Florence W. Williams: Sunday-school hymns and songs

About Florence W. Williams

Florence W. Williams was born in 1875 and was active in American hymn publishing in the early twentieth century. She studied with Adam Geibel, the Philadelphia composer and publisher, and worked as his assistant and secretary; the connection shaped much of her output, which appeared in Sunday-school and gospel collections issued by Geibel's firm. Around 1906 she married George G. Falconer Jr. and was afterwards known as Florence Williams Falconer.

Her tunes circulated widely in the hymnals of the period. Hymnary indexes 105 of them, and her setting of Lavinia Brauff's Christ Was Once a Little Baby appeared in Uplifted Voices (1901), a Geibel collection. Her published tune list includes Be a Little Light, Little Ships, Not Far from the Kingdom and A Song in My Heart. She also harmonised other composers' tunes for the same books.

The catalogue's 32 entries run to about 16 minutes and 8,301 notated notes. Fifteen carry lyrics, which is consistent with songs written for children's choirs and congregational singing; the rest are instrumental or lack a text layer in the file. Four entries are at complexity index 0, nineteen at index 1 and nine at index 2, so the collection is mostly easy without being uniformly so. The files are grouped under her maiden name even where the published copy used her married name.

Listening and playing notes

Most of these pieces are meant for a room rather than a concert hall. Keep the accompaniment light and let the words come through, especially in the unison verses, where a heavy left hand can swallow the text. The part-writing is mostly homophonic, so tune the chords from the bass upwards and do not let the inner voices swell. Refrains can take a little more weight than the verses, but the tempo should stay steady; these hymns depend on the words being understood at a first hearing.

Selected scores

1. Forward March with Steady Tread

   The most-viewed score on the page (19 views): a march-shaped hymn, one of the pieces here with a text layer.

2. Lord, Help Me Live from Day to Day

   A prayer hymn in simple strophic form; the '(Williams)' in the file name distinguishes her setting from other tunes for the same text.

3. Of Deeds, Like Daisies Lowly

   A nature-image hymn, typical of the gentle moral tone of the Sunday-school repertory.

4. Not Far from the Kingdom of Light and Joy

   A short hymn on the kingdom of God, listed in Hymnary's index of her tunes as Not Far from the Kingdom.

5. Be a Little Light for Jesus

   A children's consecration song; the title appears in her published tune list as Be a Little Light.

6. We're Little Ships That Sail Away

   A voyage metaphor for the Christian life, set as a short unison song.

7. God Sends a Tender Message

   A quiet devotional piece, one of the longer settings at about 48 seconds.

8. The Little Lord Jesus

   A Christmas song for children, close in tone to the carol tradition rather than to formal anthem writing.

9. There's a Song in My Heart That My Lips Cannot Tell

   A refrain song of inward joy; the catalogue also holds a separate A Song in My Heart.