Holy, holy, holy           

Reginald Heber (1783-1826) wrote this hymn for Trinity Sunday, basing it on verses in the Book of Isaiah and the Revelation of St John.  Heber was educated in several small private schools and then at  Brasenose College, Oxford, where, among other prizes , he won the Newdigate Prize for his long poem, “Palestine” (part of it later set to music by William Crotch as “Lo, star-led chiefs”).  Ordained in 1807, Heber succeeded his father as rector of Hodnet, Shropshire, where he remained until he was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823.  When he went to India Heber worked indefatigably, travelling throughout that country and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).  After only three years there he died suddenly at age 43.  

 

During his time at Hodnet he wrote more than 50 hymns; he also edited the works of the 17th-century writer Jeremy Taylor (in 22 volumes). Some  of Heber’s hymns that remain in current use include “Brightest and best of the sons of the morning” and the first  verse of “God that madest earth and heaven.”  A strong advocate of hymn singing in the Church of England, Heber sought to overcome the prejudice that associated congregational singing with Methodists and dissenting evangelicals.  He sent a copy of some of his hymns to the Bishop of London, requesting authorization to have them printed for use in churches and offering a long series of precedents for hymn singing in churches.  But the Bishop  responded  that “things are hardly yet ripe for obtaining the sanction of authority.”  Fifty-seven of Heber’s hymn texts were published posthumously by his wife in Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Services of the Year (1827).  This collection began the tradition of arranging the contents of hymn books according to the church year.   

 

John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876) wrote the tune “Nicaea” for Heber’s poem for the first edition of A&M (1861).  Nicaea is the name of the Turkish city (now Iznik) where the Emperor Constantine in 325 called a council to determine the nature of the Trinity; the Council wrote the Nicene Creed.  Dykes, B.A. of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge (Katherine Hall until 1860) in 1847 (M.A. 1851, Mus. D [Durham]1849), was  ordained in 1848 and appointed  a minor Canon of Durham Cathedral in 1849; soon after that he succeeded to the offices of Precentor and Choirmaster of Durham Cathedral.  In 1862, appointed Vicar of St Oswald’s, Durham, he resigned from the Cathedral.  Later, Dykes’ high churchmanship brought him into conflict with his Evangelical Bishop, Charles Baring.  A remarkably prolific composer, Dykes composed  300 hymn tunes, many of which remain in use.  He, with one or two other Victorian composers, also introduced greater complexity of harmonization in hymns.

 

Editors bonus: Enjoy Matthew Larkin's performance of Paul Halley's God in Three Persons: A Fantasia on Nicaea!