June 2003
HymnQuest	Show Menu

A review by Randal Henly

I have recently acquired a wonderful piece of computer software, a program called HymnQuest. Essentially, it’s a database of hymns and all the details that go with them — tunes, words, composers, authors, metres, biblical themes, and so on. I first came across this just three years ago, when the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland held its Annual Meeting in Dublin, but at that time, no details from the Church of Ireland Hymnal were included. I was given a Demo Version (so were many others at that meeting) and was immediately impressed by what it offered. I wrote to the publishers, Stainer & Bell, and said what an extremely useful resource this is, and informed them that if details of hymns from the Church of Ireland Hymnal (particularly as a new edition was imminent) were included in an update, I would be the first to purchase!

On a recent visit to Stainer & Bell in North London, I enquired about HymnQuest. “Oh yes, the latest edition has the details from the Church of Ireland Hymnal” I was given a copy of the new Demo Version (these are free for the asking, but have a life of just one month). Thrilled with what it does and it solved a couple of memory lapses during that free month. I have since purchased it — £65 (sterling) for the unique code that makes the program permanent. Let me explain some of the many ways it can be used.

I want details of the hymn “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah”. I go to the database of First Lines (it’s huge of course, with about 20 000 hymns listed) and select it. Up comes the information: 

• the text is by Peter Williams who lived from 1722 to 1796; 
• it is to be found in at least 40 hymnbooks, but that in which I am interested is the fifth edition of the Irish Church Hymnal, and I see that it is No. 647 in this book, which was published by OUP in 2000;
• the metre is 878787; 
• the only tune to which it has been set is Cwm Rhondda; 
• this tune is by John Hughes, who lived from 1873 to 1932; 
• I can bring up the full text, and copy and paste this into a hymn sheet if I desire; 
  if I cannot recall the tune, I click on the appropriate button and listen to the first line of music.

I could have got the same information by consulting either the hymns written by Peter Williams, or the tunes by John Hughes; or I could have looked it up under the title of the tune — or I could have looked under the hymns whose metre is 878787.

And if that isn’t enough, just read on! I heard a hymn on “Sunday Half Hour”, missed the title of it but the tune was very appropriate to play during Communion. I have remembered the first few notes. Bring up the virtual keyboard and “play” these first few notes. (For the example, I have taken a hymn that is known to all.)

It doesn’t matter whether the key is correct key or not; the program searches for intervals, not actual notes. And this is what shortly appears:

So I find that the tune is that of the hymn “Jesus loves me”, and that it is in lots of hymn books, but in “ICF” (the code for the fifth edition of the Irish Church Hymnal, Fifth edition) it is Hymn 100. The rest of the details are there too — author and her dates, composer and his dates, metre.

Contact Stainer & Bell for a copy of the Demo Version. You’ll be purchasing it a month later!

Stainer & Bell Ltd,
PO Box 110,
Victoria House,
23 Gruneisen Road,
London N3 1DZ.
Tel. 0044-20 8343 3303
E-mail: post@stainer.co.uk
Website: www.stainer.co.uk

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