Views from the Choir Loft

Hymn Tunes • What’s Up With Naming Them?

Jeff Ostrowski · August 11, 2016

ERE is an iPhone photograph of GIA’s Worship Hymnal. The metrical index doesn’t distinguish between Trochaic and Iambic—indeed, most hymnals do not. ¹ You may ask: “What’s the big deal?” Well, if you try to exchange the hymns according the GIA index, you’ll discover that they cannot be exchanged.

To illustrate this, I’ll choose two well-known hymns (although in real life I’d never recommend switching the text for PASSION CHORALE).

See how the wrong syllables end up being accented?

* * Mp3 Audio • A True Abomination

220 Trochaic Iambic

I’m currently working on a hymn project along with several people from the JP2 Institute. One problem we face is hymn melodies: they often have more than one name!

It’s a free country, so people can believe as they wish. Speaking for myself, however, I’m often bothered by hymn tune names. Everyone’s ear is different—and many will disagree—but here’s how I distinguish:

Unhelpful & Unspecific Names:

Lovely
Easter Hymn
Epiphany
Nature
National Hymn
Shepherds in the field
Veni Sancte Spiritus
This Joyful Eastertide
French Carol
Sunrise
Harvest
Italian Hymn
Gloria
Truth from Above
Psalm 6
Simple Chant

Weird Looking Names:

Praises
Bow Church
Duke Street
Farley Castle
Monkland
Strength and stay
Pilgrims
Metzler’s Redhead No. 66
Redhead No. 46

Unprepossessing or Inelegant Names:

Oswald’s Tree
Toplady
Marching
Knickerbocker
Geronimo
Little Cornard
Pike
Old Bath
Batty
My Dancing Day
Stars of Ice
Long is our Winter

Hard to Pronounce Names:

Hyfrydol
Khanta Zagun Guziek
Lux Eoi
Edgbaston
Gerrans
Wallet Will Ich
Wir Pflügen
Ins Feld Geh
St Aëlred
Trochrague
Cwm Rhondda

Perhaps my list proves I’m not very educated. Maestro David Hughes—surely one of the most respected church musicians working today—once told me many of these names are towns, cities, or even street names.

When Kevin Allen composed original hymn tunes for the Campion Hymn Book, he came up with the most gorgeous names, such as:

Edgewater
Bronzeville
St Peter Claver
Oakwood
Kenmore

NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1 Until recently, most Catholic hymnals didn’t even list the tune name! I’m told the 1950s book by Vincent J. Higginson was one of the first to do so.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

22 September 2020 • “Tears of Joy”

A reader wrote to us: “Thank you for the sample verses of Hymn #869 (Solemn Hymn to the Son of God). I found this music posted to YouTube this morning, and I’ve lost count at of the number of times I’ve replayed it and—no exaggeration!—it makes me tear up each time. This lovely hymn makes me feel closer to Jesus in a way I have not experienced before. It also makes me want to proceed with my daily prayers right then and there, rather than run off to the next errand or household task. I could play your traditional hymns and liturgical music all day long!” —(Ann from the Boston area)

—Jeff Ostrowski

Myth Re: Johann Sebastian Bach

Some musicologists try to make a “splash” by saying that Bach was totally forgotten when he died—remembered only as an organ virtuoso—and that his sons were more famous than he was. Such an idea is indefensible. It is true that musical styles changed in 1750AD—but this is normal. Musical styles change constantly; e.g. much of the repertoire of Hofmann and Rachmaninov was considered “garbage” toward the end of their lives. But those who carefully study the lives of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christian Gottlob Neefe, Franz Liszt, John Field, Hans von Bülow, Felix Mendelssohn, Frédéric Chopin, and countless others realize that Bach was revered. It’s true that his music was seldom played in public, but music by “dead composers” was generally speaking not played in public until approximately the middle of the 19th century.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Arthur Friedheim, Franz Liszt’s Secretary

Arthur Friedheim (d. 1932) has a very poor reputation as a pianist, and Liszt rejected him several times before finally accepting him as a pupil, yet the Liszt recordings he left are quite good—especially considering the transgressions by other Liszt pupils. Friedheim must have been an amazing musician; twice he was asked to become conductor of the New York Philharmonic (1898 + 1911) but he declined both times. Circa 1912, Friedheim was recording Chopin’s “Funeral March” but the record ran out, so he simply stopped in the middle of the piece. Things sure have changed! Pianists no longer stop in the middle of pieces, although Cortot would sometimes abridge pieces to make them fit on records (cf. Chopin’s Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise Brilliante).

—Jeff Ostrowski

Pope Gelasius in his 9th Letter to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: “Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.” We too have forbidden this practice in the same words in Our oft-repeated constitution “Etsi Pastoralis” (§6, #21)

— Pope Benedict XIV • Encyclical “Allatae Sunt” (26 July 1755)