William Howard Doane: gospel hymns from Cincinnati

About William Howard Doane

Doane was born in Preston, Connecticut, on 3 February 1832 and died at South Orange, New Jersey, on 24 December 1915 (some sources give the 23rd). He moved to Cincinnati as a young man and rose to the presidency of J. A. Fay & Company, a woodworking-machinery firm; more than seventy patents were registered in his name, and the Paris Exposition of 1889 made him a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Music was, in his own phrase, an avocation, yet he edited some forty-three collections and is credited with more than two thousand hymn tunes. He was a Baptist, long superintendent of the Sunday school and director of the choir at Mount Auburn Baptist Church, and a benefactor of Denison University and Moody Bible Institute.

Fanny Crosby supplied words for an estimated fifteen hundred of his tunes, and the catalogue is dominated by that partnership. 'Safe in the arms of Jesus' dates from 1868 and 'I am thine, O Lord' from 1875. 'When Jesus comes to reward His servants' is the Crosby hymn usually called 'Will Jesus find us watching?', and 'City of gold' was printed in Winnowed Songs in 1890. Beside these sit 'Sweet Sabbath School! more dear to me', dated 1875 in the hymnals, and the Christmas piece 'In a lowly manger sleeping'.

The 437 entries are short strophic hymns, so the 259 minutes are made of many small items. Only 38 reach complexity index 2, and the files rarely distinguish a tune Doane composed from one he arranged.

Listening and playing notes

These are four-part gospel hymns rather than choir anthems, and the tune sits in the soprano. Keep the accompaniment light and the pace unhurried: the texts are long and the refrains repeat, so a brisk tempo soon turns monotonous. In 'Safe in the arms of Jesus' and 'I am thine, O Lord' the refrain is the point, and it should lift rather than accelerate. Where a file gives only a melody line, take the harmony from a hymnal instead of improvising, because Doane's inner parts often carry a counter-melody of their own.

Selected scores

1. No Tears in Heaven

   The most-viewed score on the page. The catalogue titles the hymn by its refrain rather than its first line, and the words are Crosby's.

2. City of Gold

   Crosby's New Jerusalem hymn, opening 'There's a city that looks o'er the valley of death'; it was printed in Winnowed Songs in 1890.

3. A Little Talk with Jesus

   A Crosby prayer-meeting text set as a simple refrain song; it was circulating in collections such as Songs of Salvation by the early 1890s.

4. My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less (Doane)

   Edward Mote's 1834 text in Doane's own tune, not the familiar SOLID ROCK of William Bradbury. The bracketed name marks the setting, not the poet.

5. Sweet Sabbath School! More Dear to Me

   Better known as 'My Sabbath Home', a Sunday-school song dated 1875 in the hymnals and still reprinted in Christ in Song (1908).

6. Jesus Is Passing This Way

   A Crosby text of 1895 that opens 'Is there a heart that is waiting'; the bracketed name in the catalogue title is the poet.

7. When Jesus Comes to Reward His Servants

   The Crosby hymn normally called 'Will Jesus find us watching?', with the refrain 'O can we say we are ready, brother'.

8. In a Lowly Manger Sleeping

   A Christmas hymn sung to Doane's tune ADORATION, with Crosby's text on the Holy Child of promise.

9. I Am Thine, O Lord

   Crosby's 1875 hymn, universally known by its refrain, 'Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord'.

10. Safe in the Arms of Jesus

    The 1868 hymn that established the Crosby-Doane partnership and remains among his most widely sung tunes.