Erik Routley

31 October 1917—8 October 1982

THE REV. ERIK REGINALD ROUTLEY, 64, internationally known minister, musicologist, and composer of liturgical music, died yesterday at Metropolitan General Hospital in Nashville. Professor of church music and director of chapel at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., he had gone to Nashville to participate in a workshop on hymnology. He was found unconscious in his motel room, the victim of an apparent heart attack. He had been scheduled to speak at a morning session at Scarritt College, a liberal arts school in Nashville. Westminster spokesmen said he appeared to be well and in good spirits when he conducted classes Thursday in Princeton.

Born in Great Britain, Mr. Routley was educated at Lancing College and at Magdalen and Mansfield Colleges. Ordained in the Congregational Church in 1943, he held pastorates in Wednesbury, Edinburgh, and Newcastle upon Tyne. He also tutored at Oxford.

President of the Congregational Church in England and Wales in 1970–1971, Mr. Routley found himself with a larger ministry. In addition to his ministry at traditional British centers such as Cambridge, he came to the United States to preach at Pennsylvania State University. He was called to Princeton Theological Seminary in 1975, serving as visiting director of music. He was named director of chapel at Westminster in 1978.

Charlotte Winslow, spokeswoman for the choir college, said Mr. Routley had been in “great demand as a speaker. He had a marvelous command of the language and an international reputation as a minister and a musician.” His hymns, anthems, and works for organ and piano proved to be equally popular, she said. Widely published, he wrote more than 30 books, many dealing with church music and matters of faith and creed. But he changed pace now and then. His titles included “The Puritan Pleasures of the Detective Story,” published in 1972.

He lived in Skillman, Somerset County, N.J. Surviving are his wife, Margaret Scott Routley; sons, Nicholas and Patrick, and daughter, Priscilla. Services will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Bristol Church Chapel, Westminster Choir College, Princeton. Burial will be private.

Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA), 9 Oct. 1982

Featured Hymns:

AUGUSTINE
New songs of celebration render

Collections Edited by Routley:

Congregational Praise (1951)
University Carol Book (1961)
Dunblane Praises I (1965)
Dunblane Praises II (1967)
New Songs for the Church, Books I & II (1969)
St. James’s Church Newcastle Upon Tyne Supplementary Hymns (1973)
Cantate Domino (1974; Full Music Ed., 1980)
Hymns for Celebration (1974)
Behold Your King (1975)
New Church Praise (1975)
Jubilate Deo (1976)
Westminster Praise (1976)
Ecumenical Praise (1977)
Singing on Saturday (1977)
Festival Praise (1979)
Communion Hymns and Motets for Choirs (1981)
The Summit Choir Book (1983)
Rejoice in the Lord (1985)

Hymnological Works (Books, Selected):

The Church and Music (1950; rev. 1967)

I’ll Praise My Maker: A Study of the Hymns of Certain Authors Who Stand in or Near the Tradition of English Calvinism (1951)

Hymns and Human Life (1952; 2nd ed., 1959)

Companion to Congregational Praise (1953; suppl. 1960)

Hymns and the Faith (1955)

The Music of Christian Hymnody (1957)

The Organist’s Guide to Congregational Praise (1957)

The English Carol (1958)

Church Music and Theology (1959; 2nd ed., 1965)

Ecumenical Hymnody (1959)

Music, Sacred and Profane (1960)

Isaac Watts, 1674–1748 (1961)

Hymns Today and Tomorrow (1964)

Twentieth Century Church Music (1964)

Hymns for Church and School (1964) [Historical Introduction]

The Musical Wesleys (1968)

Words, Music, and the Church (1968)

Companion to Westminster Praise (1977)

A Short History of English Church Music (1977)

Church Music and the Christian Faith (1978)

An English-Speaking Hymnal Guide (1979); revised by Peter Cutts (2005)

A Panorama of Christian Hymnody (1979); revised by Paul Richardson (2005)

English Hymns and Their Tunes: A Survey (1981)

The Music of Christian Hymns (1981); updated as Let the People Sing by Paul Westermeyer (2005)

Christian Hymns Observed (1982)

The Poetry of Worship (1982)

Hymns and Ballads of Fred Pratt Green (1982) [Foreword]

The Divine Formula (1985)

Hymnological Works (Articles, Selected):

“Requirements in a new hymn book,” HSGBI Bulletin, no. 30 (Jan. 1945), pp. 6–8.

“Some modern needs in hymnody,” HSGBI Bulletin, no. 32 (July 1945), pp. 4–6.

“What makes a good hymn?” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 3, no. 6 (Spring 1953), pp. 90–96.

“What remains for the modern hymn writer to do?” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 3, no. 9 (Jan. 1954), pp. 148–153.

“A new development in hymn tune writing,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 4, no. 6 (Summer 1957), pp. 85–91.

“The vocabulary of church music,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review, vol. 18 (1963), pp. 135–147.

“Hymns and music in church worship,” Union Seminary Quarterly Review, vol. 18 (1963), pp. 235–242.

“The Psalms in the life of a church musician,” Journal of Church Music, vol. 8 (1966), pp. 2–5; vol. 9 (1967), pp. 8–11.

