I am available to speak at your local history, church and general interest groups. Please contact me at gillianwarson@lineone.net. I offer talks and illustrated lectures on all aspects of hymnody. They are richly illustrated using an interesting variety of source material including pictures, recordings, readings from newspapers, novels and diaries and I will demonstrate some of the musical examples on the piano or violin. Here is a list of suggested titles which may be of interest to you:

  • Hymn singing at Sunday School and at Home.
  • The living tradition of hymn singing.
  • Hymn singing in Oxfordshire.
  • The life and work of Sid Hedges.
  • Flora Thompson and the Fewcott Part Book.
  • Hymns for a Pioneer Child - An illustrated lecture on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
  • The development of hymn singing as it is represented in English Literature.
 

 

Courses in Oxford: Christianity and the Arts: A Panorama of English Hymns

Start date: Tuesday 17th January for ten weeks

Time: 11.00-13.00

Venue: Ewert House, Ewert Place, Summertown, Oxford, OX2 7DD

Further details: Telephone, 01865 280892/280895 or email, ppweekly@conted.ox.ac.uk

The course is the second in a series on Christianity and the Arts. It will examine developments in English Hymnody starting with the introduction of metrical psalms in the sixteenth century.

The course will look in detail at the work of some the major English hymnwriters. This will include studying the giants of the field, Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley, as well a women writers such as Mrs. Alexander and Miss Frances Ridley Havergal. The course will also consider major themes in hymn writing such as hymns for children and hymns from literature. Twentieth-century trends will be looked at by exploring the "Hymn Explosion" of the 1960s and 70s especially the writing of Patrick Appleford and Fred Kaan. The course will end by discussing the challenges met by hymn writers of the 21st century by contrasting the work of writers such as Andrew Pratt and Graham Kendrick.

The course will be illustrated by examples of recorded music and source material taken from historical documentation and manuscripts as well as up-to-date critisism, books and articles.

 

 

 
Gillian Warson
 
E-mail: gillianwarson@lineone.net