Hymn Tune Index

The Hymn Tune Index (HTI) project began in the 1970s at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, Illinois (UIUC). It arose out of research towards Nicholas Temperley*’s 1979 book, The Music of the English Parish Church (Cambridge, UK). He had been surprised to find how difficult it was to determine the origins and history of particular hymn tunes. Whenever a hymnal companion was being prepared, the editor had to carry out research in primary sources for each tune, and, even then, could not be sure that s/he had located the earliest source, or correctly identified the composer. There was an obvious need for a systematic survey of all early sources. In 1982 it was supported by a...