Hymn of the Week: June 27
by William "Pat" Partridge
Canon Precentor Organist and Choirmaster
Christ Church Cathedral
June 27: Hymn 493
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
"O for a thousand tongues to sing" by Charles Wesley opened his brother John Wesley's definitive A Collection of HYMNS FOR THE USE OF THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS (London, 1780) and has continued, with one exception (1935) as the opening hymn of every official American hymnal in the Methodist Episcopal tradition since that time. The present version is made up of the seventh, eighth, ninth, eleventh, twelfth, and first stanzas from Charles Wesley's eighteen-stanza hymn "For the Anniversary Day of One's Conversion."
The tune, AZMON, was written in 1828 by the German composer Carl Gotthilf Glaser. Carl Glaser was born May 4, 1784. In his early years he studied music under his father, but later became a student of piano and violin at the Thomasschule in Leipzig. Lowell Mason introduced this German tune to America through his Modern Psalmist, 1839. Most church-goers know this wonderful tune for memory.
Listen to a recording of this hymn, sung by the Cathedral Choir and Congregation:
6-27-21 Hymn 493 - Azmon
Tags: Hymn of the Week / News