George Ratcliffe Woodward
1848 - 1934
Church of England
Biography
George Ratcliffe Woodward was an English Anglican priest, poet, translator, editor, and church musician. Born in Birkenhead, he studied at Harrow and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating in 1872. He was ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1874 and priest in 1875, then served parishes in London, Norfolk, and Suffolk. His command of Greek, Latin, and German supported a lifelong effort to recover historic Christian texts and melodies for English worship.
Woodward edited and translated extensively. His publications included The Cowley Carol Book, Songs of Syon, an edition of the 1582 Piae Cantiones, An Italian Carol Book, Hymns of the Greek Church, and, with Charles Wood, The Cambridge Carol Book. His research also supplied much unfamiliar material used in The English Hymnal of 1906. In 1924 he received an honorary Lambeth doctorate in music.
For this record Woodward is not the composer of PUER NOBIS NASCITUR. Hymnological sources identify the harmony with the 1902 edition of The Cowley Carol Book, while the represented Open Hymnal score describes its setting as used for The English Hymnal in 1906. His proper role is therefore arranger or harmonizer of the received melody.
Woodward edited and translated extensively. His publications included The Cowley Carol Book, Songs of Syon, an edition of the 1582 Piae Cantiones, An Italian Carol Book, Hymns of the Greek Church, and, with Charles Wood, The Cambridge Carol Book. His research also supplied much unfamiliar material used in The English Hymnal of 1906. In 1924 he received an honorary Lambeth doctorate in music.
For this record Woodward is not the composer of PUER NOBIS NASCITUR. Hymnological sources identify the harmony with the 1902 edition of The Cowley Carol Book, while the represented Open Hymnal score describes its setting as used for The English Hymnal in 1906. His proper role is therefore arranger or harmonizer of the received melody.