Books Prepared by the Havergal Trust
The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal in 5 volumes
Volumes I to V of the Havergal edition are virtually finished, ready for printers to make the books. From these five large volumes are taken 38 small, individual books available on Amazon.com.
The edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal has five parts:
Volume I Behold Your King: The Complete Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal
Volume II Whose I Am and Whom I Serve: Prose Works of Frances Ridley Havergal
Volume III Loving Messages for the Little Ones: Works for Children by Frances Ridley Havergal
Volume IV Love for Love: Frances Ridley Havergal: Memorials, Letters and Biographical Works
Volume V Songs of Truth and Love: Music by Frances Ridley Havergal and William Henry Havergal
The Companion Volume The Music of Frances Ridley Havergal (having all of F.R.H.’s extant scores, newly typeset and edited by Dr. Glen T. Wegge) has 18 Roman numeral pages and 502 Arabic pages, totaling 520 pages.
This Companion Volume to the Havergal edition is a valuable presentation of F.R.H.’s scores, most or nearly all of F.R.H.’s scores very little if any at all seen, or even known of, for nearly a century. What a valuable body of music has been unknown for so long and is now made available to many. Dr. Wegge completed his Ph.D. in Music Theory at Indiana University at Bloomington, and his diligence and thoroughness in this volume are obvious. First an analysis of F.R.H.’s compositions is given, an essay that both addresses the most advanced musicians and also reaches those who are untrained in music; then all the extant scores that have been found are newly typeset, with complete texts for each score and extensive indices at the end of the book. This volume presents F.R.H.’s music in newly typeset scores diligently prepared by Dr. Wegge, and Volume V of the Havergal edition presents the scores in facsimile, the original 19th century scores. (The essay—a dissertation—analysing her scores is given the same both in this Companion Volume and in Volume V of the Havergal edition.)
Dr. Wegge has also prepared all of these scores for publication in performance folio editions.
The Addendum Volume, An Example of True Study of the Bible: A Facsimile Copy of Frances Ridley Havergal’s Last Study Bible with Introduction has 32 Roman numeral pages and 424 Arabic pages, totaling 456 pages.
These books are filled and overflowing with true treasure from the Lord.
Small Individual Books
Overview
Volumes I to V of the Havergal edition are virtually finished, ready for printers to make the books. Each of these five volumes is a category of F.R.H.’s works, and each volume has a number of original books; for example, Volume II, Whose I Am and Whom I Serve: Prose Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, has twelve original books, and many other smaller items also. From Volumes I to V, 38 small individual books have been taken, copied, re-paginated, and these small, individual books (taken directly from the five large Volumes of the Havergal edition) have been published both as Kindle books and as print-on-demand soft-cover books, available on Amazon.com. These 38 small books (most of them being near 100 or 200 pages, a few being much larger) contain approximately 75% of the Complete Works in five Volumes. In the list by category and also the list in alphabetical order, these 38 small, individual books are given, each book title having a brief description and a link to the webpage where these are available to purchase.
Next is the list of the small, individual books copied directly from Volumes I to V of Havergal’s Complete Works, many or most of these being near 100 or 200 pages long. This link takes you to a page that shows all of the Havergal books prepared by the Havergal Trust and available on Amazon.
1. One Hour With Jesus AND ENCOURAGEMENTS TO BIBLE STUDY
The 1st of 38 small, individual books, entitled “One Hour with Jesus” and Encouragements to Bible Study, has 4 Roman numeral pages and 92 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
“One Hour with Jesus” was a pamphlet essay, a beautiful, compassionate, truthful entreaty to believers to spend one hour each morning alone with the Lord, reading His word, praying to Him, praising and worshiping Him. Throughout her life and so pervasive in her writings, F.R.H. wanted and encouraged others to read and search the Bible themselves, not only to hear others speak about the Bible, but everyone personally himself or herself to read, probe, memorize, and know the Scriptures. She was herself a glowing example of this, one who loved the Author and thus loved His word and treasured it up in her heart. We know from her sister Maria that she memorized all of the New Testament except the Book of Acts, all of the Minor Prophets, Isaiah, and all of the Psalms.
After “One Hour with Jesus,” the rest of this book gives helpful aids and encouraging examples of diligent study of the Bible. Our Lord said, in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.” “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:27 “Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.” John 17:17
2. My King
The 2nd of 38 small, individual books, entitled My King, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 90 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
My King is the first of five “Royal” books by F.R.H., which she regarded as a set. Each of the Royal books has 31 pieces (“Days”), one for each day of a month. Royal Commandments is the second, Royal Bounty is the third, The Royal Invitation is the fourth, and Loyal Responses is the “answering and completing chord” of the “Royal” books. This book also includes five poems for Sunday reading and several other poems by Havergal.
Quote from My King: “The source of the Kingship of Christ is God Himself in the eternal counsels of His love. . . . Having provided, He appointed and anointed His King.” The sections of this book are taken from Old Testament texts. “Why has God made Jesus King? Because the Lord loved His people. He knows our need of a King.”
(See also book #29 below, where all five of the Royal books are published in one volume.)
3. Royal Commandments
The 3rd of 38 small, individual books, entitled Royal Commandments, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 90 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
This is the second of the five “Royal” books by Havergal.
Quote from Royal Commandments: “Some of His Royal Commandments are made so ‘plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth.’ . . . Some are engraved upon the gems of promise; and as we look closely into the fair colours of each jewel that the hand of faith receives, we find that it is enriched by an unerasable line of precept. But all are royal, and all are ‘from Him,’ our King. And He has said, ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments.’ ”
4. Royal Bounty
The 4th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Royal Bounty, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 90 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
Quote from Royal Bounty. “The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.” (Deuteronomy 28:12) This book describes the gracious provision of our King to His subjects, the benefits of the Christian life, the unsearchable riches of Christ in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “Faith is the key to this infinite treasury.”
5. The Royal Invitation
The 5th of 38 small, individual books, entitled The Royal Invitation, has 12 Roman numeral pages and 68 Arabic pages, totaling 80 pages.
Quote from The Royal Invitation: “The human heart within us craves a personal, living rest and refuge. . . . The great word of Invitation, Royal and Divine, is given to us, ‘Come unto Me.’ ” This is the Son of God, mighty to save and ready to save all who come unto Him. In Him are life and peace.
6. Loyal Responses
The 6th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Loyal Responses, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 90 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
Loyal Responses is the “answering and completing chord” of the five “Royal” books. The first four Royal books were mostly prose, and this book of poetry—no notes, words only, full of music—was given the title Loyal Responses: Daily Melodies for the King’s Minstrels.
