Yes, we do use hymns - and Propers! Favorites are:

1. Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (Lauda Anima)
2. O God, Our Help in Ages Past (St. Anne)
3. All Creatures of Our God and King (Lasst Uns Erfreuen)
4 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty (Nicea)
5. Jesus Shall Reign (Duke Street)

I stopped like you did at 5, although there are many more favorites.

1. O God, beyond all praising (THAXTED)
2. Be still, my soul (FINLANDIA)
3. God is love (ABBOT'S LEIGH)
4. O come, all ye faithful (Adeste Fideles)
5. O Sacred Head, surrounded (PASSION CHORALE)

Of course, some hymns come in and out as "current favorites."
I've been on a "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation" kick for about 8 or 9 months now.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Woot.

1. WACHET AUF
2. WIE SHOEN LEUCHTET
3. STAR IN THE EAST
4. DOMHNACH TRIONOIDE/COLUMCILLE
5. ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE

Omitting seasonal carols and metrical paraphrases of psalms and scriptural canticles (thus, hymns properly speaking) ...and filtering this with a view to my favorite hymns that deserve to be better known, in alphabetical order:

Lead Kindly Light (text by Bl J H Newman; tune SANDON - I don't care for it set to any other tune, as the other ones lack the sobriety of SANDON IMNSHO)

Morning Glory, Starlit Sky (text by, and altered by, W.H. Vanstone - there is an original 1977 text that he later condensed and his estate embargoed the latter for a while but last I heard the embargo was lifted; as set by Barry Rose of St Paul's Cathedral)

My Song Is Love Unknown (text by Samuel Crossman; as set by John Ireland)

Spirit Seeking Light and Beauty (text by Sr Janet Erskine Stuart (d 1914); tune DOMHNACH TRIONOIDE); Ted Marier's choral adaptation in HPSC is lovely.

'Tis Winter Now (text by H W Longfellow; to the tune DANBY - IIRC, these were paired in the 1906 English Hymnal)

1. ‘Tis winter now; the fallen snow
Has left the heav’ns all coldly clear;
Through leafless boughs the sharp winds blow,
And all the earth lies dead and drear.

2. And yet God’s love is not withdrawn;
His life within the keen air breathes;
His beauty paints the crimson dawn,
And clothes the boughs with glittering wreaths.

3. And though abroad the sharp winds blow,
And skies are chill, and frosts are keen,
Home closer draws her circle now,
And warmer glows her light within.

4. O God! Who giv’st the winter’s cold
As well as summer’s joyous rays,
Us warmly in Thy love enfold,
And keep us through life’s wintry days.

This is SO difficult. I've trimmed my list down to 10 and would be hard put to pare it down to 5. Here they are, in alphabetical order by first lines:

At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing (Salzburg 77. 77 D)
Come Down, O Love Divine (Down Ampney, 66. 11 D)
Father, We Thank Thee, Who Hast Planted (Rendez a Dieu, 98. 98 D)
Let Thy Blood in Mercy Poured (Rasmus, 78. 78. 77)
O Food of Exiles Lowly (Innsbruck, 776. 778)
O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High (Deus Tuorum Militum, L.M.)
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Lobe den Herren, 14 14. 478)
Rejoice, the Lord Is King (Darwall's 148th, 66. 66. 88)
Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above (Mit freuden Zart, 87. 87. 887)
To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King (Ich glaub an Gott, 87. 87 with refrain 558)

I'm actually afraid that, off the top of my head, the above list omits something that I can't recall in my old age.

I keep coming back to a few old favourites from school days. 5 hymns is a really not a fair challenge BYW so I have unilaterally changed the rules to suit the first few that popped into my head.

Tunes as given in other posts unless I have strong opinions to the contrary. Not in any particular order....

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind - Repton; I don't think there has ever been a happier marriage of English text and music

All Creatures of Our God and King (I wonder why do so many organists seem to rush through Lasst Uns Erfreuen whether it is this this text or Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones? It often results in the PIPs barely managing an unseemly gabble for some verses. Delight should not be hurried)

Immortal Invisible, God Only Wise - St Denio

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Of the Father's Love Begotten

For All the Saints - Sine Nomine

Let All the World in Every Corner Sing -Luckington

Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven

He Who Would True Valour See - Monk's Gate, using Bunyan's original words rather than Percy Deamer's version for the English Hymnal - a hymn with horrible hobgoblins that appealed to a seven year old boy and still delights.

One equally usable at rugby games as well as church services; Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer - Cwm Rhonnda.

And a bonus hymn that sometimes makes me wonder why we can't get some folks to sing unison these days when folks like Thomas Jarman could apparently write fuguing tunes for miners and mill workers with every expectation they would be able to sing them - Oh For a Thousand Tongues using Jarman's Lyngham.

