heeft, love den heere der heeren
and I recognized the tune when I recorded it. For that reason, I'm including the Dutch translation, and also the original German Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren to round out the lot.
Psalm 105 calls upon us to remember the Lord’s might works, drawing its examples from the Exodus from Egypt.
My research into the various hymns leads me down some interesting paths; when looking up the information on this hymn, I discovered that it was actually a translation of an English hymn; the lyrics of which have also been provided.
TheodosiaSteele (1717-1778)
This hymn (and this Psalm) is a cry out to God to hear us, even at our low points or in our low estate.
I tried something new for this weekend: One hymn, but two different tunes (both in the same hymnal).
The tune I did for June 4. For some reason, this tune is titled Bone Pastor in the hymnal I used. I really wish I knew the story behind that!
The tune I did for June 5. Judging from the composer’s years of birth and death, this is the older tune.
This is a translation of the Welsh hymn Arglwydd arwain trwy’r anialwch. It’s a hymn that asks for the Lord’s guidance and providence.
Christ told his followers that what kindness they show to others, they have shown to Him. Even in the Old Testament, the poor were to be treated kindly and mercifully; their mistreatment was one of the many charges he brought against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Psalm XLI begins with telling of the blessings of the Lord to those who show mercy to the poor.
Psalm III begins with a cry to the lord, and finishes with a statement of faith in the protection of God.
A request to Christ to be with us when we worship God.
This is a loose translation of the old English hymn Holy Spirit, Faithful Guide. It’s interesting how many of the hymns in my Dutch hymnal were originally written in English.
A prayer to God for mercy, and an aknowledgment that sometimes what seems like harshness from the Lord is ultimately for our own good.
The Protestent Doxology was originally the final verse of three hymns by Thomas Ken (1637-1711): Awake, My Soul, And With The Sun, Glory To Thee, My God, This Night, and My God, Now I From Sleep Awake, but that shared verse is now normally sung on its own to the tune of Old 100th, a tune which gets its name from its association with Psalm C.
It has appeared in every hymnbook I own with the obvious exception of my Dutch one.
I usually end my busking sessions by playing the Doxology, so I shall close these pages with it as well.
LouisBourgeois (ca. 1510-1559).