Komponisten : Dykes, John Bacchus (1823-1876)

John Bacchus Dykes was born at Kingston-upon-Hull, England, on March 10, 1823, and was the son of a banker and the grandson of a well-known evangelical clergyman. At the age of ten Dykes was assistant organist at his grandfather?s church. He was first educated at Wakefleld and then became a scholar of St. Catherine?s, Cambridge. As an undergraduate at St. Catherine?s College, Dykes helped found the University Musical Society with William Thomson, afterwards Lord Kelvin.

In 1847 Dykes took holy orders and two years later was appointed precentor of Durham Cathedral. In 1861 the University of Durham conferred on him the musical doctorate. The following year Dykes was appointed Vicar of St. Oswald?s in Durham. Here Dykes tried to introduce his High-church tendencies. In this he was opposed by his bishop. When Dykes applied to his bishop for a curate to assist him, he was told that he would get one only if he promised never to wear a colored stole, never to have anything to do with incense, and never to stand with his back to the congregation except when arranging the bread for communion. Dykes considered this action illegal, but the courts upheld the bishop. His biographer says that Dykes never recovered from this shock and that this killed him. He suffered a breakdown of his health in 1875 and died on January 22, 1876.

Dykes wrote 300 hymn-tunes. Benson in his The English Hymn says that Dykes, together with Monk, Elvey, Gauntlett, and others, crystallized the musical tendencies of the time into a definite form of Anglican hymn-tune, with restrained worship and yet appealing to the taste of the people.

In addition to his gift for writing music, he played the organ, piano, violin, and horn.

Melodien
Bietet Gott in seinem Sohne
Weiß ich den Weg auch nicht

Bekannte Melodien nicht im Gesangbuch
Hollingside (Jesus, Merciful and Mild)