174. Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost
Christopher Wordsworth, 1807-85
Written for one of the pre-Lenten Sundays (Quinquagesima), the lesson for the day being I Corinthians 13. It is a fine enough hymn, but no poet can render this great paean of praise of love into verse to equal in poetic beauty the English of the King James Version.
Christopher Wordsworth was a nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. He was a brilliant student and a good athlete. After graduation from Cambridge, he became Head Master of Harrow for a time, then minister of a church where he proved to be a model parish priest, and later was appointed Bishop of Lincoln. Among his writings are a Commentary on the Bible, and a book of devotional poetry, The Holy Year, prepared for use in public worship.
MUSIC. CAPETOWN is an adaptation of a melody in “Vierstimmiges Choralbuch herausgegeben von Dr. F. Filitz,” Berlin, 1847. It was originally set to the hymn, “Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit” ([554]).
The composer, Friedrich Filitz, 1804-76, was a musician and editor of German chorale books. He spent all his life in Munich except the years 1843-47 in Berlin.