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H. W. Greatorex

1813 - 1858 Person Name: Henry W. Greatorex Composer of "LEIGHTON" in Hymns of the Kingdom of God Henry Wellington Greatorex United Kingdom 1813-1858. Born at Burton upon Trent, England, he received a thorough musical education from his father, Thomas Greatorex, who was for many years organist of Westminster Abbey, and conductor of the London concerts of ancient music. Henry became a composer, author, compiler, editor, and arranger of music. He emigrated to the U.S. In 1839. In 1849 he married artist Eliza Pratt, and they had four children: Elizabeth, Kathleen, Thomas, and Francis Henry. Prior to settling in New York City as a music teacher and organist at Calvary Church, he played at churches in Hartford, CT, including Center Church and St Johns Episcopal Church in West Hartford, CT. He frequently sang in oratorios and concerts. For some years he was also organist and conductor of the choir at St. Paul's Chapel. In 1853 he was an organist at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. He did much to advance the standard of sacred music in the U.S. In days when country singing school teachers imposed more rudimentary melodies on hymn books. He published a collection of “Psalm & hymn tunes, chants, anthems & sentences” (Boston 1851). He died of yellow fever in Charleston, SC. John Perry

A. Williams

1731 - 1776 Person Name: A. Williams, 1731-76 Composer of "ST. THOMAS " in The Methodist Hymn-Book with Tunes Aaron Williams (b. London, England, 1731; d. London, 1776) was a singing teacher, music engraver, and clerk at the Scottish Church, London Wall. He published various church music collections, some intended for rural church choirs. Representative of his compilations are The Universal Psalmodist (1763)— published in the United States as The American Harmony (1769)—The Royal Harmony (1766), The New Universal Psalmodist (1770), and Psalmody in Miniature (1778). His Harmonia Coelestis (1775) included anthems by noted composers. Bert Polman

Samuel Wesley

1766 - 1837 Composer of "DONCASTER" in The Sunday School Hymnary Samuel Wesley; b. Feb. 24, 1766, Bristol; d. Oct. 11, 1837, London; composer and organist. Son of Charles Wesley, grandson of Samuel Wesley, 1662-1735

Anonymous

Author of "Believe not those who say" in The Abingdon Hymnal In some hymnals, the editors noted that a hymn's author is unknown to them, and so this artificial "person" entry is used to reflect that fact. Obviously, the hymns attributed to "Author Unknown" "Unknown" or "Anonymous" could have been written by many people over a span of many centuries.

Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 - 1750 Person Name: J. S. Bach, 1685-1750 Composer of "POTSDAM" in The Abingdon Hymnal Johann Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach into a musical family and in a town steeped in Reformation history, he received early musical training from his father and older brother, and elementary education in the classical school Luther had earlier attended. Throughout his life he made extraordinary efforts to learn from other musicians. At 15 he walked to Lüneburg to work as a chorister and study at the convent school of St. Michael. From there he walked 30 miles to Hamburg to hear Johann Reinken, and 60 miles to Celle to become familiar with French composition and performance traditions. Once he obtained a month's leave from his job to hear Buxtehude, but stayed nearly four months. He arranged compositions from Vivaldi and other Italian masters. His own compositions spanned almost every musical form then known (Opera was the notable exception). In his own time, Bach was highly regarded as organist and teacher, his compositions being circulated as models of contrapuntal technique. Four of his children achieved careers as composers; Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, and Chopin are only a few of the best known of the musicians that confessed a major debt to Bach's work in their own musical development. Mendelssohn began re-introducing Bach's music into the concert repertoire, where it has come to attract admiration and even veneration for its own sake. After 20 years of successful work in several posts, Bach became cantor of the Thomas-schule in Leipzig, and remained there for the remaining 27 years of his life, concentrating on church music for the Lutheran service: over 200 cantatas, four passion settings, a Mass, and hundreds of chorale settings, harmonizations, preludes, and arrangements. He edited the tunes for Schemelli's Musicalisches Gesangbuch, contributing 16 original tunes. His choral harmonizations remain a staple for studies of composition and harmony. Additional melodies from his works have been adapted as hymn tunes. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Robert Jackson

1840 - 1914 Composer of "TRENTHAM" in The Hymnal of Praise After receiving his musical training at the Royal Academy of Music, Robert Jackson (b, Oldham, Lancashire, England, 1840; d. Oldham, 1914) worked briefly as organist at St. Mark's Church, Grosvenor Square, in London. But he spent most of his life as organist at St. Peter's Church in Oldham (1868-1914), where his father had previously been organist for forty-eight years. A composer of hymn tunes, Jackson was also the conductor of the Oldham Music Society and Werneth Vocal Society. Bert Polman

Anne Bronte

1819 - 1849 Person Name: Anne Brontë Author of "Believe Not Those Who Say" in The Cyber Hymnal Brönté, Anne, sister of Charlotte, and daughter of the Rev. Patrick Bronte, B.A., Vicar of Haworth, Yorkshire, born at Thornton, near Bradford, 1819; died May 28, 1849. Anne Brönté was joint author with her sisters of a small volume of Poems, 1846, and personally of Agnes Grey, 1847; and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 1847, her nom de plume being Acton Bell. In 1851 a new edition of Wuthering Heights, by Ellis [Emily] Bell; and Agnes Grey, by Acton [Anne] Bell, was edited, with biographical notes, and selections from their papers by their sister, Charlotte Brönté. These selections consisted of poems and hymns by the two sisters. From those of Anne the following have come into common use:— 1. I hoped that with the brave and strong. Time of Sorrow. A hymn of much plaintive beauty, wrung from the writer by disappointment and affliction. It is in several collections, as Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, &c. 2. My God, 0 let me call Thee mine. Lent, Also very plaintive, but not so extensively in use. It is No. 291 in the Baptist Hymnal, 1879. 3. Oppressed with sin and woe. Confidence. The most popular, although not the best of her hymns. It is in many collections, both in Great Britain and America. 4. Spirit of truth, be Thou my Guide. Spirit of Truth. In a few hymnals, including Dr. Martineau's Hymns of Praise & Prayer , 1873. -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)