The Manse in Thaxted, where Gustav Holst lived from 1917 to 1925. Thaxted is a hymn tune by the British composer Gustav Holst, based on the stately theme from the middle section of the Jupiter movement of his orchestral suite The Planets and named after the English village where he resided much of his life. He adapted the theme in 1921 to fit the patriotic poem I Vow to Thee, My Country by Cecil Spring-Rice but that was as a unison song with orchestra.^[1] It did not appear as a hymn-tune called Thaxted until his friend Vaughan Williams included it in Songs of Praise in 1926.^[2] This setting was sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.

Other hymns written to the tune include

• "O Merciful Redeemer" - Frances Ridley Havergal, an obscure version of the lyrics which reminds many Catholics of Saint Faustina and the Divine Mercy devotion.
• "We Pledge To One Another" - Jill Jenkins^[3]
• "Building The Kingdom" - Jo Kenderes
• "O God Beyond All Praising" - Michael Perry^[4]
• "O Spirit All-Embracing" - Delores Dufner, OSB^[5]
• "We Praise You and Acknowledge You, O God" - a paraphrase of the Te Deum Laudamus by Stephen P. Starke in the 2006 Lutheran Service Book^[6]
• "Let Streams of Living Justice" - William Whitla, in Canadian Anglican hymnal Common Praise^[7]
• "Three Days" - M.D. Ridge^[8]
• "From Penola's Plains" - Australian hymn in honour of Mary MacKillop - Michael Herry and Geoffrey Cox^[9]
• "O God, Show Mercy to Us" - a setting of Psalm 67 in the Reformed Presbyterian Church's Book of Psalms for Worship.
• "The Iron Rod" - a setting by Bob Galbraith of a popular hymn of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based on 1 Nephi 11 and environs of the Book of Mormon. It was first performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the 175th Semiannual General Conference in 2001.^[10]
• "The Answer" - song with lyrics by Corrinne May, which appears on her fourth album, The Gift.
• "For the Splendor of Creation" - arranged by Jameson Marvin for the Harvard University Commencement Choir^[11]
• "May you our Center Be" - School Hymn/Anthem of St Patrick's College, Sutherland ^[12]

Secular songs written to the tune include:

• "In the Quest for Understanding" - sesquicentennial anthem for Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin^[13]
• "World in Union" - the anthem of the Rugby World Cup with lyrics by Charlie Skarbek, introduced at the 1991 edition and sung at that time by Dame Kiri te Kanawa, and again for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, this time sung by Hayley Westernra.

A literary reference appears in "The Adventure of the Lost World",^[14] a Sherlock Holmes pastiche written by Dominic Green, where the tune is a major plot element, though the story contains a chronological error in that its Autumn 1918 setting would pre-date the publishing of the tune under the name "Thaxted".

Commercial uses

• Sarah Brightman has recorded a song "Running" in 2007. It was the theme song for the IAAF Championships; she performed it at the opening ceremony in Osaka.
• Maddy Prior includes the tune in two pieces of her 2003 album Lionhearts.

References

External links

• ''Thaxted'' sheet music (PDF)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3shwA1DdVw Orchestral Performance of Thaxted.