Hal H. Hopson

Hal H. Hopson was an American church musician, composer, arranger, hymn writer, teacher, and clinician born in Mound, Texas, in 1933. Raised in a family of thirteen children, he began accompanying worship at thirteen. His first piano teacher was his older sister Merle, whose musical and personal influence he later honored in the name MERLE'S TUNE. Hopson studied at Baylor University and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and pursued additional musical study in the United States and Germany.

His church appointments included Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville and Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas. He also taught church music at Westminster Choir College and Scarritt Graduate School and served the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Task Force on Psalmody. His cantata God with Us was selected for a United States Bicentennial time capsule to be opened in 2076.

Hopson produced more than 3,000 published works over his long career, ranging from hymn tunes and psalm settings to anthems, keyboard music, and larger choral works. MERLE'S TUNE, composed in 1983, became a notable setting for Michael Perry's Benedictus paraphrase and for other texts. Hopson died on July 20, 2025, at age ninety-two.