(The New Century Hymnal Edited by WILL L. THOMPSON AG oel ...)
The New Century Hymnal Edited by WILL L. THOMPSON AG oel Hymn Book for the Millions of Christian Workers of all Denominations 7T he New Century Hymnal contains 240 pages of the most beautifid and useful Gospel Hymns that have been written up to this date. Including 10 pages of carefully selected responsive readings, etc. In the Multitude of GunseII ors thete is Safety The selections in The New Century Hymnal are the result of an almost unanimous response from 10,000 circular letters which we sent to ministers and Sunday School music leaders throughout the United States. The following copy of the letter will show what may be expected from the book: My Dear Sir :I am writing and compiling a new collection of Gospel Songs, and as I want every piece in the book to be choice, I am asking 10,000 of the leading ministers, Sunday-S chool supenntendenu and music leaders to write me a list of five favorites. Will you kindly (on the enclosed postal card) let me know what five pieces your school and other gatherings use with greatest enioyment? A large number of the collections now published contain a few good singable pieces and a great many very ordinary enes that our people do not take to. Now, by the plan I have adopted, I hope to get 10,000 lists of only tne fiivorites. These lists will be carefully gone over, compared and boiled down, and when we are through with them I believe we will have selected only the very best, and you may be assured every piece will be popular with Sunday Schools and gospd meetings. Yours Truly, etc. As the responses to these letters came in we made a list of the pieces voted for and kept careful tally on the number of times each piece was named. The result of this Ote cannot but be of the greatest interest to all lovers of good music in the Sunday-S chool and church. We found a great difference of opinion as to the usefulness of many of (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
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Thompson was born November 7, 1847, in Beaver County, Pa. , one of seven children of Josiah and Sarah (Jackman) Thompson. His grandfather, William Thompson, had emigrated to Pennsylvania from Ireland. His father was a merchant and a banker, and served for two terms in the state legislature of Ohio. His father's family were all musical.
After attending the public schools of East Liverpool, Ohio, and Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, Thompson began the serious study of music in 1870 at the Boston Music School. Later he studied at the Boston Conservatory of Music and then went to Leipzig, Germany.
One of his earliest compositions was a Schottische which he named for his home town, "Liverpool"; another was a song, "Gathering Shells from the Seashore, " written in 1872. When his price of one hundred dollars for this and three other compositions was refused by a Cleveland publisher, he undertook the management of the sales for himself, the song having been published in New York. It was introduced upon the stage by the Carncross and Dixey Minstrel Company of Philadelphia, and its popularity became so great that the presses were kept running day and night for several months to meet the demand. Thompson's financial returns from it ran above one thousand dollars during the first year.
About 1875 he organized a music publishing business and store at East Liverpool, Ohio. Some of his other popular secular songs are "Drifting with the Tide, " "My Home on the Old Ohio, " and "The Old Tramp, " which during the financial troubles of 1876-77 was on everyone's lips – "I'm only a poor old wanderer, I've no place to call my home. " His humorous mode is illustrated by "My First Music Lesson" and "My Sweetheart and I Went Fishing"; among his other compositions are the "Protective Tariff March, " "God Save Our Union, " a patriotic song, and "Come Where the Lilies Bloom. " "There's a Great Day Coming" (1903), "Golden Years Are Passing By" (1879), "Jesus Is All the World to Me, " "Lead Me Gently Home, " and "The Sinner and the Song" are his, both words and music, and he wrote the music for "Break the News Gently to Mother" (1878), the words of which were by Allie E. Wardwell of East Liverpool.
Thompson made his home at East Liverpool, where he established a music store. He later became president of the Thompson Music Company, Chicago. He died in New York at the end of a summer spent abroad with his wife and son.
It is by his sacred songs that he will be longest remembered, for these have been introduced into many hymn books. The best known is "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling, " which has been translated into many languages. Among the books he published are Enduring Hymns, The New Century Hymnal (copyright 1904), and The Young People's Choir.
(The New Century Hymnal Edited by WILL L. THOMPSON AG oel ...)
He married Elizabeth Johnston at Wellsville, Ohio, on April 23, 1891.
