The people behind the hymns: 27 lyricists and composers in the Christian Science Hymnal

Mozart. Beethoven. Bach. Mendelssohn. Handel. Haydn. Schubert. Schumann. All these names are among the greatest composers in history. And their work is included in the 1932 edition of the Christian Science Hymnal. It also contains some of history’s best-loved hymns, such as “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Nearer, My God, to Thee.”¹

Inspiring lines of a poem often furnish a natural fit for a hymn—and a number of poems and texts are set to more than one tune. For example, Mary Baker Eddy read and wrote poetry, and seven of her works are included in this edition of the Hymnal, under a total of 34 musical settings. She considered music as vital to the Christian Science church service, which she charged in the Church Manual with being “of a recognized standard of musical excellence.”²

What may be surprising, however, are the many fascinating histories behind some of the other men and women who contributed to the Hymnal’s tunes and texts. Their influence stretches to modern pop culture, including musical theater, movie classics, rock and roll, and even video games. Some of these individuals have remarkable connections to events or movements that changed history. Here their names appear in bold, and their corresponding hymn numbers are [bracketed]:

• The cityscape of Washington, DC, was shaped by Charles Bulfinch (1763–1844), architect of the US Capitol Building. His son Stephen Greenleaf Bulfinch (1809–1870) [Hymn 94] was a Unitarian minister.
• Nickolaj Grundtvig (1783–1872) [Hymns 178, 318, 332] wrote the first modern translation of the Old English poem Beowulf.
• Other renowned poets are featured in the Hymnal, including some from a New England group known as the Fireside Poets, who rose to prominence in the mid-nineteenth century as the first Americans to rival the great British poets. Among this group was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) [Hymn 319], a Harvard-educated physician and instructor at Dartmouth Medical School who was regarded as an important medical reformer of the day. Holmes’ prominent literary career featured frequent articles in The Atlantic Monthly, which continues to publish today as The Atlantic. His son, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., became a justice on the United States Supreme Court, and authored the famous 1922 decision that exempted Major League Baseball from antitrust laws.
• Long before the Internet became a reference tool, Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) [Hymns 37, 38, 138, 265] published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755.
• Mary Livermore, born Mary Ashton Rice (1820–1905) [Hymn 163], was an American journalist, abolitionist, and early advocate of women’s rights. Her impact was such that during World War II a Liberty ship was named for her—the SS Mary Livermore.
• Samuel Longfellow (1819–1892) [Hymns 118, 134, 218, 219, 220, 242, 261, 262, 333] was a prominent clergyman. His brother was the renowned Fireside Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
• Another Fireside Poet, James Russell Lowell (1819–1891) [Hymn 258, 405], wrote extensively on the issue of American slavery. He was the first editor of The Atlantic Monthly. At the request of President Rutherford B. Hayes, who served from 1877 to 1881, Lowell later filled US diplomatic posts in Spain and England.
• Few men have changed the course of history as did Martin Luther (1483–1546) [Hymn 10], credited with ushering in the Protestant Reformation. His hymns sparked the development of congregational singing in Christian churches. Condemned as a heretic, he was summoned to either renounce or reaffirm his views. One translation records Luther as boldly stating, “Here I stand. I can do no otherwise; so help me God! Amen!” Eddy used those words to open the chapter titled “Science of Being” in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.
• Harriet Martineau (1802–1876) [Hymn 54] is sometimes credited as the first female sociologist, having translated the works of Auguste Comte into English. Martineau not only published works on sociology and abolitionism but also political economy—highly unusual for a woman of that era.
• High school and college students throughout the years have studied the epic poem Paradise Lost by famed English author John Milton (1608–1674) [Hymn 125].
• “La Bouree” is the most recognizable piece from Terpsichore by German composer Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) [Hymn 37]. A song from the classic movie The Wizard of Oz—”Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead”—includes part of it, with a 1967 version by The Fifth Estate becoming a big pop hit in the UK. And, quite obviously, Praetorius could never have envisioned anything from Terpsichore being used in the soundtrack of the 2005 video game Civilization IV.
• Henry Purcell (1658–1695) [Hymns 17, 182] was an English composer of Baroque music. Rock and roll legend Pete Townshend of The Who has credited Purcell’s harmonies as having had a big influence on his music—especially in hits such as “Pinball Wizard,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” and “I Can See for Miles.”³ British rocker and former Police frontman Sting performed Purcell’s work “Cold Song” on his 2009 album If on a Winter’s Night….
• Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) [Hymn 385] wrote classics of English literature, including Ivanhoe and The Lady of the Lake. In 1995 Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange starred in the latest film version of his work Rob Roy. Statues of Scott stand in Glasgow and New York City. Among other authors, Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut have referenced his work.
• Samuel Francis Smith (1808–1895) [Hymn 335] penned the words to “America” (“My Country ‘tis of Thee…”), for which he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. Originally set to the tune “God Save the King,” it was likely composed by Thomas Arne (1710–1778) [Hymn 372]. He also wrote the venerable English anthem “Rule Britannia.”
• Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) [Hymn 317] is best known for her novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a milestone in anti-slavery literature.
• With his partner W. S. Gilbert, Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (1842–1900) [Hymns 115, 245, 264, 288, 373, 392] created some of the best-loved operettas of all time. These include The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance, which was released as recently as 1983, starring Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt.
• Sir George Thomas Thalben-Ball (1896–1987) [Hymns 23, 26] is best known for his Elegy, composed for organ. It was featured at the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. On that day, the hymn “Jerusalem” was also played—a poem by the English romantic poet William Blake and set to music by C. Hubert H. Parry (1848—1918) [Hymns 50, 360]. The 1981 Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire took its title from a line in that poem, and the hymn plays at the end of the movie.
• Serious students of hymn texts often refer to Isaac Watts (1674–1748) [Hymns 62, 63, 111, 164, 165, 213, 271, 272, 320–321, 386–387] as “the father of English hymnody.” He wrote more than 700.
• Other prolific hymn writers include Charles Wesley (1707–1788) [Hymns 35, 72, 105–107, 273–274, 277, 312], who is credited with writing 5,000 hymns (!); his grandson Samuel S. Wesley (1766–1837) [Hymns 75, 171, 294, 349]; and Frances Havergal (1836–1879) [65, 324].
• Yet another Fireside Poet, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892) [Hymns 49–50, 96, 142, 170, 217, 229–231, 238–239, 372–373] was also a staunch abolitionist. Eddy’s 1868 visit to Whittier had a healing effect on the poet.⁴
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) [Hymn 66] was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, and choral music. He studied with Maurice Ravel, the noted composer of Boléro. Williams served in the artillery during World War I, and a generation later his film scores buoyed spirits in the World War II films 49th Parallel and Coastal Command.
• Love M. Whitcomb Willis (1824–1908) [Hymn 55] was married to Frederick L. H. Willis, who was raised in the same household as author Louisa May Alcott and her sisters.
• Christopher Wordsworth (1807–1885) [Hymn 173] was nephew of the great lake-poet William Wordsworth.

There are many other stories tied to the composers and text writers named in the Hymnal. The Concordance to Christian Science Hymnal and Hymnal Notes contains a more thorough musical discussion of its contributors, including those Christian Scientists who wrote or edited hymns for any of its editions from 1892 to the present day. While they may just look like names on the page, many of these individuals had interesting personal histories and commanded an influence stretching far beyond their own times and surroundings.

Mark Raffles lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, and has a masters degree from Northwestern University. A frequent contributor to the Christian Science periodicals for 45 years, he retired from a career on Wall Street.