Scripture References:
st. 1 = Ps. 87:1-2
st. 2 = Ps. 87:3-5
st. 3 = Ps. 87:6-7

This setting of Psalm 87 is more a poetic summary than the versification in the psalter section (87). It derives from the 1912 Psalter; with stanzas 2 and 3 significantly revised for the Psalter Hymnal. For further commentary on this psalm see PHH 87.

Liturgical Use:
See PHH 87.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

WORCESTER was composed in England by Walter G. Whinfield (b. South Elkington, Lincolnshire, England, 1865; d. Dodford, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England, 1919); it was published in the United States in the Episcopal Church Hymnal (1892). The tune is distinguished by its "rocket" motif–the rapid ascent of the first two lines–and by its stately cadence. Whinfield received both a BA and a B.Mus. from Magdalen College in Oxford. Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1891, he served several parishes and published a collection of his hymn tunes in 1902. WORCESTER is named after the English county Hereford-Worcester, in which Whinfield served as a pastor in the parishes of Bromsgrove and Dodford for some twenty years.

The harmony by Paul Bunjes (PHH 79) was prepared for Lutheran Worship (Concordia, 1982). The tune is well suited to harmony singing and calls for solid organ accompaniment that emphasizes legato

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook