Whiter Than Snow: A Song History
"Whiter Than Snow" is a hymn with words by James Nicholson and music by William G. Fischer, and it appeared in 1872 in Joyful Songs No. 4, issued in Philadelphia by the Methodist Episcopal Book Room.[1] Nicholson came to the United States from Ireland at about age twenty-five, settled in Philadelphia as a postal clerk, and spent some twenty years at the Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church, where he taught Sunday school and led the singing.[2] Fischer, born in Baltimore, built his musical life in Philadelphia, teaching at Girard College, co-owning a piano and music store, and composing about two hundred tunes for the Sunday school and gospel-song repertoire.[3]
Utagawa Hiroshige, Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo, color woodblock print, c. 1837–38. Shown for its subject; it has no connection to the hymn.
Several modern hymnals, the African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal among them, list Psalm 51:7 as the hymn's scripture reference.[4][5] According to Hymnary.org, the text has appeared in roughly 790 hymnals, and translations exist in Dutch and Spanish.[5] Larry Conger includes it, in DAD tuning, in Hymns Of Faith Tab Book, a collection that mixes celebrated hymns with less familiar ones, published by Fingers Of Steel.[6]
Sources
- Hymnary.org: "Whiter Than Snow" (The Cyber Hymnal #7407).
- Hymnary.org: "James Nicholson".
- Hymnary.org: "William G. Fischer".
- Hymnary.org: "Lord Jesus, I Long to Be Perfectly Whole (Whiter than Snow)" (AMEC Hymnal #367).
- Hymnary.org: "Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole".
- Fingers Of Steel: "Larry Conger, Hymns Of Faith Tab Book".
- Image: Utagawa Hiroshige, Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo, color woodblock print, c. 1837–38. The Cleveland Museum of Art.