Ralph E. Hudson
Ralph Erskine Hudson (July 9, 1843 – June 14, 1901) was an American composer and hymnwriter. He is best remembered for his hymn "My Life, My Love, I Give to Thee" and his addition of a refrain and composition of a new tune for the Isaac Watts hymn "Alas! and Did My Saviour Bleed".[1][2]
Early life and military service[edit]
Ralph Erskine Hudson was born on July 9, 1843, in Napoleon, Ohio.[1] In his childhood, his family moved to Philadelphia.[2] At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Hudson enlisted in the Union Army, joining Company K of the 10th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment on June 20, 1861.[1] Between June 1862 and February 1863, Hudson served as a nurse at the General Hospital in Annapolis, Maryland. While working at the hospital, he met Mary Smith, from Annapolis; the couple married on March 4, 1863.[1] Hudson was honorably discharged on June 11, 1864.[1]
Music career[edit]
An accomplished musician, after his discharge Hudson began teaching music at a college in Alliance, Ohio, where he remained for five years. While in Alliance, Hudson started a music publishing business.[1][2] At the same time, he was a lay preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church.[1][2] He had a particular concern for evangelism, both in preaching and as an evangelistic singer.[2][3]
Hudson's first hymn book, Salvation Echoes, was published in 1882. He later published a further four songbooks: Gems of Gospel Songs (1884), Songs of Peace, Love and Joy (1885), The Temperance Songster (1886) and Songs of the Ransomed (1887).[1] Hudson was a prohibitionist, who advocated for total abstinence from alcohol,[1][2] and wrote many songs about temperance.[4] 'The Temperance Songster comprises songs addressing this topic.[2]
Notable works[edit]
Some of Hudson's hymns and choruses continue to appear in modern hymnals. Generally, his work has been better-known in America and Canada than in the United Kingdom.[2]
Hudson's best-known original hymn is "My Life, My Love, I Give to Thee," which was published in his collected Salvation Echoes (1882).[2] This hymn was included in hundreds of 19th- and 20th-century hymnals, and is still included in the Baptist Hymnal, the primary hymnbook of the Southern Baptist Convention. It is generally sung to the tube "Dunbar", written by C.R. Dunbar.[5]
Hudson also added refrains to some traditional hymns, including "Alas! and Did My Saviour Bleed" and "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing."[2] His adaptation of "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" includes the repeated line "Blessed be the name of the Lord." It was first published in Songs for the Ransomed (1887).[6] It had particular popularity in Southern Baptist Convention churches, and is included in the Baptist Hymnal.[6]
He composed music for the Clara Tear Williams hymns "Satisfied", which was first published in 1881.[7] Describing the composition of this hymn, Williams wrote:[7]
About 1875, I was helping in meetings in Troy, Ohio, where Professor R. E. Hudson conducted the singing, when, just before retiring one night, he asked me to write a song for a book he was preparing to publish. Before sleeping, I wrote "Satisfied." In the morning, he composed the music.
Death[edit]
Hudson died on June 14, 1901, in Cleveland, Ohio.[1][2] He is buried in Alliance City Cemetery. His wife Mary died in 1925, and is buried with him in Alliance City Cemetery.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Reynolds, Williams Jensen (1976). Companion to Baptist Hymnal. Broadman Press. p. 342.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Watson, J. R. "Ralph E. Hudson". The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press.
- ^ Shea, George Beverly (1968). Then Sings My Soul. Fleming H. Revell Co. pp. 13–14.
- ^ Forman, Kristen L. (1997). The New Century Hymnal Companion. Pilgrim Press. p. 311.
- ^ Watson, J.R. "My life, my love I give to Thee". The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press.
- ^ a b Tyson, John R. (2006). "The Methodist National Anthem: "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" and the Development of American Methodism". In Noll, Mark A.; Blumhofer, Edith (eds.). Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America. University of Alabama Press. p. 27.
- ^ a b Osbeck, Kenneth W. (1985). 101 More Hymn Stories. Kregel Publications. pp. 234–235. ISBN 9780825434204.
- ^ Cemetery Inscriptions: Stark County, Ohio, Volume 1. Ohio Genealogical Society. 1982.