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THE GIFT OF
The Young Churchman Co.
Olin IITUMINIO
Music
ML
3001
197
Series of 1908-9
THE HALE LECTURES
WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
CHICAGO, ILL.
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
THE HALE LECTURES, 1908-9
MUSIC
IN THE CHURCH
BY
PETER CHRISTIAN LUTKIN, Mus. Doc.
Dean of the School of Music
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois,
MILWAUKEE
THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN COMPANY
Igro
COPYRIGHT BY
THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO.
1910
TO THE MEMORY OF
John Harris Knowles, A.M.,
SOMETIME CANON OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ss. PETER AND
PAUL OF THE DIOCESE OF CHICAGO, THESE PAGES
ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE . . . . . .
I.-HYMN TUNES . . . . . . . .
II.-CONGREGATIONAL SINGING . . . . .
III.—THE ORGAN . . . . . . . . .
IV.—THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER . . .
V.—THE VESTED MALE CHOIR . . . . .
VI.--THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC IN THE
ANGLICAN CHURCH . . . . . .
XI
1
54
101
148
184
220
Transfer to
musce
9.!!!!!
EXTRACTS
FROM THE WILL OF THE Rr. Rev. CHARLES REUBEN
HALE, D.D., LL.D., BISHOP COADJUTOR OF SPRING-
FIELD, born 1837; consecrated July 26, 1892;
died December 25, 1900.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and
N of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I, CHARLES REUBEN HALE, BISHOP OF CAIRO, BISHOP
COADJUTOR OF SPRINGFIELD, of the City of Cairo, Illinois,
do make, publish, and declare this, as and for my Last
Will and Testament, hereby revoking all former wills
by me made.
First. First of all, I commit myself, soul and body,
into the hands of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour, in
Whose Merits alone I trust, looking for the Resurrection
of the Body and the Life of the World to come.
Fourteenth. All the rest and residue of my Estate,
personal and real, not in this my Will otherwise spe-
cifically devised, wheresoever situate, and whether legal
or equitable, I give, devise, and bequeath to "THE WEST-
ERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS," above
mentioned, but nevertheless In Trust, provided it shall
accept the trust by an instrument in writing so stat-
ing, filed with this Will in the Court where probated,
within six months after the probate of this Will—for
the general purpose of promoting the Catholic Faith,
in its purity and integrity, as taught in Holy Scrip-
ture, held by the Primitive Church, summed up in the
EXTRACTS
Creeds and affirmed by the undisputed General Councils,
and, in particular, to be used only and exclusively for
the purposes following, to-wit:-
(2) The establishment, endowment, publication, and
due circulation of Courses of Lectures, to be delivered
annually forever, to be called "The Hale Lectures."
The Lectures shall treat of one of the following
subjects:
(a) Liturgies and Liturgics.
(6) Church Hymns and Church Music.
(c) The History of the Eastern Churches.
(d) The History of National Churches.
(e) Contemporaneous Church History: i.e., treat-
ing of events happening since the beginning
of what is called “The Oxford Movement,"
in 1833.
It is the aim of the Seminary, through the Hale
Lectures, to make from time to time some valuable
contributions to certain of the Church's problems,
without thereby committing itself to agreement with
the utterances of its own selected Preachers.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
BISHOP ANDERSON, when honoring the under-
signed with the appointment of Hale Lecturer for
1908-1909, expressed the wish that the lectures
might be made as practical as possible. Every
effort has been made to comply with this request,
and as a consequence, technicalities and discussions
which would only interest the professional musician
have been avoided.
The general plan of the lectures (which are
printed as delivered) is two-fold: in the first place
to set before the interested reader, be he clergyman
or layman, a concise history of the various subjects,
in order that he may arrive at an intelligent com-
prehension of the situation as a whole; in the second
place to give practical suggestions bearing upon
conditions as they exist in the average church or
parish of to-day.
The writer is greatly indebted to the files of that
invaluable journal for the Church musician, the
“New Music Review” (published by the H. W. Gray
Co., New York), for much detailed information and
many pertinent suggestions.
Since these lectures were put in type an histori-
cal edition of "Hymns Ancient and Modern” has ap-
peared. This book contains, in addition to the
hymns and tunes, a history of the words and music
in each instance, giving their sources and the origi-
xii
AUTHOR'S PREFACD
nal text in case of translations. The work is truly
monumental in character and indispensable to the
true hymn lover. A most valuable book, but con-
cerning tunes only, is Cowan & Love's "The Music
of the Church Hymnary and the Psalter in Metre."
The Bibliography at the end of this book, al-
though far from complete, endeavors to give works
covering all phases of Church music.
NOTE
The numbers in parentheses, under the hymn titles
in the margin, refer to the hymn numbers in the author-
ized editions of the Church Hymnal.
HYMN TUNES.
importance.
A CONSIDERATION of the relative import-
ance of hymn and tune opens a very wide field
for discussion, but as far as the general public Tunes, their
is concerned the tune holds indisputably
the supremacy. Many a hymn of mediocre
merit has been sung into fame and widespread
use through the compelling power of the tune,
while many a worthy hymn has been unable to
survive inadequate musical expression. The
tune, therefore, becomes of vital practical
importance and it possesses qualities peculiar
to itself which no other agency can either dis-
place or duplicate. It is the one channel
through which we can collectively voice our
offerings of prayer and praise to Almighty
God, the one medium by which all can unite
in an inspiring act of worship, and the only
means by which the people as a whole can be
swayed by a single emotion or uplifted by a
common impulse.
The tunes that are chosen for these high
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Choice
of tunes.
purposes should receive serious consideration.
It is not sufficient that they appeal to man, they
must also be worthy of presentation to God.
The question thus transfers itself to a higher
plane than the mere pleasing of the individual
taste. Fundamental worth, artistic merit, his-
toric association, fitness as to time and place,
practicability, are all factors which should be
given due consideration in the selection of
tunes. The important part hymn-singing has
played in the development and propagation of
the Christian religion should be told to laymen.
Interest would surely be awakened by telling
them of the historic value and associations of
certain tunes, by calling attention to the fact
that hymn-singing offers a common ground of
unity even among the most antagonistic of
Christian bodies. Moreover a precious bond of
union with the past exists in those ancient melo-
dies that were sung by the early Christians,
melodies which are still in existence and are
in use to-day in certain of our churches. The
plainsong of the early Church, the chorales of
the Lutherans, the psalm-singing of the Calvin-
ists, and the development of hymnology in our
own communion are all subjects of absorbing
interest.
While we are indebted to our dissenting
brethren in no small measure for the practice
of hymn-singing in its modern sense, and also
12
Superiority
of Anglican
tunes.
HYMN TUNES
sponsibility.
for many of our most beloved hymns, it is a
notorious fact that with all their zeal for con-
gregational singing no hymn tune composer of
preëminence has ever sprung from the sectarian
ranks. For nearly four centuries the Anglican
Church has supplied English-speaking Chris-
tendom with its best tunes, tunes that are uni-
versally conceded to be models of their type.
Their only rivals are the Lutheran chorales, but
Lutheran hymnody is a thing of the past
while the Anglican Church is to-day at its
fullest and ripest period of musical expression.
We of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Our ren
America are heirs to a rich heritage of hymn
music and we share in the musical glory of our
mother Church. Our hymnals are looked upon
as models by other Christian bodies, and each
denominational hymn book as it appears draws
more and more largely from our pages. We
occupy a responsible position in the develop-
ment of Church music in this country, and it
behooves us to maintain our high standards and
to make no concessions to the musical fads and
fancies of the hour. But we do not all realize
our high calling nor appreciate the stores of
treasures that we have to draw from. Educa-
tion is needed all along the line; education for
the layman, for the organist, for the choirmas-
ter, for the theological student, and, I fear, for
the three orders of the ministry.
4
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Scope of
lecture.
It is the object of this lecture to consider and
discuss the musical material in our hymnals;
to classify the better tunes; to give their sources
together with a more or less critical estimate
of their worth; and to explain their position
in the evolution of hymn-singing. They will
be considered in the following order:
I. Plainsong Melodies.
II. German Chorales.
III. Early English Tunes.
IV. Modern English Tunes.
V. American Tunes.
1. PLAINSONG MELODIES.
Origin of
plainsong.
The origin of plainsong or plain chant melo-
dies is a matter of uncertainty. By some they
are thought to be descended from the music of
the Jewish Temple, and by others to be founded
upon the musical system of the Greeks. In any
event they present features utterly foreign to
our modern scales and harmonic systems, and
have such striking peculiarities that even the
inexperienced readily recognize them. It is
more than probable that the first Christians
borrowed both music and liturgy from the Jew-
ish synagogue, but as there is absolutely no au-
thentic trace left of the music of the Jews it is
impossible to verify the matter. It must be
remembered that only since the tenth century
HYMN TUNES
has music been preserved by any definite system
of notation. Previous to that time it was a
matter of tradition, melodies being passed from
generation to generation largely through the
sense of hearing only. Curious melodies are to
be heard in the modern Jewish synagogue which
are claimed to be the original music of the Tem-
ple at Jerusalem, but they have doubtless suf-
fered greatly through the mutations of centuries
and the accumulated inaccuracies of aural tra-
dition.'
Modern music is based essentially upon even Plainsong
pulsations and regularly recurring accents. istics.
Plainsong may be looked upon as an expansion
of the natural inflections of the speaking voice
in declaiming prose. Modern melody is funda-
mentally conceived upon a harmonic fabric,
i.e., it conforms itself to certain habits of har-
monic progression and it is rarely satisfactory
without accompaniment. Plainsong was writ-
ten before the art of harmony was thought of,
and properly should not be accompanied at all."
Im
Plainsong
character
n ev
1 The tune usually sung to The God of Abraham Praise,
and called LOONI (NO. 460), is generally considered of an-
cient Hebrew origin. The words were written about 1770
and are an adaptation of the Jewish Yigdal or Metrical
Doxology. The tune was arranged from a presumably tra-
ditional melody sung to the Yigdal by a cantor named Leoni,
in a London Synagogue. The melody as we know it has in
all probability been infuenced by eighteenth-century har-
mony, for it lacks the characteristics of great antiquity.
2 If plainsong melodies be accompanied at all the har-
monies should adapt themselves to the rules of modal
counterpoint, a harmonic system which grew out of the
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Greek
modes.
Furthermore, modern melodies confine them-
selves to our present-day modes, the major and
the minor. Plainsong melodies at first had
choice of the four original authentic modes of
the Greeks,—the Dorian, the Phrygian, the Ly-
dian, and the Mixo-Lydian, to which Pope
Gregory the Great is popularly supposed to have
added the four plagal or accessory modes. Later
the system was expanded to no less than four-
teen modes, which gave to plainsong an inex-
haustible source of tonal variety.
At first plainsong was syllabic-that is to
say, one note was sung to each syllable—but it
was not long before ligatures, or the slurring of
two or more notes to one syllable, came into
vogue. This principle was developed until it
became a prime characteristic of plainsong, and
long melodic phrases were sung to a single word
or syllable. These "perieleses," as they were
called, are frequently of great beauty and serve
to give emotional expressiveness to the text.
This expansion and development of the musical
phrase was an artistic necessity, as custom per-
mitted no text repetition. Similar extended
material of plainsong itself. The modern habit of accom-
panying Gregorian tones or plainsong melodies with sen-
suous chromatic harmonies and the free use of dissonances,
is greatly to be deplored, and such treatment at once stamps
the performer as utterly ignorant of the true nature and
beauty of plainsong.
A more detailed account of these modes, as well as of
plainsong characteristics in general, will be found in the
last lecture,
HYMN TUNES
Peculiar
fitness of
plainsong.
phrases were also sung to an inarticulate vowel
sound and were called "pneumae."*
Although in the days of the early Church it
there was no sharp distinction between the pla
sacred and secular styles of music, plainsong
by its inherent strength, dignity, and beauty,
as well as by its centuries of use, has fully es-
tablished itself as peculiarly adapted to the pur-
poses of musical worship. If we assume that
it is desirable to have the music used for the
worship of Almighty God something apart,
something entirely removed from secular sug-
gestion, then we are obliged to admit that even
the tremendous development of the art of music
in our day has nothing to offer more fitting,
more characteristic, or better suited to its pur-
pose than the ancient plainsong.
4 The following is the closing phrase in a twelfth-
century Kyrie translated into modern notation:
Ky - ri - 0
ni
le - i - son.
MUSIO IN THE CHURCH
Lasting
quality of
plainsong.
It is surmised that the early hymn writers
supplied also the tunes, but it is extremely un-
likely that these melodies were original prod-
ucts. It is more probable that they were a
species of religious folksong, made up of famil-
iar melodic formulas and readily acquired by
the people. In any event the early Church
soon accumulated a rich treasury of Latin verse
set to plainsong melodies of distinction and
force.
That these melodies have lasting and vital
qualities is amply proved by the few plainsong
tunes that have come into general use. Take
for example our well-known Advent hymn,
"O come, O come, Emmanuel,” to its plainsong
setting. There are few tunes more universally
liked or sung more heartily than this. And
still it is a tune at which some experienced mu-
sicians look askance when first met with, be-
cause it is so far removed from the melodic and
harmonic phraseology to which they are accus-
tomed. While certain few never learn to like
it, its general popularity is unquestioned. Ex-
cellent as this tune is, however, it is not a speci-
Veni
Emmanuel
(No. 46).
During the various reforming and protesting move-
ments, these melodies came into disfavor, but ma
hymns were translated into the vernacular and supplied with
new tunes. The plainsong tunes, however, remained in use
among the Roman Catholics, and several hundred of them
are still extant. It remained for the Oxford Movement of
less than a century ago to discover and appreciate the real
worth of these ancient melodies and to introduce their use
into the Anglican Church. Since then their inherent worth
has slowly gained recognition.
HYMN TUNDS
.
Veni
Oreator
men of the pure plainsong melody. It is
usually ascribed to a French Missal of the thir-
teenth century in the National Library at Lis-
bon, though thorough search has failed to re-
veal it. The tune is probably made up of a
number of plainsong phrases, arranged to fit
the metre of Neale's translation of the original
Latin hymn, which dates from a Mozarabic
Breviary of the twelfth century.
A more authentic example of the ancient
style of melody is that of the "Veni Creator (No. 289).
Spiritus.” The original poem was written about
the year 800 and the plainsong melody used in
many of our churches has always been asso-
ciated with these words. It comes with striking
effect in the ordination and consecration ser-
vices, when its venerable strains seem to empha-
size the historic continuity of the priesthood.
Here again we feel the force of a musical
expression far removed from the musical idiom
of our day and perfectly fitting the mediæval
characteristics of the text. It must be admitted
that modern settings of this hymn seem point-
less and meaningless when once the spirit of the
traditional tune has been fathomed.
Another general favorite is “O quanta
Qualia.” To hear this noble tune sung in
vigorous unison is always an inspiration. Like
all plainsong melodies, it appears to best ad-
vantage when sung by men's voices only. The
O quanta
Qualia
(No. 397).
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Palestrina
(?-1594).
Victory
(No. 121).
tune sung to "The strife is o'er,” by Palestrina,
while not strictly a plainsong melody, has many
characteristics of the early style.
These four examples exhaust the list of
mediæval tunes that are at all generally known
in our churches, but they suffice to demonstrate
the great worth of these melodies and their prac-
tical adaptability to modern needs and condi-
tions. Our ritualistic churches draw upon a
larger selection from ancient sources, and melo-
dies which at first seem to be "without form or
comeliness” soon grow to be beloved.
That there is a growing sentiment in favor
of these tunes is attested by the fact that the
last edition of "Hymns Ancient and Modern”
(1904) has no less than seventy plainsong
hymns, over three times as many as in the first
edition of 1861. Immense labor was spent both
on the translation of the text of these ancient
hymns of the Western Church, and also upon
securing the best and most authentic arrange-
ment of the traditional tunes. These tunes are
first printed in the ancient notation upon the
four-lined C clef, with the square notes. Then
Increasing
popularity
of plain-
song.
O Among the hymns most in vogue are Pange Lingua,
Corde Natus, Ecce Agnus, Stabat Mater, and the beautiful
Easter hymn, 0 Tilii et Filiae, which, however, is com-
paratively modern, being of French origin and dating from
1674. Pange Lingua, dating from 570, is markedly char-
acteristic of the plainsong type. Some modern editors at-
tempt to force these unmetrical tunes into modern metres,
a process which robs them of much of their distinctiveness.
