American Unitarian Hymn Writers and Hymns - Henry Wilder Foote

35. Hymns for the Christian Church, for the use of the First Church of Christ in Boston—Boston, 1869.

Edited by Rev. Rufus Ellis (1819-1885), minister of the First Church, Boston. It was based on Lunt’s conservative Christian Psalter [(15)] which had been in use in the First Church for 25 years. About 250 hymns were retained from the earlier volume and enough more added to bring the total to 469. The selections were well made, but, without music, the book could not compete with the more inclusive Hymn and Tune Book [(34)] which the American Unitarian Association had published the preceding year.

36. Hymn and Tune Book for the Church and Home—Revised edition. American Unitarian Association, Boston, 1877.

The compiler’s name nowhere appears in the book, which was edited by Rev. Rush R. Shippen (1828-1911), then Secretary of the American Unitarian Association. It is a thorough-going revision of [(34)], virtually a new book. It contains 871 hymns, 14 chants, etc., 316 tunes, a much richer selection than its predecessor, although the music was still of the mid-century type, with only a few examples of the newer English tunes which were being introduced into America by the choirs of Episcopal churches. The book was well adapted to the general needs of Unitarians and was the most widely used book among the Unitarian churches for the ensuing forty years.

37. Unity Hymns and Chorals—Edited by W. C. Gannett, J. V. Blake, F. L. Hosmer. Chicago, 1880.

A later and largely revised edition was published in 1911 by Hosmer and Gannett. The editors, Frederick Lucian Hosmer (1840-1929), William Channing Gannett (1840-1923), and James Vila Blake (1842-1925), were hymn-writers and ministers in the Western Unitarian Conference. This small book, noted for its “split-leaf” arrangement, represented the point of view of the “left-wing” group in the denomination. In its two editions it contained most of the hymns by its editors, and a good many by other authors which appeared for the first time within its covers. In this respect, as in its radical character, it may be compared to the hymn-books by Longfellow and Johnson ([24] and [33]). It was widely used in the Western Unitarian Conference. Musically it was mediocre.

38. Sacred Songs for Public Worship: A Hymn and Tune Book—Edited by M. J. Savage and Howard M. Dow. Boston, 1883.

This small book contains 195 hymns and songs for popular use, selected by Minot J. Savage (1841-1918), minister of Unity Church, Boston, Mass., and set to music by Howard M. Dow. Forty-two items are from Mr. Savage’s pen, the rest mostly from familiar sources. It is much more of a “one-man book” and musically nearer akin to the typical gospel song-book than any other collection in this series.

39. Hymns of the Church Universal—Compiled by the Rev. Henry Wilder Foote [I]: Revised and edited by Mary W. Tileston and Arthur Foote. Boston, 1890.

This book was compiled for use in King’s Chapel, Boston, of which Mr. Foote (1838-1889) was minister, but was not published until after his death, the editorial work being completed by his sister and brother. The book superseded Greenwood’s Collection [(13)] in King’s Chapel, and had considerable use elsewhere. It contained 647 hymns, a number of chants, and 299 tunes. It introduced many hymns and tunes of the later 19^th century English authors and composers which were not found in any earlier American Unitarian collections, and was influential in setting a standard for later books.