Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1985 book)

This article is about the named book (hymnal) specifically. For general information about said church hymns, see The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hymns
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hymns
This article is about LDS church hymns in general, for the book, see Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Latter-day Saint hymns come from many sources, and there have been numerous hymn books printed by the Church since its organization in 1830...

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Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official hymn book of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Published in English in 1985, and later in many other languages, it is used throughout the LDS Church. This article refers to the English version. The book was published on the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first LDS hymnbook, compiled by Emma Smith in 1835. Previous hymnbooks used by the church include The Manchester Hymnal (1840), The Psalmody (1889), Songs of Zion (1908), Hymns (1927), and Hymns (1948).

Organization

The book contains a table of contents, followed by a preface with a message from the First Presidency

First Presidency (LDS Church)

The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...

of the church, encouraging church members to use the hymn book at meetings and in their homes to invite the spirit and to teach doctrine.

The hymn section is divided into thematic groups:

1–61: Restoration
62–96: Praise and Thanksgiving
97–168: Prayer and Supplication
169–196: Sacrament
Sacrament (Mormonism)
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, most often simply referred to as the sacrament, is the sacrament in which participants partake of bread and drink water in remembrance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ...
197–200: Easter
201–214: Christmas
215–298: Special Topics
299–308: Children's Songs
309–318: For Women
319–337: For Men
338–341: Patriotic

Following the hymns, a section titled "Using the Hymnbook" gives helpful information for choristers and accompanists.

Finally, the hymns are listed in multiple indexes according to the authors' and composers' names, hymn titles, tune names, meters, scriptures referenced, etc.

Numbering

Members of the church sometimes debate about whether to say "hymn number" or "page number" when referring to the location of a particular hymn. The hymn numbers are not 1:1 with the amount of pages. The Hymns themselves are numbered and not the pages.

Format

Most of the hymns are arranged in traditional SATB

SATB

In music, SATB is an initialism for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work...

format with treble and bass clefs. The suggested tempo range (in beats per minute) is given, along with an indication of the appropriate mood for the song such as "joyfully," "reflectively," "with vigor," etc. Beneath the hymn are listed the author and composer and their years of birth and death (if applicable), copyright information, and scriptural references.

The book is laid out so that hymns occupying two pages in the book always start on the left. Thus, a page turn is never required in the middle of a hymn.

A few of the hymns have the same text, and even the same title, but are set to different hymn tunes.

Recordings

The LDS Church has released recordings of the hymns in CD sets. One set is instrumental only, and is sometimes used as accompaniment in church meetings. In the other set, the hymns are sung by a quartet with piano or organ accompaniment.

Many popular singers and instrumentalists, including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...

, Orchestra at Temple Square

Orchestra at Temple Square

The Orchestra at Temple Square is a 110-member orchestra located in Salt Lake City, UT. The Orchestra was created in 1999 under the direction of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of the creative initiative to continually strengthen and...

and Saints Unified Voices

Saints Unified Voices

Saints Unified Voices is an American Gospel music choir. The Saints Unified Voices Foundation, the governing organization of the choir, is directed by a 12-member board of directors, which includes Gladys Knight...

have also recorded arrangements of LDS hymns.

Languages

Many of the hymns have been translated and published in editions designed for use in other countries. Some of these editions include hymns not found in the English version, such as traditional Christmas carols and patriotic music of the countries where they are used.

Some of the languages the hymn book is published in include:

Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
Korean
Korean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
Tongan
Tongan language
Tongan is an Austronesian language spoken in Tonga. It has around 200,000 speakers and is a national language of Tonga. It is a VSO language.-Related languages:...

External links

Hymns at LDS.org (includes index, text, music, and free audio downloads for most hymns in 1985 book; some excluded for copyright reasons)