Hymn Blog - November 1, 2009

November 1, 2009

VU 867 – I’ll Praise My Maker While I’ve Breath. The text is the first of two paraphrases of Psalm 146 in Issac Watt’s Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (1719), with slight changes made by John Wesley for his Charlestown Collection (1737). The preface to the 1933 Methodist Hymn Book states “Watt’s great hymn . . . has found a place in every Methodist hymn-book since 1737. It was on Wesley’s lips as he lay dying, and its message is one of the heirlooms of Methodism.” The tune is attributed to Mattäus Greiter, and appeared in his Strassburger Kirchenamt, 1525. Bach set it as the concluding chorus of part 1 of his St. Matthew Passion. It entered the English repertory by way of the Anglo-Genevan Psalter, 1560-61, set to William Kethe’s paraphrase of Psalm 113, hence its title OLD 113^th.

MV 199 – When at This Table. The lovely and thoughtful communion text is by Shirley Erena Murray, a New Zealand hymn poet whose beautiful and thought provoking texts appear frequently in Voices United (12 texts) and More Voices (6 texts). Composer Jane Marshall’s published works cover a 50-year span. She was a consultant for the United Methodist Hymnal, 1989, and many of her hymns appear in hymnals of various denominations. A longtime member of the Meadows School of the Arts theory faculty and the Sacred Music graduate faculty at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, she is also the author of Grace, Noted, a collection of homilies, essays and hymns published by Hope Publishing Company.

MV 194 – Bread of Life, Feed My Soul. Author, composer Stephen Spencer is a singer songwriter from Riverview, New Brunswick, who frequently resources church gatherings such a Youth Forum for the Maritime Conference of The United Church of Canada. Stephen is guitarist and vocalist for The Message, a five-piece ensemble who have recently released their first CD of sacred song.

VU 595 – We Are Pilgrims. This text, inspired by Mark 9:35, was written and composed by Richard Gillard in 1974, and was first published in Songs of the Kingdom, in 1977.

MV 212 – Sent Out in Jesus’ Name. This lively hymn is a traditional Cuban song, with English translation by Jorge Maldonado.