Fanny Crosby: hymns of assurance and the cross

About Fanny Crosby

Frances Jane Crosby was born in Brewster, New York, on 24 March 1820. An eye inflammation in infancy, and the mustard poultices used to treat it, left her blind; modern accounts suggest the blindness may have been congenital. She spent much of her childhood memorising scripture and verse. She entered the New York Institution for the Blind in 1835, later taught there, and in 1858 married Alexander van Alstyne, a musician she had met at the school. She worked with rescue missions in New York, spoke publicly, and wrote more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, often under one of nearly 200 pseudonyms because publishers worried about putting too many pieces by one author in a single book.

Her best-known texts include Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour, Blessed Assurance, Rescue the Perishing and To God Be the Glory. The tunes usually came from collaborators: William Howard Doane, Ira D. Sankey, Robert Lowry and Phoebe Knapp among them. Near the Cross, written in 1869, is one of the Doane settings. Crosby died in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on 12 February 1915.

The catalogue's 33 entries reflect her career as a hymn writer; most of the music was supplied by collaborators, though the files are grouped under her name. Twenty-seven carry lyrics, twenty-two sit at complexity index 0, and the total runs to about 20 minutes and 7,957 notated notes. Two titles are translations, one Indonesian and one Esperanto, and the files preserve those titles rather than the English first lines.

Listening and playing notes

Crosby's hymns are built for congregational singing: short lines, repeated refrains and a tune that stays within reach. Keep the text intelligible and let the refrain lift rather than accelerate. In Near the Cross the harmony is mostly diatonic, so the expressive work falls to the words and to a restrained accompaniment. The translated texts need a pronunciation decision before rehearsal; sing them in the language printed on the file rather than substituting an English text, because the underlay may not match.

Selected scores

1. Ku Berbahagia

   The most-viewed entry at 25 views; an Indonesian title meaning roughly 'how blessed I am', usually attached to Blessed Assurance, though the file does not print the English first line.

2. The Blood-Washed Throng

   A hymn on the redeemed multitude of Revelation; the title is the image rather than a first line.

3. There's Power in Jesus' Blood

   A short gospel song on the atonement, one of the plainest texts in the collection.

4. On the Victory Side

   A refrain hymn built around the image of victory, with a confident, march-like tone.

5. Near the Cross

   Crosby's 1869 text, sung to William Howard Doane's tune NEAR THE CROSS; the best-known title in the catalogue.

6. A Song of Consecration

   A consecration hymn whose catalogue title is generic, so the underlying Crosby text is not identified by the title alone.

7. Take Thou My Hand

   A short devotional prayer for guidance, in the plain style of Crosby's hymn verse.

8. Wonderful Love

   A hymn on the love of Christ; the title is a refrain phrase rather than a narrative opener.

9. Grandaĵojn li faris!

   An Esperanto text meaning 'Great things he has done', the refrain of To God Be the Glory; the file preserves the translation only.