A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe

In 1840, Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor published a words-only hymnal for the church in Manchester, England, titled A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe. Informally known as the Manchester Hymnal or "Small Hymnal", it was by far the longest-lived of all LDS hymnals, with 25 editions published between 1840 and 1927. Over the years, publication of this hymnal moved from Manchester to Liverpool, and finally to Salt Lake City in 1890. As more hymns were added, the book grew from 323 pages in 1840 to 456 pages in the 1905 edition. However, it was still a words-only hymnal; the tunes were sung from memory or by referencing a tune book alongside the hymnbook.^[1][2]

Background

Following the publication of the 1835 hymnbook, a few unauthorized hymnals were published. Recognizing a growing need for hymnals in Mormon congregations in the eastern United States, David Rogers published a new version of the hymnal in 1838. The style, preface, layout, and many of the hymns were copied from the official 1835 hymn book, but forty of the ninety hymns were swapped out. Around thirty of the new hymns were written by Mormons, including five by the influential apostle Parley P. Pratt.^[3] A year later, Benjamin C. Elsworth published another hymnal that also plagiarized Emma Smith's preface and used sixty-six hymns from her collection, as well as almost all the ones Rogers had added.^[4] By 1 July 1839, the prophet and Quorum of the Twelve met to compile a new hymnbook, and apparently even weighed the idea of reprinting or adapting Rogers's work.^[3] At a Church conference that fall, however, Rogers's work was publicly criticized and it was requested that it be "utterly discarded by the church".^[5][6] Six months later, charges were brought against Rogers for "compiling an Hymn Book, and selling it as the one selected and published by sister Emma Smith", among other things.^[5][7] Despite the unauthorized nature of Rogers's hymnal, it demonstrated a need for new hymnbooks and a trend towards using hymns authorized by Latter Day Saints.

Manchester Hymnal Publication

In 1839, the Quorum of the Twelve worked towards printing their own hymnal in Manchester, England. This hymnbook, in its own way, was unauthorized. In October of 1839, a high council "voted that Sister Emma Smith, select and publish a hymn Book for the use of the Church, and that Brigham Young be informed of the same, and he not publish the hymns taken by him from Commerce".^[5][8] Brigham Young may have never heard word of the high council's decision or simply ignored it, and the Quorum of the Twelve proceeded to publish a hymnal compiled by Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt, and John Taylor that was titled A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe. Despite previously indicating that he was opposed to printing a new hymnbook outside of Nauvoo and expressing some initial anger over publishing it without his permission, Joseph Smith eventually gave his approval to the work.^[9][5][10]

The compilers' hope, as recorded in the preface, was to create "a Hymn Book adapted" to the British Saints' "faith and worship, that they might sing the truth ... and express their praise, joy and gratitude, in songs adapted to the new and everlasting covenant."^[11] Seventy-eight hymns from the 1835 hymnbook were included, while one-hundred-and-ninety-three texts were added. (Parley P. Pratt alone contributed some 50 hymns while editing the hymnal.)^[12] Printed in 1840, this hymnbook beat Emma's hymnbook to the press by a year. The Manchester hymnbook would go on to serve as the Church's official hymnbook for eighty-seven years—longer than any other hymnal in its history.^[13]

The Latter-day Saints' Psalmody

1896 The Latter-Day Saints Psalmody 2nd Edition

In 1889, the LDS Church published a tune book to accompany the Manchester Hymnal titled The Latter-day Saints' Psalmody. The Psalmody was a conscious effort by church leaders to develop a hymn style of their own.^[1] Budding composers in the church were encouraged to submit new tunes to fit the new and old lyrics. Many Latter-day Saint hymns that had been published in the previous decades in periodicals like the Utah Magazine, the Utah Musical Times, the Utah Musical Bouquet, and the Juvenile Instructor were included. Some tunes were also adopted from non-LDS sources, such as classical composers like Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Rossini.^[14]

The Psalmody was intended to be a supplement to the "Manchester Hymnal". Each hymn in the Psalmody was cross-referenced by page number to the "Manchester Hymnal" and only used a few verses of the full hymn text.^[14]

Example of music in the Latter-day Saints' Psalmody

By today's standards many of the hymns are quite challenging, even for choirs, let alone congregational singing. They were very high-pitched, sometimes ascending above the staff to a high g' or a' in the soprano parts. The tenor parts were written on a separate staff above the soprano and alto lines, making accompaniment difficult. Still, the 330 hymns in the 1889 Psalmody show tremendous skill in composition and originality.^[14][13]

About half of the new hymn tunes that were composed for the Psalmody were written by members of the Church Music Committee, which included Evan Stephens, George Careless, Ebenezer Beesley, Joseph J. Daynes, and Thomas C. Griggs. These men were accomplished musicians, composers, and Mormon Tabernacle Choir conductors. Many of their Psalmody hymn tunes have a pronounced "instrumental" feel, as if they were more suited for organ performance than choir or congregational singing.^[14]

List of Songs (by first line)^[15]

Examples of Hymns Added in Later Editions

• "Come, Come, Ye Saints" (All Is Well), added in the 1851 edition as Hymn 46^[16]
• "If You Could Hie to Kolob", added in the 1869 edition as Hymn 230^[17]

See also

• Hymns in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

References

External links

• View this hymnal from Online Collections at BYU (scanned images) (to get the entire hymnal, download the version for printing, and change the extension to pdf)
• Text of every hymn found in this hymnal, at hymnwiki.org
• Manchester Hymnal at SingPraises.net