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JOHANN M. SPIESS (1691-1772) was born in Bern, Switzerland, but moved to Germany, where he worked as Professor of Music at Heidelberg Gymnasium (a school that prepares students for university) and as the organist at St. Peter’s Church, Heidelberg. The last years of his life were spent in Bern, where he was the organist at Bern Cathedral, from 1746 to his death in 1772.

JOSEPH ARMITAGE ROBINSON (1858-1933) was a scholar and a priest in the Church of England. He was educated at Liverpool College and Christ’s College, Cambridge. He was ordained deacon in 1881, priest in 1882, and held a number of degrees, including Bachelor of Divinity (1891) and Doctor of Divinity (1896). Robinson served as Dean of Westminster Abbey from 1902 to 1911, and Dean of Wells Cathedral from 1911 until his death.

The oratorio Elijah by FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) is modelled on the oratorios of his Baroque predecessors Bach and Handel, whose music he loved. However, in its lyricism and use of orchestral and choral colour, the style clearly reflects Mendelssohn’s own genius as an early Romantic composer. Elijah was first performed on August 26, 1846 at Birmingham Town Hall in its English version, conducted by the composer, and it was immediately acclaimed a classic of the genre. As ‘The Times’ critic wrote: “Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art.” Notwithstanding the work’s triumph, Mendelssohn revised the oratorio wholesale before another group of performances in London in April, 1847 – one (23 April) in the presence of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The German version was first performed on the composer’s birthday, February 3, 1848, in Leipzig, a few months after Mendelssohn’s death. The subtitle of Lift Thine Eyes in the German full score is Terzetto, Die Engel (Trio, The Angels).

CYRIL VINCENT TAYLOR (1907-1991) was born in Wigan, Lancashire, England. A chorister at Magdalen College School, Oxford, he later studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and Westcott House, Cambridge. Ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1932, he served as both pastor and musician, and during World War II, Taylor was BBC’s producer of Religious Broadcasting.

BRIAN WREN (b. 1936) is a British hymn-poet and writer. Internationally published, his hymns appear in hymnals of all Christian traditions. Wren has been a strong proponent of the view that hymns are poetry and theology, instead of simply music. He has stated, “a hymn is a poem, and a poem is a visual art form. The act of reading a hymn aloud helps to recover its poetry and its power to move us—the power of language, image, metaphor, and faith-expression.” He also writes that the vocation of a poet in the church is not only “to write poems of faith which people will pick up and sing”, but to also “speak truth by stepping beyond the church’s limits of comfort and convention.”