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Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 - 1750 Composer of "GOTTLOB" in Christian Science Hymnal (Rev. and enl.) 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)

E. J. Hopkins

1818 - 1901 Person Name: Edward J. Hopkins Composer of "WESSEX" in The Cyber Hymnal Dr Edward John Hopkins MusDoc United Kingdom 1818-1901. Born at Westminster, England, the son of a clarinetist with the Royal Opera House orchestra, he became an organist (as did two of his brothers) and a composer. In 1826 he became a chorister of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King William IV in Westminster Abbey. He also sang in the choir of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a double schedule requiring skill and dexterity. On Sunday evenings he would play the outgoing voluntary at St. Martin’s in-the-field. He left Chapel Royal in 1834 and started studying organ construction at two organ factories. He took an appointment at Mitcham Church as organist at age 16, winning an audition against other organists. Four years later he became organist at the Church of St. Peter, Islington. In 1841 he became organist at St. Luke’s, Berwick St., Soho. Two Years later he was organist at Temple Church, which had a historic organ (built in 1683). He held this position for 55 years. In 1845 he married Sarah Lovett, and they had four sons and five daughters. He was closely associated with the Bach Society and was organist for the first English performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. In 1855 he collaborated with Edward Rimbault publishing “The organ, its history and construction” (3 editions 1855-70-77). In 1864 he was one of the founders of the “College of organists”. In 1882 he received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He composed 30+ hymn tunes and some psalm chants, used by the Church of England. He died in London, England. John Perry

Mary Baker Eddy

1821 - 1910 Author of "LOVE" in Christian Science Hymnal Supplement Mary Baker Eddy (born Mary Morse Baker, July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) is the discoverer and founder of Christian Science, a religious movement that emerged in New England in the late 19th century. Eddy is the author of the movement’s textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (first published in 1875), and founder of The First Church of Christ, Scientist (1892). She also founded The Christian Science Publishing Society (1898). Mary Morse Baker was born in Bow, New Hampshire, the youngest of six children of Abigail and Mark Baker. Raised a Congregationalist, she came to reject teachings such as predestination and original sin, but she loved the biblical accounts of early Christian healing. Mark Baker, Eddy’s father, firmly believed in the Congregational church’s doctrine of predestination, but Eddy couldn’t accept the idea that the loving God she knew could condemn people to eternal damnation. Eddy eventually joined the Congregational church at Sanbornton Bridge (present-day Tilton), New Hampshire, when she was seventeen. A fragile child, Eddy suffered from a number of physical complaints. Her letters from this time, now at The Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, portray her sufferings and search for relief. In an effort to find health in her early adulthood, she tried homeopathy, dietary cures, mesmerism, hydropathy, and other popular treatments of the day. None of those methods brought lasting health. On December 10, 1843, Eddy married George Washington Glover. He died of yellow fever on June 27, 1844, a little over three months before the birth of their only child, George Washington Glover. As a single mother in poor health, Eddy wrote some political pieces for the New Hampshire Patriot, as writing was one of the few ways a woman in her position could make money. Eddy continued to struggle with poor health, and her son was put into the care of neighbors by her father and stepmother. She married Dr. Daniel Patterson, a dentist, in 1853, hoping he would adopt the young boy. Patterson signed papers to that effect on their wedding day, but failed to follow through on his promise. In 1873, Eddy divorced Daniel Patterson on the grounds of desertion. In October 1862, Eddy became a patient of Phineas Quimby, a magnetic healer from Maine. She benefited temporarily from his treatment. From 1862 to 1865 Quimby and Eddy engaged in lengthy discussions about healing methods practiced by Quimby and others. Eddy’s conclusions from her own scriptural study and healing practice differed from Quimby’s teachings. In 1866, Eddy had a substantial physical healing while reading about Jesus’ healings in the Bible, without employing any medical forms of treatment. This pivotal event showed her that Jesus’ teachings were practical throughout all time. She devoted the next three years of her life to biblical study and called her discovery Christian Science. In her autobiography, Retrospection and Introspection, Eddy writes, “I then withdrew from society about three years,—to ponder my mission, to search the Scriptures, to find the Science of Mind that should take the things of God and show them to the creature, and reveal the great curative Principle,—Deity” (pp. 24–25). Eddy became well known as a healer, and first-hand accounts state that she performed miracles similar to miracles performed by Jesus. In 1875, Eddy published her discovery in a book titled Science and Health (later retitled Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures), which she called the textbook of Christian Science. As worded in the final edition, she wrote, “In the year 1866, I discovered the Christ Science or divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love, and named my discovery Christian Science” (p. 107). During these years she taught her new ideas to hundreds of people. Many of her students became healers themselves. The final chapter of Science and Health, titled “Fruitage,” contains testimonies of people who were healed by studying her book. In 1877 she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, a student of Christian Science and an active worker in the movement. Eddy founded The Christian Science Journal in 1883, a monthly magazine “designed to put on record the divine Science of Truth” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353). Eddy founded The Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898, which became the publishing home for numerous publications launched by her and her followers. The Christian Science Sentinel, a weekly religious periodical written for a more general audience, and The Herald of Christian Science, a religious magazine with editions in many languages, were established in 1898. In 1908, at the age of 87, Eddy founded The Christian Science Monitor, a daily newspaper. These periodicals continue to be published today. Five of Eddy’s poems were set to music and included in the Christian Science Hymnal during her lifetime: “Christmas Morn,” “Mother’s Evening Prayer,” “Christ my Refuge,” “Communion Hymn,” and “Feed My Sheep.” When the hymnal was revised in 1932, two more of her poems were added: “Love” and “Satisfied.” More information about these particular poems, their original publication and inclusion in the hymnal, is available from The Mary Baker Eddy Library. Eddy died on the evening of December 3, 1910, at her home in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Hundreds of tributes appeared in newspapers around the world, including The Boston Globe, which wrote, “She did a wonderful—an extraordinary— work in the world and there is no doubt that she was a powerful influence for good.” Today, there are Christian Science churches in 76 countries. This biography was written in collaboration with The Mary Baker Eddy Library and the staff of “Hymns 2016” on JSH-Online. More information about Mary Baker Eddy is available at MBELibrary.org. Submitted 8 August 2016.

