101 More Hymn Stories by Kenneth W. Osbeck contains inspiring stories behind the hymns of past and contemporary favorites.At the start of the preface is the first stanza of the hymn, The Singers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)
God sent his Singers upon earth
With songs of sadness and of mirth,
That they might touch the hearts of men,
And bring them back to heaven again.
Henry W Longfellow composed a christmas carol based on the poem "Christmas Bells" on Christmas Day 1863 in the midst of the American Civil War and the news of his son having suffered wounds as a soldier. He had suffered the great loss of his wife two years prior to an accident with fire. The first tune was set in the 1870s by an English organist, John Baptiste Calkin, to his composition 'Waltham' and was probably first sung in Eb (Meter 8.8.8.8).
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