Hymns Ancient and Modern

Hymn singing

By 1830 the regular singing of hymns in the dissenting churches (outside the Church of England) had become widely accepted due to hymn writers like Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley and others. In the Church of England hymn singing was not an integral part of Orders of Service until the early nineteenth century, and hymns, as opposed to metrical psalms, were not officially sanctioned. From about 1800 parish churches started to use different hymn collections in informal service like the Lock Hospital Collection (1769) by Martin Madan, the Olney hymns (1779) by John Newton and William Cowper and A Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodists (1779) by John Wesley and Charles Wesley.

Oxford Movement

A further impetus to hymn singing in the Anglican Church came in the 1830s from the Oxford Movement, led by John Keble and John Henry Newman. Being an ecclesiastical reform movement within the Anglican Church, the Oxford Movement wanted to recover the lost treasures of Breviaries and Service Books of the ancient Greek and Latin churches. As a result Greek, Latin and even German hymns in translation entered the mainstream of English hymnody. These translations were composed by people like John Chandler, John Mason Neale, Thomas Helmore, Edward Caswall, Jane Laurie Borthwick and Catherine Winkworth. Besides stimulating the translation of medieval hymns, and use of plainsong melodies, the Oxford Reformers, inspired by Reginald Heber’s work, also began to write original hymns. Among this hymnwriters were clergy like Henry Alford, Henry Williams Baker, Sabine Baring-Gould, John Keble and Christopher Wordsworth and laymen like Matthew Bridges, William Chatterton Dix and Folliott Sandford Pierpoint.

Accomplishment of the Hymns Ancient and Modern

The growing popularity of hymns inspired the publication of more than 100 hymnals during the period 1810 – 1850. The sheer number of these collections prevented any one of them from being successful. A beginning of what would become the Hymns Ancient and Modern was made with the Hymns and Introits (1852) edited by George Cosby White. The idea for the hymn-book arose in 1858 when two clergymen, both part of the Oxford Movement met on a train: William Denton of St Bartholomew, Cripplegate, co-editor of the Church Hymnal (1853) and Francis Henry Murray, editor of the Hymnal for Use in the English Church (1855 edition, first edition 1852). Rev. William Denton suggested that the 1852 Hymnal for use in the English Church by Francis Murray and the Hymns and Introits (1853 edition) by George Cosby White should be amalgamated given the need for standardisation of the hymn-books in use throughout England.

Besides their idea, Henry Williams Baker and Rev. P. Ward were already engaged on a similar scheme for rival books. Given the lack of unanimity in the church´s use of hymns, Henry Williams Baker thought that it was necessary to compile one book which would command general confidence. After ascertaining by private communications the widely spread desire of Churchmen for greater uniformity in the use of hymns and of hymnbooks in the services of the Church, Sir Henry Baker, vicar of Monkland in the diocese of Hereford, early in 1858 associated with himself for this object about twenty clergymen, including the editors of many existing Hymnals, who agreed to give up their several books in order as far as might be to promote the use of one. In the autumn of that year an advertisement was inserted in the 'Guardian' inviting cooperation, to which more than 200 clergymen responded.

In January 1859 the committee under the lead of Henry William Baker, set to work. An appeal was made to the clergy and to their publishers to withdraw their individual collections and to support this new combined venture. They founded a board, called the "Proprietors", which oversaw both the publication of the hymnal and the donation of the profits to appropriate charities, or to subsidise the purchase of the hymn books by poor parishes. The superintendent was William Henry Monk. One of the advisors, John Keble, recommended to make it a comprehensive hymn-book. This committee set themselves to produce a hymn-book which would be a companion to the Book of Common Prayer. Another intention of the founders of the Hymns Ancient and Modern was that it would improve congregational worship for everybody. A specimen was issued in May 1859. In 1860 a trial edition was published, with the Imprimatur of Dr. Renn Hampden, Sir Henry Baker's diocesan. The first full edition with tunes, under the musical editorship of Professor W. H. Monk, King's College, London, appeared March 20, 1861.

