Wesley's favorite tune missing from hymnal

Christian Century, Nov 14, 2001

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and a prolific publisher of hymns, would not find his favorite hymn tune in the United Methodist Hymnal, a college researcher says. The 18th-century British evangelist edited and published several hymnals. Most of the songs--an estimated 6,000 of them, including "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"--were written by his brother, Charles Wesley.

But Wesley's favorite tune, used in at least eight songs, cannot be found in the contemporary hymnal. Clark Kimberling, a composer at the University of Evansville, Indiana, said the hard-to-sing tune "Wednesbury" was most likely replaced by newer music that was easier for the masses.

"I tend to think of `Wednesbury' as a ... fine piece for a choir to sing, but it's not a congregational song," Kimberling told United Methodist News Service. Kimberling came across his findings while researching one of Wesley's hymnals, Sacred Harmony. In an old manuscript, Kimberling found Wesley leading a crowd in a song composed for the Wednesbury tune and saying, "I am glad to find you can sing my favorite tune."

But the tune was discarded in the early 1800s, Kimberling said, because its minor key and high notes were difficult to sing. The current hymnal, compared to Wesley's original, contains half as many minor-key tunes. "[Wednesbury] is just not published," Kimberling said.

--RNS