Richard Robert Chope was a 19th and early 20th-century English Anglican clergyman, hymnal editor, musicologist, and key figure in the Victorian revival and reform of church music. Born on September 21, 1830, he received his education at Exeter College, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1855 before taking Holy Orders in the Church of England in 1856. He began his clerical career as Curate of Stapleton, Gloucestershire, where the immediate practical needs of his local parish choir prompted him to compile and edit The Congregational Hymn and Tune Book in 1857.

Following his initial appointment, Chope served curacies at Sherborne, Dorset (1858), Upton Scudamore, Wiltshire (1859), and Brompton, London (1861). While at Upton Scudamore, he played a central role in organizing and training the regional chorus for the inaugural Choral Festival held at Salisbury Cathedral, a milestone in the movement to elevate corporate liturgical singing across rural and suburban parishes. In 1862, he issued a significantly expanded edition of The Congregational Hymn and Tune Book, alongside The Canticles, Psalter, and Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, Noted and Pointed. In 1865, he was appointed Perpetual Curate (later Vicar) of the newly built parish of St. Augustine's, Queen's Gate, South Kensington, a prominent Anglo-Catholic center where he served for decades.

Chope was an active media figure and advocate for high-church musical reform. He co-founded The Choir and Musical Record and served for a period as proprietor and assistant editor of The Literary Churchman. His hymnological legacy rests primarily on his pioneering work in restoring ancient and medieval carols to congregational usage within the Anglican liturgical framework. His landmark compilations, Carols for Use in Church during Christmas and Epiphany (1875) and Carols for Easter and Other Tides (1887), provided classic harmonizations and verse arrangements that helped establish the modern tradition of congregational carol singing.

Alongside his editorial work, Chope authored, translated, and adapted numerous original texts and carols for the liturgical calendar, including:

• "Stars all bright are beaming" — A widely published Christmas carol celebrating the nativity scene and angelic proclamation.

• "Bright angel hosts are heard on high" — A festive Christmas text highlighting the chorus of angels over Bethlehem.

• "Christ is risen, lift the song" — A vibrant Easter morning hymn celebrating the Resurrection.

• "Merrily the Easter bells" — An Easter carol designed for parish choirs and children's processions.

• "The wise men saw a light afar" — An Epiphany hymn chronicling the journey of the Magi.

• "Ye holy angels bright" — A widely used adaptation and revision of Richard Baxter's classic text.

Richard Robert Chope died in 1928 at the age of ninety-seven, leaving behind a profound legacy of editorial scholarship and liturgical revival that permanently shaped Anglican church music and traditional carol collections.