Jessie Seymour Irvine
Jessie Seymour Irvine | |
---|---|
Born | The Lord's my Shepherd " | July 26, 1836
Parent(s) | Rev Dr Alexander Irvine (1804โ1884), Jessie Nicol |
Jessie Seymour Irvine (26 July 1836 โ 2 September 1887) was the daughter of a
Early life
Jessie Seymour Irvine was born in Dunottar in the north-east of Scotland in 1836. She was the daughter of Rev Alexander Irvine, a Church of Scotland minister. Rev Irvine moved to different church appointments in the north-east of Scotland, serving at Dunottar, Peterhead and Crimond.
Hymn tune composition
While Rev Irvine was serving at
At the time, Grant was collaborating with a group of associates compiling hymns and metrical psalms from across the
Irvine died in 1887, and the attribution of the tune to Grant went unchallenged for many years. In the 1940s, a rival claim emerged in form of a letter written in 1911 by Jessie's sister, Anna Irvine, to the Rev Robert Monteith, then the minister of Crimond Church. In the letter, Anna claimed that the tune had been composed by Jessie and that Grant had only provided the harmony. Anna's account was contested by the editors of The Northern Psalter, who wrote to Monteith claiming that she had confused the tune with another entitled Ballantine that Jessie had composed and submitted to them for publication. After the account provided by Anna's letter was published in the Bulletin of the Hymn Society and
While the authorship of the melody is still disputed, the Crimond setting has become one of the most widely recognised hymn tunes in Christian hymnody.[3][11] It has been sung at many notable religious occasions, such as the Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten in 1947,[1] for which occasion a special descant was composed.[12][13] It was again sung at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on 19 September 2022; the setting was attributed to Jessie Irvine, the harmony credited to David Grant and the descant to William Baird Ross.[14][15]
Death and legacy
Jessie Seymour Irvine died in 1887 and is buried in the family grave in the churchyard of St Machar's Cathedral in Aberdeen.[16]
She was commemorated by a set of four etched glass panels which were installed inside Crimond Parish Church in 2002.[1][17]
References
Citations
- ^ a b c "History". Crimond Parish Church. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ISBN 1-57999-010-X.
- ^ a b "Hymnology". hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-326-29701-5. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
- ^ a b Ewan et al. 2007, p. 180.
- ^ a b Humphreys & Evans 1997, p. 180.
- ^ a b Ronander & Porter 1966, p. 70.
- ^ Johnson, Ronald (July 1988). Massey, Dr Bernard (ed.). "How far is it to Crimond?". Hymn Society Bulletin. XII (176). Redhill, Surrey: The Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 38.
- Glasgow Herald, 17 September 1991
- ISBN 978-1-84502-924-1. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
- ^ "The Lord's My Shepherd". Hymnary.org. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ "The Lord's my Shepherd". Gresham Books. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ "Soul Music - Series 20 - The descant for a royal wedding - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC Sounds. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- ^ "The State Funeral of Her Majesty Elizabeth II" (PDF). Westminster Abbey. 19 September 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
- ^ Hall, Sophia Alexandra (19 September 2022). "Queen Elizabeth II's funeral: All the music played during the service". Classic FM. Archived from the original on 19 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
- ^ Records of Old Aberdeen, MCLVII-[MCMIII]. New Spalding Club. 1909. p. 247. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
- ^ "O Little Town: Crimond". O Little Town. 4 July 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
Sources
- Ewan, Elizabeth L.; Innes, Sue; Reynolds, Sian; Pipes, Rose (2007). Biographical Dictionary of ScottishWomen. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-2660-1. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- Humphreys, Maggie; Evans, Robert (1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. A&C Black. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-7201-2330-2. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
- Ronander, Albert C.; Porter, Ethel K. (1966). Guide to the Pilgrim Hymnal. United Church Press. p. 70. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
External links
- Jessie Seymour Irvine Biography at hymntime.com
- MP3 recording of The Lord's my shepherd
- Free scores by Jessie Seymour Irvine in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)