“Music in modern worship,” British Weekly (29 Dec. 1966), p. 8.

“On congregational singing—the next chapter,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 7, no. 6 (Jan. 1971), pp. 113–122.

“Hymns are our liturgy,” Methodist Church Music Society, Bulletin, vol. 1 (1973), pp. 182–186.

“Some thoughts on the carols of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany,” Church Music, vol. 74, no. 2 (St. Louis: 1974), pp. 7–10.

“The background of the English renaissance in hymnody,” The Hymn, vol. 28, no. 2 (April 1977), pp. 64–66: HathiTrust

“Christian hymnody and Christian maturity,” Worship, vol. 51 (1977), pp. 502–522.

“Theology for Church Musicians,” Theology Today, vol. 34 (1977), pp. 20–28.

“Sexist language: A view from a distance,” The Hymn, vol. 31, no. 1 (Jan. 1980), pp. 26–32: HathiTrust

“An interview with Erik Routley,” by Harry Eskew, The Hymn, vol. 32, no. 4 (Oct. 1981), pp. 198–206: HathiTrust

For a more complete list, see Duty and Delight (1985)

Recordings:

Stone Lectures, etc., Princeton Theological Seminary (Princeton, NJ: 1966–1975): PTSEM

Gheens Lectures, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 5 Lectures (Louisville, KY: 12–13 May 1966): SBTS

Christian Hymns: An Introduction to Their Story, Westminster Choir College, 12 Lessons (Princeton, NJ: 1980): WCC

Editions:

Eternal Light: 15 Hymn Tunes by Erik Routley (1971)

Our Lives Be Praise: The Hymn Tunes, Carols, and Texts of Erik Routley (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1990).

Manuscripts:

Erik Routley Collection, Talbott Library, Westminster Choir College: Website

Related Resources:

Robin A. Leaver, James H. Litton, Carlton R. Young, eds., Duty and Delight: Routley Remembered (Carol Stream, IL: Hope, 1985).

Caryl Micklem, “Erik Routley 1917–1982: An Appreciation,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 10, no. 4 (January 1983), pp. 85–87.

The Hymn, vol. 34, no. 1 (January 1983):

Ray Robinson, “Erik Routley: A Tribute,” pp. 14–17: HathiTrust

Fred Pratt Green, “In memory of Erik Routley” [poem], p. 18: HathiTrust

John Wilson, “Erik Routley: A Tribute,” pp. 18–19: HathiTrust

Carlton R. Young, “The memorial service,” pp. 20–23: HathiTrust

Richard Watson & Kenneth Trickett, eds., “Erik Reginald Routley,” Companion to Hymns and Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1988), pp. 599–600.

Raymond Glover, “Erik Reginald Routley,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 2 (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 594–596.

Paul Westermeyer, “Erik Routley,” With Tongues of Fire: Profiles in 20th-Century Hymn Writing (St. Louis: Concordia, 1995), pp. 108–120.

Glenn Phillip Eernisse, “The views of Erik Routley on inclusive language in hymnody,” The Hymn, vol. 47, no. 1 (January 1996), pp. 34–40: HathiTrust

Adrienne Tindall, Encounter with Erik Routley (Vernon Hills, IL: Darcy Press, 1997).

The Hymn, vol. 53, no. 4 (October 2002):

Carlton R. Young, et al., “Erik Routley (1917–1982), the abiding hymnist,” pp. 7–18: HathiTrust

Alan Luff, “Remembering Erik Routley,” pp. 8–9: HathiTrust

Brian Wren, “Erik Routley: Musician, Theologian, Mentor, Wit, and Friend,” pp. 9–10: HathiTrust

Emily Brink, “Erik Routley in Recent North American Hymnals,” pp. 10–12: HathiTrust

C. Michael Hawn, “Cantate Domino: Erik Routley and Global Song,” pp. 12–13: HathiTrust

Ann MacKenzie, “Erik Routley and Rejoice in the Lord,” p. 13: HathiTrust

Jane Marshall, “Erik Routley the wordsmith,” pp. 14–15: HathiTrust

Paul Richardson, “The influence of Routley’s writings in the classroom today,” pp. 15–16: HathiTrust

George H. Shorney, “Erik Routley’s contributions to North American hymnody,” pp. 16–17: HathiTrust

Christopher M. Idle, ed., “Erik Reginald Routley,” Exploring Praise! vol. 2 (Darlington: Praise Trust, 2007), p. 206.

David M. Thompson, “Duty and delight: Reflections on aspects of the ministry of Erik Routley, 1917–82,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 21, no. 12 (Autumn 2017), pp. 441–450.

Christopher S. Ahlman, “Erik Routley,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 2 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 621–622.

Nancy Graham, “Erik Routley in the 21st century,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 23, no. 12 (Autumn 2023), pp. 439–444.

Nancy Graham, The Unfractured Faith of Erik Routley: From Brighton to Princeton, Foreword by Nicholas Routley, Introduction by Carlton R. Young (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023): Amazon

Nancy Wicklund Gray, “Erik Routley,” The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology:
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/e/erik-routley

Erik Routley, Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/person/Routley_ER