Joy to the World

This is an arrangement of the wonderful hymn, Joy To The World, which the lyricist (Isaac Watts) meant to be about Christ's second coming, not his first.

The verse about "No more let sin and sorrow grow" was apparently a later addition to connect the hymn to Christ's first Incarnation. The other three verses are related to the Second Coming.

In any event, today the hymn is a Christmas hymn, treating the first and second Incarnations as one extended joyful event.

Ruth Elaine Schram wrote her first song at the age of twelve, and her first octavo was published twenty years later, in 1988. In 1992, she became a full-time composer and arranger and now has over 2,000 published works. Over seventeen million copies of her songs have been purchased in their various venues, and she has been a recipient of the ASCAP Special Award each year since 1990.

In addition to her choral music for church and school choirs, her songs appear on thirty albums (four of which have been Dove Award Finalists) and numerous children's videos, including sixteen songs on four gold videos, and four songs on one multi-platinum video. Her songs have also appeared on such diverse television shows as "The 700 Club" and HBO's acclaimed series "The Sopranos."

Ruthie began piano and theory lessons at the age of five. She studied music at Lancaster Bible College and Millersville State College and taught Elementary Music in Pennsylvania for several years. She now lives in Birmingham, Alabama.

This selection is from Sunday Morning Organist Vol 1: Christmas available at http://www.alfred.com/Products/Sunday-Morning-Organist-Volume-1-Solos-for-Christmas--00-33259.aspx