Top of page

Article "Bow Down Thine Ear" by Horatio William Parker

Image: Bow Down Thine Ear, Psalm LXXXVI, 1862.
Bow Down Thine Ear, Psalm LXXXVI, 1862. William James Linton, wood engraver, 1812-1898, after drawings by John Franklin, history painter, born ca. 1800. Pages from The Psalms of David, with illustrations by John Franklin, engraved by W. J. Linton. London: Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1862, 136-37. Courtesy of Jan Lancaster, Washington, D.C.

After Parker moved to New Haven in 1893, he began several years of weekend commuting in order to continue his work as a church musician. He first commuted to Boston's Trinity Church until 1902, and next to New York's Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas until 1910. Parker's dedication to church music led to the composition of 29 anthems, two works of service music, and numerous hymn settings over the course of his career.

Parker composed the anthem Bow Down Thine Ear in 1890 during his tenure as organist and choirmaster at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan. The piece, subtitled "Anthem for penitential seasons," is a setting of Psalm 86:1-5 for mixed chorus and organ. Like many of Parker's early anthems, the structure of the work is in simple ternary form (ABA). Both A sections open with a strong unison statement of the melodic theme followed by the theme's imitative elaboration. The B section suggests the ad libitum use of soprano and bass soloists, followed by a solo quartet.

G. Schirmer published the piece in 1890. (Please note that in m. 44 the soprano's E-natural may have been intended to be an E-flat, as suggested by the doubling in the accompaniment.)

About this Item

Title

  • "Bow Down Thine Ear" by Horatio William Parker

Headings

  • -  Parker, Horatio W. -- 1863-1919 -- -- composer
  • -  Choral music
  • -  Worship and Praise
  • -  Songs and Music
  • -  Parlor and Concert Stage
  • -  rise of industrial america (1877-1900)
  • -  Articles

Genre

  • article

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress is providing access to these materials for educational and research purposes and makes no warranty with regard to their use for other purposes. The written permission of the copyright owners and/or other rights holders (such as holders of publicity and/or privacy rights) is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. There may be content that is protected as "works for hire" (copyright may be held by the party that commissioned the original work) and/or under the copyright or neighboring-rights laws of other nations.

Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permission ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Users should consult the bibliographic information that accompanies each item for specific information. This catalog data provides the details known to the Library of Congress regarding the corresponding items and may assist users in making independent assessments of the legal status of these items as related to their desired uses.

Items included here with the permission of the rights holders are indicated as such in the bibliographic record for each item.

In some cases, the Library was unable to identify a possible rights holder and has elected to place some of those items online as an exercise of fair use for strictly non-commercial educational uses. The Library of Congress would like to learn more about these materials and would like to hear from individuals or institutions that have any additional information or know of their history. Please contact:  Performing Arts Reading Room.

Suggested credit line: Library of Congress, Music Division.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

"Bow Down Thine Ear" by Horatio William Parker. Web.. https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200153422/.

APA citation style:

"Bow Down Thine Ear" by Horatio William Parker. [Web.] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200153422/.

MLA citation style:

"Bow Down Thine Ear" by Horatio William Parker. Web.. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200153422/>.