Descants

An editor of the 1905 Methodist Hymnal suggested to Frank M. North (1850-1935) the need for a missionary hymn in the forthcoming volume. Long involved in urban mission, his effort resulted in 'Where cross the crowded ways of life.' First published in a missionary journal, The Christian City, in 1903, it appeared two years later in the The Methodist Hymnal two years later, and wide acceptance followed.

It has been long suggested that the tune now paired to this text was adapted by the composer, William Gardiner, from themes by Beethoven and Mozart. Gardiner himself first named the tune Beethoven. Though he proselytzed the work of Beethoven and Haydn in England, and sometimes used their themes in other hymn arrangements, the connection is tenuous in this particular tune and thus it quickly acquired other names, such as Germany, Fulda, Walton, and the eponymous Gardiner. Written about a century before the current text, in 1815, it was intially associated with 'As a shepherd gently leads us.' 

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Gardiner version 3.9.2

Where cross the crowded ways of life

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hymnal verse
descant verse

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