Hyrum (Beesley)
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General Information
- The actual name of this tune has yet to be verified to be anything other than Hyrum, however the Cyberhymnal calls it Man of Grief (without a source, and so perhaps they coined it), and the Latter-day Saints Psalmody, 1889[1] (the earliest known publication of the tune) calls it Hyrum.
- Composer: Ebenezer Beesley[2]—until recently, the composer had been unknown, although many presumed it was George Coles; there was considerable doubt that Coles was the composer, however, as a source verifying that he was had yet to be identified, and there were other clues against this idea: The confusion appears to have been started by an assumption that since the tune Duane Street was not found to compare with the tune at hand (i.e. Hyrum), and Duane Street was known to have been associated with A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, that perhaps they were the same tune.[3] It has since been discovered that they are not the same tune.
- Ebenezer Beesley appears to have liberally adapted this tune from the one that John Taylor did sing before the martyrdom of Joseph Smith Jr.
Latter-day Saint Information
- This is the tune used in the current (1985) LDS hymnal with A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, although that hymnal refers to the tune as Duane Street (which is another song entirely, though also associated with A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief). Here is a source that gives hints as to how this confusion may have begun, as mentioned above also.
- This is not the tune John Taylor used before the martyrdom of Joseph Smith Jr., although it was thought to be before the discovery of Ebenezer Beesley's choir book.[4]
Associated Lyrics
References
- ↑ Latter-day Saints Psalmody, 1889 no. 34
- ↑ Original Poor Wayfaring Man had different tune, by Tad Walch, Deseret News, Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
- ↑ Stories of Latter Day Saint Hymns Their Authors and Composers, 1939 (p. 12)
- ↑ Original Poor Wayfaring Man had different tune, by Tad Walch, Deseret News, Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
- ↑ Hymn no. 34 (A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief) in the Latter-day Saints Psalmody, 1889 says these lyrics (no. 321) may also be used with this tune.