365 Come Thou Almighty King

 This hymn is a favorite opening hymn and it's four verses are a perfect treatise to the Holy Trimity. Because of that, all four verses are almost always sung. The fourth verse is an affirmation of the mysterious doctrine of the Holy Trinity. As a matter of fact, this hymn appeared to celebrate Trinity Sunday in the year in 1757. The author of the text is unknown but it first came out in London. Even though this hymn text was first published in a pamphlet from the Wesleys, most musicologist doubt that either of the Wesleys authored this.

About15 years earlier, the British national hymn "God Save Our Gracious King," first came into existence.  Both of these hymn texts were sung to the same hymn tune for a period of time. Today, however, that tune, "America" is used exclusively in this country for our national hymn, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." The tune, "Italian Hymn" has been wedded permanently together with this text in all major hymnals.

It has been suggested that the newer text was written as an act of rebellion and as a substitute for the royal words and this is the reason the author chose to remain anonymous. Another theory suggested that this text was written as a sequel to the earlier text; the first was written as a tribute to an earthly ruler, the other a prayer to a heavenly King.

Although we are not sure about the truth of this story, there is an interesting tale of the hymn's use during the time of the Revolutionary War. According to the story, British soldiers invaded an American church service one Sunday morning and demanded that the congregation sing, "God Save Our Gracious King." The people in the church responded with the requested tune but with he words, "Come Thou Almighty King."

The tune that is paired with the words, "Italian Hymn" was composed especially for this tune by Felice de Giardini in 1769. The composer was born in Turin, Italy in 1716. He moved to London where he became a popular violinist in operatic circles. Later, he moved to Moscow as an operatic conductor and died there in 1796.