This is such a difficult request, Kathy!! But for you...

Not in order
Spirit seeking light and beauty
Crown Him with many crowns
Lead, kindly light
Soul of my Savior
Be Thou my vision

I really wanted to include
Come down, O Love Divine
All creatures of our God and King

But alas

Hmm...tunes are easy, hymn texts I have too many at the moment.
THAXTED
SINE NOMINE
FINLANDIA
PASSION CHORALE
PICARDY

Really enjoying seeing everyone else's choices!

Soul of my Savior,
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Crown Him With Many Crowns
Praise to The Lord, the Almighty
At The Lamb's High Feast
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Has no one else mentioned Be Thou my vision/ SLANE?
I'm deciding whether to drown my sorrows in whiskey or stout...

Five? This IS hard!
It really does depend on what day it is... even what hour it is.

Here are five that come to the fore at this moment:

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (Lauda anima)
Come down, O Love Divine (Down Ampney)
Jesus lives! Thy terrors now (St Albinus)
The head that once was crowned with thorns (St Magnus)
Ye holy angels bright (Darwall's 148th)

Tomorrow will be different.

In no particular order (and for ordinary time):

Praise to the holiest in the height (Billing)
Soul of my saviour (Anima christi)
Hail, Queen of heav'n, the ocean star (Stella)
The day thou gavest (St. Clement)
The Church's one foundation (Aurelia)

Q.

Oops, methinks that all my favourite tunes are 19th century. I was brought up on the Westminster Hymnal....says it all.!

I said above that 'tomorrow will be different', and it is. Here are five that come to the fore today -

1)O praise ye the Lord (Laudate Dominum)
2)Most high, omnipotent good Lord (Assisi)... see no. 307 in the 1940
3)Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding (Merton)
4)While shepherds watched their flocks by night (Winchester Old)
5)Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels (Coelites plaudant)
5b)Lord, enthroned in heav'nly splendour (Bryn Calfaria)

No 2 above is best sung unaccompanied in a very free chant-like manner.
Children really like it. Choirs, too.

(Tomorrow will be different.)

@Liam, that text of 'Tis Winter Now is beautiful. At the risk of offending some of the British forum participants, I think it would sound lovely set to JERUSALEM.

While there is variety here, and a few obscure choices, I notice that there's also a lot of common favorites. And among tunes, even more agreement- there seems to be a lot of love for THAXTED and FINLANDIA.

I wonder if musicians tend to "swarm" around certain texts or tunes differently than "the general population." Like- if we were to ask this same question to a random sampling of non-musician church-goers, would there be any overlap? Would there be similar clusters, but of other pieces (we all like "Here I Am, Lord"!!)?

Would a survey of (mainline, liturgical) Protestants be closer to the responses here (mostly classical hymnody) as opposed to a survey of Catholics (which might turn up a lot of 1970s folk songs)?

Would a survey among musicians, like this one, be terribly different among Protestant musicians?

Just wondering...

Adam

I think the difference is likely to be more salient between organists and pure vocalists. I see a number of items on lists above that I couldn't quite fathom the passion for until I realized it probably came from the fact that it was an organist's list. (And I will not provide examples.)

For those, like Mr. Wood, who wonder about the general population's favorite hymns, npm.org has a reprint from Pastoral Music (Feb./March '06).

from Pastoral Music survey article:

We should ask ourselves if these songs are able to bear the weight of inspiring and sustaining faith.

Only one has been on my mind this day -
1) Behold! The great creator makes | himself a house of clay (This Endris Nyght)

I agree with Fr Krisman's Lord, You Give....

Yeah, it's an OK text, but not in the same league as the great tune.

Personally, I love few tunes less than FINLANDIA.

Is this a tune,
or just a tone progression?
It's kind of dull
like lengthy Finnish nights;
It's from a land
with high rates of depression,
illumined only
by the northern lights
Where does it go?
It's lacking in expression:
Is it done yet?
The ending in our sights?

Oh, FINLANDIA is a fine tune. I'm not convinced that it's a tune for many a congregation. Containing 12 notes that are of 3, 4, or 5 beats, when those notes are not sustained, the tune becomes a fragmented mess of starts and stops.

Some may fault Lord, You Give the Great Commission for containing no "thee's" or any affected Victorian syntax. But apart from these minor faults, it's a fine text to inspire would-be hymn writers.

Some may fault Lord, You Give the Great Commission for containing no "thee's" or any affected Victorian syntax.

Is that what you find lacking about it, Fr.? Not for me. I wouldn't find "Lord, Thou giv'st the great commission" much more inspiring.

ABBOTS LEIGH might go well with some 8.7.8.7.D texts: maybe "Alleluia! Hearts to heaven",

No, I find no fault with it at all.

Imagine my surprise.