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Cecil Frances Alexander

1818 - 1895 Person Name: Mrs. C. F. Alexander Author of "For all Thy saints, a noble throng" in The Hymnal, Revised and Enlarged, as adopted by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 1892 As a small girl, Cecil Frances Humphries (b. Redcross, County Wicklow, Ireland, 1818; Londonderry, Ireland, 1895) wrote poetry in her school's journal. In 1850 she married Rev. William Alexander, who later became the Anglican primate (chief bishop) of Ireland. She showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. She and her sister also founded a school for the deaf. Alexander was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement and by John Keble's Christian Year. Her first book of poetry, Verses for Seasons, was a "Christian Year" for children. She wrote hymns based on the Apostles' Creed, baptism, the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandments, and prayer, writing in simple language for children. Her more than four hundred hymn texts were published in Verses from the Holy Scripture (1846), Hymns for Little Children (1848), and Hymns Descriptive and Devotional ( 1858). Bert Polman ================== Alexander, Cecil Frances, née Humphreys, second daughter of the late Major John Humphreys, Miltown House, co. Tyrone, Ireland, b. 1823, and married in 1850 to the Rt. Rev. W. Alexander, D.D., Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. Mrs. Alexander's hymns and poems number nearly 400. They are mostly for children, and were published in her Verses for Holy Seasons, with Preface by Dr. Hook, 1846; Poems on Subjects in the Old Testament, pt. i. 1854, pt. ii. 1857; Narrative Hymns for Village Schools, 1853; Hymns for Little Children, 1848; Hymns Descriptive and Devotional, 1858; The Legend of the Golden Prayers 1859; Moral Songs, N.B.; The Lord of the Forest and his Vassals, an Allegory, &c.; or contributed to the Lyra Anglicana, the S.P.C.K. Psalms and Hymns, Hymns Ancient & Modern, and other collections. Some of the narrative hymns are rather heavy, and not a few of the descriptive are dull, but a large number remain which have won their way to the hearts of the young, and found a home there. Such hymns as "In Nazareth in olden time," "All things bright and beautiful," "Once in Royal David's city," "There is a green hill far away," "Jesus calls us o'er the tumult," "The roseate hues of early dawn," and others that might be named, are deservedly popular and are in most extensive use. Mrs. Alexander has also written hymns of a more elaborate character; but it is as a writer for children that she has excelled. - John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) =============== Alexander, Cecil F., née Humphreys, p. 38, ii. Additional hymns to those already noted in this Dictionary are in common use:— 1. Christ has ascended up again. (1853.) Ascension. 2. His are the thousand sparkling rills. (1875.) Seven Words on the Cross (Fifth Word). 3. How good is the Almighty God. (1S48.) God, the Father. 4. In [a] the rich man's garden. (1853.) Easter Eve. 5. It was early in the morning. (1853.) Easter Day. 6. So be it, Lord; the prayers are prayed. (1848.) Trust in God. 7. Saw you never in the twilight? (1853.) Epiphany. 8. Still bright and blue doth Jordan flow. (1853.) Baptism of Our Lord. 9. The angels stand around Thy throne. (1848.) Submission to the Will of God. 10. The saints of God are holy men. (1848.) Communion of Saints. 11. There is one Way and only one. (1875.) SS. Philip and James. 12. Up in heaven, up in heaven. (1848.) Ascension. 13. We are little Christian children. (1848.) Holy Trinity. 14. We were washed in holy water. (1848.) Holy Baptism. 15. When of old the Jewish mothers. (1853.) Christ's Invitation to Children. 16. Within the Churchyard side by side. (1848.) Burial. Of the above hymns those dated 1848 are from Mrs. Alexander's Hymns for Little Children; those dated 1853, from Narrative Hymns, and those dated 1875 from the 1875 edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern. Several new hymns by Mrs. Alexander are included in the 1891 Draft Appendix to the Irish Church Hymnal. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907) ============= Alexander, Cecil F. , p. 38, ii. Mrs. Alexander died at Londonderry, Oct. 12, 1895. A number of her later hymns are in her Poems, 1896, which were edited by Archbishop Alexander. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) See also in:Hymn Writers of the Church