They should no more be governed by rigidly recurring
accents than the free declamation of poetry itself.
HYMN TUNES
follows a translation into modern notation, har-
monized with proper modal harmonies, in case
organ accompaniment is preferred. To quote
the preface of the book, "No attempt has been
made by bar or accents to indicate the rhythm,
as in plainsong no strict time values are repre-
sented by the notes. The accent and character
of the words must determine the rhythm and
time of the music.”
When one considers that twenty million
copies of "Hymns Ancient and Modern” were
sold in twenty years, the importance of this
championing of the plainsong tune will be ap-
preciated.
• II. GERMAN CHORALES.
the Refor-
The Reformation brought forth marked changes of
changes both in the character and in the use of mation.
Church music. The Roman Catholic Church
had developed a finely organized and highly
elaborated system of music, founded upon plain-
song, a system that remains to-day the embodi-
ment of reverence and dignity, leaving little
to be desired from a liturgical point of view.
The more this early music of the Mass is
studied the more apparent becomes its fitness
to the ornate ritual of the Roman Church and
to the language of that ritual. Unfortunately,
however, the music was more and more rele-
gated to the priesthood and officially appointed
MUSIÓ IN THE CHURCH
The
chorale.
choirs, while the people's part both in the music
and in the services generally was reduced to a
minimum.
The Lutheran Reformation restored to the
layman the right to join actively in the musical
services of the Church. As a result thousands
of hymns were written in Protestant Germany
and these were provided with tunes which re-
main to-day an unexcelled type of congrega-
tional music.
These chorales, or hymn tunes, were the
most characteristic feature of the Reformation
music. Some of the earliest specimens were
not "composed” in the modern sense of the
term. In fact the word "compose” originally
meant to arrange, or put together. At that
period it was the fashion to develop long com-
positions, either vocal or instrumental, from a
theme or cantus firmus, which was apt to be a
fragment either of a plainsong or a folksong
melody. These themes were frequently devel-
oped in a most elaborate manner according to
certain set formulas. While this style of com-
position was at first very stiff and mechanical,
it finally evolved into the masterly polyphony
of Johann Sebastian Bach and became the
foundation of the modern art of music.
Luther and his musical co-workers arranged
the celebrated chorales of that period from folk-
songs, or from the music of the Roman Catholic
HYMN TUNDS
liturgy. These melodies are in a sense like
proverbs, and conform to that apt definition of
a proverb, "The wisdom of many expressed by
the wit of one." But whatever their source,
these justly famous tunes are marked by devo-
tional earnestness and great dignity. Some
seem to have been hewn from solid rock, so
strong and massive are they, while others are
of a more intimate and appealing nature. The
emotional element in music, as we understand
it, was scarcely yet developed, and even the
love song of Luther's time was a serious and
weighty affair. When we recall this fact it is
no shock to learn that the wondrously beautiful
melody known as the PASSION CHORALE to "O
Sacred Head surrounded” was originally a love
song to the words Mein G’müt ist Mir Verwir-
ret.
Luther,
1546).
Martin Luther until comparatively recent Martin
date has been credited with a number of tunes (1483-
as his own composition-notably EIN FESTE
BURG and LUTHER'S HYMN. Investigation
seems to establish the fact that he, too, com-
posed only in the sense of arranging and adapt-
ing.
As these chorales conform more nearly to Chorales
our modern scales and harmonic system, they congrega-
are much more easily learned and understood
than the plainsong melodies. Like the latter,
they are well adapted for unison singing on ac-
08sentially
tional.
14
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
of the
chorale.
count of the strong and diatonic (as opposed to
chromatic) nature of the melodies. The early
chorales were harmonized in an elaborate, con-
trapuntal manner, the intention being to have
the melody sung by all the congregation, while a
trained choir sang the harmonies.
Development As was the custom in England, the melody
of these German chorales was at first in the
tenor part but was later transferred to the
soprano part. The artistic development of the
chorale reached its climax under the great
Leipzig cantor, Johann Sebastian Bach, who
introduced these already widely known and
famous melodies into his oratorios and Church
cantatas, and who harmonized them in a man-
ner that established a model for all time.
While of great beauty, these harmonizations
are somewhat too difficult for ordinary use
and simpler arrangements are better for the
average congregation. It is rather a sad reflec-
tion on our vaunted modern musical culture
when we are forced to admit that the art and
workmanship of hymn tune writing in the time
of Luther or Bach far excels the best efforts
of today.
The compilers of our present official hymnal,
through some inscrutable process of reason-
ing, have deprived us of the use of the most
famous of all German chorales. They have
made use of Buckoll's translation of "Ein Feste
Ein'
Feste
Burg.
HYMN TUNES
15
Burg ist Unser Gott," which changes the pic-
turesque and irregular metre of Luther into
commonplace eights and sevens, thus making it
impossible to use the original tune. Conse-
quently the tune known as LUTHER'S Hymn and
usually sung to "Great God, what do I see and
hear,” is substituted. If the fine translation of
Dr. Hedge had been made use of we should not
have been robbed of the greatest of all hymn
tunes, a tune that Heine called the “Marseil-
laise of the Reformation” and that Frederick
the Great referred to—in all seriousness—as
“God Almighty's Grenadier March.” Bach
has a Church cantata based upon it; Men-
delssohn uses it in his Reformation symphony;
Meyerbeer in one of his operas, and Wagner in
his celebrated "Kaisermarsch," which glorifies
the prowess of the German empire.
Of the thirty-odd tunes of German origin
which are found in Hutchins' edition of our
hymnal but one dates from the time of Luther.
This is the one already referred to as LUTHER'S Luther's
HYMN. This tune was arranged by the great (No. 37).
reformer and music lover from a secular song
and soon became wedded to Luther's own words,
"Nun Freut Euch, Lieben Christen G’mein,"
and the two were accounted to have made many
converts to the Protestant faith. The tune first
appeared in 1535 in Joseph Klug's “Gesang-
buch."
16.
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Attolle
Paulum
(No. 202).
Nicolaus
Decius
(?-1541).
Contemporaneous with this tune and a most
beautiful example of the quieter, more intro-
spective style is the melody known as ATTOLLE
PAULUM to the hymn, "Across the sky the shades
of night." Both text and music are from the
pen of the Rev. Nicolaus Decius, and date from
the sixteenth century. The German words to
this tune, “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr," is a
metrical version of the Gloria in Excelsis. .
Mendelssohn, who, like all great composers,
had respect and reverence for the traditional
chorale melodies, uses this tune of Decius' in
his oratorio of St. Paul. The melody is known
as Decius in some hymn books and as STETTIN
in others.
The next tune in chronological order,
HERRNHUT, was published in 1599 and is sung
to the Advent hymn, "Wake, awake, for night
is flying." Both text and tune are accredited
to the Rev. Philipp Nicolai. The tune is used
with fine effect in Mendelssohn's St. Paul to a
different translation of the same text, “Sleepers,
wake! a Voice is calling.”
The PASSION CHORALE, “O Sacred Head
surrounded,” first appeared in 1601 in its secu-
lar character. It was composed by Hans Leo
Hassler and appeared as a chorale in 1613. to
Herrnhut
(No. 40).
Philipp
Nicolai
(1556-
1608).
Passion
Chorale
(No. 102).
7 This versifying of canticles and psalms became later a.
veritable craze, which reached its climax in England when
the Acts of the Apostles were made over into metrical
verse and duly provided with music by one Christopher Tye.
HYMN TUNES
17
Hassler
1612).
St. Theo-
dulph
(No. 90).
Melchoir
(1600-?).
the German text, “Herzlich Thut Mich Ver- Hans Leo
langen.” It soon, however, became associated (1564
with “O Haupt Voll Blut und Wunden," of
which our hymn is a translation. Bach uses
this matchless tune five times in his great "Pas-
sion According to St. Matthew.” It is much in
vogue in Germany to-day at funerals, intoned
by trombones, and its sombre dignity never fails
to make a deep impression.
Our Palm Sunday tune, ST. THEODULPH, a
for “All glory, laud, and honor," was composed (A
and originally written in five-part harmony by Medchair
Melchoir Teschner and first published in 1615. (1
Its vigorous swing and strong individuality
have made it a great favorite.
