Frances Ridley Havergal

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Frances Ridley Havergal

Frances Ridley Havergal (born December 14, 1836 in Astley , Worcestershire , England , † June 3, 1879 in Caswell Bay , Wales ) was an English Christian poet and composer .

Life

Frances Ridley Havergal (her middle name is a pardon to the martyr Nicholas Ridley ) was the sixth and youngest child of the Anglican clergyman William Henry Havergal , who was also a poet and composer (he wrote about 100 hymns ). In 1842 he was transferred from Astley to Worcester , where his wife Jane died in July 1848.

Frances Havergal proved to be gifted early on. She could read at three, read the Bible at four , and began writing poetry at seven. By the time she entered a public school in 1850, she had already learned six foreign languages. In February 1851, experienced under the influence of her teacher Caroline Ann Cooke - five months later, Frances' father married - a conversion .

The Havergal family stayed in Düsseldorf from 1852 to December 1853 , where their father, who had been severely visually impaired for years, consulted a specialist in eye diseases. During this time, Frances attended the Düsseldorf Luisenschule and took private lessons from a pastor in Oberkassel . In 1860 the family moved to Shareshill near Wolverhampton and in 1867 to Leamington Spa .

After completing her school education, Frances Havergal devoted herself to private theological, linguistic and musical studies and worked for a time as a governess ; but above all she wrote and composed. In 1860 her verses were first printed in a magazine. During a second stay in Germany in 1865/66, she presented a few songs to Ferdinand Hiller in Cologne for assessment. Hiller found very appreciative words about them, especially about their harmony , but advised further studies, e.g. B. with George Alexander Macfarren . Since Frances Havergal considered this composer to be second class, she did not follow Hiller's advice, but got a harmonious textbook recommended by him and studied it intensively. In 1869 her first volume of poetry, The Ministry of Song, was published . Because of her beautiful singing voice, she also became a soloist with the Kidderminster Philharmonic Society in the 1860s .

In the 1870s, Frances Havergal went through several personal crises that inspired her to write some of her best-known songs. Her father died in April 1870; In early 1874 their American publisher went bankrupt; in the autumn of the same year she fell seriously ill with typhus ; In 1876 the manuscript of an anthology of songs she had worked on for months, along with the stereotype records, was destroyed in a fire. When her stepmother died in May 1878, Frances Havergal moved to Wales with her (also unmarried) sister Maria. Here she succumbed to peritonitis in 1879 at the age of 42 . Her favorite verse 1 John 1,7 (“ The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin ”) was engraved on her tombstone .

Works

Frances Havergal published a total of six volumes of poetry:

  • The Ministry of Song , 1869
  • Under the Surface , 1874
  • Loyal Responses , 1879
  • Life Mosaics , 1879
  • Life Chords , 1880
  • Life Echoes , 1883

Of their songs are also known in the German-speaking area:

  • Take my life and let it be , 1874 (German: Take my life, Jesus, you , Dora Rappard )
  • I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus , 1874 ( Eng . I trust you, Lord Jesus , ex. Dora Rappard)
  • Like a river glorious , 1876 (German like a river from above , ex. Anni von Viebahn )
  • Light after darkness , 1879 (German: light after darkness , ex. Johanna Meyer )

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Havergal, Frances Ridley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Havergal, Frances
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English poet and composer
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Astley
DATE OF DEATH June 3, 1879
Place of death Caswell Bay , Wales