George Rawson

Last updated

George Rawson (1807-1889) was an English hymnwriter and Congregationalist lay person, who was born in Leeds on 5 June 1807 and died in Clifton, Bristol on 25 March 1889. He qualified as a lawyer and practised law in Leeds, but also lived in Bristol.

Rawson devoted his leisure time to writing and collating hymns. He worked with the Congregational ministers of Leeds to compile a collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Passages of Scripture for Christian Worship commonly known as the 'Leeds Hymn-book'. He also compiled Psalms and Hymns for the Use of the Baptist Denomination in conjunction with Baptist denominational leaders. His hymn collections include Hymns, Verses, and Chants [1] and Songs of Spiritual Thought, published by the Religious Tract Society in 1885. He wrote or reworded a large number of hymns, including 'With Gladness we Worship'. [2] A review of Songs of Spiritual Thought published in The Congregationalist stated: "There are few who have contributed hymns of such exquisite beauty and such rare sweetness as are to be found in this collection." [3]

Following his death in 1889 he was buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol. [4]

Related Research Articles

Hymn Religious song for the purpose of adoration or prayer to address deity

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious and partially coincident with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος (hymnos), which means "a song of praise". A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist. The singing or composition of hymns is called hymnody. Collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment.

Isaac Watts English hymnwriter, theologian and logician

Isaac Watts was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross", "Joy to the World", and "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past". He is recognized as the "Godfather of English Hymnody"; many of his hymns remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages.

Contemporary worship music Modern genre of music sung in many churches

Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are frequently referred to as "praise songs" or "worship songs" and are typically led by a "worship band" or "praise team", with either a guitarist or pianist leading. It has become a common genre of music sung in many churches, particularly in charismatic or non-denominational Protestant churches with some Roman Catholic congregations incorporating it into their mass as well.

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

"Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" is a Christian hymn by Charles Wesley on Christian perfection. Judging by general repute, it is among Wesley's finest: "justly famous and beloved, better known than almost any other hymn of Charles Wesley." Judging by its distribution, it is also among his most successful: by the end of the 19th century, it is found in 15 of the 17 hymn books consulted by the authors of Lyric Studies. On a larger scale, it is found almost universally in general collections of the past century, including not only Methodist and Anglican hymn books and commercial and ecumenical collections, but also hymnals published by Reformed, Presbyterian, Baptist, Brethren, Seventh-day Adventist, Lutheran, Congregationalist, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic traditions, among others including the Churches of Christ. Specifically, it appears in 1,328 of the North American hymnals indexed by the online Dictionary of North American Hymnology, comparable to Newton's "Amazing Grace" (1,036), Wesley's "O for a Thousand Tongues" (1,249), and Watts' "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (1,483), though still well short of Toplady's "Rock of Ages" (2,139) or Wesley's own "Jesu, Lover of my Soul" (2,164).

Metrical psalter

A metrical psalter is a kind of Bible translation: a book containing a verse translation of all or part of the Book of Psalms in vernacular poetry, meant to be sung as hymns in a church. Some metrical psalters include melodies or harmonisations. The composition of metrical psalters was a large enterprise of the Protestant Reformation, especially in its Calvinist manifestation.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Christmas carol

"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is an English Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. The carol, based on Luke 2:14, tells of an angelic chorus singing praises to God. As it is known in the modern era, it features lyrical contributions from Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, two of the founding ministers of Methodism, with music adapted from "Vaterland, in deinen Gauen" by Felix Mendelssohn.

Anne Steele was an English Baptist hymn writer and essayist. For a full century after her death, she filled a larger place in United States and British hymnals than any other woman.

Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General Assembly has commissioned volumes of psalms and hymns for use by congregations.

Exclusive psalmody

Exclusive psalmody is the practice of singing only the biblical Psalms in congregational singing as worship. Today it is practised by several Protestant, especially Reformed denominations. Hymns besides the Psalms have been composed by Christians since the earliest days of the church, but psalms were preferred by the early church and used almost exclusively until the end of the fourth century. During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and many other reformers, including those associated with the Reformed tradition, used hymns as well as psalms, but John Calvin preferred the Psalms and they were the only music allowed for worship in Geneva. This became the norm for the next 200 years of Reformed worship. Hymnody became acceptable again for the Reformed in the middle of the nineteenth century, though several denominations, notably the Reformed Presbyterians, continue the practice of exclusive psalmody.

Jubilate Group

The Jubilate Group is a Christian publishing house that administers copyright for more than sixty composers and writers. The group was founded by Michael Baughen in the 1960s. The group's first production was Youth Praise. In 1982, Jubilate published Hymns for Today's Church, one of the first hymn books with completely modernised language. In 1999, Sing Glory, Jubilate's most recent major hymn book, was published.

John Rippon

John Rippon was an English Baptist minister. In 1787 he published an important hymnal, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended to Be an Appendix to Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns, commonly known as Rippon's Selection, which was very successful, and was reprinted 27 times in over 200,000 copies. Many hymns originally published in Rippon's Selection are preserved in the Sacred Harp.

Hymn tune Musical melody of a Christian hymn

A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm, with or without refrain or chorus.

Presbyterian worship documents worship practices in Presbyterian churches; in this case, the practices of the many churches descended from the Scottish Presbyterian church at the time of the Reformation.

<i>Hymns and Spiritual Songs</i> (book)

Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Fasts and Festivals of the Church of England, by Christopher Smart, was published in 1765, along with a translation of the Psalms of David and a new version of A Song to David. He wrote these poems while he was in a mental asylum and during the time he wrote Jubilate Agno.

John Fawcett (theologian)

John Fawcett was a British-born Baptist theologian, pastor and hymn writer.

Reformed worship

Reformed worship is religious devotion to God as conducted by Reformed or Calvinistic Christians, including Presbyterians. Despite considerable local and national variation, public worship in most Reformed and Presbyterian churches is governed by the Regulative principle of worship.

Samuel Medley (minister)

Samuel Medley (1738–1799) was an English Baptist minister and hymn-writer.

Hymnody in continental Europe developed from early liturgical music, especially Gregorian chant. Music became more complicated as embellishments and variations were added, along with influences from secular music. Although vernacular leisen and vernacular or mixed-language carols were sung in the Middle Ages, more vernacular hymnody emerged during the Protestant Reformation, although ecclesiastical Latin continued to be used after the Reformation. Since then, developments have shifted between isorhythmic, homorhythmic, and more rounded musical forms with some lilting. Theological underpinnings influenced the narrative point of view used, with Pietism especially encouraging the use of the first person singular. In the last several centuries, many songs from Evangelicalism have been translated from English into German.

Church music during the Reformation developed during the Protestant Reformation in two schools of thought, the regulative and normative principles of worship, based on reformers John Calvin and Martin Luther. They derived their concepts in response to the Catholic church music, which they found distracting and too ornate. Both principles also pursued use of the native tongue, either alongside or in place of liturgical Latin.

References

  1. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1876
  2. http://www.hymnary.org/person/Rawson_G
  3. "Conjubilant with Song: George Rawson". 5 June 2009.
  4. "George Rawson". www.hymntime.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15.