These are 31 poems, in which “almost every line has been either directly drawn from Holy Scripture or ‘may be proved thereby.’ May not only our lips but our lives be filled with Loyal Responses to all the words of our King!”
(Note: Scroll down to compare #26 below, Loyal Responses with Music, where the poems in Loyal Responses are set to music.)
7. Little Pillows, Morning Bells, and Morning Stars
The 7th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Little Pillows, Morning Bells, and Morning Stars,
has 6 Roman numeral pages and 130 Arabic pages, totaling 136 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal taught a Sunday school class in her early teens, and for most of the rest of her life she was in several ways extensively involved with children, though she never married or had children of her own. She loved the little ones and wanted them to know and love the Lord Jesus. Among her other writings for children in poetry, prose, and music, she completed these three 31-day books, having a brief piece for each day of a month. These are so good. Though deeply beneficial for adults of any age, these were specifically meant for and addressed to children. So clearly, effectively, sweetly, compassionately written, you can almost hear F.R.H. sitting on the side of the bed and saying these to one of her nieces or nephews just before sleep or before breakfast. God is love. These books are full of His love, wanting young ones to know and follow Him. This book is taken from the five-volume, 8,014-page edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, an edition prepared over several years by a team of people in the U.S., England, and Canada.
8. Bruey and The Four Happy Days
The 8th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Bruey and The Four Happy Days, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 170 Arabic pages, totaling 176 pages.
Bruey was a real girl, whom Frances Ridley Havergal knew, a girl with a beautiful heart from the Lord, and this account shines with the beauty of Jesus Christ.
Frances was only 11 when her mother died. The Four Happy Days is an autobiographical work about Frances herself. Annie was really F.R.H. This is an example of the Lord’s indescribable love to His own.
9. Ben Brightboots
The 9th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Ben Brightboots, has 8 Roman numeral pages and 80 Arabic pages, totaling 80 pages.
Ben Brightboots was a real cat that lived in F.R.H.’s parents’ home, quite an aristocratic cat, and very lively. As fast as he was, the events were faster and overtook Ben. Reading this story, you want to pick him up and stroke his neck, but while we cannot hold Ben, there is truth here of the greatest value that we can hold and keep in our hearts. F.R.H. finished this story of Ben, but only after she died was it published by her sister Maria, who also added at the end several more little stories, poems, and hymns by Frances. This book is taken from the five-volume, 8,014-page edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, an edition prepared over several years by a team of people in the U.S., England, and Canada.
10. Never Say Die
The 10th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Never Say Die, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 70 Arabic pages, totaling 80 pages.
Never Say Die is a clear, compassionate presentation to lost sinners, showing them their great need and the provision of God in Christ. The author, Samuel Gillespie Prout (1822-1911), was a pastor in Newport, Wales, and he wrote this for old friends whom he had known years earlier. His friend, Frances Ridley Havergal, read and greatly valued one of the early copies printed for private circulation, and she very much wanted this published for many to have and read.
After Prout was apparently too occupied to prepare it for publication, she edited it for him, and found a publisher to bring it out into the world. F.R.H. wrote this in a letter to Prout: “Believe me, there is real spiritual power in what you have written; as I glanced over your specimen page I felt inclined to envy you,—it throbs with life and warm reality. Oh, may you have the joy of bringing the living water to thousands by it!”
In a published advertisement about Never Say Die, this was quoted from her: “A splendid little book for evangelistic use. It says just the very things one wants to say or get said to all the dark and weary outsiders. There is a curious freshness and force throughout, and the ‘free salvation’ and the ‘marvellous love’ are told out with enviable power. I wish it could be put into the hands of every man and lad in the kingdom, and read at all the mothers’ meetings too. I am sure Christian workers only need to know it, to adopt it as one of their best tools.”—Frances Ridley Havergal
11. Kept for the Master’s Use and Starlight Through the Shadows
The 11th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Kept for the Master’s Use and Starlight Through the Shadows, has 4 Roman numeral pages and 196 Arabic pages, totaling 200 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal wrote these two books at the end of her life, very shortly before her unexpected early death at 42 and a half. She completed Kept for the Master’s Use, an encouragement to believers to follow wholly the Lord Jesus, built around the verses of her Consecration Hymn, published soon after her death.
She planned thirteen chapters for Starlight Through the Shadows, but only finished eleven of them before she was called into His presence.
Starlight has much truth and encouragement for the invalid and those who are afflicted; Frances had been herself invalid and sick near death a number of times, and here she teaches and comforts others with the lessons and comfort that God gave to her. At the end of Starlight, her sister Maria added several other pieces finished by Frances, more than the two unwritten chapters would have been. There is true encouragement here to “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.”
12. My Song Is Love Unknown
The 12th of 38 small, individual books entitled, My Song Is Love Unknown, has 4 Roman numeral pages and 92 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
“God is love.” “We love Him because He first loved us.” (John 4:16,19) This book is a copy of the section “to fill up the leaf withal” at the end of Behold Your King: The Complete Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal (which is Volume I of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal).
Written by other poets, these are poems similar to or relevant to the poetry by F.R.H. (At the end, a set of eight poems by Havergal was added.) Most of these hymns and poems are sadly obscure today, many of them even very rare and hard to find; yet all of them are full of truth and glow the love of God. Here is true praise, true worship. Worthy is the Lamb.
Song of Solomon 8:7 “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly condemned.” That is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to His own, and—from Him alone, and to Him alone—the love of His own to Him first and then to one another.
13. Echoes from the Word, Royal Gems and Wayside Chimes, and Birthday Book
The 13th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Echoes from the Word, Royal Gems and Wayside Chimes, and Birthday Book, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 114 Arabic pages, totaling 120 pages.
These are three of Frances Ridley Havergal’s least known works, so very obscure and rare now, yet what piles of gold are found in these pages. Though all three were published posthumously, Frances herself prepared Echoes and the Birthday Book.
Echoes from the Word has 67 poems or excerpts from poems, arranged around the Anglican Church calendar.
The Birthday Book has 366 daily texts of Scripture selected and arranged by F.R.H.; Rev. Charles Bullock edited this book, adding a poem by her at the start of each month and also Scripture texts for each month and for each week of each month.
Royal Gems and Wayside Chimes, having a prose excerpt and a poem for each of the twelve months, was compiled by Rev. Bullock, who knew her well and valued her so much, a very important publisher and advocate for her works. These would make a sterling calendar appointment book. Many hours could be spent, with much value gained, in these three little books.
