We Gather Together

November 26, 2017 Sunday)
(Quotations from Hymnary, org: )
The Translator of this anonymous hymn is Theodore Baker (b. New York, NY, 1851; d. Dresden, Germany, 1934). Baker is well known as the compiler of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (first ed. 1900), the first major music reference work that included American composers. Baker studied music in Leipzig, Germany, and wrote a dissertation on the music of the Seneca people of New York State-one of the first studies of the music of American Indians. From 1892 until his retirement in 1926, Baker was a literary editor and translator for G. Schirmer, Inc., in New York City. In 1926, he returned to Germany. Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1987.
The name of the author is unknown. In some hymnals, the editors noted that a hymn’s author is unknown to them, and so this artificial “person” entry is used to reflect that fact. Obviously, the hymns attributed to “Author Unknown” “Unknown” or “Anonymous” could have been written by many people over a span of many centuries.

Before leaving this Thanksgiving Weekend, let us hear one more song, from Lawrence Welk’s 1972 Thanksgiving show. The title of the song is “Be Thankful,” and it was written by George Cates and Irving Taylor.