ST. ANNE
Though no firm documentation exists, ST. ANNE was probably composed by William Croft , possibly when he was organist from 1700-1711 at St. Anne’s Church in Soho, London, England. (According to tradition, St. Anne was the mother of the 308 BIBLE SONGS virgin Mary.) The tune was first published in A Supplement to the New Version (6th ed., 1708) as a setting for Psalm 42. ST. ANNE became a setting for “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” in Hymns Ancient andModern (1861), and the two have been inseparable ever since. ST. ANNE shares its first melodic motif with a number of other tunes from the early eighteenth century; one example is Bach’s great fugue in E-flat, nicknamed “St. Anne,” though it uses only the first motif of ST. ANNE. The original “gathering notes” (where the first note of each phrase is doubled in length) have been changed to equal the tune’s prevailing quarter-note rhythms. ST. ANNE is a strong tune that must not be sung too rapidly. On the final stanza, sing in a stately manner and try unison singing on the alternative accompaniment by David Johnson , which was first published in Free Organ Accompaniments to Festival Hymns, Vol. 1 (1963). Liturgical Use: Because it has great stature in the British Commonwealth and virtually serves as a second national anthem, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” is suitable for various civic occasions in addition to its more common liturgical use. See also PHH 90.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: From God's eternal constancy (past/present/future) through human transience and mortality, to renewed trust in divine protection and care