14. Red Letter Days
The 14th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Red Letter Days, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 122 Arabic pages, totaling 128 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal spent much time and attention on this calendar book. Her Preface was dated May, 1879, and no one had thought that she would die weeks later, on June 3. This book was another labor of love to her King and to His people. She selected one or two or three Scripture verses or excerpts of verses, and also a verse from her own poetry, for each of the 366 days of the year. She also gave a complete poem by her father, Rev. William Henry Havergal, at the start of each month, and finally a poem by him at the end of the year. Everything in this book is richly edifying. Day by day, looking unto Jesus, with heart and mind stayed on Him.
15. Essays and Treasure Trove
The 15th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Essays and Treasure Trove, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 238 Arabic pages, totaling 248 pages.
This book contains all of Frances Ridley Havergal’s pamphlet essays (except one, “The Five Benefits,” long and earnestly sought, not yet found), full of golden lessons and encouragement for us. At the end is the small volume, Treasure Trove, extracts from F.R.H.’s unpublished letters and Bible notes posthumously compiled by her niece and god-daughter, Frances Anna Shaw.
16. Clear Flower Vases for the King’s Minstrels
The 16th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Clear Flower Vases for the King’s Minstrels, has 8 Roman numeral pages and 152 Arabic pages, totaling 160 pages.
The first eleven chapters of this book were a posthumous compilation of magazine articles that Frances Ridley Havergal wrote on hymnwriters and hymns, F.R.H. being such a gifted poet and hymnwriter, her selections and comments are very insightful and helpful. The last of her articles here was written on Horatius Bonar’s hymns, not finished. After that, two similar essays by Frances’ oldest sister Miriam Crane are given, one on Frances’s own hymns and one on their father William Henry Havergal’s hymns. This book is another set of pieces known by very few over the past century, yet having true encouragement and enrichment to believers.
17. Streamlets of Song for the Young
The 17th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Streamlets of Song for the Young, has 8 Roman numeral pages and 160 Arabic pages, totaling 168 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal’s eldest sister Miriam was 19 when Frances was born, and Miriam first tutored her when she was two and a half; among other things, Miriam taught her young sister poetry. Many years later, Frances became the home teacher to Miriam’s own four children.
Miriam asked Frances to compile a book of her poems for her nieces and nephews, which Frances readily wanted to do, but so many other things to do and then her very unexpected early death left this book unwritten. Miriam posthumously selected these poems and published this book.
After Miriam’s 1887 compilation, a number of other poems for children written by F.R.H., by her father William Henry Havergal, and by a few others, are given at the end of this edition. These are so little known today, yet so encouraging and edifying.
18. Sacred Songs for Little Singers
The 18th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Sacred Songs for Little Singers (a folio score, words by F.R.H. set to music by Alberto Randegger), has 8 Roman numeral pages and 72 Arabic pages, totaling 80 pages.
This is a set of twelve songs for children, scored for voice and piano, ranging from easy to moderately difficult. The music was composed by Alberto Randegger, for words by Frances Ridley Havergal. Extremely obscure today, Alberto Randegger (March 13, 1832–December 18, 1911) was very highly regarded as a musician in England in his day. Born in Trieste, Italy, he settled in London in 1854, where he was based the rest of his life. He composed the grand opera Bianco Capello (among many other scores), was a composer, conductor, organist, and professor. He was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, one of only 117 Honorary Members between 1826 and 2004, a true honor (in 1882 four musicians were admitted as Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society: Johannes Brahms, Joachim Raff, Alberto Randegger, and Giuseppe Verdi). He taught singing at the Royal Academy of Music and also at the Royal College of Music. He taught F.R.H. voice lessons.
Frances Ridley Havergal wrote a very humorous, fun poem (“My Singing Lesson”) about vocal technique for Randegger; he was so pleased, and after showing it to many others at the music school, he asked her to give him poems that he could set to music. That is how Sacred Songs for Little Singers began.
Even Queen Victoria thought very highly of these twelve songs, and wrote her own recommendation of them, a very great honor in that day. The music is very fine, but better than the music and more importantly, the words and the truth in the words are so valuable, truth to set the heart to singing.
19. Letters by the Late Frances Ridley Havergal, Swiss Letters and Alpine Poems, and Lilies and Shamrocks
The 19th of 38 small, individual books entitled, Letters by the Late Frances Ridley Havergal, Swiss Letters and Alpine Poems, and Lilies and Shamrocks, has 8 Roman numeral pages and 248 Arabic pages, totaling 256 pages.
Swiss Letters and Alpine Poems has letters written home to family when F.R.H. was visiting in Switzerland, posthumously compiled and published by her oldest sister, Miriam Crane.
Letters by the Late Frances Ridley Havergal was compiled and published by another sister, Maria.
The letters and other items in Lilies and Shamrocks show Frances’ long, deep interest to support the Irish Society, a group ministering to the Irish in their own language. One or two of these letters will have you shaking with laughter (no one could write on paper how to imitate the sound of a donkey in the Swiss Alps as well as Frances), but they are all so good to read, truly and deeply edifying and enriching. These letters bring you very near to Frances, as if she were sitting three feet away and speaking directly to you, and they so exceptionally well show her, and her Lord’s work in her mind and heart and life.
Let me say a personal statement. Over the fifteen years of work to prepare the Havergal edition for publication, I have long thought and occasionally said that if I were free from work and could just read, I would want to start with the volume of Letters compiled by Maria. They are so very good.—David L. Chalkley
20. Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal, and The Last Week
The 20th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal, and The Last Week, has 18 Roman numeral pages and 158 Arabic pages, totaling 176 pages.
Maria Vernon Graham Havergal was Frances Ridley Havergal’s second oldest sister, age 15 when Frances was born. Maria was devoted to Frances, served and encouraged her while she lived, and after she died, Maria was the diligent editor and publisher of her completed works and part of her uncompleted works, gathering, codifying, preserving F.R.H.’s written treasure for others then and later. Maria was herself a finely gifted writer, and her Memorials biography of Frances is gold.
21. Works by Maria V. G. Havergal
The 21st of 38 small, individual books, entitled Works by Maria V. G. Havergal, has 6 Roman numeral pages and 394 Arabic pages, totaling 400 pages.
Frances had loved Maria’s Pleasant Fruits, and who wouldn’t?
Maria also wrote a memorial biography of another sister, Ellen, Outlines of a Gentle Life.
Maria’s own Autobiography is filled and overflowing with valuable details and lessons. Though very little known today, there is much edification, encouragement, enrichment in these works by Maria. Like her sister F.R.H., she was a true example of the Lord’s love, of His true work in a believer. All was laid at her Master’s feet, to glorify Him and benefit His people.
