hymns. Sacred poetry set to music has always formed part of Christian worship. At first OT texts, especially the Psalms, were used, but at an early date distinctively Christian compositions, e.g. the Magnificat, appeared, and what seem to be quotations from early hymns are found in various places in the NT. The use of hymns is mentioned by several of the early Fathers, and the ‘Phos Hilaron’ is among those dating from pre-Nicene times. From the 4th cent. hymns were employed not only to celebrate the Christian mysteries, but also to promote or refute heresy, e.g. in the Arian controversy. Although from the 5th cent. some Christians held that no words other than those of Scripture should be allowed in the liturgy, troparia (single-stanza hymns) are found in E. service books of the period; they were later joined together to form contakia and canons.

Latin hymns appear later than Greek, the real impetus coming from St Ambrose. Though only three hymns can certainly be ascribed to him, he laid down the line of development of Latin hymnody as simple, devotional, and direct, and it was through his influence that hymns became a recognized and integral part of the public worship of the W. Church. Although hymns were not admitted into the Roman Office until the 12th cent., the development came to be towards an ordered sequence for use at different times and seasons.

Throughout the Middle Ages hymns were written in the vernacular, but they were largely the work of those outside the main religious stream. With the Reformation the situation changed. Lutheranism had a wealth of new hymns written in German by M. Luther himself and later by P. Gerhardt. Calvinism, on the other hand, would tolerate nothing but the words of Scripture in its services; hence the Psalms were put into metrical versions (q.v.). In the C of E hymns virtually disappeared from the service-books, mainly it seems, because T. Cranmer lacked ‘the grace and facility’ to render Latin hymns well in English.

Modern hymn-writing and hymn-singing were mainly the creation of the 18th cent. A prominent part was taken by I. Watts, whose hymns were written to express the spiritual experience of the singer. They were followed by the works of John and Charles Wesley. The practice of singing hymns was encouraged by the Methodists and spread among the Evangelical party in the C of E. In America the Negro spirituals were a powerful factor in the Second Great Awakening of 1797–1805. By the early 19th cent. prejudice against the use of hymns in the C of E was dying, and R. Heber's collection of Hymns Written and adapted to the Weekly Church Services of the Year (1827) helped to break down the hostility to hymns outside Evangelical circles. A further influence in fostering the use of hymns came from the Oxford Movement; hymns of the ancient and medieval Church were employed to emphasize the antiquity and Catholicity of the Church. The publication of various collections of old and new hymns followed; the most widely used were probably Hymns, Ancient and Modern (1861) and The English Hymnal (1906). The 1980s saw a number of new C of E hymn books, including revisions of the two last named. Among RCs a demand for popular hymns in the 19th cent. was met by such writers as F. W. Faber. After the Second Vatican Council hymns became widely used at Mass, and are no longer confined to those by RC authors. Apart from the Quakers, all other English-speaking Churches have assigned an important place to hymns as being an integral part of Christian worship, rather than an adjunct to it. Over the years they have issued collections of hymns authorized for use in their own services, e.g. The Church Hymnary (1898) of the Scottish and other Presbyterians and The Baptist Church Hymnal (1900), and, like the C of E, have produced revisions and new books in recent years. There have also been hymnals compiled for particular types of community, such as schools, and a few non-denominational books, notably Songs of Praise (1925) and the Australian Hymn Book (1977), better known as With One Voice (1979). Some modern hymns make use of popular linguistic and musical idiom, but the traditional language of classical hymns is usually retained.

hymn song of praise, devotion, or thanksgiving, especially of a religious character (see also cantata ).

Early Christian hymnody consisted mainly of the Psalms and the great canticles Nunc dimittis, Magnificat, and Benedictus from the Bible and of the Sanctus, Gloria in excelsis, and Te Deum. These were chanted in unison (see plainsong ). Metrical Latin hymnody began with the hymns of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, and St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, in the 4th cent. This type of hymn, usually four-line stanzas in iambic tetrameter, was the basis of nearly all Christian hymnody until the 16th cent.

