103. ’Tis midnight and on Olive’s brow
William Bingham Tappan, 1794-1849
A midnight hymn, depicting the darkness and sadness of Gethsemane. It is often sung at communion services held on Thursday evening before Good Friday.
William Bingham Tappan, a clock maker, was an influential leader in Sunday school work in the Congregational Church in America. In early manhood he taught school in Philadelphia, and then from 1826 until his death he was in the employ of the American Sunday School Union as manager and superintendent at Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Boston. He wrote and published eight or ten volumes of poetry of no special significance.
MUSIC. OLIVET’S BROW was composed for this hymn and was first published in The Shawm, 1853, by Bradbury and Root.
William Batchelder Bradbury, 1816-68, was born in York, Maine. After many struggles, due to poverty, he learned music from Lowell Mason and G. J. Webb and began conducting singing classes. He did outstanding work in New York City in teaching music to children. His Juvenile Music Festivals at the Baptist Tabernacle became an important feature of New York’s musical life and gave a powerful stimulus to the introduction of music into the public schools. In 1847, he went abroad for further study in music. Upon returning to America, he became associated with Geo. F. Root, Thos. Hastings, and Lowell Mason in musical Normal Institute work. The group collaborated in the production of a new type of church music, known as gospel songs, which swept the country during the revivalistic work of Moody and Sankey.