Hymnal: 1940 Standard Harmony Edition Red (1940 Standard Harmony Edition/Blue)

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, enduring hymns
Review: This hymnal is replete with example after example of the best, most beautiful, most intelligent congregational music Christendom has to offer, from ancient to modern. Happy is the church that sings these songs of praise and affirmation.

Rating:
Summary: The Hymnal 1940, Standard Harmony Edition
Review: Were you a choirboy? Did you get a copy of your hymnal or prayer book for perfect attandance at Sunday School? For two generations since the middle of World War II, the prize for many Episcopal choirboys was this book, The Hymnal 1940. Most hymnals are serious works of scholarship: laboriously constructed by a committee appointed by the church to review, revise, edit and augment its previous hymnals, they are then condemned to perpetual scrutiny and comment by its users. This hymnal was no exception; indeed, the similarly sized "Hymnal Companion," which dilated at length on each hymn, was published along with it. Now superseded by the 1982 version, it is still considered a masterpiece and superior in several respects to its successor, in particular for its legibility, certain of its texts, and its inclusion of some hymns dropped in 1982. By then the Hymnal 1940 had been augmented to over 700 hymns and 160 pieces of service music. It contains several indexes by which a hymn can be located in several different ways, including the useful "metrical index," not a feature of every hymnal. The music ranges in age from the earliest years of the Christian era right up to the 1930's; so you will find most of your favorite classical composers represented. If you have other hymnals, you should have this one. If you don't, this is about the best place to start.