James Russell Lowell graduated from Harvard in 1838 and was admitted to the bar two years later. He succeeded Longfellow as Professor of Modern Languages and Literature in Harvard, in 1855. From 1857 to 1862 he edited the Atlantic Monthly and the nine years following that he was editor of the North American Review. In 1877 he was appointed minister to Spain, and in 1881, to England, remaining at the latter post four years. He wrote various volumes of poetry and was a prominent anti-slavery writer both in verse and prose.
MUSIC. TON-Y-BOTEL, also known as “Ebenezer,” is a “solemn tune, of very simple structure, being formed, throughout, of imitations of the first bar.” A letter from the copyright owners, W. Gwenlyn Evans and Son, Caernarvon, Wales, written by A. Vaughan Evans, throws interesting light on this tune and the origin of the fictitious story which gave rise to the name TON-Y-BOTEL. It reads, in part:
... We have pleasure in granting permission to use the tune Ebenezer (Ton-Y-Botel) free of charge in the Mennonite Hymn Book.... It is an original Welsh composition by T. J. Williams ... and was part of a Memorial Anthem ‘Goleu yn y Glyn’ (Light in the Vale) in memory of a friend of the composer....
You will have noticed above that the correct name of the tune is Ebenezer and it may be of interest to learn how it acquired the ‘nickname’ Ton-Y-Botel (the bottle tune). Not long after the Welsh Revival of 1904 the tune spread all over Wales and then England and Scotland ‘by ear.’ There were no written or printed copies of it. A crowd of young men were singing it on a hilltop just outside this town of Caernarvon and the usual questions were asked: Who was the composer, etc., when a lad for a joke said the tune had been found in a bottle washed up by the tide on the beach at Dinas Dinlle (a small bathing place in the Irish Sea near here). Ever since the tune has been called by the Welsh equivalent of “Bottle Tune.” One of the young men made a written copy of the music as it was sung all over the country, and brought it to us to print. The demand was enormous and we published hundred of thousands of copies.... We purchased the copyright and now the tune appears in hymnals all over the world—except in Wales, the country of its origin. I do not think it is a case of the prophet being without honour in his own country, but rather that the popularity was so great that it was sung everywhere—in taverns and public houses, non-religious words were sung to it, etc.—with the result that the tune was regarded as not quite ‘respectable’ by the generation which produced it. No doubt it will be valued by later generations of Welsh people. This has happened with several of the best-known Welsh hymns as many of them 200 years ago were of secular origin.
I am giving the above details so that something of its history may be on record in the United States, and hope they may be of interest.
347. God of our fathers, whose Almighty hand
Daniel C. Roberts, 1841-1907
A hymn of broadminded patriotism, called forth by the “Centennial” Fourth of July celebration in 1876, held at Brandon, Vt. It was published in various papers at the time and included in the Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1894. Since then it has appeared in a number of other church hymnals.
The hymn was written by Daniel C. Roberts, a graduate of Kenyon College, and a clergyman in the Episcopal Church.
MUSIC. NATIONAL HYMN was used at the Columbian celebration service at St. Thomas’ Church, New York City, Sunday morning, October 9, 1892. It is one of the finest processional tunes in the hymn book. The trumpet introduction and the interludes, making it unique among hymn tunes, gives it a quickening martial rhythm yet without losing its spirit of sanctity and reverence.
The composer, George William Warren, 1828-1902, was an American organist, born at Albany, N. Y. Though self-taught, he held responsible positions as organist in Albany and then at Holy Trinity and St. Thomas’ churches in New York.