April 26 - Horatio Richmond Palmer (The Musical Birthday Series, 7th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 26 may be found here: Conrad Susa (2019), Ma Rainey (2020), Mikhail Fokine; Ma Rainey (2021), Francis Lai; Adam Falckenhagen (2022), Ma Rainey (2023), and Wilma Lipp (2024)

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Horatio Richmond Palmer (26 Apr­il 1834 - 15 No­vem­ber 1907) was a choral director, composer, author, and publisher, remembered for his hymn "Yield Not to Temptation".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recessional

Horatio Richmond Palmer's hymns

Weren't immune from fashion's whims.

It isn't that they're loathed or hated,

The case, in fact, is simply stated:

With passing time their vogue abated,

And they can seem a bit outdated.

 

 

 

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January 8 - Lowell Mason (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 8th are here: Jaromir Weinberger, Hans von Bülow (2020), Giorgio Tozzi (2021), Sigismund Thalberg (2022), and Elvis Presley (2023)

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Lowell Mason (8 January 1792 – 11 August 1872) was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cultured

“[Mason] spent his long career trying to "correct" the vital American folkhymn tradition and to replace it with something blander, and worse. He was rewarded for his largely successful efforts with fame, fortune, and a place in all standard music history books.” – Joel Cohen, qtd. In Wikipedia

Lowell Mason wanted hymns to be

More civilized and properly presented;

His efforts were successful, and so he

Has come to be upbraided and resented

For making singing civilized and proper

When much too much was thrown in the chopper.

 

 

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August 10 - Philipp Nicolai (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for August 10th are here: Marie-Claire Alain (2019) and 

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Philipp Nicolai (10 August 1556 – 26 October 1608) was a German Lutheran pastor, poet, and composer.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas in August

Perhaps you don’t remember why

You know of Philipp Nicolai,

But be the memory oh so dim

The chances are you’ve heard of him.

Refrain

If I would ask you in December,

Then, I'm sure, you would remember.

I’ll mention, for reminder's sake,

His stately hymn tune “Wake, awake.”

And also, sung both near and far,

“How brightly shines the morning star.”

Refrain

If I would ask you in December,

Then, I'm sure, you would remember.

We only sing chorales like these in

Advent and the Christmas season.

And then each year they’re set aside

Until another Adventtide.

Refrain

If I would ask you in December,

Then, I'm sure, you would remember.

 

 

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July 17 - Isaac Watts (The Musical Birthday Series, 3rd Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 17th are here: Peter Schickele; Vince Guaraldi (2019) and Peter Schickele (2020)

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Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Christian minister (Congregational), hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He wrote the words for some of the most beloved hymns in English.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

In Which We Ask the Theological Question…

Watts also introduced a new way of rendering the Psalms in verse for church services, proposing that they be adapted for hymns with a specifically Christian perspective. As Watts put it in the title of his 1719 metrical Psalter, the Psalms should be "imitated in the language of the New Testament." --- Wikipedia

Attend the tale of Isaac Watts

  Who thought that congregants should sing.

He scribble hymns, (yes, lots and lots),

  Convinced that they were just the thing.

He took the Psalms, which were O.T.,

   And cast them in a new perspective.

But was it vain of him that he

   Found King David thus defective?

 

 

 

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