Writing in her Autobiography about a time when she visited Ireland and walked long distances in rural areas to meet and reach lost ones, Maria said this: “It became an increasing delight to me to visit the cottages, my swift walking taking me to many a lonely corner. I marvel now at my activities, and believe they sprang from love to God, and much delightful communing did I hold with the Lord Jesus on the wayside. He was more and more to me, and when my early retirement at night was smiled at, they little knew the delight of being alone with Jesus my Lord.”
22. Records of the Life of the Rev. William Henry Havergal
The 22nd of 38 small, individual books, entitled Records of the Life of the Rev. William Henry Havergal, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 90 Arabic pages, totaling 100 pages.
William Henry Havergal is very obscure today, known of by sadly few now, most remembered if any at all as the father of his youngest child, Frances Ridley Havergal. He was a wonderfully gifted musician, both as a performer and as a composer, but he declined the offer of a music professorship at Oxford to enter pastoral ministry. His Sermons and other extant writings are so very richly edifying, but just as surely his life lived out among his family, friends, and parish was a glowing example of the grace and truth of Jesus Christ, and an encouragement to all around him to follow his Lord.
His younger colleague and friend Andrew James Symington wrote that “no one could possibly approach him, even in a casual way, without feeling the radiation of Christian light and warmth from his heart and beaming face, for to the core he was a true man: true to God, and true to his fellow man.”
Records of the Life of the Rev. William Henry Havergal was written by his oldest child, Miriam, a valuable account of an exemplary servant of the Lord, a man so blessed by the Lord and thus such a blessing to those who knew him.
23. Works by William Henry Havergal
The 23rd of 38 small, individual books, entitled Works by William Henry Havergal, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 502 Arabic pages, totaling 512 pages.
William Henry Havergal (whose youngest child, Frances Ridley Havergal, is more known today) was a wonderfully gifted musician, both as a performer and as a composer, but he declined the offer of a music professorship at Oxford to enter pastoral ministry. Over nearly five decades, his sermons, home visits, care of his flock, diligent ministry, was a “heart work,” bringing many to true faith in Christ and building up believers.
His extant sermons (so few now remaining among the more than 2,500 briefly listed in his handwritten book, listing only the date, location, and Scripture text for the sermons he preached from 1816 to 1869) are gold, similar in valuable edification to Spurgeon, Ryle, Lloyd-Jones.
The same as his written works, his life was a true example of the believer, and he could say like Paul, “be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” He so much loved his Saviour, and earnestly wanted and sought for others to know and love Him. He is summed up in the Latin phrase that he would write, “Laus Deo.” “Praise be to God.” The Lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel’s land.
This collection has the four volumes of his Sermons (all that have been found, leaving us wanting more), his sterling account of “A Wise and Holy Child,” nearly all of his extant hymns and poems, and a brief glimpse at his music compositions. At the end is his daughter’s biography Records of the Life of the Rev. William Henry Havergal (also available separately as described above), with also others’ statements and articles about him.
His life and works can be described by these two comments that he said about his sermon (quoted in his daughter’s biography): “A lady calling, expressing her thanks to him for his sweet and comforting sermon, he meekly answered, ‘The Lord make it profitable, and then take all the praise.’ Another thanking him said it was a precious sermon. ‘Nothing in itself,’ he said, ‘all nothing; but the Lord can make it precious, and may He do so.’ ”
24. Memorials of Little Nony
The 24th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Memorials of Little Nony, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 90 Arabic pages, totaling 100 pages.
Nony Olivia Heywood was a true example of the Saviour’s love to His children. Living in the same city for a while, Nony helped Frances Ridley Havergal to raise money for the Irish Society, an organization that provided Bibles to the Irish in their own language and also sent supporting laborers into the country to reach the people with the truth of Christ.
Later, Nony became sick, suffered very greatly, and knew that she would never recover, and F.R.H. was deeply moved by this.
After Nony’s death, Frances wanted to write a memorial account of Nony, but she unexpectedly died only a month and two days after Nony died. Both were so soon called into His presence, beholding Him and singing His praise.
Nony’s mother then wrote this memorial, and Frances’ sister Maria wrote the Preface. The same Lord Who so graciously and wonderfully worked in and through them never changes and is able to do the same in us. He is altogether lovely, He was their only beauty, and He says to us as He did to them, “Follow Me.”
25. Works by Janet Grierson on Frances Ridley Havergal
The 25th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Works by Janet Grierson on Frances Ridley Havergal, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 210 Arabic pages, totaling 220 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal’s written works in poetry, prose, and music are a rarely valuable treasure chest, a goldmine, and just as surely, accounts of her lived out life have so much benefit to others.
For the centenary of F.R.H.’s death in 1979, when few were interested in F.R.H.’s life and works, Miss Janet Grierson (1913-2011) wrote and published a biography of Havergal, Frances Ridley Havergal: Worcestershire Hymnwriter.
After that she wrote another book on her, Singing for Jesus, a golden study centered around several of her hymns; this second book remained in manuscript, never published, and was entrusted by Miss Grierson to David Chalkley in 2002. David, the compiler and editor of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, has included in the Havergal edition both of Miss Grierson’s books, and also a few articles by her that were found. He was honored and blessed to meet and know Miss Grierson in 2002, and her help in the preparation of the edition was invaluable. Several times he has said that Grierson’s writings were the most important work on Havergal since Frances’ sister Maria V. G. Havergal’s work in the 19th century.
Janet Grierson was richly blessed with ability, a brilliant scholar and a fine writer. These two books are overflowing with so many details on F.R.H.’s life and works, and give so much insight into this sweet psalmist of Worcestershire.
A Personal Note: The 17th century gold-mine poet George Herbert wrote (in Outlandish [that is, “Foreign” like the German Ausländer, “outside the land,” not our meaning of “absurd”] Proverbs, No. 50), “A dwarf on a giant’s shoulder sees further of the two.” I stood on Miss Janet Grierson’s shoulder. I also stood on another’s shoulder: I stood on Glen Wegge’s shoulder. Both of these two were profoundly valuable in this work, and the Havergal edition would not be nearly what it is without their involvement. They were the Lord’s provision. Thanks be to God. —David Chalkley, June 7, 2016
26. Loyal Responses with music
The 26th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Loyal Responses With Music (a folio score, words and music by F.R.H.), has 10 Roman numeral pages and 86 Arabic pages, totaling 96 pages.
This is a musical devotional with a song for each day of the month. Many are hymn tunes, but a few are art songs for voice and piano. They range from easy to moderately difficult. Though she later composed music for this, the author’s sub-title for the original book of 31 poems was “Daily Melodies for the King’s Minstrels.”
