Beloved Presbyterian composer Hal Hopson dies at 92

LOUISVILLE — Presbyterians and other lovers of sacred music are mourning this week the death of Hal Hopson, a Presbyterian composer of church music who published more than 3,000 works.

Image

Hopson died Sunday at age 92. His funeral will be at 3 p.m. Central Time on Aug. 16 at University Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas.

His publisher, ECS Publishing Group, said his work is heard weekly in congregations throughout the country. Hopson “composed music that was accessible to nearly all choirs and congregations, always striving to include rather than exclude,” his publisher said. “His published repertoire included almost every conceivable genre: anthems for children, youth and adult choirs, as well as compositions for organ piano, harpsichord and handbells.”

His cantata, “God with Us,” was one of the few compositions selected by a panel at the Kennedy Space Center to be placed in a capsule during the United States Bicentennial in 1976. The capsule will be opened at the Tricentennial in 2076 and will be heard again as a representative piece of American choral composition of this century.

A church musician throughout his professional life, Hopson also served as a conductor-clinician for workshops and choral festivals in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and as a professor of church music at Westminster Choir College and Scarritt Graduate School.

He was born June 12, 1933, in Mound, Texas, in a family of 13 children where music making played a prominent role. He first accompanied worship services at age 13 and later graduated from Baylor University and Southern Baptist Seminary.

He served on the national boards of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and the Task Force on Psalmody sponsored by the PC(USA), which resulted in the official Psalter for the denomination, “The Psalter: Psalms and Canticles for Singing.”

In the summer of 2013, Austin, Texas, became the home of Hopson and his wife, Martha Smith Hopson, also a church musician. They had three children and six grandchildren, and enjoyed living in the beautiful Texas hill country.

According to the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, the PC(USA)’s associate for Worship, Hopson had 13 works in the 2013 Glory to God hymnal and six in the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal. One of the best-known is “The Gift of Love,” (GTG 693, PH 335) Hopson’s paraphrase of First Corinthians 13, also familiar to choirs in a beloved anthem setting.

“Hal brought tremendous energy, creativity, passion and theological integrity to his work composing and arranging psalmody, hymns, anthems and the ritual song that serviced our Sunday liturgy of Word and Sacrament,” said the Rev. Dr. David Batchelder, who served West Plano Presbyterian Church alongside the Hopsons. “What made this collaboration special was that this music was fashioned in the crucible of a vibrant liturgical community whose voices were lifted in praise and thanksgiving each week. It was my honor and privilege to participate in this sacred work with someone so deeply committed to the liturgy.”

“Hal Hopson had a gift for writing music that congregations loved to sing,” said David Eicher, editor of Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal. “His gentle, kind spirit spoke through his many compositions and arrangements. He was deeply committed to the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition of psalm singing, and had a special talent for writing singable refrains for responsorial psalms.”

“I first met Hal when I was in my mid-20s,” said the Rev. Dr. Kimberly Bracken Long. “He led a choir workshop at Abington Presbyterian Church and asked if anyone had a high C. Everybody pointed at me, and I did the job. When I saw him some 20 years later and introduced myself, he said, ‘Oh, I remember you! You had the high C!’ We’ve been friends ever since. I have so much admiration and respect and fondness for him and for Martha.”

Josh Taylor, PAM’s president-elect, said that having served as a small church musician, “I was grateful for Hal’s commitment to accessible excellence — especially his reduced versions of ‘Messiah’ and ‘Elijah,’ which kept alive a musical tradition he deeply cherished.”

“When Hal and Martha decided to move to Austin and were cleaning out their home, I was the recipient of at least 20 boxes of scores, manuscripts, textbooks, etc., from Hal’s collection. It took me over a month to unbox it all … Hal told me that he had specifically pulled the things for me that he felt were most applicable to working church musicians.”

“Hal was extraordinarily kind and generous, with a mischievous sense of humor and an ever-present sense of wonder,” said Eric Wall, Director of Music at White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. “His tunes will remain in our ears and on our tongues. He composed, yes; he also arranged and adapted, and Hal the arranger-adapter is an image to hold on to: that generous spirit of asking, ‘What is this music, who are these people, and what might the Spirit do here and now?’”

Earlier this month, to honor the life of their parents and long devotion to music ministry and congregational song, the family created and seeded The Hal and Martha Hopson Service Musician Fund. The purpose is to support the Service Musician faculty position and promote congregational singing at PAM’s Worship and Music Conference.

For more than six decades, they faithfully served PAM and its Worship & Music Conference in many roles, including as members of the editorial board of Reformed Liturgy & Music, Routley Lecturers, Planning Team members, Adult Seminar leaders, and accompanists for many choirs, the family said. They were awarded honorary lifetime memberships in 2009.

One of the most meaningful aspects of the conference for the Hopson family was the powerful experience of communal singing in Anderson Auditorium at Montreat Conference Center, which the family called “a true expression of faith and unity.” Their deep love for the Worship and Music Conference became a cherished family tradition, with annual journeys that created lifelong memories and lasting connections across generations.

In his final days, family members said that Hal Hopson knew of the plans for this foundation. “It brought him great comfort and joy to know that his name would remain connected to PAM’s Worship and Music Conference at Montreat. We are deeply honored to carry forward Mom and Dad’s legacy and their enduring commitment to the tradition of congregational song through this fund,” family members said.

Learn more here. The goal to fully sustain the fund is $150,000. Gifts can be made here or mailed to Presbyterian Association of Musicians, c/o Travelink, 404 BNA Drive, #650, Nashville, TN, 37217.