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Click on the link below to download a PDF booklet
available 02/2025
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   FMPHymnTuneHrmztnsVol2OrgBklt2025  

Table  of  Contents

Land of Rest	(American Folk Hymn)	(1  Verse)
Lasst Uns Erfreuen	(German Melody)	(2  Verses)
Lauda Anima	John Goss	(1  Verse)
Laudes Domini	Joseph Barnby	(1  Verse)
Leoni	(Hebrew Melody)	(1  Verse)
Lyons	Johann Michael Haydn (attr.)	(1  Verse)
Melita	John Bacchus Dykes	(1  Verse)
Mendelssohn	Felix Mendelssohn	(1  Verse)
Mit Freuden Zart	(Franco-German Origin)	(1  Verse)
Nicaea	John Bacchus Dykes	(2  Verses)
Oh when the Saints	(Traditional American Spiritual)	(1  Verse)
Old 100th	after  Louis Bourgeois	(1  Verse)
Old 124th	(Genevan Psalter)	(2  Verses)
Perfect Love	Joseph Barnby	(1  Verse)
Personent Hodie	(Piae Cantiones)	(2  Verses)
Puer Nobis	Michael Praetorius (adapt.)	(1  Verse)
Quittez, Pasteurs	(Traditional French)	(1  Verse)
St. Anne	William Croft (attr.)	(2  Verses)
Salzburg	Jakob Hintze (attr.)	(1  Verse)
Shalom	(Traditional Hebrew Melody)	(2  Verses)
Slane	(Traditional Irish Melody)	(4  Verses)
Stuttgart	(English Folk Melody)	(3  Verses)
Toplady	Thomas Hastings	(2  Verses)
Truro	(Psalmodia Evangelica)	(1  Verse)
Westminster Abbey	Henry Purcell	(1  Verse)
Woodbird	(Traditional German Melody)	(2  Verses)

Notes

The hymn tunes assembled here come from Latin, Swiss, German, French, Dutch, English, American, and other varied folk hymn traditions spanning some five centuries  of musical and liturgical tradition. In many instances, hymn tunes serve as a bridge between sacred and secular practices within world cultures, as evidenced by folk melodies or lilts borrowed by hymnodists and adapted to sacred use — or the reverse, when hymn tunes become popularized by noted performers or media exposure. Over time tunes have developed brief proper names for con-venient identification, but nationality, era, and denominational preferences account for wide variances. For example, some hymnal publications occasionally coin new names for established tunes that are being paired with new texts.  Often times there will be a reason for the title of a hymn tune: a composer, location or family name will frequently surface, alongside of more abstruse christenings linked to specific sacred texts, sects or denominations, faiths or creeds. It is not unusual for the composer of a hymn tune to be unknown or anonymous, or for a tune title to be linked generically to a manuscript, hymnal or songbook publication.

These free harmonizations are intended as alternative organ accompaniments for specific verses to support and enhance congregational hymn  singing. They appear for the most part in traditional four-voice harmonized textures and are technically accessible. Hymn melodies are featured prominently in almost all  of the settings.

There are four generic categories of layout and voicing: 1.) the hymn melody appears as a solo in the soprano line, accompanied by two voices in the left hand on a secondary manual and a bass line in the pedal; 2.) the hymn melody is featured as a solo in the tenor register, accompanied by the right hand on a secondary manual, and with a bass line in the pedal; and 3.) the hymn melody sounds in the soprano register and is harmonized freely in lower voices and played on one manual (with or without pedal). In some instances where there are two or more settings for the same tune, one verse can be used as an introduction and another for a middle or final verse.  Occasionally a slower tempo will be very effective for a concluding verse.

The settings that feature a solo melody in the soprano or tenor voice can be rendered effectively on an instrument with multiple manuals and pedal by means of terraced dynamics. In some instances, a tune will benefit from registration on a bold solo reed (or reeds in chorus), with or without divisions coupled in support.  A solo reed can be deployed effectively for a soprano cantus firmus at 16' and 8' pitches; use of an 8' pitched tenor cantus firmus will often be enhanced by the addition of 4' (and 16') pitch(es) if available.

N.B.  Three of the free harmonization titles listed above — Mendelssohn, Puer Nobis and Quittez, Pasteurs — were featured as FMP's 2023-24 offerings for the Christmas season (i.e. December's complimentary posting); they are repeated here for convenient reference and access.

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Hymn Tune Free Harmonizations
Volume 1