The next chapter in Brethren hymnology centers on Henry Holsinger. I need to give a brief introduction to Henry before proceeding. Holsinger was the central figure among the Progressive Brethren, who would found The Brethren Church in 1883. The Progressive Brethren, who came to the fore among the German Baptist Brethren in the 1870s, advocated the adoption of several “innovations,” such as higher education, Sunday Schools, revival meetings, and a paid ministry (at this time ministers in the church were not paid). Holsinger was at the forefront of all these advances.
Holsinger wrote (he published two Brethren periodicals prior to 1883) and spoke in an unfiltered way, not discerning how his communication might offend others. On several occasions he was asked to make public apologies at Annual Meetings because of his disrespectful discourses. In one instance his friends commented to him that his apology was more offensive than his original misdeed! Yet many have described Holsinger as a prophet. Many of the changes that he advocated were in time adopted by the German Baptist Brethren.
His hymnal was one such innovation. Holsinger paired up with Benjamin Funk, a Mennonite, turned Brethren, turned Thurmanite (that’s another story), turned Baptist. In 1872 Holsinger and Funk published The Brethren’s Tune and Hymn Book, Being a Compilation of Sacred Music adapted to all the Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs in The Brethren’s Hymn Book. It was generally known as The Brethren’s Tune and Hymn Book. As the longer name indicated, the hymnal essentially added musical notation to Quinter’s The Brethren’s Hymn Book, including 809 of the 818 hymns found in Quinter’s work, though Holsinger and Funk added eight new hymns. This hymnal used the shaped notes and three-part harmonies typical of American folk hymns at the time. The hymnal used a novel way to pair hymn texts with their matching metrical format. A hymn text with appropriate tune was followed by several other hymns, words only, with the same meter. (See an example in the photo.) With each hymn, the corresponding hymn number from Quinter’s hymnbook appeared on the left side of the heading of the hymn.
The hymnal was not well received by the Brethren for various reasons: it did not include all the hymns in Quinter’s hymn book; it was felt by some to be a copyright violation of Quinter’s work; it was feared that the hymnal could lead to the formation of choirs. For some, the very connection of the hymnal with Holsinger was sufficient reason to object to the work. Due to these concerns, the 1873 Annual Meeting advised churches not to use the hymnal in public worship.
Holsinger had sought to address some of these concerns in a revision of the hymnal, but he lost interest in the project and eventually sold the rights to the work in 1878 to Quinter and brothers H. B. and J. B. Brumbaugh. They hired J. W. Ewing, a trained musician whom we will highlight in our next post, to thoroughly revise the musical style of the hymnal. The revision appeared in 1879 and bore the same title as its predecessor, except for the addition of “Carefully Revised, Re-Arranged, and Otherwise Improved.” It came to be known by the brief title printed on its cover: The Brethren’s Hymnal. Several important changes were made to the musical notation. The hymnal used four-part harmonies on two staves, though shaped notes were retained. The revised work also adopted tunes that were more characteristic of mainstream Protestant hymnals of the period.
This revision was very favorably received by the Brethren, though it still omitted seven hymns from Quinter’s work. It also added sixteen new hymns, bringing the total number of hymns to 827. As was true of several of Holsinger’s innovations, the initial opposition to his pioneering efforts eventually led to the acceptance of this novelty when others took up the banner.
by Dale Stoffer, Brethren Archives