Not only so rich for individuals to sing alone unto the Lord, these are also scores for families and for church choirs. Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879) was a wonderfully gifted musician. Several who knew her or heard her—very distinguished music professors, performers, and others—left strong, clear accounts showing that her musical gifts were special, rare, very fine, as a pianist, a singer, and a composer. These scores are true music, and (using F.R.H.’s words) these are meant to draw both singers and hearers to “the One name which is sweeter than any music.”
The small book of 31 poems—no notes, words only, full of music—entitled Loyal Responses: Daily Melodies for the King’s Minstrels, was published by Frances Ridley Havergal in 1878, the fifth of the five “Royal” books by her.
After she died on June 3, 1879, a hand-written list was found in her desk, “Work for 1879: ‘If the Lord will.’ ” One of the items on that list was “Set ‘Loyal Responses’ to music.” She had begun, and in her last months set a number of the poems to music (Days 2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 19, 24, 31; and likely the third to the seventh of the additional 9 scores at the end); but others were left unset when she died, and previous scores composed by her were posthumously adapted to the remaining poems.
We do not know who arranged these after Frances died: Romer, Hutchings, Frances’ sisters Maria, Ellen, and Miriam, her surviving brother Francis Tebbs Havergal, others in the family and also musician friends outside the family, are possible, but we do not know.
In 1881, the London firm Hutchings & Romer (the primary publisher of F.R.H.’s music scores, both while she lived and after she died) published Loyal Responses With Music, adding to the 31 Days of the original 1878 book also 9 further scores composed by Frances.
This performance folio score is based on the edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, now very near completion and readiness to publish. The manuscript scores have not been found, but the 1881 Hutchings & Romer edition is definitive, and this is an urtext score of that edition. (In Volume V of the Havergal edition, Songs of Truth and Love: Music by Frances Ridley Havergal and William Henry Havergal, and in a Companion Volume to the edition, The Music of Frances Ridley Havergal, there is much, very valuable information on her as a pianist, singer, and composer, truly important details on her as a musician and on her compositions that remain extant today.)
Although Loyal Responses with music became very obscure (almost completely forgotten, with likely very few if any having seen or performed these scores in the past 50 or 75 or 100 years), this is a very rich, valuable body of music, truly to the Lord’s glory and the good of His people.
27. Art Songs Composed by Frances Ridley Havergal
The 27th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Art Songs Composed by Frances Ridley Havergal (a folio score), has 10 Roman numeral pages and 178 Arabic pages, totaling 188 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal is best known today as a hymnwriter, that is, the writer of the words, but she was also a wonderfully gifted writer of poetry, prose, and music. She was a remarkably fine musician, both as performer and composer, and though she apparently had a good but not exceptionally fine voice (a mezzo-soprano), her heart full of love far overcame any weakness of voice, as many who heard her knew, strongly confirmed in written accounts by ones who heard her.
“Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only for my King.”
Her singing was blessed, anointed, and used by her King, and many were moved and drawn to Him.
This book has all of her art songs that remain extant. These are thirty art songs by her. There is one duet in the collection. Aside from this one song, each of the other songs has a part for solo voice with piano accompaniment.
These songs range in difficulty from easy gospel style to the level of a Schumann song. All of these songs would be good for church services and for other occasions, as well as alone for personal worship and edification. Virtuosity is not required of the pianist. F.R.H. would have accompanied herself as she sang these.
28. Hymntunes Composed by Frances Ridley Havergal
The 28th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Hymntunes Composed by Frances Ridley Havergal (a folio score), has 18 Roman numeral pages and 110 Arabic pages, totaling 128 pages.
This book has the fifty-six hymntunes composed by F.R.H. that remain extant, that have been found in work on The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal. They are all very good to sing in churches; any church should be able to sing them well. Not only easy to sing and play, they have memorable melodies, and they are true music that gives pleasure.
Frances Ridley Havergal’s most widely known work is the poem called the Consecration Hymn, “Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” A few of her other hymns (that is, the words) are still known and sung fairly widely.
She also composed many hymntunes, and this book presents all of them extant today. Even “Hermas,” the best known of them, is seldom sung now; nonetheless, they are beautiful scores. She was exceptionally gifted and experienced to write both words and music for hymns. She was a rarely fine poet, and a similarly fine musician (pianist, singer, composer). She played organ and piano in church for much of her life, and for a while she was the music leader of St. Paul’s Church, Leamington Spa.
Frances also labored for years with Charles Busbridge Snepp to complete and publish Songs of Grace and Glory, a large, immensely valuable hymnbook; this hymnbook had more than 1,100 hymntunes, most composed by her father, William Henry Havergal, with several composed by F.R.H. and by others. She edited and prepared very nearly all of them for publication (only a handful left unfinished when she died).
These are two excerpts from her letters:
“I was so struck this morning with ‘Thou art the Helper of the fatherless,’—the very first time one of those special orphan promises has come home to me. I had been puzzling over a tune which papa would have decided about in a minute, and missed him so much, when suddenly this verse flashed upon me brightly. I think that even in music the Lord is my helper now; much more in other things. When composing some tunes at this time, I selected six about which I felt doubtful, and sent them to Sir Frederic Ouseley, asking him to say if they were all right. This he most kindly did; to my great delight he endorsed them every one, and praised them too. . . .”
“Last night they sang ‘To Him who for our sins was slain,’ to my little tune ‘Tryphosa’; it went so deliciously, and choir and congregation really rang out the Alleluias so brightly that it suddenly came over me, as it never did before, what a privilege it is even to have contributed a bit of music for His direct praise. It was a sort of hush of praise, all alone with Jesus, for His great goodness. I had no idea “Tryphosa” was such a pretty tune before ! . . .”
29. The Five “Royal” Books by Frances Ridley Havergal
The 29th of 38 small, individual books, entitled The Five “Royal” Books by Frances Ridley Havergal, has 16 Roman numeral pages and 472 Arabic pages, totaling 488 pages.
This volume contains the five “Royal” books by Frances Ridley Havergal. My King was first published in 1877. Royal Commandments and Royal Bounty were published together later in 1877. The Royal Invitation was published in 1878. Loyal Responses was published later in 1878.
As she wrote in her Prefatory Note to Loyal Responses (on page 372 of this book), she regarded these as a set.
- My King. “The source of the Kingship of Christ is God Himself in the eternal counsels of His love. . . . Having provided, He appointed and anointed His King.” The sections of this book are taken from Old Testament texts. “Why has God made Jesus King? Because the Lord loved His people. He knows our need of a King.”
