Robert Guy McCutchan

McCUTCHAN, Robert Guy. b. Mt. Ayr, Iowa, 13 September 1877, d. Claremont, California, 15 May 1958. McCutchan was a distinguished hymnologist, editor, teacher and church musician who played a major role in shaping Methodist hymnody, music and performance practice during the first half of the 20th century. His career as a church musician and educator was characterized by a deep love and concern for local congregations, and a strong desire for typical worshipers to experience the joy of singing great hymns. He defined a good hymn as having beauty, life, reverence, and expressing a truth simply, and a poor hymn as the reverse of most or all of these (Thrapp, 1957). As a conductor of choir and...