Glory in the highest to the God of heaven

Until the 1980s there were few metrical versions of the Gloria in Excelsis in hymnals, let alone in common use. With the liturgical expansion running parallel to the hymn ‘explosion’, several authors have now put this ancient Christian hymn into a more regular English form than its Prayer Book version Glory be to God on high. They include Kevin Mayhew (who wrote several), Clive Mansell (in 2003, to the tune DING DONG MERRILY) and Timothy Dudley-Smith, who wrote two while admitting that ‘the greatness of the Gloria is not so easily captured’ (Lift Every Heart 1983). Among the earliest of recent paraphrases is Christopher Idle’s, written in Poplar, E London, in 1976. It was sung at Limehouse in 1979 (to Elgar’s tune, see note to 506), printed in a supplementary selection for All Souls’ Langham Place, London, and published in HTC. Since then it has been heard frequently at ‘Prom Praise’ and other occasions requiring both grand music and fully congregational song. In The Book of Common Prayer (1662, as in 1552) the ‘Gloria’ concludes the service of Holy Communion; more recent alternative services prefer to place it, in modernised form, at the beginning. While the basis for the hymn is Luke 2:14, found in the 4th-c Liturgy of St James as a brief Communion anthem, it was expanded into the full Gk version by at least the 5th c, as found after the Psalter in the celebrated Bible ms ‘Codex Alexandrinus’. The Lat text was certainly in use by the 8th c. Since it was used initially as a morning hymn, there is no reason to confine it to Communion services. See also 681 and note. W H Ferguson’s CUDDESDON is the tune set to the words in HTC and in the New English Hymnal, 1986. It was composed for At the name of Jesus and appeared with it (and a lesser-known J M Neale hymn) in the 1919 Public School Hymn Book which he co-edited. It was marked ‘with great dignity’. The name is that of the Church of England theological college near Oxford where the composer trained for the ministry.

b Bromley, Kent 1938. Eltham Coll, St Peter’s Coll Oxford (BA, English), Clifton Theol Coll Bristol; ordained in 1965 to a Barrow-in-Furness curacy. He spent 30 years in CofE parish ministry, some in rural Suffolk, mainly in inner London (Peckham, Poplar and Limehouse). Author of over 300 hymn texts, mainly Scripture based, collected in Light upon the River (1998) and Walking by the River (2008), Trees along the River (2018), and now appearing in some 300 books and other publications; see also the dedication of EP1 (p3) to his late wife Marjorie. He served on 5 editorial groups from Psalm Praise (1973) to Praise!; his writing includes ‘Grove’ booklets Hymns in Today’s Language (1982) and Real Hymns, Real Hymn Books (2000), and The Word we preach, the words we sing (Reform, 1998). He edited the quarterly News of Hymnody for 10 years, and briefly the Bulletin of the Hymn Society, on whose committee he served at various times between 1984 and 2006; and addressed British and American Hymn Socs. Until 1996 he often exchanged draft texts with Michael Perry (qv) for mutual criticism and encouragement. From 1995 he was engaged in educational work and writing from home in Peckham, SE London, until retirement in 2003; following his return to Bromley after a gap of 40 years, he has attended Holy Trinity Ch Bromley Common and Hayes Lane Baptist Ch. Owing much to the Proclamation Trust, he also belongs to the Anglican societies Crosslinks and Reform, together with CND and the Christian pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. A former governor of 4 primary schools, he has also written songs for school assemblies set to familiar tunes, and (in 2004) Grandpa’s Amazing Poems and Awful Pictures. His bungalow is smoke-free, alcohol-free, car-free, gun-free and TV-free. Nos.13, 18, 21, 23A, 24B, 27B, 28, 31, 35, 36, 37, 48, 50, 68, 78, 79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 89, 92, 95, 102, 108, 109, 114, 118, 119A, 121A, 125, 128, 131, 145B, 157, 176, 177, 193*, 313*, 333, 339, 388, 392, 420, 428, 450, 451, 463, 478, 506, 514, 537, 548, 551, 572, 594, 597, 620, 621, 622, 636, 668, 669, 693, 747, 763, 819, 914, 917, 920, 945, 954, 956, 968, 976, 1003, 1012, 1084, 1098, 1138, 1151, 1158, 1159, 1178, 1179, 1181, 1201, 1203, 1204, 1205, 1209, 1210, 1211, 1212, 1221, 1227, 1236, 1237, 1244, 1247, 5017, 5018, 5019, 5020.