2007 Hymnic Anniversaries

When the Editor asked Mary Louise and me to compile this hymnic anniversaries article, it was with her suggestion that we use The Dictionary of North American Hymnolqgy in the process, partly as a way of highlighting the dictionary, which celebrates its fifty-fifth anniversary this year. As an index to hymns and hymnals the DNAH most certainly can be of use in coming up with possibilities for hymnic anniversaries. However, a recent request for hymns written in the same year as a particular church's founding reminded me of one of the requests for DNAH enhancements the date of origin, that is, year of first publication of each hymn. Although sorting hymns in the DNAH by year will provide the first American or Canadian publication of a specific hymn, that year may or may not be the original year of publication since many hymns appeared in European or other hymnals long before their inclusion in American or Canadian ones. Furthermore, authors' birth and death dates are not listed. Although the DNAH is primarily a resource for finding hymns and hymnals, we are already planning enhancements such as these as we move toward an online version. Having spent the greater part of my professional career as a librarian, I am always motivated to use and recommend standard reference resources when looking for specific information. No list of hymnic anniversaries could ever be truly comprehensive, but certain tools are helpful in establishing a working list. The DNAH is a wonderful one for coming up with anniversaries of hymnals published in North America, which is the primary focus of my contribution to the 2007 list. But Mary Louise and I would most certainly point users to some of the old standby resources, such as Benson's The English Hymn, Ryden's The Story of Christian Hymnody, and Bailey's The Gospel in Hymns along with hymnal companions or handbooks and hymnology textbooks such as A Survey of Christian Hymnody by Reynolds and Price or Sing with Understanding by Eskew and McElrath. For me, a great resource is looking through back issues of The Hymn, especially hymnic anniversary lists, but also the many biographical and interpretive articles about hymns and hymn writers-great materials for developing bulletin notes, church newsletter articles or spoken introductions. Even the prefaces and indices of most hymnals will provide a lot of information when looking for anniversary possibilities in your own church. Among the highlights of 2007 anniversaries are the 825th birthday of St. Francis of Assisi, the 400th birthday of Paul Gerhardt, the 300th of Charles Wesley and Selina Hastings (the Countess of Huntingdon), the 250th of Daniel Read, the 275th of Franz Joseph Haydn, and the 200th of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier. Hymnals and books include the 300th anniversary of the first publication of Isaac Watts' Hymns and Spiritual Songs (London, 1707); the 175th of Winchell's Supplement to Watts (Boston, 1832); the 150th of Hymns for the Church of Christ (Unitarian, Boston, 1857); the 125th of both The Hymn Book of the Evangelical Association and The Evangelical Hymn and Tune Book (Cleveland, 1882); the 100th of Julian's famed Dictionary ofHymnology, 2nd ed., with Benson's American supplement; the 75th of The Christian Science Hymnal (Boston, 1932); and the 50th of Erik Routley's The Music of Christian Hymnody (London, 1957). As an aside, I have listed the number of hymnals published in the U.S. and Canada for some of the designated anniversary years, and in some cases the type of hymnals published in those years. These figures indicate a bit of hymnic history in ways that only numbers can. These 2007 hymnic anniversaries are but a smattering of what could be included, but Mary Louise and I offer them with the encouragement to explore further the myriad hymnological resources in your own planning, reflections and celebrations. The scheme of anniversaries in our list is based on 25-year increments, but you may wish to explore other options. …

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