| "Abide with Me" | |
| Type: | Hymn |
| Text: | by Henry Francis Lyte |
| Language: | English |
| Meter: | 10 10 10 10 |
| Melody: | "Eventide" |
"Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte. A prayer for God to stay with the speaker throughout life and in death, it was written by Lyte in 1847 as he was dying from tuberculosis. It is most often sung to the tune "Eventide" by the English organist William Henry Monk.
The author of the hymn, Henry Francis Lyte, was an Anglican cleric. He was a curate in County Wexford from 1815 to 1818. According to a plaque erected in his memory in Taghmon Church, he preached frequently in Killurin Church, about nine miles from there. During that time the rector of Killurin Parish, the Reverend Abraham Swanne, was a lasting influence on Lyte's life and ministry. Later he was vicar of All Saints' Church in Brixham, Devon, England. For most of his life Lyte suffered from poor health, and he would regularly travel abroad for relief, as was customary at that time.
There is some controversy as to the exact dating of the text to "Abide with Me". An article in The Spectator, 3 October 1925, says that Lyte composed the hymn in 1820 while visiting a dying friend. It was related that Lyte was staying with the Hore family in County Wexford and had visited an old friend, William Augustus Le Hunte, who was dying. As Lyte sat with the dying man, William kept repeating the phrase "abide with me…". After leaving William's bedside, Lyte wrote the hymn and gave a copy of it to Le Hunte's family.
The belief is that when Lyte felt his own end approaching twenty-seven years later at the age of 54, as he developed tuberculosis, he recalled the lines he had written so many years before in County Wexford. The Biblical link for the hymn is Luke 24:29 in which the disciples asked Jesus to abide with them "for it is toward evening and the day is spent". Using his friend's more personal phrasing "Abide with Me", Lyte composed the hymn. His daughter, Anna Maria Maxwell Hogg, recounts the story of how "Abide with Me" came out of that context:
Just weeks later, on 20 November 1847 in Nice, then in the Kingdom of Sardinia, Lyte died. The hymn was sung for the first time at Lyte's funeral. Special thanksgiving services to mark Lyte's bicentenary were held in Taghmon and Killurin churches. Although Lyte wrote a tune for the hymn, the most usual tune for the hymn is "Eventide" by William Henry Monk.
The hymn is a prayer for God to remain present with the speaker throughout life, through trials, and through death. The opening line alludes to 24:29 KJV, "Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent", and the penultimate verse draws on text from 15:55 KJV, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?":
Many hymnals omit some of the verses. For example, the compilers of one of the editions of Hymns Ancient and Modern, of which William Henry Monk, the composer of the tune "Eventide", was the original editor, omitted the verse beginning "Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;" for being too personal.[1]
The hymn tune most often used with this hymn is "Eventide" composed by English organist and church musician William Henry Monk in 1861.[2]
Alternative tunes include:
The principal theme of the fourth movement of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9 is often noted for its similarity to Monk's "Eventide".[3] Ralph Vaughan Williams composed a descant for the 1925 hymnal, Songs of Praise;[4] also an orchestral prelude ("Two Hymn-Tune Preludes", "1. Eventide") on the tune for the Hereford Festival of 1936.[5] The hymn was also set to music around 1890 by the American composer Charles Ives, and was published in his collection Thirteen Songs in 1958, four years after his death.[6]
The hymn is popular across many Christian denominations and was said to have been a favourite of King George V[7] [8] and Mahatma Gandhi.[9] It became a legend that in 1947 it was sung at the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II.[10] It is also often sung or played at Christian funerals;[11] notable examples include the state funeral of George V in 1936,[12] the funeral of Queen Mary in 1953[13] and the state funeral of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 2019.[14]
The hymn is sung at the annual Anzac Day services in Australia and New Zealand,[15] and in some Remembrance Day services in Canada[16] and the United Kingdom.[17] The song was part of the Beating the Retreat ceremony of the Indian Republic day celebrations till 2021 when it was replaced with an Indian Patriotic song "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo".[18] [19]
The hymn has been widely recorded, by artists in various genres. Thelonious Monk arranged a version featuring John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, and Gigi Gryce in 1957.[20] Several versions have charted on the UK Singles Chart. In 1984, a version by the Inspirational Choir, from their debut album Sweet Inspiration, peaked at No. 36,[21] and a re-release the following year also reached the same position.[22] A dance version by Vic Reeves reached No. 47 in 1991,[23] which is from his sole album I Will Cure You. In 2012, Emeli Sandé recorded her version for the 2012 Summer Olympics on the soundtrack album Isles of Wonder. It reached number 44 in the UK[23] and number 63 on the Irish Singles Chart.[24] A 2013 version featuring Joe McElderry and the Royal Mail Choir was released as a charity single raising money for Prostate Cancer UK, reaching number 19 on the UK Indie Chart.[25]
The first and last verses of the hymn are traditionally sung at the FA Cup Final about 15 minutes before the kick-off of the match.[26] The first formal use of the hymn was before the 1927 FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Cardiff City.
The association with the FA Cup Final goes back slightly further to the 1923 final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United when record-breaking crowds spilled onto the pitch before kick-off. While the pitch was being cleared, the event choir, St Luke's, sang "Abide with Me"; the crowds of West Ham supporters walking back to the East End are also said to have sung the song. The choir's spontaneous recital may be the origin of the tradition of singing the song before cup finals.[27]
The hymn has also been sung prior to the kick-off at every Rugby League Challenge Cup Final since 1929.[28]
It was featured in the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, sung by Emeli Sandé as a tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks.[29]
The hymn, in full or in part, is often used in a range of films and television programmes.
In Chris Morris's dark sketch comedy series Jam, the song is sung by the man in the funeral sketch, as he slowly dies inside the coffin.[30]
A chiptune rendition of the hymn serves as the main menu theme of the 2022 indie survival-horror game .
Several instrumental rendition of the hymn appears in Assassin's Creed Syndicate as ambient music, notably when the character is at the top of certain synchronization points, and is played by an ensemble near a small park.
References in literature include George Orwell's Burmese Days.[31]
The Victorian Poet Laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson, according to Francis Turner Palgrave, on reading "Abide with Me", "was deeply impressed by its solemn beauty; remarking that it wanted very little to take rank among the really perfect poems of our language".[32]