- Royal Commandments. “Some of His Royal Commandments are made so ‘plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth.’ . . . Some are engraved upon the gems of promise; and as we look closely into the fair colours of each jewel that the hand of faith receives, we find that it is enriched by an unerasable line of precept. But all are royal, and all are ‘from Him,’ our King. And He has said, ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments.’ ”
- Royal Bounty. “The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.” (Deuteronomy 28:12) This book describes the gracious provision of our King to His subjects, the benefits of the Christian life, the unsearchable riches of Christ in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “Faith is the key to this infinite treasury.”
- The Royal Invitation. “The human heart within us craves a personal, living rest and refuge. . . . The great word of Invitation, Royal and Divine, is given to us, ‘Come unto Me.’ ” This is the Son of God, mighty to save and ready to save all who come unto Him. In Him are life and peace.
- Loyal Responses. These are 31 poems, in which “almost every line has been either directly drawn from Holy Scripture or ‘may be proved thereby.’ May not only our lips but our lives be filled with Loyal Responses to all the words of our King!”
30. The Poetry of Frances Ridley Havergal
The 30th of 38 small, individual books, entitled The Poetry of Frances Ridley Havergal (this has the definitive Nisbet edition of 1884, with also further poems, etc.), has 30 large Roman numeral pages, 18 small Roman numeral pages, and 780 Arabic pages, totaling 828 pages.
This volume has the definitive 1884 Nisbet edition of The Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, and all of the other poems found in research for the new edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal.
How does one describe F.R.H.’s poetry? Rich both in content and presentation, full of truth and love, probing thought conveyed with beautiful art.
One contemporaneous reviewer of her first published book, The Ministry of Song, wrote this: “Genuine poetry. Many a bowed-down heart can in its pages be reminded of the way of peace, and of Him who can alone give that peace which the world cannot give, and in a way which is not the world’s way.”—Press and St. James’s Chronicle.
Another reviewer wrote, “Critical nicety and power of phrase, variety of treatment, wealth and naturalness, lucid exposition. The grace, tenderness, purity, and devotional spirit of Miss Havergal’s volume will make it warmly welcomed wherever Christian song and Christian sentiment are loved and appreciated.”—Morning Advertiser.
One more reviewer wrote, “Pure and elevating thoughts, pleasant fancy, and musical verse; remarkable for originality of thought as well as for graceful treatment.”—Literary World.
Charles Spurgeon said: “There is a centre to every storm where perfect calm reigns. There is a point within the circle of the most consuming flame where life is possible without any danger to its being consumed. Miss Havergal seems to me to have got into the very centre of the storms that are disturbing others, and abides in perfect peace. She seems to have penetrated to the very heart of God who is a consuming fire, and rests absolutely in His love. She could never have written as she has except for an extraordinary intimacy with God.”
In our own time, Rev. Iain H. Murray, founding trustee of the Banner of Truth Trust, wrote: “Frances Ridley Havergal was one of the most gifted poets ever to write for the Christian church. To this day, some of her hymns are sung and loved all over the world, yet much of her no-less valuable writing and poetry has long been scarce and little known. I am thankful that the Havergal Trust has been founded to remedy this lack, and the Havergal books that they have already so attractively brought back into circulation deserve to be widely known. They show unusual natural gifts wedded to a strong evangelical theology, and like all the foremost Christian writers she speaks to the heart as well as to the mind.”
31. The Ministry of Song
The 31st of 38 small, individual books, entitled The Ministry of Song, has 20 Roman numeral pages and 124 Arabic pages, totaling 144 pages.
A sterling volume of poems, The Ministry of Song was Frances Ridley Havergal’s first published book. First published in 1869 by the Christian Book Society, 22 King William Street, Strand, London, this was taken up and published in 1871 by James Nisbet & Co., her primary publisher while she lived and after she died.
First published when she was thirty-two, Frances (December 14, 1836 to June 3, 1879) inscribed this book “To my Father.” After Rev. William Henry Havergal (January 18, 1793 to April 19, 1870) died, the inscription in the first Nisbet edition was changed to be, “To my Father’s Memory.”
Like her father, Frances was a remarkably gifted musician, the finest sort, and her poetry is very musical, exceptionally and finely so, true music through words without notes, full of rhythms and cadences and musical aspects. Note that this first book published by her was a collection of poems entitled The Ministry of Song (no notes nor staves, full of music), and her 1878 volume of poetry Loyal Responses (also words only, full of music) had the sub-title “Daily Melodies for the King’s Minstrels.” There are many examples of her poems that exemplify music in the words.
Poetry is the part of language closest to music, at the edge or border where language and music meet, and Frances’ poetry reflects her deep, profound musicianship.
Just as Havergal’s poem “Seulement pour Toi” (“Only for Thee,” written on July 23, 1876 and posthumously published in Under His Shadow in 1879) needs (requires) a person with an advanced knowledge of French to see the beauty and power of that French poem, similarly a true musician can see rich details in the warp and woof of Frances’ poetry and other works which are very reflective of a true musician, which others who are not musicians might easily miss.
Apart from her performance and compositions, which were so valuable for those who heard her, she was a musician to the core, and her musical gifts enrich her other works, her poetry and prose. Her works, both poetry and prose, are notably consistent in the fineness of both the ideas and the presentation of the ideas. The content of the ideas is more important than the presentation of the ideas, though both content and presentation are so very important. Both her life lived out in the world and her works written on paper sought to glorify her Master and to help others to know Him.
32. Under the Surface
The 32nd of 38 small, individual books, entitled Under the Surface, has 12 Roman numeral pages and 172 Arabic pages, totaling 184 pages.
Under the Surface, in 1874, was Havergal’s second published volume of poems. James Nisbet & Co. (her primary publisher while she lived and after she died) first published this as a single book, and later also published many copies (the number not known now, certainly many thousands) of a set of three books of poetry by F.R.H., The Ministry of Song, Under the Surface, and Under His Shadow, in a gift box, the books being approximately 3 ½ inches wide by 4 ¾ inches tall, each of the three books easy to fit in a pocket or in a lady’s purse, to carry and read anywhere.
Under the Surface was also published complete along with most of her other poems in the posthumous compilation of The Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1884).
The following reviews give a glimpse of how this book was valued in her day, and the true treasure here (to the Lord’s glory and to the good of His people) is as rich now as it was then. These next seven reviews (or excerpts of reviews) of Under the Surface were published in periodicals, and quoted in an advertisement page in an 1876 Nisbet copy of Under the Surface.
- “There is a vigour and a strength in these poems which is really remarkable, and which in no way interferes with their tenderness and melody.”—Evening Hours.
- “Each poem is a life-song and a heart-story.”—Christian.
- “The gifted author of this new volume of exquisite poems may rest assured her multitudinous readers will testify, ‘the gold of this mine is good.’ ”—Our Own Fireside.
- “Another volume of sweet, sacred thought singing to us in the music of stirring and soothing verse.”—Woman’s Work.
- “Great freshness of feeling, fulness of thought, and ready command of measure.”—British Quarterly Review.
- “Few writers of the present day have richer, nobler thoughts, deeper insight into the springs of the human heart, or more touching pathos, and withal sweetly tender musical expression, than Miss Havergal. . . . Many of the pieces in the present volume have a power certainly not surpassed and not very frequently equalled by hymn-writers of recognized eminence, while others are exquisitely touching in their sweetness and tenderness.—Edinburgh Daily Review.
- “Rich in noble thought, and fresh and vigorous ideas.”—Literary World.
33. Under His Shadow
The 33rd of 38 small, individual books, entitled Under His Shadow, has 10 Roman numeral pages and 118 Arabic pages, totaling 128 pages.
Frances Ridley Havergal published three books of poetry, The Ministry of Song (1869), Under The Surface (1874), and Loyal Responses (1878).
She had not finished her next book of poems when she died on June 3, 1879; in her final illness, she and her sister Maria discussed this book, and Maria posthumously edited and published this collection later that same year with the title Under His Shadow The Last Poems of Frances Ridley Havergal.
Most or nearly all of F.R.H.’s poems were published in The Poetical Works of Frances Ridley Havergal (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1884). In the Nisbet edition, the section entitled Under His Shadow is very different from the original book both in the order (sequence) of poems and in the inclusion or exclusion of several poems: various poems were placed in different sequences (very possibly because more was known when the later Nisbet edition was prepared), other poems were added, and other poems were removed from the original Under His Shadow (because those poems were placed elsewhere in the much larger, more comprehensive Nisbet edition).
This is not said to disparage the Nisbet Poetical Works edition at all: that is a sterling compilation, very finely prepared. Very possibly or likely Maria realized more (about titles, sequences, texts, etc.) after the original Under His Shadow was published and before the finalized Nisbet edition was published. This is said to explain that this small volume of Under His Shadow follows the original 1879 sequence (placement of the poems) of that book, though the titles and texts of the individual poems in the 1884 Nisbet edition (later prepared, and likely more accurate than the earlier, original book) are copied here. This book is another collection full of true treasure.
34. Havergal’s Psalmody and Century of Chants
The 34th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Havergal’s Psalmody and Century of Chants,
has 20 Roman numeral pages and 372 Arabic pages, totaling 392 pages.
Rev. William Henry Havergal (1793-1870) was the foremost church musician and composer of sacred music in England in his generation, as Lowell Mason and other contemporaries would have confirmed; a leading reformer of church music, W.H.H. did much to raise the level of singing in worship services.
A very gifted pianist and organist, he published over 50 compositions, for example, The Grand Chant in Forty Different Forms, Opus 52, in 1867.
His priority was to be a pastor, truly a heart work, and he sooner wanted to prepare sermons than to compose music, though few could compose as well as W.H.H.; his music was a benefit to his ministry, a benefit to his congregation, and a relaxation and enjoyment to him. He concentrated on music—with rare, fine ability—only when his health precluded his pastoral ministry.
His daughter Jane Miriam Crane wrote this in her biography:
“In November, 1847, my father published ‘Old Church Psalmody,’ a collection of old English tunes and others of foreign origin which he esteemed a desideratum, as he believed there was no existing volume which contained only such tunes and such harmonies as strictly accord with the style of those times when psalmody was best understood, and of which the date of T. Ravenscroft’s Psalter, 1621, he considered the zenith. No composition of a later date which did not accord with that style was admitted, nor any tune by a living author.
“ ‘Old Church Psalmody’ contained remarks on harmony, style, rhythmical form, the time and pitch in which the tunes were sung, followed by notes of information respecting many of them.
“He received numberless testimonies from America and Scotland, as well as England, of the high estimation in which this now standard work was held. It passed through five editions, and has since been incorporated with the next mentioned volumes. He published, in 1859, ‘A Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes,’ Op. 48. These tunes were selected from very many of his own composition, and are all constructed on the principles set forth in his ‘Old Church Psalmody.’ . . . . The preface to the ‘Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes’ contains remarks on the secularities too prevalent in psalmody, etc., insisting that in music, as in architecture, the church should have a style of her own. In January, 1870, he published ‘A Century of Chants,’ with a preface, and a ‘Supplemental Note’ on the career of Dr. Crotch.”
. . . .
“In 1871, the year following his death, the above works were incorporated in one volume, entitled “Havergal’s Psalmody,” and published by his widow; but it was entirely prepared and arranged by his daughter Frances R. Havergal, with the addition of many of his other tunes, some kyries, and glorias, and also some of her own tunes, to which she afterwards added an appendix. Finally the Rev. C. B. Snepp published in 1875, by permission, another edition as a musical companion to his ‘Songs of Grace and Glory.’ This also my sister Frances arranged, adding new tunes by herself and other composers.” (Jane Miriam Crane, in Chapter IX of her sterling biography, Records of the Life of the Rev. William Henry Havergal, M.A., published by Home Words Publishing Office, London, 1882)
35. Songs of Grace and Glory
The 35th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Songs of Grace and Glory, has 24 Roman numeral pages and 528 Arabic pages, totaling 552 pages.
Songs of Grace and Glory is so valuable and also extremely obscure today. Few people early in the 21st century have ever heard of this hymnbook, and very few if any today realize the enormous, costly effort and time that Charles Busbridge Snepp and Frances Ridley Havergal gave to complete this collection of hymns.
Here was true diligence, and much thought, labor, sacrifice in time and effort, a labor of love. Extremely few people today realize the remarkably fine gifts Frances Ridley Havergal had in music. As a performer and as a composer she had a rare level of gifts, and she was very diligent with her gifts.
Her father, Rev. William Henry Havergal, was the foremost church musician and composer of sacred music in England in his generation, and he was a leading advocate for reform in the practice and taste of church music.
Rev. Charles Busbridge Snepp, an Anglican pastor, was a hymnologist with an important collection of hymnbooks, a deep interest in hymns, and a desire to bring out a new, comprehensive hymnal. Snepp had written to William Henry Havergal about this project, and on the morning of W.H.H.’s last conscious day, he composed a score for a hymn in Snepp’s new project, Songs of Grace and Glory. The next day, April 17, 1870, Easter, W.H.H. was seized with apoplexy and never regained consciousness, dying on April 19.
Rev. Snepp after that wrote to William Henry Havergal’s daughter, Frances Ridley Havergal, and later they concluded that she would edit the music for the new hymnal.
