The Open Hymnal Project

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Welcome! This web site is the home of the Open Hymnal Project to create a free, public domain, downloadable database of Christian hymns, spiritual songs, and prelude/postlude music. I am doing my best to create a final product that is "Hymnal-quality", and could feasibly be used as the basis for a printed church hymnal. This music is to be distributed as complete scores (words and music), using all accompaniment parts, in formats that are easily accessible on most computer OS's and which can be freely modified by anyone.

"Freely you received, so freely give." - Matthew 10:8 (WEB)

24 Jun 2009 Five more Luther hymns ... "God the Father Be Our Stay", "In Peace and Joy I Now Depart", "We All Believe in One True God", "We Now Implore God the Holy Ghost", and "Wilt Thou, O Man, Live Happily".

04 Jun 2009 Four more Luther hymns ... "Happy the Man Who Feareth God" (2 tunes), "May God Bestow on Us His Grace", "O Lord We Praise Thee", and "Though in the Midst of Life We Be". This gets me half-way through the Luther hymns.

03 Jun 2009 Tune sources/composers, etc. for the Luther hymns were updated based on additional research.

22 May 2009 Another batch of Luther hymns. Today 5 hymns are added: "Come, God Creator, Holy Ghost", "Come Holy Spirit, Lord Our God", "Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Savior" (2 tunes), "Jesus Christ Who Came to Save", and "That Men a godly Life Might Live"

03 May 2009 Work continues on the Luther hymns, and I'm learning as I go. Some of Luther's hymns aren't really made for congregational use, so not all of them are likely to end up in the Open Hymnal. An example is "By Help of God I Fain Would Tell", which is more of a history lesson than a true hymn. Nonetheless, three more are added today, "All Praise to Jesus' Hallowed Name", "Now Praise We Christ, the Holy One" (translated by Luther), and "Out of the Deep I Cry to Thee" (2 tunes)

22 Apr 2009 A collaboration has begun between the Open Hymnal Project and module developers for the SWORD Project. A task has been underway to gather all of Martin Luther's works in the public domain (the module called "LuthersWorks" is hosted at ftp.xiphos.org). The Open Hymnal Project will be contributing all of Luther's hymns (he wrote 36) using the melodies that were in use during Luther's lifetime. The first three hymns are added here today (they'll be added into the SWORD module later), "Dear Christians, One and All Rejoice" (2 tunes), "Look Down, O Lord, From Heaven Behold" (2 tunes), and "The Mouth of Fools Doth God Confess". To check out the SWORD project, I suggest Xiphos as a great frontend. Check out Xiphos.org!

24 Mar 2009 Added hymn "My Song Shall Be of Jesus" with a new tune, written by Kenneth Paxton. It includes two versions of the piece; one for simple congregational/home use, and one for use with a choir. Thanks, Ken!

12 Mar 2009 Added hymn "Now The Light Has Gone Away". Final arrangements are being made to release the Hymn "My Song Shall Be of Jesus" with a new tune. Maybe all arrangements will be worked out in a week or two.

The Open Hymnal's servers will have a changeover this weekend; approx. 11pm EDT Sat March 14th. Some hiccups might occur.

29 Dec 2008 Released final version of 2008 (2008.12). Topical index is up to date in pdf and on the web. Sword module is updated. Direct link to each abc file on "lyrics" page.

22 Dec 2008 Added two hymns "Gentle Mary Laid Her Child" and "See Amid the Winter's Snow". Also added both to Christmas/Advent Edition. The carol "Good King Wenceslas" isn't really a hymn. It has been removed from the main edition, but left as a "bonus carol" in the Christmas Edition. Sword Module updated.

20 Dec 2008 Added hymn "Comfort, Comfort Ye My People". Also added this to Christmas/Advent Edition.

17 Dec 2008 Added two verses to "Jesus Wants All of His Children".

16 Dec 2008 The mechanism to get the updated topical index into the web site is overhauled. Most current update now avilable both in pdf and on web.

09 Dec 2008 Topical index is 1/3 updated. Current progress is added to the pdf version.

08 Dec 2008 Added 3 new hymns ... "Jesus Grant That Balm and Healing", "Take My Life And Let It Be", "The Gospel Shows The Father's Grace". "Jesus Grant That Balm and Healing" added to the Easter Edition

05 Dec 2008 Direct access to lyrics added to site via general or new hymn indices.

02 Dec 2008 Added new hymns ... "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus", "Jesus Came, the Heavens Adoring", "O Lord, How Shall I Meet Thee", "The Advent of Our God". Added all four to the Advent/Christmas Edition.