Freeman Lewis

1780 - 1859 Person Name: Freeman Lewis, 1780-1859 Composer of "DUNLAP'S CREEK" in The Hymnal 1982 Freeman Lewis USA 1780-1859. Born at Basking Ridge, NJ, he became a surveyor, writer, and traveling school teacher who played the organ and wrote music on the side. His family moved to Fayette, PA, in 1796. In 1809 he married Rebecca A Craft, and they had 11 children: Runyan, David, George, James, John, William, Levi. Alpheus, Thomas, Margaret, and Mary Ann. Three died young (of flux and scarlet fever). He compiled and published a book of camp meeting hymns and other sacred music:”The beauties of harmony” (1813-16-18), which included some of his own compositions. An appendix to it contained explanations of musical terms amd rules and principles of composition. These were sometimes used in singing schools. He also served as county surveyor of Fayette County, PA (1823-36) and helped Jonathan Knight survey and find a route for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. He served as organist for the Presbyterian Church in Uniontown, PA. His wife died in 1844, after which he moved to Knox. OH. His works include a 300 page family history, attesting to his being well-educated and having interest in many subjects. He died at Knox, OH. John Perry

Raphael Courteville

? - 1772 Composer of "[For all Thy saints a noble throng]" in The Hymnal, Revised and Enlarged, as adopted by the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the year of our Lord 1892 Courteville, Raphael or Ralph (d. 1772), organist and political writer, was the son or grandson of one of the gentlemen of the Chapel Royal who bore the same name, and who died on 28 Dec. 1675. The organ from the Chapel Royal was presented by Queen Mary in 1691 to the church of St. James's, Westminster, and on 7 Sept. in the same year a Ralph Courtaville, who had been strongly recommended by the Earl of Burlington, and who had previously been a chorister in the Chapel Royal, was appointed the first organist, with a salary of 20l. per annum for himself and 4l. for a blower. This Courteville, Courtaville, or Courtivill, was no doubt the composer of six ‘Sonatas composed and purposley (sic) contriv'd for two flutes,’ published by Walsh about 1690; of a song introduced in Wright's ‘Female Virtuosoes,’ and supposed to have been written by Ann, countess of Winchilsea; of a very graceful song, ‘To Convent Streams,’ in ‘Duke and no Duke,’ and of songs in ‘Oroonoko.’ He was one of the composers who furnished the music for part iii. of D'Urfey's ‘Don Quixote’ in 1695. The well-known hymn tune, ‘St. James's,’ is also by him. It has been supposed that this Courteville died about 1735, and was succeeded by his son of the same name; but as the vestry minutes of the parish, in which all appointments, &c. are carefully recorded, contain no mention of such a change of organists, while no record of the father's death can be found, we are compelled to believe that the existence of the son is a mere assumption, made in order to account for the long tenure of the post by a person or persons of the name of Courteville. This conclusion is strengthened by various entries in the vestry minutes; in January 1752–3, and again in June 1754, letters are written to him warning him that unless he attends personally to the duties of the post he will be dismissed. Whether he endeavoured to perform the duties himself after this we do not know, but he was certainly not dismissed, and shortly afterwards an assistant, ‘Mr. Richardson,’ was appointed. On 12 June 1771 it was reported to the vestry that Courteville gave this assistant only one quarter of his salary for doing the whole work, and he was thereupon ordered to share the payment equally with Richardson. Seven years before this, in 1764, the assistant, with two others, was consulted as to the state of the organ and the undertaking of repairs to its structure. Neither at this time, nor when the improved instrument, repaired by Byfield, was tried, was Courteville's advice asked in the matter, from which we may conclude that he was long past all work, although he was allowed to keep the post. This Raphael Courteville, whether or not he be identical with the first organist of the church, took a somewhat active part in politics towards the end of Sir Robert Walpole's administration. He is stated to have married, on 14 Sept. 1735, a lady named Miss Lucy Green, with a fortune of 25,000l. In 1738 he published ‘Memoirs of the Life and Administration of William Cecil, Baron Burleigh, &c., including a parallel between the State of Government then and now,’ with preface and appendix of original papers, dedicated to the Right Hon. Edward Walpole, secretary to the Duke of Devonshire. It is signed only ‘R. C.,’ and was printed for the author in London. He was the reputed author of ‘The Gazetteer,’ a paper written in defence of the government, and it was probably in consequence of this production that he acquired the nickname of ‘Court-evil.’ He also wrote a pamphlet published in 1761, entitled ‘Arguments respecting Insolvency.’ On 4 Dec. 1742 a letter appeared in No. 50 of the ‘Westminster Journal’ bearing his signature, to which were appended the words, ‘Organ-blower, Essayist, and Historiographer.’ The letter was undoubtedly written as a joke, probably upon his own genuine productions; it is of course not by himself, and the point of the joke is impossible now to discover, but the appearance of his name in this connection proves that he was more or less a well-known character. He died early in June 1772, as on the 10th of the month he was buried, and his place was declared vacant at the vestry meeting of that date. [Grove's Dict. of Music; Hawkins's Hist. of Music; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. x. 496; Registers and Vestry Minutes of St. James's, Westminster; Cheque-books of the Chapel Royal; Westminster Journal, quoted above; Brit. Mus. Cat.] --en.wikisource.org/wiki/