A Joyful Noise

Author Charles Moseley
Publisher DLT £16.99
Format hbk
ISBN 9781915412157

This is a quite light-hearted book, which describes in brief chapters the lives of 24 hymn writers whose works are to be found in The New English Hymnal and Hymns Ancient and Modern. The author’s aim is to provide a little historical context to the words we sing, and, occasionally, the tunes used. The chapters are of varying length and detail, of course, and cover from St Ambrose (339–397) to Sydney Carter (1915–2004). There are some parts which surprised me. For example, the Church of England only authorised hymns in 1821; new works had to claim to be settings of Psalms before then, although of course the Methodists developed a strong musical tradition which is well represented here. It is also remarkable how many of today’s hymns started out as poems (for example, by George Herbert). If you have ever wondered about the back story of some of the names credited as authors in our hymn books, this is a good place to start. There is surely scope for a second volume.

Reviewed by DAVID HEADING

Hymnody