My Song is Love Unknown

History

Samuel Crossman (c. 1624–4 February 1684) was an English clergyman who navigated the turbulent religious landscape of 17th-century England. Educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he served both Anglican and Puritan congregations at All Saints, Sudbury. Crossman participated in the 1661 Savoy Conference, which attempted to reconcile Anglican and Puritan differences through revisions to the Book of Common Prayer. When the conference failed, the 1662 Act of Uniformity resulted in the ejection of approximately 2,000 nonconforming clergy, including Crossman.

During this period of exclusion from the Church of England, Crossman wrote "My song is love unknown" as one of nine devotional poems in The Young Mans Meditation, or Some Few Sacred Poems upon Select Subjects and Scriptures (1664), published alongside The Young Mans Monitor. The original publication included seven stanzas in the meter 66.66.44.44 and was headed with the text from Galatians 6:14: "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Crossman soon conformed and was ordained in 1665, becoming a royal chaplain. He was appointed Prebendary of Bristol in 1667 and became Dean of Bristol Cathedral in 1683, serving until his death the following year.

The poem first appeared as a hymn in the Anglican Hymn Book in 1686, two years after Crossman's death. The hymn gained renewed attention following Daniel Sedgwick's reprint of The Young Mans Meditation in 1863, after which it was adopted into the Anglican Hymn Book (1868) and subsequently appeared in Hymns Ancient and Modern and other major Anglican collections.

Sources: Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology - My song is love unknown; Dictionary of National Biography - Samuel Crossman; Hymnology Archive - My song is love unknown; Wikipedia - Samuel Crossman

Performance

John Nicholson Ireland (13 August 1879 – 12 June 1962) composed the tune LOVE UNKNOWN in 1918 specifically for Crossman's text. Ireland served as organist and choirmaster at St. Luke's Church, Chelsea, from 1904 to 1926, and later taught composition at the Royal College of Music. According to a letter published in the London Daily Telegraph on 5 April 1950, Ireland composed the tune in approximately fifteen minutes on a scrap of paper during a lunch meeting with Geoffrey Shaw, one of the editors of The Public School Hymn Book. The tune was first published in that 1919 collection and has since become the standard setting for this text, appearing in 130 hymnals.

LOVE UNKNOWN demonstrates Ireland's distinctive compositional style through its alternating meter (switching between 6-beat and 4-beat measures) and the unexpected chromatic note midway through the tune. These characteristics were unconventional for congregational hymn tunes of the period. The tune should be sung in unison with firm legato organ support, though four-part harmony works well for congregations comfortable with Ireland's harmonic language. Some stanzas may be sung unaccompanied if the choir or congregation has sufficient strength. The tune's wistful, drooping melodic turn at the phrase "O who am I" and its harmonic twist create moments of introspection that complement the text's meditation on the Passion.

The hymn appears in major Anglican hymnals including The Hymnal 1982 (#458), Hymns Ancient and Modern, New Standard Edition (#63), and Anglican Hymns Old and New (#521). The alternative tune RHOSYMEDRE, composed by Welsh Anglican priest John David Edwards (1805-1885), is sometimes used and offers a more flowing, Welsh tune character. Named for the village where Edwards served as vicar, RHOSYMEDRE provides a gentler alternative to Ireland's more angular setting. In Anglican liturgy, the hymn is particularly appropriate for Lent, Holy Week (especially Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday), and services focusing on Christ's Passion. Ireland's tune rescued Crossman's text from relative obscurity during the Victorian era and established it as one of the finest English Passion hymns.

Sources: Hymnary.org - LOVE UNKNOWN; Wikipedia - John Ireland (composer); Hymnology Archive - My song is love unknown; Hymnary.org - RHOSYMEDRE