The most generally known, perhaps, of these mi
earlier tunes, due no doubt to its sturdy
straightforwardness and simplicity, is “Nun
Danket All Gott.” It was composed by Johann
Crüger and dates about 1648. Mendelssohn
uses it in his great cantata, “The Hymn of (1698-
Praise.”
The tune SALZBURG was written in 1652 Sala
by Johann Rosenmüller, a musician who at one
time held the post of music director of the St. Rosen-
Thomas School at Leipzig, thus being a prede- 4616
cessor of Johann Sebastian Bach. The tune is
sung to the words “At the Lamb's high feast we
sing." It is a pity that a great chorale writ- se
ten about this period by George Neumark is í
Nun Danket
(No. 466).
Johann
Crüger
(No. 118).
müller
(1615-
1686).
George
Neumark
(1621-
1681),
18
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Bremen,
Augsburg, or
Neumark.
not in our Hymnal. It is variously known as
BREMEN, AUGSBURG, and NEUMARK and was
originally sung to the German hymn, “Wer Nun
den Lieben Gott Lässt Walten.” This tune was
such a favorite in Lutheran circles that no less
than four hundred hymns were written to be
sung to it in the course of a century.
We have now exhausted the older and more
typical chorales to be found in our Hymnal,
and they far exceed in beauty and real worth
those of later date. For them to become popular
is simply a matter of thorough familiarity, as
the general public is by no means lacking
in appreciation of good art when it has had fair
opportunity of acquaintance. Every German
is familiar with them and reveres them, and
this love for these time-honored chorales remains
when perhaps all other religious influences have
vanished.
Of the remaining tunes from German
sources we will find many sterling tunes but of
a more modern character, and it will be diffi-
cult, in many instances, to differentiate between
them and the better class of English tunes of
the same period.
HEINLEIN, written in 1677 and associated
with "Forty days and forty nights,” still retains
medieval characteristics and is one of the few
tunes in a minor key in general use. RATISBON,
dating from 1680, to “Bread of Heaven on Thee
Other
German
tunes.
Heinlein
(No. 79).
Ratisbon
(No. 224).
HYMN TUNES
19
Meinhold
Winchester
New
Ellacombe
Munich
(No. 284).
we feed,” is decidely modern in tone, as is also M
MEINHOLD® to “Tender Shepherd, Thou hast (No. 2
stilled.” WINCHESTER NEw to “On Jordan's
bank the Baptist's cry" is from the year 1690 (No. 44).
and is German, despite its name. The pic-
turesque ELLACOMBE to "Come praise your Lord
and Saviour" is ascribed to 1700, but is prob- (No. 533).
ably a hundred years later. MUNICH, harmon-
ized by Mendelssohn, associated with “O Word
of God incarnate," dates from 1701, and might
easily be considered modern English, but in the
fine Easter tune WORGAN to "Jesus Christ is Worgan,
risen to-day with its inspiring Alleluia re-
frain, we are back in Germany again and pre-
cisely two hundred years ago. “Come, Thou
long-expected Jesus” to STUTTGART gives one of St
our best straightforward, everyday tunes and
the same characteristics apply to FRANCONIA Franconia
(No. 210).
(1738), to the words “Stand, soldier of the
Cross,” to SWABIA (1745), to “This is the day (No. 28).
of light,” and to HURSLEY (1774), “Sun of my Hursley
soul, Thou Saviour dear.”.
Our greatest composers have rarely turned
to hymn-tune writing, but we have two fine ex-
amples from Haydn, LYONS to "How wondrous Lyons
(No. 467).
and great,” and the Austrian National Hymn
which is set to “Glorious things of Thee are
Stuttgart
(No. 48
Swabia
(No. 11).
8 Hutchins attributes this tune to J. S. Bach, but it ap-
peared in the Lüneburgisches Gesangbuch in 1686, one year
after Bach's birth.
20
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
1809).
Austria
(No. 490)
Francis Jo- spoken.” Haydn had envied the English their
seph Haydn
(1732 national anthem, "God Save the King," and in
consequence wrote the above-mentioned tune
AUSTRIA in January, 1797. On the Em-
peror's birthday, February 12th, following, it
was sung simultaneously in the national theatre
in Vienna and the principal theatres throughout
the provinces. Haydn was sixty-five years old
at the time. Twelve years later, on May 26th,
he assembled his household around him for the
last time, and on being carried to the piano,
Ignaz Josef
played the hymn through solemnly three times.
Five days afterwards he died.
(No. 452). The tune by Pleyel to “Children of the
Heavenly King," and GRACE CHURCH to "O
(No. 339). Thou to Whose all-searching sight,” by the same
composer, date from this period and are quite
(No. 65). modern in style. Dix, a general favorite to
“As with gladness men of old,” dates from 1838.
Pleyel
(1757-
1831).
Pleyel
Grace
Church
Dix
Character-
istics.
III. EARLY ENGLISH TUNES.
! The early English tunes are by no means
as picturesque in outline, as extended in range,
or as varied in character as the German
chorales. They have as a class a certain rug-
ged simplicity which adapts them admirably
for general congregational use. The best ex-
ample of this type is the familiar tune by Wil-
liam Croft called ST. ANNE (1708), to "O God,
our help in ages past," and it is a fine example
William
Croft
(1677-
1727).
St. Anne
(No. 418).
HYMN TUNES
21
Hanover
(No. 459).
Dundeo
(No. 417),
of what a good Church tune should be. The
melody is in convenient range of the average
voice, which cannot be said of many of the Ger-
man chorales. It is essentially dignified, nobly
befitting the massive sweep of the text. It fol-
lows the early principle of plainsong, a syllable
to a note, and the rhythm moves in stately
strides of equal notes. The same composer's
tune, HANOVER (1708), to “O worship the
King" is another good specimen of this style.
A tune of like character is DUNDEE, sometimes
called FRENCH DUNDEE, to distinguish it from
another tune of similar name, which was prob-
ably derived from a melody in Christopher
Tye's metrical version of the Acts of the Apos-
tles published in 1553. The FRENCH DUNDEE
is nearly a century older than St. ANNE, and
first appeared in the Scotch Psalter in 1615.
In Ravenscroft's “Whole Book of Psalms”
(1621), it is indexed as a Scottish tune and is
called Dundy. It appears in some books as
FRENCH, in others as NORWICH. DUNDEE is
one of the best tunes of its type and was much
used in the early days of metrical psalm-singing,
being at one time one of eight authorized com-
mon metre tunes. These tunes were supposed
by the ignorant to have been written by David,
and they stoutly refused to sing aught but the
tunes of David to the psalms of David. DUN-
DEE is used a number of times in our H nal
22
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Tallin'
Hymn
(NO. 18).
ny
and perhaps most generally to the hymn, “O
God of Bethel, by Whose Hand."
The oldest English tune in common use is
TALLIS" HYMN (also known as TALLIS' CANON
or EVENING HYMN) to “All praise to Thee, my
God, this night.” It is in canon form. A
canon is a musical device in which a melody
starts in a given voice and after a few notes are
sung another voice starts the same melody and
follows the first, the whole harmonizing to-
gether. It will be noticed that beginning with
the fifth note the tenor sings the same air as the
soprano, and that the missing notes in the tenor
at the end will be found at the beginning of
that part. In Tallis' time the four parts were
known as "meane, contra-tenor, tenor, and bass,"
and originally the canon started in the tenor
and was followed by the meane, or soprano.
The composer gives the following quaint in-
structions regarding his nine tunes, which ap-
pear at the end of a metrical psalter printed in
1561: "The tenor of these partes be for the peo-
ple when they will sing alone, the other partes,
put for greater queers or to such as will sing or
play them privately.” It will be remembered
that at this date it was customary to put the
melody in the tenor part, and it would seem, ac-
cording to Tallis, that the congregations in
Thomas
Tallis
(1520-
1585).
pre bis is sometimes printed "Tallis's."
HYMN TUNDS
Ordinal
(No. 78).
Winchester
Old
those days were no better prepared to sing in
parts than they are to-day.
Other tunes of this period are TALLIS' OR- Tallis',
DINAL (1565), "In token that thou shalt not (No. 209).
fear,” and St. FLAVIAN (1562), "Lord, Who Str Flavian
throughout these forty days."
All these tunes use a syllable to a note, have
even rhythm and simple melodies. The tune
WINCHESTER OLD to "When all Thy mercies,
O my God” is one of the oldest and dates from (No. 657).