25 Nov 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling". Work has begun to merge new hymns into main repository. The scores are now all found in the main pdf, but new hymns are not yet integrated into the topical index.

16 Nov 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Thy Word".

14 Aug 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Today Thy Mercy Calls Me".

12 Aug 2008 Added two new hymns ... "I Come, O Savior, To Thy Table" and "Be Still My Soul".

27 Jun 2008 On 30 June 2008, Issues, Etc. will return to the airwaves and web! Same host, same producer, new management. Check them out at The NEW Issues, Etc.

23 Jun 2008 Added a new hymn "Be Thou My Vision".

11 Jun 2008 Altered setting on "Jesus Thy Boundless Love To Me" to one which I can solidly prove is in the public domain.

02 Jun 2008 Finished Id3 tags to all MP3s to allow easier sorting on MP3 players.

20 May 2008 Added Id3 tags to most MP3s to allow easier sorting on MP3 players. There are some (18) hymns which don't yet have ID3 tags; they are mostly the oldest hymns in the hymnal and are being brought to the same internal format as the rest of the hymns before being tagged. That internal update is 55% complete.

18 May 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Nearer, My God, to Thee".

16 May 2008 Added a new hymn ... "My Faith Looks Up To Thee".

20 Mar 2008 Non-hymnal news:
This last Tuesday, 18 March, was a dark day. The radio show/podcast Issues, Etc. was canceled without either warning or justification. There is an online petition to get Issues Etc. back on the air. Please click here to sign the petition.


17 Mar 2008 Updated Easter/Lent Edition.

04 Mar 2008 Added two new hymns ... "A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth" and "Beneath The Cross Of Jesus".

28 Feb 2008 Added two new hymns ... "All Praise To Thee, My God, This Night" and "Lord Who Throughout These Forty Days".

14 Feb 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Savior When In Dust To Thee". Also added to Lent & Easter Edition.

12 Feb 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Christ The Lord Is Risen Today". Also added to Lent & Easter Edition.

11 Feb 2008 First crack at an Edition for Lent & Easter. This is expected to grow before Easter.

10 Feb 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence"

03 Feb 2008 Added a new hymn ... "Christ Jesus Lay In Death's Strong Bands"

31 Jan 2008 Added two new hymns ... "Abide With Me" and "O Lord My Soul Convicted"

22 Jan 2008 Added two new hymns ... "Lord Jesus Think On Me" and "Blessed Assurance"

21 Jan 2008 Added preliminary KJV language guide.

15 Jan 2008 Continued update to the web site. Lots of behind-the-scene cleanup, simplification, and automation.

04 Jan 2008 New look to the web site, hopefully things will be easier to find now. Updated SWORD module added. Links to score added to general index.

02 Jan 2008 Web topical index updated.

27 Dec 2007 Major release (Edition 2007.3) today, belated Merry Christmas to all! The updated web topical index and the updated sword modules will be released soon.

17 Dec 2007 Updated addendum and Christmas Edition. All hymns that will be in the next major release are now here.

13 Dec 2007 Minor web updates to make downloads section more visible.

05 Dec 2007 Updated addendum and Christmas Edition (appropriate addendum scores were added to the Christmas Edition). General index (on Web page) now includes addendum pieces, with links to MIDI and Mp3s.

02 Dec 2007 Updated addendum. Work has begun to merge the addendum into the main project.

28 Nov 2007 Updated addendum

14 Nov 2007 Updated addendum

08 Nov 2007 Updated addendum

06 Nov 2007 Added topical index to web site and added Sword module. For info about the Sword project, see The SWORD Project

02 Nov 2007 Added the Christmas Edition, for those who simply want sheet music of Christmas music. Also added a zip of all scores as GIF images. This is useful for those who want to insert the scores easily into word processors.

01 Nov 2007 (Happy All Saints Day) Site updates and some bug-fixes to the pdfs, Mp3s, and Midis. Added the "addendum" (see right). The addendum is a pdf of hymns which will be included in the next release, but have not yet been integrated into the indices and have not been fully checked for errors. They should be perfectly appropriate for most uses. A sword general book module is likely to be available soon.

18 Oct 2007 Thanks very much to ossguy who has very kindly arranged web hosting for this project! This will allow lots of new features. Individual mp3s and MIDI files are available now for the first time. Soon more editions and content will follow!