The St Andrew Hymnal
  • Francis Bostrom
    Posts: 3
    If anyone can tell me where I can obtain a copy of this excellent out of print hymnal could they please let me know.
  • Arthur Connick
    Posts: 496
    Have you tried searching on www.bookfinder.com? There are a couple of listings for:
    The Church Hymnal for the Christian Year (St. Andrew's Church, Hastings)
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    The one for Scottish dioceses? I don't know if you are trying to acquire one for yourself or just gain access to one, but I can send you a list of some university libraries that hold copies.
  • maestrodicapella
    Posts: 129
    They are quite difficult to find. Try St Philip's (?) bookshop in Oxford or abebooks.co.uk or somesuch. Be careful - there are lots of words-only editions available. Be prepared to spend quite a lot of money for a full-music edition.

    Keep your eyes peeled for it's successor 'O Scotland Best' which is due for publication within the next 12 months published by St Mungo's Press and contains many previously unpublished traditional hymns.

    Keep searching - it a gem of a book. Get in touch if you are looking for something in particular.
  • Francis Bostrom
    Posts: 3
    Thank you everyone for your helpful advice, I am a church organist here in Scotland who is trying to bring good music back to my parish, we used to have a good choir with a fine choral tradition until the sixties when everything was swept away in the name of reform !
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    It looks like I will be making a trip to Scotland this August. I'm interested in obtaining a copy also.
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 835
    This hymnal is held by a number of libraries, several of which might be willing to lend it through inter-library loan.
    Too bad it's probably encumbered by copyright.
  • maestrodicapella
    Posts: 129
    Francis, where are you? I'm in Edinburgh.

    Join the St Andrew Hymnal Appreciation Society on Facebook!

    It was more or less the second hymnal produced in Scotland. The first was called The Book of Hymns (published both as a full and abridged version) edited by Dom Gregory Ould OSB. The SAH was quite short-lived because of the excessive vandalism of the Vacitan II reforms. It was quickly replaced by James Quinn SJ's (died a couple of weeks ago) book called New Hymns for All Seasons, again short-lived due to Kevin Mayhew's ghastly offerings starting with Celebration Hymnal.

    This new hymnal 'O Scotland Blest' is a amalgamation of the Book of Hymns, St Andrew Hymnal, James Quinn's unpublished offerings and other rare Scottish Catholic hymnody. As well as some new hymns by various contemporary Scottish Catholic musicians including James Macmillan, there are some newly edited and transcribed ancient chants from a mediaeval Aberdeen manuscript and all the sequences for the Church's year in Latin, a new English translation and a Gaelic translation. Hopefully it will become a very useful resource. Oh, and it includes loads of hymns for Scottish saints.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • Francis Bostrom
    Posts: 3
    I used to belong to St Andrew's Ravelston, but now provide music in "Susan Boyle Country" just outside Bathgate.
    Many thanks for all infomation, this new hymn book sounds excellent, is it now available ?
  • jack768
    Posts: 1
    I scanned a copy for you. Find it at - https://archive.ccwatershed.org/pdfs/87789-scottish-hymnal-saint-andrew-hymn-book-1964-scotland/

    Never found 'O Scotland Best' published by St Mungo's Press.
    Thanked by 2ServiamScores Joseph Michael
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,890
    I'm SO GLAD you shared this. I had never heard of this and scanned right ahead to "Lent and Passiontitde" and the second hymn, God of Mercy and Compassion, is STUNNING.
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,890
    Just in case anyone is interested, I engraved the hymn I mentioned (God of Mercy and Compassion) and I'm attaching two versions here:
    1. SATB for Choir
    2. "Statement" sized for a pew insert.
    God of Mercy and Compassion • Choir – SATB.pdf
    61K
    God of Mercy and Compassion • Statement.pdf
    439K
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Thanks for sharing. I believe this hymn is also in the SSPX Traditional Roman Hymnal. Maybe someone with the latest edition can confirm whether it was retained. More information on the tune here:
    https://newsroomnomad.com/musical-transmigration-origins-wa-habibi/
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    Wonderful engraving, except I wish you would always use alternating stems in the SATB score. The constant switching in stem direction makes it harder to read.
    Thanked by 2GerardH CHGiffen
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,890
    I've debated on this... Published hymnals support both conventions. I also realized after posting this version that there are some unison stems missing. That said, I decided to combine stems where possible largely because when you have constant down stems in the alto voice, particularly when there are low notes, the text ends up very far from the notes, and I was trying to keep things as compact as possible. When you end up reading the third or fourth line and it is spatially as low as if it were the firth, that is difficult for some people. (which is also why I broke 1/2 and 3/4 up. I'll think about this more, however.
  • MarkS
    Posts: 282
    Gould definitely seems to come down on the side of consistently alternating stem direction. You are right about down stems pushing text further away, but in this case writing out the repeat in the verses would go a long way to solve that problem!
  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 411
    Hello from Aberdeen.
    I got my copy of St Andrew's Hymnal from an old church that no longer used it. It's amazing what you can find if you ask to look through old music.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen tomjaw
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    Viola,

    Don't the FSSP and the ICRSS acquire new parishes doing much the same thing? "You're not using it? Let us take it off your hands."
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 411
    One of the finest churches in England, St Walburge's in Preston (second tallest spire in the country, after Salisbury cathedral) was saved from closure by being handed over to the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest. It now functions as a centre for the TLM with Mass every day, and attracts large congregations. There are some stunning photos on Google. My brother was parish priest for a while and abseiled down from the spire (he's mad).
    Thanked by 4tomjaw francis CHGiffen ServiamScores
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