1592. It differs from the English tunes so far
mentioned in that it makes use of dotted notes.
In England this tune is frequently used to
“While shepherds watched their flocks by
night and is decidedly better than the tradi-
tional tune to that hymn arranged by Sullivan.
ST. MARTIN's, which is sometimes used to the St. Martin's
same text, is a type of florid melody which came
much into vogue at the time of the Common-
wealth and Charles the Second. It was a period
of stagnation and decadence in Church music;
anthems and services were prohibited; nothing
but metrical psalms were sung; and the tunes
were ornamented with absurd turns and trills.
Trivial interludes were also played by the or-
ganists between the lines of the hymns, thus
disturbing their continuity. A relic of these
times is still to be met with in Tallis' EVENING
HYMN, which, in certain hymnals, has been dis-
figured by triplets and passing or slurredditones.
24
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
America
(No. 196).
(1685.
1743).
Adeste
Fideles
(No. 49).
Our national hymn, AMERICA, which we
have appropriated from England, is supposed
to have been composed by Henry Carey in 1740.
enas. Carey At least it was first sung by him as a National
Anthem at a public dinner in that year, and
forty-five years afterwards the authorship was
claimed for him by his son. Like WINCHESTER
OLD, this tune makes use of dotted notes, but
otherwise conforms to the simple early style.
No tune has been subjected to so much
fruitless investigation as to its origin as ADESTE
FIDELES or the PORTUGUESE HYMN. It received
the latter name from the Duke of Leeds, who
first heard it in the Portuguese chapel (R. C.)
in London. It was ascribed by Vincent Novello
to John Reading, a pupil of Dr. Blow, who was
the master of that greatest of early English mu-
sicians, Henry Purcell. The date is given by
Novello as 1680, and as this particular John
Reading was born in 1677 there is evidently a
mistake somewhere. Another John Reading
was organist of Winchester College and died in
1692, but nothing suggesting the popular tune
to “O come, all ye faithful” has been found
among his compositions. As far as has been
ascertained it was first published in 1782, but
it was in common use in a number of Roman
churches before that time, a MS. copy having
been found dated 1751. As the tune is probably
contánporaneous with ST. ANNE it is remark-
IT13
ILI,
HYMN TUNES
TN
LO
25
J. Darwall
1789).
Yorkshire
John
(?-1768).
Charles
Burney
1814).
Webbe
1816).
able for its more flowing outline and the use of
slurred notes. In fact it suggests the nineteenth
rather than the eighteenth century.
From about the year 1750 an excellent type Dome
of tune was evolved which retained the sturdi- (No. 482).
ness and manliness of the early type combined (1731-
with greater freedom of melody and greater va-
riety of rhythm. Fine examples of this style (No. 56).
are DARWALL (1770), to "In loud exalted Wainwright
strains,” by the Rev. J. Darwall; YORKSHIRE Truro
(No. 265).
(also known as STOCKPORT and MORTRAM) to
“Christians, awake, salute the happy morn,” by (1726-
J. Wainwright; and TRURO (1790), to "Arm of Samuel
the Lord, awake,” by Charles Burney. The two (1740-
tunes by Webbe, ST. THOMAS to "Lo, He comes St. Thomas
with clouds descending," and MELCOMBE
(1782) to "New every morning is the love," as Francois H.
well as Barthélémon's MORNING HYMN to
"Awake my soul and with the sun” revert to
the earlier rhythm of equal notes.
IV. MODERN ENGLISH TUNES.
The modern English tunes include all those
written since 1800.
James
James Turle, who was organist at West- Turle
minster Abbey from 1831 to 1875, contributes 1882).
two tunes, WESTMINSTER (1836) to "Lord, in Westminster
(No. 189).
Thy Name Thy servants plead,” and St. št.
JOHN's, WESTMINSTER (1863) to “According to
Thy gracious word,” which easily might be
(No. 39).
Barthélémon
(1741-
1808).
Morning
Hymn
(No. 2).
(1802-
St. John's
Westminster
(No. 233).
26
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Y
Henry J,
Gauntlett
(1805- .
1876).
St. Albinus
(No. 122).
St. George
St. Alphege
(NO: 672).
(No. 106).
University
College
(No. 506).
Samuel
Sebastian
Wesley
(1810-
1876).
Aurelia
(No. 491).
mistaken for the product of a century or two
earlier. The tunes of Henry J. Gauntlett are
but a trifle more modern: ST. ALBINUS (1852)
to "Jesus lives! thy terrors now"; ST. GEORGE
to "Blest be the tie that binds”; ST. ALPHEGE
(1852) to "Brief life is here our portion"; and
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (1852) to “Oft in dan-
ger, oft in woe.” Samuel Sebastian Wesley,
the grandson of Charles Wesley, and one of the
best musicians of his day, supplies an espe-
cially fine tune in AURELIA (1864) to "The
Church's one foundation.” One would be dis-
posed to say that it must have been written
especially for the words, so perfectly do they
fit, but it was originally intended for “Jerusa-
lem, the golden," and the characteristic and
altogether satisfactory tune of EWING (1853)
by Alexander Ewing that we sing to "Jerusa-
lem, the golden," was written for the words "For
thee, O dear, dear country," another section of
the famous poem of Bernard of Cluny in praise
of the heavenly Jerusalem. A good, vigorous,
singable tune is Henry Smart's REGENT SQUARE
(1867), to“Christ is made the sure foundation."
That he can also interpret the quieter moods is
shown by his popular and beautiful tune PIL-
GRIMS to "Hark! hark! my soul, angelic songs
are swelling," and a fine sustained mood is
found in his NACHTLIED to “The day is gently
sinking to a close.” The harmonies to Nacht-
Ewing
(No. 408).
Alexander
Ewing
(1830.
1895).
Henry
Smart
(1813-
1879).
Regent
Square
(No. 483).
Pilgrims
(No. 398).
Nachtlied
(No. 7).
HYMN TUNES
27
period.
lied are richer and fuller than any of the Eng- Transition
lish tunes thus far considered and they mark an
important turning point in the evolution of the
hymn tune. Up to this time tunes were rather
general as to their mood or tone, and while
many of them were written to some particular
text, they could easily be transferred to other
words of the same general character. Under
Calvinistic influences religious verse in England
busied itself largely with adapting the Hebrew
Psalms to poetic measures. The result was
very mechanical in its early attempts and con-
fined itself almost exclusively with common
metre. Then came a period of original work
that was largely doctrinal or didactic, followed
by poems of a missionary or evangelistic ten-
dency. Hymns gradually became freer in their
poetic expression and new combinations of
rhythm appear. Finally the poetry of the
Church took upon itself a more devotional and
personal character, and these peculiarities called
for like characteristics in the musical settings.
The modern hymn tune, therefore, is of such an
individualistic character that it is apt to be
wholly satisfactory only in its original connec-
tion. The words and music, in the best in-
stances, are indissolubly wedded together.
We feel this close union in the melodious
setting of "Saviour, again to Thy dear Name Hopkins
(1818-
we raise,” by Edward J. Hopkins, called BENE- 1901).
28
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
St.
Athanasius
Tunes More
Lyrical.
Redhead, 47
(No. 348).
Richard
Redhead
(1820-
John
Bacchus
Dykes
(1823-
1876).
Benediction DICTION or ELLERS (1872) and also his St.
(No. 32).
ATHANASIUS to "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord.”
(No. 385).
Hopkins was organist of the Temple Church in
London from 1843 to 1898, and during this long
incumbency of fifty-five years he maintained
More the highest standards of Church music both in
selection and performance. In both Smart and
Hopkins we note a more lyrical and emotional
vein, which is typical of the modern hymn tune
and which responds most intimately to the mood
of the verse. Redhead's simple settings to
“When our heads are bowed with woe” and
1901).
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me” have this same
Redhead, 76
(No. 336). feeling. The fullest development of this ten-
dency, however, was left for two noted hymn-
tune composers who were born within six days
of each other, John Bacchus Dykes and William
Henry Monk.
