John Bacchus Dykes
John Bacchus Dykes (born March 10, 1823 in Kingston upon Hull , † January 22, 1876 in Ticehurst , Rother District ) was an English Anglican clergyman and hymn composer. Many of his melodies are still popular in the Anglo-Saxon culture today.
Life
Dykes was one of five children of shipbuilder and later banker William Hey Dykes and his wife Elizabeth nee. Huntington's. His two grandfathers were clergy. After an early musical education - piano, organ, violin - he already became assistant organist at the age of 11 at St. John's Church in Hull-Myton, where Thomas Dykes, his paternal grandfather, pastor and his uncle were organists.
He attended Kingston College in Hull and the West Riding Proprietary School in Wakefield, and then studied on a scholarship at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge , where he earned a Bachelor in Ancient Languages. There he also studied music and directed the university choir. In 1848 he received the ordination of the deacon. He became a pastor in Malton and in 1849 capitular at Durham Cathedral with responsibility for the organization of the liturgy (precentor) . There, too, he led the choir and raised its level.
In 1850 he married Susannah geb. Kingston. They had three sons and five daughters.
In 1861, Durham University awarded him an honorary doctorate in music. In 1862 he left the cathedral chapter and became pastor of St. Oswald in Durham. As a supporter of the Oxford movement , he came into conflict with his bishop Charles Baring , who opposed Anglo-Catholicism . This argument is believed to be one of the causes of Dykes' breakdown and early death in 1876.
Dykes published sermons and theological essays. He became known, however, for his more than 300 chorale melodies in four-part choral setting, which he wrote mainly for the Anglo-Catholic hymn book Hymns Ancient and Modern published by William Henry Monk , but also for dissenting communities upon request . John Henry Newman attributed the success of his poem Lead, kindly light Dykes' setting to Lux benigna . In Germany, Dykes' melody popular, which with Hedwig von Redern's text I know the way is not contained in ten regional parts of the Evangelical Hymnal .
literature
- JT Fowler (Ed.): Life and Letters of John Bacchus Dykes . London 1897 ( digitized )
- Stewart J. Brown, Peter Nockles, James Pereiro (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of the Oxford Movement . Oxford 2017, p. 384
Web links
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- Biography and tune directory (hymntime.com)
- Biography (walkerhomeschoolblog)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dykes, John Bacchus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English clergyman and hymn composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 10, 1823 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kingston upon Hull |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 1876 |
| Place of death | Ticehurst , Rother District |