Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
Hymnody
Christian hymns in English and the study of hymnody: translations of Greek, Latin and German hymns, and essays on psalmody and hymn-singing, in editions from 1707 to 1926.
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Texts
A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing — Robert BridgesRobert Bridges’s essay on congregational hymn-singing, reprinted at Oxford in 1901 from the Journal of Theological Studies of October 1899: starting from Augustine’s account of the music at Milan, it argues that the chief fault of the churches’ hymnody lies in its tunes. With its 27 notes, followed by the prefaces to his Yattendon Hymnal.A Short Essay Toward the Improvement of Psalmody — Isaac WattsIsaac Watts’s essay, printed at the end of the first printing of his Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707, arguing from the New Testament how the Psalms of David ought to be turned into Christian songs for singing and that it is lawful and necessary to compose other hymns in the clearer language of the Gospel.Hymnological Studies — Matthew N. LundquistMatthew N. Lundquist’s short study of hymnody from a Lutheran standpoint, with a preface dated January 1926 at Wartburg College, Clinton, Iowa: the religious and poetical character of Lutheran hymns, the arrangement of the hymnal, a survey from the early Greek and Latin hymns through the Middle Ages to Luther and the German, Scandinavian and American Lutheran hymn writers, and a list of some 240 hymn writers.Hymns from the East — John BrownlieJohn Brownlie’s 1907 fourth series of hymns drawn from the service books of the Eastern Church, given as centos and suggestions rather than close translations: fifty-one hymns for morning and evening, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, Communion, Judgment and aspiration, with an introduction arguing for sympathy with the Eastern Church.Hymns from the Greek Office Books — John BrownlieJohn Brownlie’s 1904 volume of English hymns from the Greek service books: nineteen verse renderings of troparia, stichera, odes and other pieces from the Euchologion, Parakletike, Pentecostarion and other offices, twenty-eight centos and suggestions, and an appendix with the Trisagion and the Creed of Nicea.Hymns from the Morningland — John BrownlieJohn Brownlie’s sixth series of hymns from the service books of the Eastern Church (1911): seventy-seven hymns, a few close translations and most of them centos, suggestions and reminiscences of the Greek, arranged by season and theme, with two hymns of Bishop Nektarios and an introduction answering charges made against the Greek Church.Hymns of the Early Church — John BrownlieJohn Brownlie’s 1896 English verse translations of Latin hymns of the Church, arranged in the order of the Christian year from Sundays and week-days to Heaven: sixty-two hymns or parts of hymns, each under its Latin title and most with a note on its author and source, with a historical introduction by the Rev. C. G. M’Crie and an index of first lines.Hymns of the Greek Church — John BrownlieJohn Brownlie’s 1900 verse translations of Greek Church hymns: forty-seven pieces, among them contakia, stichera and antiphons, the Canon for Easter Day of St. John of Damascus, two collects and ten renderings from the early Greek poets Methodius, Gregory of Nazianzus and Synesius, with an introduction, short lives of the poets, a footnote and an index of first lines.Lead Kindly Light — Its Origin and Its Romance — Allan SutherlandAllan Sutherland’s short popular study of John Henry Newman’s hymn “Lead, Kindly Light,” published in New York by Frederick A. Stokes (copyright 1905 and 1906) in the Famous Hymns of the World series: an introduction by the Rev. Henry C. McCook on religion and song, Newman’s own account of writing the hymn on a voyage from Sicily in 1833, the tune by Dykes, and tributes and anecdotes from clergy and other writers.Morning and Evening Hymns for a Week — Charlotte ElliottFourteen short devotional hymns by Charlotte Elliott (1789–1871), the author of “Just as I am”: a morning hymn and an evening hymn for each day of the week from Sunday to Saturday, each headed by a text from the Bible, in the London edition of Chas. J. Thynne (fiftieth thousand, 1906).The Breaking Crucible, and Other Translations of German Hymns — James W. AlexanderJames W. Alexander’s English verse translations of German hymns, published in New York in 1861: Hartmann’s “Endlich bricht der heisse Tiegel,” three hymns by Paul Gerhardt (a Passion hymn, an Advent hymn and a Summer hymn) and a Jesus hymn by W. C. Dessler, with a sonnet from the French of Des Barreaux.