Dykes was born March 10, 1823. Although
in orders, he was a professionally trained musi-
cian and was at one time conductor of the Uni-
versity Musical Society at Cambridge. The de-
gree of Doctor of Music was conferred upon him
by the University of Durham. He confined his
musical activities mostly to the composition of
hymn tunes, of which he wrote about three hun-
dred, and which, since his death, have been pub-
lished in a single volume. Although unknown
to the editors at the time, seven of his tunes
which he modestly submitted were published in
HYMN TUNES
William
Monk
1889).
the first edition of "Hymns Ancient and Mod-
ern.” Twenty-five more were added to later
editions in which he assisted in the editorial
work. Monk also was honored with the degree
of Doctor of Music from the University of Dur- 41.923 -
ham and was organist of several London
churches and of King's College, Cambridge,
which has always been famed for its music.
But he is more generally known as musical edi-
tor of "Hymns Ancient and Modern,” and his
taste and musicianship had much to do with
the enormous success of that book. His con-
tribution of thirty-five original tunes is by no
means the least attractive feature of that model
hymnal.
Both of these musicians have qualities in D
common which place them in the very front compared.
rank of modern hymn tune writers. Their melo-
dies are invariably of definite individuality,
graceful contour, and above all things, singable.
Their harmonies add richness and character to
the melody, avoiding the commonplace on the
one side and extravagance on the other. Their
part-writing is masterful, each part in itself be-
ing tuneful and interesting. This is particu-
larly true of the bass part, the deft handling of
which is always the surest sign of ripe musician-
ship. Lastly, they both have a keen apprecia-
tion for the underlying thought of the text and
Dykes and
Monk
30
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Eventide
(No. 12).
Hollingside
(No. 335).
reflect in the music a faithful and concise com-
posite of the meaning of the words.
Of the two, Dykes is the more picturesque,
varied, and resourceful, while Monk's tunes
have a quiet earnestness that is very appealing.
At times their styles closely approach in their
inner essence, as for instance, Monk's EVENTIDE
(1861) to "Abide with me” and Dykes' HOL-
LINGSIDE (1861) to "Jesus, Lover of my soul.”
It would indeed be difficult to decide on the rela-
tive merits of these beautiful tunes, each is so
perfect in itself, bringing out so adequately the
tender trustfulness of their respective texts.
HOLLINGSIDE was named from Dykes' own
home in Durham, where as minor canon and
precentor of the Cathedral he lived for thirteen
years. Later he was vicar of St. Oswald's.
Monk is said to have composed EVENTIDE in ten
minutes in a room where a piano lesson was in
progress.
Monk is particularly successful when in a
quiet, introspective mood, as is witnessed by his
NUTFIELD to "God, that madest earth and
heaven,” his St. MATTHIAS (1861) to "Sweet
Saviour, bless us ere we go," and particularly in
his communion hymn UNDI ET MEMORES “And
(No. 228). now, O Father, mindful of the love."
That Monk can strike a more jubilant strain
(No. 112). is manifested in his EASTER HYMN, “Jesus
Christ is risen to-day,” his tune ASCENSION to
Monk's
tunes.
Nutfield
(No. 19).
St. Matthias
(No. 22).
Undi et
Memores
Easter
Hymn
Y
...
J.
Ascension
(No. 128).
HYMN TUNES
Perenno
Tunes.
St. Cross
(No. 105).
(NO. 412).
"Hail the day that sees Him rise," his CORONÆ Coronæ
(No. 130).
to "Look ye saints, the sight is glorious," and
his stirring ALLELUIA PERENNE, "Sing Alleluia Alleluia
forth in duteous praise.”
(No. 462).
When we stop to consider the tunes of John Dykes'
Bacchus Dykes it is difficult to decide where to
begin and where to end. Of the quieter, sim-
pler tunes we have the graceful St. AGNES St. Agnes
(No. 55).
(1866), to “Calm on the listening ear of night”;
the sombre but beautiful St. Cross (1861), to
"O come and mourn with me awhile”; the Dominus
pastoral DOMINUS REGIT ME (1868), to “The regit
King of love my Shepherd is”; the straight- s
forward St. BEES (1862), to "Jesus, Name of (No. 149).
wondrous love"; the appealing St. CUTHBERT St. Cuthbert
(No. 375).
(1861), to “Our blest Redeemer ere He
breathed,” and the bright St. OSWALD (1857), No.419).
St. Oswald
to "Guide me, 0 Thou great Jehovah," named
from the church where Dykes was vicar.
Of a more vigorous type we have the ever
popular NICÆA (1861) to "Holy, Holy, Holy (No. 383).
Lord God Almighty"; ST. DROSTANE (1862) to (No. 91).
"Ride on, ride on in majesty," and the uplift- (No. 396).
ing ALFORD (1875) to "Ten thousand times ten
thousand," one of the very finest modern tunes.iº
St. Bees
Nicæa
St. Drostano
Alford
10 After the death of Dykes, Mr. Henry W. Baker, one
of the projectors and editors of Hymns Ancient and Mod-
ern, wrote to the widow: “We are going to sing only hvis
tunes to every hymn all next Sunday, and the Dies Irae
after Evensong for Trim ; followed by Ten Thousand Times
Ten Thousand." (Baker, by the way, wrote the beautiful
melody "Stephanos' to Art Thou Weary," which Monk har-
monized.)
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
St. Andrew
of Crete.
(No. 81).
Vox Dilecti
(No. 673).
St. Sylvester
(No. 621).
St. John
(No. 96).
Lux Benigna
(No. 423).
Melita
(No. 306).
It is, however, in the opportunity for the
picturesque or in the touch of the dramatic
where Dykes' real genius shines. In his St. AN-
DREW OF CRETE (1868) to “Christian, dost thou
see them,” we have almost a new type with its
sharp and striking contrasts. The same method
but in less degree is used in his beautiful Vox
DILECTI (1868) to "I heard the voice of Jesus
say,” in his touching ST. SYLVESTER (1862) to
"Days and moments quickly flying,” and in his
dramatic St. John, “Behold the Lamb of God!"
a tune which begins in the Middle Ages and
closes rather all too sweetly in the nineteenth
century. Among his best known and most
widely sung tunes are Lux BENIGNA (1867) to
“Lead, kindly Light," and his setting MELITA
to the hymn for those at sea.
Dykes' dramatic feeling, tempered by his
keen sense of balance and propriety, has full
sway in his DIES IRAE (1861), and it is also
another successful example of breaking the
bonds of limitation in hymn music and hinting
at methods which tend to enlarge the scope of
congregational singing. Enough has been
quoted from Dykes to prove that he is easily
first among moderns in his art. In the preface
to the collection of Dykes' hymn tunes, Sir
George C. Martin, after enumerating some four-
teen of the best known tunes, goes on to say:
“They are 'on the lips of thousands, and are
Dies Irae
(No. 36).
HYMN TUNES
associated with the most solemn moments of
life. But because Dr. Dykes was happy in ex-
pressing emotions in a way that was intelligible
to the masses, we must not overlook the real
difficulty and merit of discovering a musical
way to the hearts of men, for not every great
composer has been successful with hymn tunes.”
Joseph
In Joseph Barnby, Dykes has a formidable Barn
rival in popular appreciation. By many, espe- 13989.
cially professional musicians, Barnby is consid-
ered the superior. Barnby was somewhat of a
free lance in Church music and vigorously de-
fended his ideas. His position will be best un-
derstood through the following excerpt from the
preface to his "Original Tunes to Popular
Hymns,” for use in Church and Home, pub-
lished in 1869, and containing about fifty hymn
tunes:
"If the outward form into which these
tunes have been thrown be likely to be cen-
sured, much more so I fancy is the modern
feeling in which they are conceived. The
terms effeminate and maudlin, with others, are
freely used nowadays to stigmatize such new
tunes as are not direct imitations of old ones.
And yet it has always appeared strange to me
that musicians should be found who, whilst ad-
mitting that seventeenth century tunes were very
properly in what we may call the natural idiom
of the period, will not allow nineteenth century
ones to be written in the idiom of the present
day. You may imitate and plagiarize the old
-
-
34
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
tunes to any extent, and in all probability you
will be spoken of as one who is 'thoroughly im-
bued with the truly devotional spirit of the
old ecclesiastical writers', but you are not per-
mitted upon any account to give your natural
feelings free play; or, in short, to write spon-
taneously. The strangest part of the argument,
however, is this: that whilst you are urged to
imitate the old works, you are warned in the
same breath that to succeed is altogether with-
out the bounds of possibility. The question
then naturally arises, Would it not be better-
though at the risk of doing feebler things
to follow your own natural style, which, at
least, would possess the merit of truth, and to
leave the task of endeavoring to achieve an
impossibility to those who prefer it? For my
part, I have elected to imitate the old masters
in their independent method of working, rather
than their works.”
