Music Notes for March 7

This week’s anthem is a setting of the hymn, “Lord of All Hopefulness,” by Jan Struther, the pen name of English author Joyce Anstruther.  She is most well known for creating the character Mrs. Miniver in a series of columns about ordinary life for the Times newspaper.  These were collected in 1940 into a book which was credited with swaying the American public in favor of entering World War II.  Struther wrote a number of hymns at the request of Percy Dearmer, editor of the hymnal, Songs of Praise (1931), where “Lord of All Hopefulness” first appeared.