Ancient hymns get a new setting

The new book, Common Praise, is the first edition of the hymnal, founded under Tractarian influence in 1861, to relegate the well-known name to a subheading, and to be aimed at an ecumenical market; but anyone expecting a walk on the wild side would have been disappointed.

Editing for inclusive language has been restricted to 20th-century hymns; "thees" and "thous" remain intact; and the compilers say that modern worship songs have been subjected to rigorous selection.

Modern edition: Professor Henry Chadwick,
chairman of Hymns Ancient & Modern, at the
launch of the new book on Tuesday.
Photo Richard Watt

Speaking at the reception, the Very Revd Henry Chadwick, chairman of the hymn-book committee of the charity Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, said that "happy-clappy hop-skip-and-a-jump" items had been put through a "sieve of criticism". There were only one or two items where the committee had taken "a slight risk".

When the first edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern came out under the editorship of Sir Henry Baker, it had swept away most of the competition, Professor Chadwick said. About two-thirds of its contents had become established as classics.

The committee had decided to leave "O God, our help in ages past" unaltered. In the line "Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away", "sons" had not been changed to "folk". Hymns referring to "brethren" had been "almost without exception written by 19th-century ladies", Professor Chadwick said. "So we have a few defenders in the past."

The new book has more than 600 hymns. Innovations include familiar words to new or different alternative tunes; 20th-century words and music included for the first time; new musical arrangements; Victorian hymns, omitted in 1950, restored; and an index of scriptural references.

Common Praise: full music edition (SCM-Canterbury Press £19.99; 1-85311-264-X; introductory grants available from the publisher at St Mary's Works, St Mary's Plain, Norwich NR3 3BH