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Nahum Tate

1652 - 1715 Person Name: Nahum Tate, 1652-1715 Author of "While humble shepherds watched their flocks" in The Hymnal Nahum Tate was born in Dublin and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, B.A. 1672. He lacked great talent but wrote much for the stage, adapting other men's work, really successful only in a version of King Lear. Although he collaborated with Dryden on several occasions, he was never fully in step with the intellectual life of his times, and spent most of his life in a futile pursuit of popular favor. Nonetheless, he was appointed poet laureate in 1692 and royal historiographer in 1702. He is now known only for the New Version of the Psalms of David, 1696, which he produced in collaboration with Nicholas Brady. Poverty stricken throughout much of his life, he died in the Mint at Southwark, where he had taken refuge from his creditors, on August 12, 1715. --The Hymnal 1940 Companion See also in: Hymn Writers of the Church

George Frideric Handel

1685 - 1759 Person Name: George F. Handel, 1685-1759 Composer of "CHRISTMAS" in Hymns of the Saints George Frideric Handel (b. Halle, Germany, 1685; d. London, England, 1759) became a musician and composer despite objections from his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Handel studied music with Zachau, organist at the Halle Cathedral, and became an accomplished violinist and keyboard performer. He traveled and studied in Italy for some time and then settled permanently in England in 1713. Although he wrote a large number of instrumental works, he is known mainly for his Italian operas, oratorios (including Messiah, 1741), various anthems for church and royal festivities, and organ concertos, which he interpolated into his oratorio performances. He composed only three hymn tunes, one of which (GOPSAL) still appears in some modern hymnals. A number of hymnal editors, including Lowell Mason, took themes from some of Handel's oratorios and turned them into hymn tunes; ANTIOCH is one example, long associated with “Joy to the World.” Bert Polman

Arthur Sullivan

1842 - 1900 Person Name: Arthur Seymour Sullivan, 1842-1900 Arranger of "EVANGEL" in The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook Arthur Seymour Sullivan (b Lambeth, London. England. 1842; d. Westminster, London, 1900) was born of an Italian mother and an Irish father who was an army bandmaster and a professor of music. Sullivan entered the Chapel Royal as a chorister in 1854. He was elected as the first Mendelssohn scholar in 1856, when he began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He also studied at the Leipzig Conservatory (1858-1861) and in 1866 was appointed professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music. Early in his career Sullivan composed oratorios and music for some Shakespeare plays. However, he is best known for writing the music for lyrics by William S. Gilbert, which produced popular operettas such as H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), The Mikado (1884), and Yeomen of the Guard (1888). These operettas satirized the court and everyday life in Victorian times. Although he composed some anthems, in the area of church music Sullivan is best remembered for his hymn tunes, written between 1867 and 1874 and published in The Hymnary (1872) and Church Hymns (1874), both of which he edited. He contributed hymns to A Hymnal Chiefly from The Book of Praise (1867) and to the Presbyterian collection Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867). A complete collection of his hymns and arrangements was published posthumously as Hymn Tunes by Arthur Sullivan (1902). Sullivan steadfastly refused to grant permission to those who wished to make hymn tunes from the popular melodies in his operettas. Bert Polman

Gottfried W. Fink

1783 - 1846 Person Name: Gottfried Wilhelm Fink Composer of "BETHLEHEM" in The Cyber Hymnal Rv Gottfried Wilhelm Fink PhD Germany 1783-1846. Born at Sulza, Thuringa, Germany, he was a German composer, music theorist, poet, and a protestant clergyman. From 1804-1808 he studied at the University of Leipzig, where he joined the Corps Lusatia, where he made his first attempts at composition and poetry. In 1811 he was appointed Vicar in Leipzig for some years, where he also founded an educational institution, leading it until 1829. Around 1800 he worked for the “Allgemeine musikalische Zeitschrift” (General musical mazazine). In 1827 he became the magazine's editor-in-chief for 15 years. From 1838 he was a lecturer at the University of Leipzig. In 1841 he became a Privatdozent of musicology at the university. That year he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, and a year later was appointed university Music Director. He was highly esteemed throughout his life as a music theorist and composer, receiving numberous honors and awards, both at home and abroad. The Faculty of Philosophy at Leipzig University awarded him an honorary doctorate. He wrote mostly Songs and ballads and collected songs as well. He authored important words on music theory and history, but was best known as editor of the “Musikalischer Hausschatz der Deutschen”, a collection of about 1000 songs and chants, as well as the “Deutsche Liedertafel” (German song board), a collection of polyphonic songs sung by men. He died at Leipzig, Saxony. John Perry

T. C. L. Pritchard

1885 - 1960 Person Name: Thomas Cuthbertson Leitead Pritchard, 1885-1960 Harmonizer of "GRÄFENBERG" in The Irish Presbyterian Hymnbook Thomas Cuthbertson Leithead Pritchard