Classic Hymns and Their Stories
Puzzle 16 · Isaac Watts and His World · Page 30 in print
The Tune Called Hamburg
Mason’s HAMBURG first appeared in the third edition of The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music (1825). It was set to Watts’s “Sing to the Lord with joyful voice,” with the melody in the tenor part.
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The words
Bank Clerk
Mason’s job in a Savannah bank. The arranger’s day job while he compiled his first tune book.
Benedictus
The chant named in Mason’s source attribution for HAMBURG.
Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)
Bowdoin Street
The Bowdoin Street Church, Boston (1831).
mass.historicbuildingsct.com: Church of St. (opens a new tab)
Choirmaster
Mason’s role at the Bowdoin Street Church from 1831.
mass.historicbuildingsct.com: Church of St. (opens a new tab)
First Tone
The first Gregorian psalm tone underlying Mason’s source chant.
Frederick Abel
Frederick L. Abel, Mason’s German music teacher in Savannah.
Hamburg
Lowell Mason’s tune HAMBURG.
Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab) · Hymnary.org: Tune: HAMBURG (opens a new tab)
Lyman Beecher
Rev. Lyman Beecher, the Boston pastor whose church Mason led musically.
Wikipedia: Lowell Mason (opens a new tab) · mass.historicbuildingsct.com: Church of St. (opens a new tab)
Medfield
Medfield, Massachusetts, Mason’s birthplace.
Metronome
The tempo device whose marking accompanies HAMBURG in the 1825 printing.
Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)
Organist
Mason’s role at the Savannah church.
Plainsong
Plainsong (plainchant), the unaccompanied church chant behind HAMBURG. The kind of melody Mason adapted.
Wikipedia: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (opens a new tab)
Presbyterian
Presbyterian: Mason’s Savannah church, and the 1895 Presbyterian hymnal that fixed the pairing. The church setting of the arranger and the tune’s later reception.
Wikipedia: Lowell Mason (opens a new tab) · Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)
Savannah
Savannah, Georgia, where Mason lived before 1827. Where the arranger lived and worked in his early career.
Tenebrae
The service named in Novello’s source chant for HAMBURG.
Hymnology Archive: When I survey the wondrous (opens a new tab)
Sources
- Lowell MasonHymnary.org
- When I survey the wondrous crossHymnology Archive
- Church of St. John the Evangelist (1831)Historic Buildings of Massachusetts
- Tune: HAMBURGHymnary.org
- Lowell MasonWikipedia
- When I Survey the Wondrous CrossWikipedia