Fourteen years later in publishing a second
volume of his "Original Tunes," a change in the
public temper is apparent from the following
remarks of the composer: "Happily no excuse
is needed now for composing hymn tunes in the
natural style and idiom, so to speak, of our
own time. The modern hymn tune has long
ago been accepted by all shades of religious
opinion as a valuable aid to devotion. Nor has
it been found less useful as a means of driving
out the arrangements of secular airs which,
from time to time, have threatened to make their
way 'within the borders of His sanctuary.'"
HYMN TUNES
35
1
The following paragraph is also of much in-
terest: “I have endeavoured to record my sense
of the unusual favor bestowed upon the first
series by the musicians of America, professional
and amateur, by setting to music nearly twenty
hymns taken from the « 'Lyra Sacra Ameri-
cana.'»
While some of Barnby's tunes are preëmi-
nently successful, a certain number of them
belong in the category known as "choir tunes,"
that is, tunes which on account of their har-
monic complexity are ill-adapted for congrega-
tional use and better suited to a well-trained
choir. Occasionally Barnby's bias for chromatic
harmonies causes awkward or difficult intervals
in the melody or the other parts and they re-
quire experienced singers to do them justice.
Their difficulty does not necessarily militate
against their abstract worth as contributions to
modern hymn music, as they are no more com-
plex than many of the German chorales of
great renown, especially those which have been
harmonized by Bach. But the chorales are in-
tended for unison singing and the strong dia-
tonic melodies are particularly suited to that
purpose, while Barnby's tunes, as a rule, will
not bear unison singing on account of a strain
of elegance which borders on the effeminate.
From the musical point of view Barnby's
work is unquestionably interesting, clever, and
36
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
36
effective and as near originality as one could
hope for in a hymn tune. His harmonic phrase-
ology, so to speak, is borrowed from the German
and English part-song, and a certain expressive-
ness is gained thereby which appeals to the musi-
cian. Nevertheless one feels a little the strain-
ing after originality and musical effect, and
misses the whole-hearted devotion to the cause
and the unselfish spontaneous expression of
Monk and Dykes. In Barnby one is apt to for-
get the words while enjoying the music, while
in Dykes one is apt to forget the music in its
perfect expression of the text. One is religious
music, the other musical religion.
If we compare settings of the same hymn
by both Dykes and Barnby—and there are many
such-a calm, dispassionate, and experienced
judgment, taking into account both the literary
and musical values, will pronounce for Dykes
four times out of five. Barnby seems almost to
have challenged Dykes, for he has made new
tunes to words which bore some of the latter's
most popular settings. But he has not succeeded
in displacing the beloved melodies to "Christian
dost thou see them," "Holy, Holy, Holy," "I
heard the Voice of Jesus say," "Jesus, lover of
my soul," "Lead, kindly light,” or “Come unto
Me, ye weary.” On the other hand, it must be
admitted that Barnby's PARADISE (1866) is be-
coming a greater favorite than Dykes, and in
Barnby's
tunes.
Paradise
(No. 394).
HYMN TUNES
(No. 242).
Angels of
Caurudu Su Jesus
Sarum
St. Anselm
(No. 68).
the burial hymn Mar Saba to "Now the labor- Mar Saba
er's task is o'er," Barnby has the advantage. Angel
While both have contributed settings to "Hark! (No. 398).
hark, my soul,” which appear in all the newer
hymn books, neither has been as successful as
Smart in his well-known tune. Barnby's fines
SARUM (1868). to "For all the saints” is in- (No. 176).
finitely better than Dykes, but in entering the Barnby
lists against the famous ADESTE FIDELES to “O
come, all ye faithful,” he is only partially suc-
cessful.
A typical Barnby tune is ST. ANSELM to No
"O One with God the Father," but originally
written for “O day of rest and gladness.” It
has a well-marked individuality and makes an
effective processional. A similar but more
striking tune is JORDAN to "O God, in Whose (No. 211).
all-searching eye,” originally set to "Sing to
the Lord a joyful song." In his wedding hymn
“O perfect Love” (called both SANDRINGHAM ha
and FIFE) he strikes a more practical vein from
(No. 238).
the congregational point of view, and gives an
excellent tune, full of warmth and feeling. Holy Trinity
HOLY TRINITY (1861) to "Lord, lead the way St. Andrew
the Saviour went," and St. ANDREW to "The
Cross is on our brow” are good examples of
tuneful, simple melodies. Barnby half apolo-
gizes for the chromatic harmonies in HOLY
TRINITY by explaining that it was written for a
Jordan
Sandring-
(No. 270).
(No. 212).
38
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Adoro Te
(No. 600).
Cloisters
(NO, 496).
Laudes
Domini
(No. 445).
church where unison singing was adopted.
ADORO TE, or as Barnby himself calls it, St.
CHRYSOSTOM (1872), to "Jesus, my Lord, my
my God, my all,” and CLOISTERS (1868) to
“Lord of our life,” both of which retain their
original words, are fine types of modern tunes,
being interesting from every point of view.
One of his best and most distinctive tunes is.
LAUDES DOMINI (1868) to “When morning
gilds the skies." This setting is most inspir-
ing and would seem at first sight to be a "choir
tune,” but that it is not beyond the powers of
many congregations has been amply demon-
strated by practical use. An illustration of
Barnby's emphasis on harmony is his much ad-
mired MERRIAL (1868) to "Now the day is
over.” The melody, it will be observed, in both
the first and last of the four lines is entirely
confined to one note, the interest centering on
the movement of the alto, tenor, and particu-
larly the bass. J. Spencer Curwen, of tonic
sol-fa fame, in his interesting “Studies in Wor-
ship Music” decries this tendency to transfer
the interest from the melody to the other parts.
He gives a clever "reductio ad absurdum” of
this principle by writing a tune consisting of
repeated notes, accompanied by rather elaborate
harmonies, and succeeds in making quite an in-
Merrial
(No. 535).
HYMN TUNES
39
teresting piece of music."
A closing and most
11 Mr. Curwen's tune is as follows:

OTI
TDI



a
.
40
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
victory
(No. 514).
John Stainer
(1840-
1901).
Cross of
Jesus
characteristic specimen of the Barnby style is
his martial tune, THE GOOD FIGHT (1869), to
We march to “We march, we march to victory."
Barnby has unquestionably made real and
important additions to our current stock of
hymn tunes, and if he is open to adverse criti-
cism in some respects it is only because “one
star differeth from another in glory.”
of Sir John Stainer, who through his great
ability and high ideals rehabilitated the music
of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, has in addi-
tion to many notable larger works, given us
some fine hymn tunes. One of his best is taken
from his “Crucifixion” to the words CROSS OF
(No. 359).
JESUS (1887), and so named. This noble and
dignified tune most admirably fits the words “In
the Cross of Christ I glory,” to which it is set.
Like all his tunes, it has very solid qualities,
suggesting a mixture of the German chorale, the
early English style, and a strain of modern feel-
ing. Another tune, OXFORD (1890), to “Lord,
a Saviour's love displaying," is also from his
“Crucifixion.” His setting of “There is a
blessed home” is suggestive of Barnby's influ-
Vesper
ence. VESPER to "Holy Father, cheer our
(No. 76). way," and CHARITY (1874) to “Gracious Spirit,
Holy Ghost,” have good, wearing, every-day
qualities. The fine tune to “The saints of
(No. 175). God! their conflict past” is called both BEATI
Oxford
(No. 258).
Blessed
Home
(No. 679).
(No. 9).
Charity
Beati
EYMN TUNES
41
Contrition
and ALL SAINTS in Hutchins' Hymnal, but
Stainer himself calls it REST.
The tune in point, in its strength and
straightforwardness, makes an acceptable set-
ting for Kipling's Recessional. MAGDALENA to nedalena
"I could not do without Thee,” and CONTRITION
to“O the bitter shame and sorrow” are both ster- (No. 612).
ling tunes. Stainer's melodies have not the
seductive curves of Barnby, nor the appeal of
Dykes or Monk, but they have an inherent hon-
esty and worth that will in time win general
recognition. A collection of one hundred and
fifty-seven of his tunes is published.
