# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S610
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

TENE ELEC PRE SES TH I

610 PUBLICATION MATTERS

Spanish hymnal for Central and South America. He has met
repeatedly with the committee in charge and has been requested
also to assist in preparing notably the music which will be included
in the hymnal.

The task of preparing the pocket-size tune-text edition of
The Lutheran Hymnal was begun, at our request, by the chairman
of our committee. In view of the fact that a revised edition of our
hymnal is needed, it was decided to prepare one manuscript for
the. publication of both, the pocket-size edition and the revised
edition. After four months of much work had been devoted to this
project, the plan had to be abandoned temporarily for two reasons:
1. The work done by the engraver engaged for this purpose was
proving to be so consistently unsatisfactory that Concordia Pub-
lishing House was obliged to cancel the contract; 2. the supply of
hymnals kept in stock at Concordia Publishing House was rapidly
becoming so low that it became imperative to postpone the prep-
aration of new plates for a thoroughly revised edition. Taking
the work of the committee itself into consideration, it was found
to be practically impossible for one person to do this work alone.
The older members of the committee, all of whom had contributed
substantially to the preparation of the first edition of The Lutheran
Hymnal and of the liturgical worship materials of the Synodical
Conference, had experienced the same difficulty, though at that
time it was possible to distribute the work among the members of
the committee.

The first edition of The Lutheran Hymnal has been in use
since 1941. We believe that a revised edition should be prepared
within the near future and that the pocket-size edition should be
prepared simultaneously, so that the two versions will be in perfect
agreement with each other. In accordance with the resolution
passed by the Houston Convention, a serious attempt should be
made to include also the Small Catechism of Martin Luther and
the harmony of the Passion Story of our Lord, which is in The
Lutheran Lectionary. The many letters received to date by the
undersigned all favor a revised and improved edition, not a new
hymnal. The revision should include the adoption of present-day
practices applied in the better hymnals published by larger church
bodies of America and Europe, notably since the conclusion of
World War Il. Some of the hymns and parts of our liturgies
should be transposed to lower and more convenient keys, where
this will not deprive congregational singing of its vitality. In some
cases the key of the hymn might be changed to make the task of
accompanying more easy for the less advanced church musician.
If the size of the book will permit the addition, another musical

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