"Praise, my soul, the King of heaven" is a Christian

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

. Its text, which draws from

Psalm 103 Psalm 103 is the 103rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Bless the , O my soul". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In La ...

, was written by

Anglican divine Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

(clergyman)

Henry Francis Lyte Henry Francis Lyte (1 June 1793 – 20 November 1847) was an Anglican divine, hymnodist, and poet. Biography Youth and education Henry Francis Lyte was the second son of Thomas and Anna Maria (née Oliver) Lyte, whose family came originally fr ...

. First published in 1834, it endures in modern hymnals to a setting written by John Goss in 1868, and remains one of the most popular hymns in English-speaking denominations.

History

The text of the hymn was first published in Lyte's ''The Spirit of the Psalms'' (1834), a publication intended for the use of his own congregation in southern England. It appeared in multiple influential publications, such as ''

Hymns Ancient and Modern ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitabl ...

'' (1861) and ''

The English Hymnal ''The English Hymnal'' is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams, and wa ...

'' (1906). It remains extremely popular and John Richard Watson notes that "it is hard to find a major hymnbook that does not include it". The hymn is frequently sung in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and was used in the 1947

royal wedding ''Royal Wedding'' is a 1951 American musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Set in 1947 London at the time of the wedding of Princess ...

of Princess Elizabeth, later Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, and

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

. It was also used as the opening hymn at the 2018 funeral of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

Text

The text is a free paraphrase of

. While, in the mid-nineteenth century, hymn writers usually kept their metrical settings of psalm texts as close as possible to the original, Lyte instead decided to maintain the spirit of the words while freely paraphrasing them. The result speaks, in an imaginative fashion, with "beautiful imagery and thoughtful prose", of themes such as the

Love of God Love of God can mean either love for God or love by God. Love for God (''philotheia'') is associated with the concepts of worship, and devotions towards God. The Greek term ''theophilia'' means the love or favour of God, and ''theophilos'' mean ...

, healing and forgiveness, including the repeated exclamations "Praise Him!", in what is a spectacular rhetorical statement of praise. In modern versions, Lyte's text has been frequently altered. One common variant, which originates in the 1861 ''

'' collection, is replacing the line "Praise Him! Praise Him!" with "Alleluia!". The original fourth stanza ("Frail as summer's flower"), corresponding with verses 15–17 of the Psalm, was marked for optional omission in the original printing and many modern hymnals therefore do not include it. The text of the omitted stanza shares a "valedictory but hopeful tone" with the other well known hymn by Lyte, " Abide with me". Other more modern changes, including more gender-neutral language, are relatively minor. An alternate text, written as part of the 1980s and 1990s attempts to reduce the omnipresence of masculine metaphors for God and published as a variant in the ''Presbyterian Hymnal'', begins "Praise my soul, the God of heaven".

Tune

The hymn is most commonly sung to the tune "" ("Praise, my soul"), written as a setting for Lyte's words by John Goss in 1868, and first published in Robert Brown-Borthwick's ''Supplemental Hymn and Tune Book'' (Third edition, 1869). This was an instant success, a report in the 1869 ''

Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'' stating that "it is at once the most beautiful and dignified hymn tune which has lately come under our notice". Paul Westermeyer notes that it has "been praised as one of the finest" hymn tunes from the Victorian period and remains much a favourite of congregations. The original setting by Goss is in

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

. The first stanza is marked to be sung in unison with harmonies from the organ. The second is in four-part harmony (transcribed below), while the remaining stanzas are again in unison. A version in F-sharp minor was also composed for the original fourth stanza (now regularly omitted) in November 1868. << << \new Staff \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Staff >> >> \layout \midi An alternative tune is "Regent Square", originally written by

Henry Smart Henry Thomas Smart (26 October 1813 – 6 July 1879) was an English organist and composer. Biography Smart was born in London, a nephew of the conductor Sir George Smart and son of a music publisher, orchestra director and accomplished violini ...

for "Glory be to God the Father" by

Horatius Bonar Horatius Bonar (19 December 180831 July 1889), a contemporary and acquaintance of Robert Murray M'cheyne was a Scottish churchman and poet. He is principally remembered as a prodigious hymnodist. Friends knew him as Horace Bonar. Licens ...

History

Text

Tune

Notes

References

External links