The Hymnal 1982 — LLMpedia

The Hymnal 1982
Pbritti · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Name	The Hymnal 1982
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Church Publishing Incorporated
Released	1985
Media type	Print
Pages	720

Contents

The Hymnal 1982 is a liturgical hymnal produced for the Episcopal Church and adopted widely across Anglican Communion provinces, reflecting Anglican hymnody, chant, and service music. It compiles traditional plainsong, Renaissance motets, Romantic hymnody, and contemporary compositions, aiming to balance sources from Thomas Cranmer, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and modern hymnists. The volume influenced hymnals used by Church of England, Anglican Church of Canada, Scottish Episcopal Church, and ecumenical partners such as United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Presbyterian Church (USA).

History and Development

The project began amid liturgical renewal movements influenced by Vatican II, Oxford Movement, and studies from the General Convention (Episcopal Church), with planning committees drawing on precedents like the Hymnal 1940 and international collections such as English Hymnal, The New English Hymnal, and Hymns Ancient and Modern. Discussions involved representatives from dioceses including Diocese of New York, Diocese of Chicago, and Diocese of California and consulted archives at institutions like General Theological Seminary, Yale University, and University of Cambridge. Scholarly input referenced composers and theorists associated with Gregorian chant, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, while copyright negotiations engaged publishers such as Oxford University Press and Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd.. The hymnal was shaped by liturgical commissions responding to resolutions from General Convention sessions in the 1970s and early 1980s and was produced by Church Publishing Incorporated with design input from liturgists linked to Trinity Church, Wall Street and music directors from cathedrals like St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

The collection includes metrical hymns, Anglican chant, service music settings, descants, and organ voluntaries, drawing on texts by John Mason Neale, Friedrich von Spee, John Henry Newman, Richard Baxter, and composers like Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, Herbert Howells, Maurice Duruflé, Healey Willan, and William Mathias. It integrates chant notation influenced by studies in Gregorian chant scholarship and editions used at Solesmes Abbey and cites modal and tonal harmonizations reminiscent of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert in hymn adaption. The hymnal organizes tunes under meters and indexes employing cross-references used by editors with experience at Royal School of Church Music, Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, and The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Notable inclusions reflect the work of modern hymnwriters like John L. Bell, Brian Wren, Carl P. Daw Jr., Fred Kaan, and Susan Palo Cherwien, and arrangements that evoke influences from African American spirituals associated with performers like Mahalia Jackson and composers associated with William Billings and John Rutter.

The hymnal was compiled by an editorial constituency including bishops, organists, composers, and liturgists who had affiliations with seminaries and churches such as Virginia Theological Seminary, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, and parish music programs at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco and Washington National Cathedral. Committee members consulted scholarship by experts tied to Oxford University, Cambridge University, Princeton University, Harvard University, and cataloguers at Library of Congress. Contributors included hymn-text editors who worked on corpora related to Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and George Herbert, and composers and arrangers who previously collaborated with ensembles such as Choir of King's College, Cambridge, St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, and The Philadelphia Orchestra. The editorial process included peer review by figures associated with The Hymn Society, liturgical commissions chaired by bishops from Province of the Southern Cone of America, and consultations with ecumenical partners like World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches.

Adopted in parish settings across dioceses of the Episcopal Church (United States), the hymnal is used in rites from Book of Common Prayer liturgies including Morning Prayer, Holy Eucharist, and Evening Prayer, and has been incorporated into cathedral worship at sites such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and Trinity Church (Boston). Its service music has been used by Anglican Church of Australia, Church of Ireland, Episcopal Church in the Philippines, and ecumenical congregations in partnership with United Church of Canada and Moravian Church. Choirs and music programs at conservatories including Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music, and New England Conservatory have drawn on its repertoire for training and performance. The hymnal figures in hymn-singing traditions associated with commemorations like Easter Vigil, Pentecost, All Saints' Day, and rites connected to civic events such as state funerals and Presidential inaugurations where Anglican music is featured.

The publication received varied responses from traditionalists linked to Anglican Continuum groups, modernizers associated with the Liturgical Movement, and scholars publishing in journals like Church Music Quarterly and The Musical Times. Its influence is evident in subsequent denominational hymnals such as those produced by United Methodist Church and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and in hymnals for dioceses of Church of England and Anglican Church of Canada. Critiques addressed balance between heritage chorales by composers like Johann Pachelbel and new compositions by contemporary hymnwriters connected to Taizé Community and Iona Community. The hymnal contributed to pedagogical curricula at institutions such as Concordia Seminary and informed editorial practices at publishers including Augsburg Fortress and GIA Publications.

Category:Anglican hymnals Category:Episcopal Church (United States) publications