Sources for the Hymns Ancient and Modern

The Hymns Ancient and Modern was a rather eclectic collection of hymns that blended a broad series of hymns from different religious traditions in order to achieve a standard edition. As sources were used among others:

Henry Williams Baker wrote and translated many of the hymns which it contains, and his ability, his profound knowledge of hymnology, and his energetic discharge of the duties of chairman of its committee for twenty years, mainly contributed to its success.

Not all the hymns in these sources were already provided with tunes. Therefore, composers like William Henry Monk, the editor of the 1861 edition, John Bacchus Dykes and Frederick Ouseley, John Stainer, Henry Gauntlett and Edmund Hart Turpin provided new hymn tunes that satisfied the musical longing of the churchgoers of the last four decades of the nineteenth century. The Hymns Ancient and Modern was characterized by austerity of style, conformity to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, and the setting of each hymn to its proper tune. It also established the practice of writing tunes for specific texts and publishing both texts and tunes together rather than in separate collections, which had been the earlier practice till that time. Roughly, the hymns were arranged in the order of the Prayer Book. More specifically, there were separate sections according to liturgical criteria: hymns for the daily offices, Sunday, the church year, Holy Communion and other sacraments, for the usage for the various the feasts. Furthermore, the Hymns Ancient and Modern was the first influential book to attach 'Amen' to every hymn.

Impact of the Hymns Ancient and Modern

The Hymns Ancient and Modern experienced immediate and overwhelming success, becoming possibly the most popular English hymnal ever published. The music, expressive and tuneful, greatly assisted to its popularity. Total sales in 150 years were over 170 million copies. As such, it set the standard for many later hymnals like the English Hymnal which first appeared in 1906. As such, the English Hymnal is succeeded by the New English Hymnal in 1986.

Early editions

The first edition, musically supervised by William Henry Monk, was published in 1861 by Novello & Co, with 273 hymns. They also published the 1868 Appendix; but following negotiations, the whole publishing project was placed in the hands of William Clowes and Son later that year. It was revised in 1875 by Monk to produce the second edition, to which Charles Steggall added several supplementary hymns in 1889. In 1904 a "new and revised edition" was published, edited by Bertram Luard-Selby. After many complaints about the difference between this and its predecessors, Charles Steggall's edition was republished in 1906 as the "Complete edition".

Standard edition

In 1916 the "old complete edition" was republished for the last time, with a second supplement by Sydney Nicholson. In 1922, the "standard edition" was published, more strongly based on the "old complete edition" than the less popular "new and revised edition". This also was edited by Nicholson, who was the musical editor until he died in 1947.

Revised edition

In 1950 the "revised edition" was published, with G. H. Knight and J. Dykes having both edited since the death of Nicholson. Many hymns were weeded out from the 1950 edition as the editors wished to make space for more recent compositions and to thin out the over-supplemented previous versions.

New Standard edition

In 1975 the proprietors formed a limited company and a registered charity, and in 1983 published the "New Standard edition": this comprised 333 of the 636 hymns included in A and M Revised (AMR) and the entire 200-hymn contents of 100 Hymns for Today (HHT, 1969) and More Hymns for Today (MHT, 1980).

Common Praise

In 2000 Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, through its subsidiary the Canterbury Press, published a new hymnal, this time called Common Praise. This was printed by William Clowes Ltd. of Suffolk.

Sing Praise

In September 2010 Canterbury Press and the Royal School of Church Music published Sing Praise, subtitled "Hymns and Songs for Refreshing Worship", containing 330 recently written hymn, song and short chant compositions. The selection was designed to complement Common Praise in particular, but also other hymn books in current use.

Ancient and Modern

In March 2013 Canterbury Press published Ancient and Modern, so reverting to the original title without the word "Hymns", but also subtitled Hymns and Songs for Refreshing Worship, a brand new edition designed for contemporary patterns of worship. It contains 847 items, including some items from Common Praise and Sing Praise, ranging from psalm settings to John L. Bell, Bernadette Farrell, Stuart Townend and others. In 2014 the British organist John Keys completed recordings of organ accompaniments of all the hymns in the book.

Publisher

In 1989 Hymns Ancient & Modern bought Church Times, the Church of England's periodical, and bought SCM Press in 1997.