James Leith Macbeth Bain

1840 - 1925 Composer of "BROTHER JAMES' AIR" in Christian Science Hymnal Supplement James Leith Macbeth Bain (b. Scotland, c. 1840; d. Liverpool, England, 1925), was a healer, mystic, and poet known simply as Brother James. The tune BROTHER JAMES AIR was first published in his volume The great peace: being a New Year's greeting ... (1915). Born in a devout Christian home, Bain came to doubt the faith but later regained a mystical belief with the aid of the Christo Theosophic Society. He founded the Brotherhood of Healers, and he and his fellow healers often sang to their patients during healing sessions. In the latter years of his life he worked among the poor in the slums of Liverpool. He published a book on healing entitled The Brotherhood of Healers ... (1906). Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988

Walter E. Young

Composer of "LOVE" in Christian Science Hymnal (Rev. and enl.)

Eaton Faning

1850 - 1927 Composer of "VITA" in Christian Science Hymnal (Rev. and enl.) Born: May 20, 1850, Helston, Cornwall, England. Died: October 28, 1927, Brighton, England. Faning is remembered as a teacher, choral conductor, and composer. His parents taught him the violin and pianoforte, and he was performing in local concerts by age five. He entered the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in 1870, studying under Sterndale Bennett, Steggall, Ciabatta, and Sullivan. In 1874, he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship. He began teaching at the RAM in 1874, and his operetta The Two Majors was performed there in 1877. He later taught at the National Training School and at Harrow School, from which he retired in 1901. He also found time to conduct the London Male Voice Club and the Madrigal Society. He received a MusB degree from Cambridge in 1894, and MusD in 1900. --www.hymntime.com/tch

James R. Corbett

Composer of "BROTHER BIRDS" in Christian Science Hymnal

Désirée Goyette

Composer of "LILY" in Christian Science Hymnal

Peter B. Allen

b. 1959 Composer of "NOCTURNE" in Christian Science Hymnal Supplement Peter B. Allen, born May 29, 1959, is a composer, pianist and conductor. Peter studied music at Principia College, Eastman School of Music, and Aspen Music Festival. He has worked all over the world as a musician including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Geneva, and Warsaw. Peter has seven recordings under his own name: Still with Thee (1996), The Greatest Thing In the World, (1998) Pilgrim On Earth (2000), Solitary Freedom (2002), Onward (2006), and Christmas Present (2007), the Christian Science Hymnal (2008), and the Christian Science Hymnal Supplement (2009). Peter’s opera titled "The Message of Gabriel" was performed in 2010. He is currently writing a musical titled “Bombshells”. He lives with his wife Bess, and their children David and Ruth, in Santa Rosa, California. His website is pbamusic.com Source: personal communication from Mr. Allen, February 20, 2013.