Onward, Christian Soldiers - W. Bell Reed Organ

Onward, Christian Soldiers is a hymn that was written by Sabine Baring-Gould (1834 – 1924). He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge in 1857. Taking Holy Orders in 1864, he held the curacy of Horbury, near Wakefield, until 1907, when he was preferred to the incumbency of Dalton, Yorks.

The tune is called “St Gertrude”, composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1871. This hymn is probably one of his most popular tunes, although he is more known for writing the music for lyrics by William S. Gilbert, which produced popular operettas such as H.M.S. Pinafore etc. The tune was published in the Musical Times of December 1871 in an advertisement for Joseph Barnby's forthcoming Hymnary, which published both text and tune in 1872. ST. GERTRUDE is named for Gertrude Clay-Ker-Seymer, at whose home in Hanford, Dorsetshire, England, Sullivan composed the tune.

Whenever I hear this hymn, I think of the old TV show “Little House on the Prairie” as I always perceived it to be the only hymn that their church knew…

Played on a W. Bell reed organ, made in Guelph, Ontario Canada around 1878.

Видео Onward, Christian Soldiers - W. Bell Reed Organ канала Rodney Jantzi