Edward Harwood (of Darwen)

Edward Harwood was born at Hoddlesden, near Darwen, Lancashire, in 1707. His early training was as a hand-loom weaver, but he subsequently became a professional musician in Liverpool.¹ His first collection of psalmody, A set of hymns and psalm tunes, was published in London in 1781,² and a second collection, entitled A Second Set of Hymns and Psalm Tunes was published at Chester in 1786.³ He died in 1787.⁴

Harwood's setting of Pope's ode Vital spark of heav'nly flame was first published in Harwood's A set of hymns and psalm tunes: it is written in the style of a glee⁵, and in the original publication is written for the most part for three voices (two trebles and bass), with a fourth (tenor) part being added for the last few bars only. It was, however, often arranged for the more usual four part-choir.⁶ The piece was very popular in the first half of the 19th century, being widely sung among Anglicans, Methodists and dissenters⁷, and Lightwood noted in 1935 that it 'certainly had a long and prosperous run, and even now it is not quite extinct'.⁸ However, it was not always a great favourite with the clergy, whose objections were mainly to do with the text, which is not explicitly religious (also, it's a poem written by a Catholic, after the last words of the Emperor Hadrian).

^1 p343, Lightwood, 1935
^2 Hymn Tune Index, source code HarwES1
^3 Hymn Tune Index, source code HarwES2
^4 p343, Lightwood, 1935
^5 p214, Temperley, 1979
^6 p214, Temperley, 1979
^7 p214, Temperley, 1979
^8 p343, Lightwood, 1935

• Lightwood, James (1935). The Music of the Methodist Hymn Book. London: Epworth Press.
• Scholes, Percy (1970). Ward, John Owen (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Music. Oxford University Press.
• Temperley, Nicholas (2006) [first published 1979]. The Music of the English Parish Church. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-27457-9.

• Free scores by Edward Harwood (of Darwen) at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)