Though so extremely obscure today, Songs of Grace and Glory is a true treasure of worship in song, a gold mine strongly worthy to be republished today, studied by church musicians, and used in worship in our day.
Snepp was the architect and leader of the work and the editor of the texts, and F.R.H. prepared and edited all of the music (only six or eight scores remained to be finished when she died so unexpectedly early at forty-two and a half).
Beyond the labor—with great skill—in preparing all of the music scores and texts for 1,100 hymns, Frances also wrote a number of the hymns newly, specifically for this book, and also composed a number of hymn scores for Songs of Grace and Glory.
This is an enormous and enormously impressive body of work. Frances directly prepared for press the scores of 1,100 hymns, and after she thought that her work was completed on this, she learned that the papers and plates for the Appendix at the printer had been lost in a devastating fire, so that she would need to do all of the work on the Appendix again.
In the British Library, a copy of Songs of Grace and Glory is dated 1883 with “Three Hundred and Thirteenth Thousand” on the title page. The work began with Havergal’s Psalmody and Century of Chants, a republication of three of William Henry’s earlier volumes of hymn scores, Old Church Psalmody (1847), A Hundred Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1859), and A Century of Chants (1870), with other previously unpublished scores by W.H.H. and also a few scores composed by Frances, all edited by F.R.H. and published by Robert Cocks & Co., London, 1871. Cocks published a second and a third edition (the third edition in 1872). James Nisbet & Co. published the fourth edition in 1877.
Havergal’s Psalmody and Century of Chants was a “Companion Volume” to Songs of Grace and Glory. The music in H.P.C.C. was the music for the hymns in Songs of Grace and Glory. S.G.G. was published in a number of editions.
36. Music by William Henry Havergal
The 36th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Music by William Henry Havergal, has 32 Roman numeral pages and 590 Arabic pages, totaling 622 pages.
William Henry Havergal (1793–1870) was a pastor, musician, scholar, and an example of the believer. His sermons are true gold, so good, fully at the level of rich benefit of sermons by J. C. Ryle, Charles Spurgeon, and D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Accounts of his pastoral ministry are true examples, a heart work, glowing the Lord and His truth.
W.H.H. was a musician to the core, a rarely and finely gifted one. (His youngest daughter, Frances Ridley Havergal, was the same.) He was a master at the keyboard (his improvisations were profoundly rich), he had a fine, beautiful voice, and he composed valuable scores. He was also a scholar of music, and was consulted by many for information or advice.
Early in his life, he was offered a professorship in music at Oxford University, a very high honor in that day, but he declined that and a career in music to be a pastor. Few could so well compose music, yet he preferred to write a sermon than to compose a score.
Though music was so very important to him, and he used music to enrich his ministry and benefit his hearers (he was the music leader in the churches he pastored), yet music was a secondary pursuit to him, and an enjoyment and relaxation, not his priority, unless his physical health precluded pastoral work.
Though his priority was pastoral work, he was the foremost church musician in England in his generation (Dr. William Crotch was the generation before W.H.H., and William Sterndale Bennett was not primarily a church musician), and was very highly regarded by knowledgeable people for his compositions and his knowledge of music.
W.H.H. was awarded the Gresham Prize twice, in 1836 and in 1841. After that, the judges concluded that no one should be allowed to win that prize more than twice.
The American music leader Lowell Mason, in his second trip to England, in 1850. visited William Henry Havergal in Worcester, where W.H.H. was both the pastor (Rector) and music leader of St. Nicholas Church; Mason said that W.H.H.’s church music was the best that he heard, “excellent in all particulars and far in advance of anything that he heard” in England.
W.H.H. led the reform of church music, and few today realize the value of his efforts and publications to improve the practice of music in church worship.
He was also a finely gifted poet, leaving richly edifying poems and hymns, and a generous—though not complete—number of his poems are given in Volume I of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal.
William Henry Havergal preached more than 2,000 sermons over more than five decades (likely approaching or exceeding 3,000 sermons, based on his handwritten record of his sermons from 1816 to 1869), each sermon a true labor of love, a heart work.
This new book of Music by William Henry Havergal contains a generous—though not nearly complete—number of his published scores not included in Havergal’s Psalmody and Century of Chants, and this new book also includes his edition of Thomas Ravenscroft’s Psalter (London: Novello, 1845), and his musicological treatise A History of the Old Hundredth Psalm Tune (New York: Mason Brothers, 1854).
37. Songs of Peace and Joy
The 37th of 38 small, individual books, entitled Songs of Peace and Joy (a folio score, words by F.R.H. set to music by Charles Henry Purday), has 18 Roman numeral pages and 86 Arabic pages, totaling 104 pages.
Songs of Peace and Joy (words by Frances Ridley Havergal, set to music by Charles Henry Purday) was published by James Nisbet & Co., London, 1879.
Charles H. Purday, over 80 when this volume of music was completed, was a composer whose music F.R.H.’s father, William Henry Havergal, had admired.
A finely gifted singer, he had sung at the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838 when F.R.H. was a toddler.
In the summer of 1878, he for the first time read poems by F.R.H. in The Ministry of Song and Under the Surface, and began setting a number of them to music.
He wrote to F.R.H., asking her approval, and later she made notes and suggestions to the manuscript scores, gratefully endorsing her senior colleague’s work.
This has 36 poems by her, nearly all the scores composed by Purday, with two scores by her and one by her father.
Frances’ Prefatory Note was dated May 13, 1879, three weeks before her unexpected early death at the age or 42. Purday’s Composer’s Preface was signed October 1, 1879. From the new edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, this is another volume of true music and true worship.
38. The Chorale Book for England
The 38th of 38 small, individual books, entitled The Chorale Book for England (German hymns translated by Catherine Winkworth, set to German hymntunes edited by William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt), has 20 Roman numeral pages and 132 Arabic pages, totaling 152 pages.
The Chorale Book for England is a profoundly rich, valuable book, both the words and the music. This is a collection of 200 German hymns translated into English by Catherine Winkworth, with German hymn tunes edited by William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt.
Winkworth published the first volume of Lyra Germanica in 1855 (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855), and the “Second Series” in 1858. These were her translations of German hymns into English, a treasure of true worship. The Lyra Germanica Series I had 103 hymns, arranged around the church calendar; Series II had 121 hymns, arranged according to subjects.
The Chorale Book for England was a set of German hymns translated by C.W. in her Lyra Germanica (and also other hymns not in the Lyra Germanica), with music scores—chiefly from German hymnbooks—edited by William Sterndale Bennett and Otto Goldschmidt.
Here is true worship, glorifying God and edifying and enriching His people.