Sounding ChildhoodMain Menu30 Selections from the Top Ranking Hymns for ChildrenAlphabetical Index of Hymn TitlesScoresRecordingsTimelineCredits, 2015 Recording & WebsiteCredits, Permissions and CopyrightWorks CitedRehearsal VideosPart 2--Songs for School and PlayPart 3--Bands of Mercy SongsAlisa Clapp-ItnyreAlisa Clapp-Itnyre ea81b58f96dc50ac6f0312cb8dfd4bbc7d5bfddcSOUNDING VICTORIAN Project 2016
Jesus, Lover of my soul
12017-06-23T17:29:25+00:00Donal Hegartyd91ac6951fc09687a65f62d6a62eb9d3c37c260311Score from: The Methodist Sunday-School Hymn and Tune-Book. London: Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School Union, 1879. Print.plain2017-06-23T17:29:25+00:00Donal Hegartyd91ac6951fc09687a65f62d6a62eb9d3c37c2603
12017-06-23T18:33:12+00:00Jesus, Lover of my soul3plain2017-07-13T15:01:10+00:00Charles Wesley’s “Jesus, Lover of my soul” has been an extremely powerful hymn to countless generations of believers since he wrote it in 1740. Alan Sutherland has said that, along with the Twenty-First Psalm, it is first in the hearts of countless thousands (in McCutchan, Our Hymnody 357). Though it was not found in as many of children’s hymn books as Wesley’s other favorites (e.g., “Hark, the herald angels sing”), it was still an important hymn to children, alluded to in various children’s diaries of the era that I have examined. Its poetics clearly denote an adult-reading audience in the metaphorical and intricate syntax used: “While the nearer waters roll,/ While the tempest still is high” (v. 1) or “Let the healing streams abound;/ Make and keep me pure within” (v. 4). However, the aid given by Jesus, metaphorical though it may be, must surely have registered with children: “Let me to Thy bosom fly” (v. 1) or “Cover my defenseless head/ With the shadow of Thy wing” (v. 2). Tunes to which it is sung are numerous, including “Hollingside” by John B. Dykes as used in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), “Aberystwyth” by Joseph Parry, Professor of Music at University College, Aberystwyth, and “Martyn” by Simeon Butler Marsh (1834).