Notable Latin hymns are Corde natus ex parentis by Prudentius in the 4th cent., and Fortunatus' 6th-century processionals, Vexilla regis and Pange lingua (whose meter was imitated in the Pange lingua of St. Thomas Aquinas ). From the 11th cent. came Wipo's Easter sequence, Victimae paschali laudes. The Dies irae, probably by Thomas of Celano , and the Stabat Mater dolorosa by Jacopone da Todi are great hymns of the 13th cent.

With the Reformation came the development of Protestant hymnody. The first hymnbooks in the vernacular are probably those published by the followers of John Huss in Bohemia in 1501 and 1505. In 1524 the first Lutheran hymnal was published at Wittenberg. The early Lutheran hymns were translations of Latin hymns, folksongs with new texts, often paraphrases of biblical verses or passages, or sometimes original melodies. Calvinism contributed the Genevan Psalter (final version, 1562). It contained the Psalms, translated into French verse by Clément Marot and Theodore Beza and set to music, most of which was supplied by Louis Bourgeois, who used some original tunes and adapted others. The familiar doxology tune Old Hundredth is the tune of Psalm 134 in this psalter.

The first collection of English church tunes was Sternhold's Psalter (1556), published at Geneva and consisting of metrical versions of the Psalms by Thomas Sternhold (d. 1549) and others, which were set to unharmonized tunes. John Wesley 's hymnal (1737) contained metrical psalms, translations from Greek and German, and original lyrics and melodies, and was thus the first hymnal in the modern sense. Other notable English hymnists of the 18th cent. were Isaac Watts , Charles Wesley , and William Cowper , poets whose hymns are still sung in nearly all Protestant churches. In the 19th cent. there was a revived interest in plainsong that resulted in many translations of ancient Latin hymns, such as those by John Mason Neale .

In America the Puritans used psalters brought with them from Europe until the Bay Psalm Book (1640), the earliest American hymnal, was published at Cambridge, Mass. William Billings wrote the first original American hymns as distinguished from paraphrases of psalms and psalm tunes; another important composer was Lowell Mason , whose song collections, such as Spiritual Songs (1831), compiled jointly with Thomas Hastings , attained wide distribution.

In the latter half of the 19th cent. the gospel hymn was developed (see gospel music ). It is marked by lively rhythm, constant alternation of the simplest harmonies, and sentimental text. Arthur Sullivan 's "Onward Christian Soldiers" (1871) is a well-known example of the martial hymn of the period. In the 20th cent. radical variations in church music have emerged: folk-song and jazz elements have been integrated with older music and frequently replaced it. Troubadour-style "protest" songs with theological content were common in the 1960s alongside a newly vital, more conservative hymnody.

Bibliography: See A. E. Bailey, The Gospel in Hymns (1950); H. W. Foote, Three Centuries of American Hymnody (1940, repr. 1968); L. F. Benson, The English Hymn (1915, repr. 1987); I. Bradley, ed., The Book of Hymns (1989); W. J. Reynolds, Songs of Glory (1989).

Hymns have been collected by all American Protestant sects and sung in their church services. The scruples of the Puritans forbade original hymns, and they created only new versions of the Psalms. Although the 16th‐century English versions of Henry Ainsworth, John Hopkins, and Thomas Sternhold were probably brought over on the Mayflower, the first American collection was the Bay Psalm Book (1640). Cotton Mather, in his Psalterium Americanum (1718), made another translation, as did Thomas Prince (1758), while Thomas Walter gave further impetus to psalmody through his discourse on “singing by note” (1721), and William Billings introduced other reforms in his musical settings (1770). During the late 18th century, Congregationalists began to admit hymns as well as psalms, and, besides the amended versions of Isaac Watts's Psalms and Hymns by Joel Barlow (1785) and Timothy Dwight (1800), original religious songs were written by Mather Byles. Later Congregational hymnodists included J.G.C. Brainard and Ray Palmer, and H.W. Beecher's Plymouth Collection (1855) was an important Congregational compilation. The Presbyterians, like the Congregationalists, long used versions of Watts, the first of their original hymnodists being Samson Occom. During the 19th century, hymnody was stimulated by Thomas Hastings and by Lowell Mason⧫, whose settings included those for From Greenland's Icy Mountains and Nearer, My God, to Thee. Mason's collection, The Choir (1832), included S.F. Smith's America, and other prominent Baptist hymnodists were Adoniram Judson and Lydia Huntley Sigourney. Members of the Protestant Episcopal church known for their hymns include Francis Scott Key, Sarah Josepha Hale, J.W. Eastburn, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Other hymnodists of the time included Hosea Ballou, Alice and Phoebe Cary, Lucy Larcom, and Whittier. The Unitarians contributed more to American hymnody than any other sect, their authors including J.Q. Adams, Bryant, J.F. Clarke, Emerson, E.E. Hale, Holmes, Higginson, Longfellow, John Pierpont, and Jones Very. The evangelists Moody and Sankey made hymns more popular in the mid‐19th century.

