Modern(ish) hymns not in the trad books
  • probe
    Posts: 228
    I've gone over the London Oratory hymnbook and the A Catholic Book of Hymns from SacredMusicLibrary.com (thank you for the pdf option as a way to check the contents!) and the following hymns selected by our parish are not listed. I imagine that some are omitted because they are local to Ireland, others because they are not Traditional; and maybe some I have not realised are present under another name.

    All that I am
    As I kneel before you
    Be still and know
    Be Thou my Vision
    Christ be beside me
    Colours of day
    God's Spirit is in my heart
    Let us break bread together
    Love is His word
    Make me a channel
    O purest of creatures
    O Lord my God
    Sweet Heart of Jesus

    I have links to Youtube videos of all these. I can of course google for music scores, some are probably on musescore.com. But I wonder is there any hymn book that would conveniently include most of these? Are any in copyright still?

    Thank you.
  • m_r_taylor
    Posts: 406
    Several are under copyright. Catholic Book of Hymns states that all hymns are public domain or creative commons.
  • oldhymnsoldhymns
    Posts: 282
    O Purest of Creatures is a mid-19th century hymn, and Sweet Heart of Jesus is a late-19th century hymn; both originated in England. Both hymns exist with several different melodies in various hymnals. I would doubt that either of these would be under any kind of copyright. In looking over the remainder of the hymns, it does seem that most of those will still be under a copyright.
    Thanked by 2Don9of11 Liam
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,766
    All that I am: Sebastian Temple died in 1997, so it will be so for a very long time

    As I kneel before you: almost certainly copyrighted

    Be still and know: PD (as far as I can tell)

    Be Thou my Vision: PD in virtually all countries that matter (look for SLANE)

    Christ be beside me: looks like it’s copyrighted

    Colours of day: copyrighted

    God's Spirit is in my heart: copyrighted

    Let us break bread together: if it’s the one that comes up first with Google, PD

    Love is His word: copyrighted

    Make me a channel: under copyright; another Sebastian Temple work

    O purest of creatures: PD

    O Lord my God: copyrighted

    Sweet Heart of Jesus: PD
  • unknownadversary
    Posts: 15
    Kevin Mayhew's Hymns Old and New has all of them.
  • PaxMelodious
    Posts: 504
    I regularly-enough programme most of those. But even I draw the line at Colours of Day and Let us Break Bread Together(*). And I'd *love* to kill off As I Kneel ... but it's just too useful for the no-musician days.

    I suspect most people here would nudge you to introduce better hymns if at all possible. Slowly and gently, of course, but nevertheless.

    Mayhew's Catholic HOAN is a good source, and has a surprising number of better hymns as well. But the in-print version has not got any 2010+ Mass parts.

    Laudate has most of them (not Let us Bread ...) - and has been updated.
    Now available from Church House: https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781900314084/laudate-full-music-edition-revised

    (*) assuming you mean the "on our knees" version. There's another "at the altar", known by some Africans but American in origin and definitely under copyright.
  • probe
    Posts: 228
    That's very helpful, all, especially @MatthewRoth though I may need to apologise for wasting your time. I am embarrassed to realise that I missed the obvious answer which @unknownadversary pointed out. That selection had been made from the words-only version of the 1989 Kevin Mayhew 'Hymns Old and New' congregational book and I was blinkered enough to think that that was all we had, and didn't think to check the KM website for a version with organ accompaniment. There are several ranging in price from £43 to £59 (plus Royal Mail, and EU customs charges).
    I know from other threads about the LUBBTOOK story but it's not my place to make the congregational hymn selections :) I am however in the happy position of choosing the Ordinary and Communion Gregorian chants.
    Thanks again to all.
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