John Bacchus Dykes was an English clergyman and hymnist.

Biography

He was born in Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the fifth child and third son of William Hey Dykes and his wife Elizabeth Dykes (née Huntington), and a younger brother of the poet and hymnist Eliza Alderson

Eliza Sibbald Dykes Alderson

Eliza Sibbald Alderson was an English poet and hymn writer.Eliza Sibbald Dykes, sister of the famous Rev. J. B. Dykes, was born at Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. In 1850 she was married to Rev. Mr. Alderson, chaplain to the West Riding House of Correction, Wakefield, 1833...

. By the age of 10, he was the assistant organist at St John's Church in Drypool, Hull, where his grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Dykes, was vicar. He learned the violin and the piano. He studied at Wakefield

Wakefield

Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

 and St Catharine's College, Cambridge

St Catharine's College, Cambridge

St. Catharine’s College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473, the college is often referred to informally by the nickname "Catz".-History:...

, earning a BA in Classics in 1847. He cofounded the Cambridge University Musical Society. He was ordained as curate of Malton

Malton, North Yorkshire

Malton is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is the location of the offices of Ryedale District Council and has a population of around 4,000 people....

 in 1847. For a short time, he was canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 of Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...

, then precentor

Precentor

A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is "præcentor", from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" ....

 (1849 – 1862). In 1862 he became vicar of St. Oswald's, Durham

Durham

Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

, until his death in 1876.

He published numerous sermons and articles on religion; however, he is best known for over 300 hymn tune

Hymn tune

A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm , and no refrain or chorus....

s he composed. Among those still in wide use are: Nicaea, commonly sung to the words "Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy is a Christian hymn written by Reginald Heber . Its lyrics speak specifically on the Trinity, having been written for use on Trinity Sunday. John Bacchus Dykes composed the tune Nicaea for this hymn in 1861. It references the Sanctus, which is often called the "Holy holy holy" in...

"; Wir Pflügen, harmonised by Dykes and commonly sung to the words "We plough the fields, and scatter" (a translation of the German hymn "Wir pflügen und wir streuen" by the late eighteenth-century German poet Matthias Claudius

Matthias Claudius

Matthias Claudius was a German poet, otherwise known by the penname of “Asmus”.-Life:Claudius was born at Reinfeld, near Lübeck, and studied at Jena...

); Melita, sung to the words "Eternal Father, Strong to Save

Eternal Father, Strong to Save

"Eternal Father, Strong to Save" is a hymn often associated with the Royal Navy or the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Accordingly, it is often known as the Royal Navy Hymn or the United States Navy Hymn , and sometimes by the last line of its first verse, "For Those in Peril on...

" (sometimes known as "For those in peril on the sea" from its recurring last line); Gerontius, sung to the words "Praise to the Holiest in the height" (taken from Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius

The Dream of Gerontius (poem)

The Dream of Gerontius is a poem written by John Henry Newman consisting of the prayer of a dying man, and angelic and demonic responses....

); O Perfect Love; and Dominus Regit Me, sung to the words "The King of love my shepherd is", one of the many metrical versions of Psalm 23

Psalm 23

In the 23rd Psalm in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, the writer describes God as his Shepherd. The text, beloved by Jews and Christians alike, is often alluded to in popular media and has been set to music....

.

Dykes resolutely upheld the high church

High church

The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...

 tradition, to the consternation of his bishop, and was something of a renegade figure in the Victorian Church. He was a member of the Society of the Holy Cross

Society of the Holy Cross

The Society of the Holy Cross is an international Anglo-Catholic society of priests with members in the Anglican Communion, the Continuing Anglican Movement and the Roman Catholic Church's Anglican Use...

. Dykes died in Sussex at age 52, and is buried at St. Oswald’s, Durham.

He was enormously influential in hymnody in his time, but this has declined in recent times, evidenced by the fact that, whereas Hymns Ancient and Modern Revised

Hymns Ancient and Modern

Hymns Ancient and Modern was a hymnal in common use within the Church of England. Over the years it has grown into a large family of hymnals....

(1950) carried 31 of his tunes, the New Standard edition of the same hymn book (1983) used only 15.

External links

• Biography at the Cyber Hymnal
• Free scores at the Mutopia Project
  Mutopia project
  The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright...