The Earliest Philadelphia Hymn Collection 1773-1787
The following article attempts to answer a long-standing question about the origin of nineteen hymns and anthems which appeared in the first American Catholic hymnal, published in Philadelphia in 1787. In 1915 Monsignor Hugh Henry raised the question in this journal, and there has been no answer to...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Catholic Historical Society
2006
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| In: |
American catholic studies
Year: 2006, Volume: 117, Issue: 3, Pages: 33-52 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The following article attempts to answer a long-standing question about the origin of nineteen hymns and anthems which appeared in the first American Catholic hymnal, published in Philadelphia in 1787. In 1915 Monsignor Hugh Henry raised the question in this journal, and there has been no answer to his question of ninety years ago. This article traces the origin to a small collection of hymns which one first finds tacked on the end of the first American Catholic devotional book, the Catholic Manual of Prayers, published in Philadelphia in 1774. An undated American edition of Richard Challoner's The Garden of the Soul has the same collection of hymns tacked on to the end of it. These two works, edited for the American Catholic Church by Robert Molyneux, Catholic pastor in Philadelphia at the time, reflect a number of changes from the English editions which Molyneux used for his American editions, and one of these changes was the addition of this block of hymns to each book. This pushes back by thirteen years the source of these hymns, but it still does not answer the question of their origin. The nineteen hymns and anthems are herein published, with footnotes directing the reader to where one can find the music to the hymns in John Aitken's A Compilation of the Litanies and Vespers Hymns and Anthems as they are Sung in the Catholic Church (1787), and narrates what is known about the authorship, history, translation, verification, and putting to music of each item. One can trace a complex process including borrowing from Protestant hymns, unique English translations of Catholic hymns, and a few, including a vivid "The Christmas Hymn," which have no known history. Over time, both in the United States and in Great Britain, a cataloging of hymns has taken place and the items without a history mentioned above show up on those lists but only after 1787. This suggests, although it does not prove, the possibility that these items were composed on American soil for the Philadelphia Catholic community, possibly by the city's long-term Catholic organist Stephen Fourage. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
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