Classic Hymns and Their Stories
Puzzle 15 · Isaac Watts and His World · Page 29 in print
Joy to the World
In Boston in 1836, Lowell Mason first paired his adapted tune with “Joy to the World.”
Jump to a word
The words
Antioch
The hymn tune ANTIOCH.
Boston
Boston, where Mason’s 1836 collection was published. Where text and tune were first printed together.
Charles Rider
The compiler whose Psalmodia Britannica printed an early form of COMFORT.
Comfort
The earlier name of the tune later called ANTIOCH.
Handel
G.F. Handel, to whom ANTIOCH was traditionally credited. The tune’s traditional but mistaken attribution.
Holford
William Holford, whose Voce di Melodia printed COMFORT; not a place name.
Incarnation
Christ’s becoming human, one interpretation discussed in the hymn’s history.
Kingdom
A subject named in Watts’s original heading for the hymn.
Messiah
Handel’s Messiah, which parts of ANTIOCH resemble.
Second Coming
Christ’s return, which the hymn anticipates.
Somerset
The county of Hawkes and Watchet. The region of an early English printing of the tune.
Thomas Clark
The compiler whose Congregational Harmonist printed COMFORT.
Thomas Hawkes
Thomas Hawkes (b. 1786), Somerset Methodist tunebook compiler. Early English printer of the tune.
Hymnology Archive: Joy to the world (opens a new tab) · wgma.org.uk: Thomas Hawkes of Williton (opens a new tab)
Voce di Melodia
Holford’s collection containing an early version of the tune.
Watchet
Watchet, Somerset, where Hawkes’s Collection of Tunes was printed.
Sources
- Joy to the worldHymnology Archive
- Thomas Hawkes of Williton, SomersetWilliton and District Gallery / local history site (wgma.org.uk)