hymns. In the sense in which most people understand the word, hymns are overwhelmingly a product of the 18th cent. They have been described as sacred poetry set to music, and have always been part of the Christian tradition, and the Jewish from which it derived. The psalms and specially composed sacred songs were certainly widespread in Christian worship by the 4th cent., and there is evidence to suggest that some passages in the New Testament, e.g. Ephesians 5, are actually quotations from hymns already in use within a generation or two of the lifetime of Christ.

Hymns in the early and medieval church were less expressions of personal or corporate devotion, than associated with the daily offices sung by members of monastic communities. In England the Reformation saw their virtual disappearance from public worship. There was a deep-seated prejudice against the use of non-scriptural language among many protestants, but the 16th and 17th cents. saw the composition of metrical versions of the psalms, notably by Sterhold and Hopkins (1557) and Tate and Brady (1696). These attained widespread popularity and were bound in with many editions of the Book of Common Prayer.

The work of Isaac Watts and John and Charles Wesley revived the popularity of congregational hymn-singing, and Wesley's Collection of 1737 is widely regarded as the first hymnal as we understand it. Suspicion of hymnody remained among many Anglicans, who associated it with evangelical ‘enthusiasm’, and not until Hymns Ancient and Modern, a fruit of the tractarian movement and Anglo-catholic revival, appeared in 1861 was this finally overcome.

Since then the writing of hymns and the publishing of collections has gone on apace among Christians of all traditions, though the appearance of many repetitive ‘choruses’ alongside hymns expressive of doctrine or personal devotion in recent years, whilst embraced enthusiastically by some, has been viewed with distaste by others.

Revd Dr John R. Guy

Hymns

Christianity

The use of poetry, or metrical prose, in worship may be detected in the New Testament (e.g. Ephesians 5. 14, 19). A 3rd-cent. writer (perhaps Hippolytus) refers to ‘Psalms and odes such as from the beginning were written by believers, hymns to the Christ, the Word of God, calling him God’ (Eusebius, History 5. 28. 5).

Latin hymns appear later than Greek. The most famous of early ones, the Te Deum, is written in rhythmical prose. Hymns were admitted into the Roman office in the 13th cent.

The Reformation affected greatly the development of hymns. Many were written by Luther (imitating the pattern of medieval secular music), by P. Gerhardt, and others. Since Calvinism resisted anything but the words of scripture in its services, the Psalms were converted into metrical versions.

The practice of hymn-singing was encouraged and developed by the Methodists, and soon spread among the Evangelical party of the Church of England.

The 19th cent. saw the establishment of hymn-singing in all parts of the Anglican church. Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861) was an eclectic collection that set the pattern for most modern hymnals. In virtually all parts of the Church there has developed a wide use of chorus-type hymns in a modern idiom.

Sikhism

Sikh worship consists mainly of kīrtan, singing the hymns comprising the Ādi Granth. Gurū Nānak is popularly represented singing his compositions to Mardānā's accompaniment. See AṢṬAPADĪ; CHAUPAD; CHHANT; RĀG; RĀGĪ; ŚABAD; ŚALOK; SAVAYYE; VĀR.

