Hymns on Sunday

In the days when bills came in envelopes through the letterbox, a young musician from Northern Ireland used the back of an electricity bill to write down some melody ideas. In this week’s programme… Read more Audio

Arthur Sullivan was the music half of the successful theatrical partnership, Gilbert and Sullivan. Alongside those catchy songs from Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore, he also wrote hymn tunes. You… Read more Audio

Charles Wesley’s well-loved hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling has been set to many different tunes over the years. In this week’s programme, you can hear a setting by English composer Howard… Read more Video, Audio

It's 'hymns by her' this week - we're featuring hymns written or translated by women. Read more Audio

We're celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Maori this week and feature recordings by Haatea Kapa Haka from Himene Maori - a project to document, record, and publish Maori hymns and waiata. The project is led… Read more Audio

It’s thanks to the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust for the recording of our opening hymn this week, Shirley Murray’s God bless our land. The Trust was set up to encourage the writing, publication and… Read more Audio

Hymns to mark the start of the Season of Creation include For the beauty of the earth and Shirley Murray’s Touch the earth lightly. Read more Audio

Hubert Parry's familiar tune 'Jerusalem' begins this week's programme, paired with words by choir director and artist, Arthur Grimshaw: Sing to the Lord a new song. Read more Audio

Hymns by 'Tims’ feature in this week’s programme: English hymn writer Timothy Dudley-Smith and Timothy Rees, who was Bishop of Llandaff in the 1930s. Read more Audio

We're marking the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, Mother of God in this week's programme with hymns including Immaculate Mary and Ka Waiata. Read more Audio

Hymns to mark the Feast of the Transfiguration today, including Christ whose glory fills the skies and Be still, for the presence of the Lord. Read more Audio

It's all about descants today - those soaring vocal lines above the melody that are often sung on the final verse of hymns. Read more Audio