Leslie Clay - Sisters in Song: Women Hymn Writers

The history of women hymnists is more ex-tensive than you might expect. The scriptures identify Miriam and her song after escaping from bondage in Egypt (Exodus 15:20-21). Deborah sings (Judges 5:1-31). Hannah sings (1 Samuel 2:1-10). So does Mary (Luke 14:46-55). But the earliest known hymns for which we have both words and music come from plainchant. Most hymnists were anonymous. Women had little say in the music of the early church. In fact, from A.D. 574 until Martin Luther opened music to the laity, women couldnt sing in the church, because singing was restricted to the all-male clergy and choir. Women sang in their own monasteries and cloisters, however. Remarkably, the first chant for which authorship of both words and tune are known is from a woman, Hildegard von Bingen. You can hear recordings of her monophonic chants today, and they are sung by women. In her era and all eras past, women were restricted in their role, particularly in matters religious. But if a woman could say the hymns were inspired directly from God, usually in a vision, it might be accepted, albeit begrudgingly. No doubt there have been many hymns written by women through the centuries up to today who never got the credit. Many of the oldest hymns have no attribution.

Martin Luther, among other accomplishments, conceived and established congregational singing. Improved literacy and the invention of the moveable type printing press made it possible for everyone, not just the clergy, to sing in church. Luther wanted hymns to mean something to lay people, so hymns in the local vernacular were written. Hymnbooks were born, and with them, hymn writers.

Women-written hymns started to flourish in the nineteenth century with successive waves of spiritual revival sweeping through Europe and America. Though their roles were still restricted, women had more freedom to pursue activities beyond the home. I say this with the caveat that many hymns were written with a male pseudonym, as with Fanny Crosby or, as in the case of Lizzie Tourjee or May Moody, were written at the request or encouragement of a male relative. In the Victorian era, women rarely wrote the music, but wrote lyrics, though there were some notable exceptions as you will read in this book. Many Victorian era women wrote hymns for children, but a good number of those hymns have lived on as classics for all age groups. Victorian women hymnists also, overall, were a sickly lot. Perhaps their ailments kept them from going out to pursue other interests, thus providing time for meditation and creation of beautiful hymns.

Much of the hymnody in the second half of the 19th century now comes under the label of Gospel hymns. They were plain and readily understandable with many metaphors from daily life. They emphasized a personal relationship with and salvation through Jesus, heaven for the believer, and demand for action. The Gospel hymns were an important part of the evangelistic programs of such men as Dwight Moody and Billy Sunday.

Most of the writers of Gospel hymns were women or clergymen. Though women generally couldnt preach or speak in mixed meetings in those days, they could certainly write the hymns. And they provided them in quantity. I went to an auction and happened upon a hymnbook for general use published in 1905. Of the 245 hymns, 127 had lyrics by women, 93 by men, and 25 were by persons with initials or were otherwise anonymous. I couldnt help but note that none of the copyrights were held by women. The Gospel hymns have become less important in modern churches, and this may have been in part because they gave women more power to speak than some evangelical men wanted. In contrast to the 1905 book, a hymnbook at that same auction was published in 1935 and only 10% of its hymns were written by women. A general hymnbook in my personal library published in 1866 contains 466 hymns from the earlier part of the 19th century and before, and only 29, or 6%, were by women. If you attend a church, you may want to check out the hymnbook it uses. I hope the percentage has increased from both the 1866 and 1935 hymnbooks.