hymns. The Greek hymnos means a ‘song of praise’, honouring gods or heroes. In the Christian tradition, hymns are songs of worship, sung by congregation and choir. They are often based on the Bible but, unlike canticles such as the ‘Magnificat’ or ‘Nunc Dimittis’, they are not settings of biblical texts. Hymn-singing was revived in 16th-cent. Germany by the Lutherans and English hymns were first written for Dissenting churches—by I. Watts, an Independent minister, who published Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707); by C. Wesley in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739); and by W. Cowper and John Newton in Olney Hymns (1779). Typically, these hymns resemble ballads in their four-line verses and simple metres. [Before 1820, only the singing of psalms was permitted in the Church of England. After 1820 there was a great revival of Anglican hymnody, leading to Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), edited by the Revd Sir H. W. Baker (1821–77). As well as new compositions (by Mrs C. F. Alexander, 1823–95, and Newman), ‘A&M’ was notable for its translations from Latin hymns. In the Yattendon Hymnal (1899), edited by R. Bridges, and The English Hymnal (1906), edited by Sir Percy Dearmer (1867–1936) and Vaughan Williams, English folk melodies were frequently employed, as hymn-singing was connected to nationalist ideas of Englishness. Since the 1960s, pop lyrics have become the dominant idiom for hymns, most successfully in the work of Graham Kendrick.

hymn. Song of praise to the deity or a saint. Particularly assoc. with Anglican church where words and melodies of hymns are especially popular for congregational singing. Books of hymns and hymn-tunes of special significance are Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861 and many subsequent edns.), The Yattendon Hymnal (Bridges, 1899), The English Hymnal (1906, rev. 1933, mus. ed. Vaughan Williams, in which some folk tunes were adapted as hymn-tunes), and Songs of Praise (1925, rev. 1931, mus. ed. Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw). In Eng. hymn-books, tunes are given an identifying title such as a Latin translation, or the name of a town or village, e.g. Down Ampney ( Vaughan Williams's birthplace) is title of his Come down, O love divine.

hymn / him/ • n. a religious song or poem, typically of praise to God or a god: a Hellenistic hymn to Apollo. ∎  a formal song sung during Christian worship, typically by the whole congregation. ∎  a song, text, or other composition praising or celebrating someone or something: a most unusual passage like a hymn to the great outdoors. • v. 1. [tr.] praise or celebrate (something): Johnson's reply hymns education. 2. [intr.] rare sing hymns. DERIVATIVES: hym·nic / ˈhimnik/ adj.

hymn Broadly, a spiritual theme which could be sung, as were the psalms in the Temple. Jesus and the Eleven sang a hymn, the hallel(Mark 14: 26), before he led them to the Mount of Olives, and the early Church used a variety of hymns and songs (1 Cor. 14: 26; Eph. 5: 19). Hymns were composed for use in the Mass in the medieval Church, and at the Reformation hymns became part of popular Protestant piety.

hymn . XIII ME. imne, ymme — OF. ymne — L. hymnus — Gr. húmnos song in praise of a god or hero. The later form was refash. after L. Hence vb. XVII.
So hymnal XV. — medL. hymnāle (imnale). hymnody singing or composing of hymns XVIII; body of hymns XIX. — medL. — Gr. humnōidíā (cf. ODE). hymnographer, hymnology XVII. — Gr.

hymn Song of praise or gratitude to a god or hero. The oldest forms are found in ancient Egyptian and Greek writings and in the Old Testament psalms of rejoicing. In strict Christian church usage, hymns are religious songs sung by the choir and congregation in a church, distinct from a psalm or a canticle. Hymns, both old and new, are now regular features of church services.

hymn a religious song or poem, typically of praise to God or a god. Recorded from Old English, the word comes via Latin from Greek humnos ‘ode or song in praise of a god or hero’, used in the Septuagint to translate various Hebrew words, and hence in the New Testament and other Christian writings. (See also sing from the same hymn sheet.)

hymn •bedim, brim, crim, dim, glim, grim, Grimm, gym, him, hymn, Jim, Kim, limb, limn, nim, prim, quim, rim, scrim, shim, Sim, skim, slim, swim, Tim, trim, vim, whim •poem • goyim • cherubim • Hasidim •seraphim, teraphim •Elohim • Sikkim • Joachim • prelim •forelimb • Muslim • Blenheim •paynim • minim • pseudonym •homonym • anonym • synonym •eponym • acronym • antonym •metonym • Antrim • megrim •Leitrim • pilgrim • Purim • interim •passim • maxim • kibbutzim •Midrashim • literatim •seriatim, verbatim •victim •system • ecosystem • subsystem •item • Ashkenazim