This hymn by Charles Wesley (1707-1788; see Biographies) appeared first in John and Charles Wesley’s Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739, under the title “Hymn for Christmas Day.” There are 10 stanzas of four lines each, beginning:

Hark, how all the welkin rings
Glory to the King of kings.

In 1753 this was changed to the present wording by George Whitefield; since then, other minor alterations have been made, including, in 1782, the repetition of the first two lines as a refrain.

The tune MENDELSSOHN is part of the second movement of Festgesang an die Kunstler (Festival Song for the Artists), composed by Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847; see Biographies), for the Gutenberg Festival in Leipzig in 1840 to commemorate the 400th (approximately) anniversary of the invention of printing. It was arranged as a hymn tune in 1856 by William Hayman Cummings to Flt Wesley’s words and named in honor of the original composer. Mendelssohn himself prophesied— falsely, as it turned out—that while singers and hearers might like the tune, it would never be appropriate for sacred words.

William Cummings was born on August 22, 183 1, in Sidbury, a village near the Devon coastal town of Sidmouth. As a boy he was a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and later in the Temple Church. In 1 847 he was appointed organist at Waltham Abbey, and in that year he sang in the performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, conducted by the composer. He was noted as a successful tenor soloist and from 1879 to 1896 was professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. He conducted the Sacred Harmonic Society and in 1 896 was chosen to succeed Joseph Barnby as principal of the Guildhall School of Music, retaining that position until retirement in 1911. The University of Dublin accorded him an honorary D.Mus. degree in 1900. He composed one cantata, but was recognized as an authority on the life and works of Henry Purcell (see SDAH 607). Cummings died at Dulwich, south London, in June, 1915.