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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.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: The Names Of Hymn Tunes Last Updated: May 11, 2020

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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).

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Quick Thoughts

    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
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Random Quote

“I would hope there is a place [at Mass] for the avant-garde in the same way I think there has to be a place—and we have to be careful with this—a place for Jazz and a place for Evangelical and all of that. […] On theological grounds, I do think we need interaction with the culture at the level of high art or at the level of more commercial pop culture.”

— Fr. Anthony Ruff (22 June 2016)

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