Phoebe Knapp

This article is about the 19th-century hymn-tune composer. For the contemporaneous female Methodist evangelist associated with the holiness movement, see Phoebe Palmer.

Phoebe Knapp (née Palmer; March 9, 1839 – July 10, 1908) was an American composer of music for hymns and an organist. She composed the music for over five hundred hymns.^[1]

Phoebe Knapp
Phoebe Palmer Knapp from A Woman of the Century
Born	Phoebe Palmer (1839-03-09)March 9, 1839 New York City, U.S.
Died	July 10, 1908(1908-07-10) (aged 69) Poland, Maine
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	composer of music for hymns, organist
Known for	"Assurance" for Fanny Crosby's lyrics Blessed Assurance
Spouse	Joseph Fairchild Knapp
Children	Francis D. Knapp (June 23, 1857–July 7, 1857) Antoinette Knapp (c. 1862–1948) Joseph Palmer Knapp (1864 - 1951)
Parent(s)	Walter C. Palmer and Phoebe Palmer

Biography

Knapp was born in New York City. Her parents were Walter C. Palmer and Phoebe (Worrall) Palmer. She married Joseph Fairchild Knapp, one of the founders and the second president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. He had a pipe organ installed in their apartment. Notably, her husband copyrighted all of the tunes she composed as she wrote them.^[2]

She and her husband were members of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. The hymn writer Fanny Crosby was also a member of that church and a friend of Palmer.

She wrote over 500 hymn tunes. The most enduring melody she composed is that of the 1873 hymn "Blessed Assurance," for which Fanny Crosby wrote the text.^[2] Knapp and Crosby also collaborated on the Palm Sunday hymn "Open the Gates of the Temple."^[2] Another hymn by Fanny Crosby for which Knapp wrote the music is "Nearer the Cross."

Other hymn tunes by Knapp include "Albertson," the tune for "Jesus Christ is Passing By" by J. Denham Smith, and for "When My Love to Christ Grows Weak" by John R. Wreford. Her tune "Consecration" has been matched to "My Spirit Soul and Body" by Mary Dagworthy James. Phoebe Palmer Knapp also wrote sacred choral and solo works.

Knapp died in Poland, Maine.