Words– William How (1823-1897 )
Music – Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958)
Vaughn Williams in 1900
"For All the Saints" has become one of the most popular hymns of the 20th century and used almost universally for All Saints Sunday.
William How
The words were written by William How in 1864. The music we use by Ralph Vaughn Williams was not written until 1906.
How was the son of a solicitor and attended Wadham College, Oxford. In 1846, he was ordained an Anglican minister. He served as Curate at Kidderminster, then at Shrewsbury. He then became Rector at Whittington, Shropshire, near the Welsh border. In 1879, he became suffragen Bishop of London. In 1889, he was appointed Bishop of Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
He was known for his work with the poor and with industrial workers. He also found time to write over 50 hymns, most of them during his stay in Whittington.
Ralph Vaughn Williams
Williams is one of the best known English composers of the 20th century. He composed symphonies, concertos, chamber music and film scores .
He was also a collector of English folk music and song; this collecting activity influenced both his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, in which he included many folk song arrangements as hymn tunes, and several of his own original compositions. In 1904 Vaughan Williams discovered English folk songs and carols, which were fast becoming extinct because the oral tradition through which they existed was being undermined by an increase in literacy and the availability of printed music in rural areas. He travelled the countryside, transcribing and preserving many himself.
Williams’ music for "For All the Saints" was called ’Sine Nomine’ . The tune wraps six unison verses around two SATB-harmonized verses, bridged with refrain-like Alleluias. Sine nomine is Latin for ‘without a name,’ reminiscent of the lectionary for the Feast of All Saints, "And there are some who have no memorial, who have perished as though they had not lived; they have become as though they had not been born, and so have their children after them." (Ecclesiasticus 44)
You can listen to it here . Lyrics
1. For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
2. Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
3. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
4. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
5. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
6. From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!