C.W.S. at Conjubilant With Song, who commented on my recent Universalist hymnal post, recently wrote about Emily Swann Perkins, a Presbyterian tune composer. She matched one of her own tunes to “Years Are Coming, Speed them Onward”, a hymn by Universalist minister Adin Ballou.
An alternative to the much-labored Hyfrodol, as used in Singing the Living Tradition?
Oops. Guess I should have been a bit clearer — it was I who matched that tune to Ballou’s text, not Perkins. I do frequently choose lesser-known tunes for texts with which no strong “traditional” tune is associated. I’m actually perfectly satisfied with PLEADING SAVIOR, the tune from Hymns for the Celebration of Life, but wanted a good text to match with the Perkins text because of her birthday. Yes, HYFRYDOL is pretty overworked these days.
Always happy to have another reader or two, especially from this direction, as some of my regular readers and commenters don’t really get UU hymnody.