Outside of music, one of my great passions is history. Most evenings, after my children are asleep, you can usually find me in my library or on my back porch, engrossed in some bygone era. While reading in British historian John Keegan’s The American Civil War, I was struck by a passage that touched on my vocation in addition to my hobby. Discussing the life of the average soldier in both Union and Confederate armies, he remarked, “Hymn singing was popular in camp, as was singing generally. Favorites included Jesus, Lover of my Soul, Rock of Ages, and Just as I Am.”
The latter two on that list I would have guessed—those hymns are still popular, across several traditions. But I was surprised to see Jesus, Lover of my Soul included. I’ve always thought of that as a rather serious and melancholy piece, due to the dark, minor key melody ABERTYSTWYTH to which it is often set. Though that melody is lovely, it is rather difficult to sing (particularly in four parts) due to the number of chromatic notes. That tune was written in 1876, though: no one, soldier or otherwise, was singing it in the 1860s.
Searching through a few hymnals, I found that Charles Wesley’s text has been published with a whole host of tunes. One of the oldest and most widely known is Simeon Marsh’s MARTYN or MARTIN from 1834: it is found in the famous collection The Sacred Harp, among others. This tune is not only simpler and better suited to congregational singing, but also fits the text. The climactic cry of the first verse “Hide me, O my Savior, hide” is placed in a higher register for emphasis, while the major tonality complements the final two verses, which express more of the hope and comfort found in God’s grace (“Plenteous grace with Thee is found,” “Rise to all eternity”).
I don’t have any recordings from the nineteenth century, but below is a performance of Jesus, Lover of My Soul to the MARTYN tune by country music legend Uncle Dave Macon:
And here’s the same hymn sung by a congregation: