Traditional Spanish Melody

The melody now known as MADRID or SPANISH HYMN has no securely identified individual composer. Hymnal authorities commonly describe it as a traditional or anonymous Spanish melody, although the precise place, date, and original secular or sacred context have not been firmly established. Some modern sources assign it broadly to the seventeenth or eighteenth century, but those datings are less secure than its nineteenth-century printed history.

The tune was circulating before Christian Henry Bateman published his hymn. Benjamin Carr, the London-born musician who became a prominent composer, organist, teacher, and music publisher in Philadelphia, arranged and printed the melody in the 1820s. Hymnary's recent documentation identifies a Carr printing in “Twelve Airs” in 1825, while other hymnals cite Philadelphia sources from 1824 or 1826. The melody was also associated with William Edward Hickson's earlier praise text before Bateman's adaptation appeared.

Many modern hymnals use a harmonization by Welsh musician David Evans from the 1927 “Revised Church Hymnary.” Carr and Evans should therefore be credited as arranger and harmonizer respectively, not as the original composer. The underlying traditional melody is public domain; particular modern arrangements may carry separate rights.