There is one more prominent name in con-
nection with modern English hymn tunes and Arthur
that is Arthur Seymour Sullivan. His tunes Sayman
are of somewhat uneven quality, certain of them 1988
being excellent, while others are but a close re-
move from the ordinary, but all are popular, as
Sullivan is nothing if not tuneful. Among his o Bona
better tunes are 0 BONA PATRIA to "For thee, (No. 407).
O dear, dear country," ULTOR OMNIPOTENS to Omnipotens
“God the All-Merciful,” Lux EOI (1874) to the Lux Eoi
Easter hymn "Alleluia! Alleluia ! hearts and St. Edmund
voices heavenward raise," and St. EDMUND
(1872) to "Nearer, My God, to Thee," and
Sullivan
(1842-
Patria
Ultor
(No. 198).
(No. 123).
St. Edmund
(No. 344).
12 This multiplication of names makes much trouble for
the hymn-tune researcher. If the authentic name of a tune
is not at hand, the average hymn-book compiler will invent
a name of his own rather than go to any trouble in the
matter.
42
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Samuel
(No. 568).
Cena
Domini
(No. 220).
Hanford
(NO. 341).
St. Kevin
(No. 110).
(No. 304).
St. Gertrude
(No. 516).
John
Baptiste
Calkin
(1827-)
"I'm but a stranger here." His tune, SAMUEL
(1874) to "Hushed was the evening hymn," is
a gem of quietness and peace, and his Com-
munion hymn, Cena DOMINI, to "Draw nigh
and take the Body of the Lord,” and his Han-
FORD (1872) to "Jesus, my Saviour, look on
me” are both beautiful in their simplicity and
expressiveness. On the contrary, St. KEVIN, to
“Come, ye faithful, raise the strain," his tune
Angel Voices to "Angel voices, ever singing," and his world-
famous St. GERTRUDE (1872) to “Onward,
Christian soldiers," are open to criticism for a
certain "jigginess” of rhythm and cheapness of
melody not associated with ideal tunes.
John Baptiste Calkin deserves notice for his
characteristic CAMDEN to “Fling out the ban-
ner, let it float.” The tune appears as WALTHAM
AND DOANE in other books. The setting to
(No. 253).
“O Father, bless the children," and named
CALKIN (also Savoy CHAPEL) is a fine tune,
as is also SEFTON to "Lift up your heads, ye
mighty gates."
v. AMERICAN TUNES.
Turning to America for good tunes we do
not find a very extensive list nor many names of
special prominence. The only tune-writer
widely known to fame as such is Lowell Mason.
His tunes, doubtless, filled a valuable purpose
in their day and generation; and he rendered
Camden
Calkin
(NO. 208).
Sefton
(No. 454).
American
Tunes.
Lowell
Mason
(1792-
1872).
HYMN TUNES
43
Hamburg
(No. 353).
Olmutz
(No. 186).
CONARY
Hymn
S.
Bethany
Olivet
invaluable service in the promotion of choral
singing, both sacred and secular, in the forma-
tive days of musical art in this country. Many
of his tunes are becoming relegated to the past,
but several of his melodies bid fair to live for
some time to come. Two of his best known
tunes, HAMBURG and OLMUTZ, are arrange- Misst
ments from Gregorian tones. His MISSIONARY Hm 7,64).
HYMN (1823) to "From Greenland's icy moun-
tains," his BETHANY to "Nearer, my God, to (No. 344).
Thee," and his OLIVET (1833) to "My faith (No. 345).
looks up to Thee,” have crossed the ocean and
gained entrance into many hymnals there.
They are certainly excellent examples of tunes
constructed from the simplest materials and
deserve respect for their earnestness and adapta-
bility to ordinary use. Next to Lowell Mason,
William Batchelder Bradbury has been our Bradbury
most popular and prolific tune-writer. His 1868).
tune, AUGHTON, to "He leadeth me,” and Aughton
(No. 616).
ZEPHYR to “With broken heart and contrite Zephyr
sigh” will doubtless remain long in popular
favor.
Horatio Parker, Professor of Music at Yale, Horatio
represents the other extreme of American hymn (1863–).
music. He has contributed a number of noble
tunes which are conceived in a broad style, and
which, perhaps, look a little into the future with
their bold harmonies and unconventional pro-
gressions. Hutchins' Hymnal, to which Parker
William
Batchelder
(No. 87).
Parker
4.4
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
acted as musical adviser, contains eleven of his
tunes, while the edition of our Hymnal edited
by Parker himself contains thirty. Like
Stainer, Parker refrains as a rule, from writing
new tunes to well-known hymns already sup-
plied with tunes satisfactory alike to musician
and amateur, and which have accumulated a tra-
ditional value. This fact confines a number of
his tunes to texts that are rarely used or used
only upon special occasions. For this reason
they have but small chance to gain public favor.
Parker is in his element when setting to music
hymns of a grandiose style, and these he sup-
plies with tunes of great breadth and striking
characteristics. He seeks for rhythmical variety
without loss of dignity, richness of harmony
without loss of strength, and melodic originality
without loss of grace. He delights in a bold
transition in the middle of his tunes and in-
dulges himself until it becomes almost a man-
nerism. Only rarely does he fall into familiar
paths—a most difficult thing to avoid and not
transgress the natural limitations of tune-writ-
ing.
A characteristic example of Parker's style is
his FOUNDATION (1894) to "How firm a foun-
Foundation
(No. 636).
13 Parker's HOLY DAY to Come, let us all with one accord
is curiously like Beethoven's tune SARDIS ; and PRO PATRIA,
to God of Our fathers, suggests Harding's MORNING STAR.
This, however, is only momentary, as it soon goes on its
own way, and, gathering strength, culminates in a fine
unison passage.
HYMN TUNES
(No. 493).
(NO. 294).
Æterna
of Days
dation.” This is a noble tune, finely balanced,
and with an onward sweep that never wavers.
Similar virile tunes but on more expansive King of
lines are KING OF GLORY (1894) to "In loud (No. 482).
exalted strains," and MOUNT SION to “O'twas Mount Sion
a joyful sound to hear.” Other examples of
masculine vigor are COURAGE (1894) to "Fight Courage
au (No. 505).
the good fight,” AUBURNDALE (1894) to “Christ Auburndale
is our Cornerstone,” and Vox ÆTERNA (1903) Vox
to "Hark! the Voice eternal.” His dignified (No. 36).
setting to "Ancient of days” (1903) will doubt- Ancient
less have difficulty in displacing Jeffery's popu- (No. 311).
lar but rather flamboyant tune to the same
words.
The above examples are for the most part
"choir tunes” and Parker has not hesitated to
publicly criticise himself for the tendency to
write for the choir rather than for the people.
That he stands most distinctly for congrega-
tional singing has ample testimony in the fol-
lowing quotation from the preface to his own
edition of the Hymnal:
"In more than twenty years' experience as
choirmaster the editor has not observed that
improvement in congregational singing which
is so earnestly to be desired. A school of
hymnody, which many call sentimental, has
grown up and flourished during the past twenty
years without improving, so far as we have
observed, either the quantity or the quality of
congregational singing. We may almost be-
46
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
lieve that our grandfathers had better Church
music for the people than we have. If we may
accept the saying of competent observers, they
had certainly more and better singing, under
the influence of the singing schools in what
may be called the later Lowell Mason time, in
the form of service common to the most of
New England, than is usually to be heard at
present. But signs are now discernible of a
desire for a healthier, sturdier, more manly feel-
ing in hymns and tunes. These signs are un-
mistakable and widespread, and are most grati-
fying evidences of the improvement in public
taste. Lovers of hymnody no longer seek
sensuous pleasure in rhythm and harmony, de-
sired naturally enough by the very young, but
look rather for convincing earnestness and so-
briety of feeling. Clearly we need not more
tunes, but better ones, attaining a higher
standard of musical worth and dignity."
Parker can also write tunes, and good ones,
of a congregational character as witness his
beautiful setting, BRANNENBURG (1903) to
“More love to Thee, O Christ,” his tender and
simple JESU PASTOR (1903) to "Jesus, tender
Shepherd, hear me,” his graceful and appealing
STELLA (1903) to "All my heart this night re-
joices,” and his melodious BUDE (1903) to
“Thou Who with dying lips."14
From other purely American sources we
have but little of real value or that promises to
Brannen-
NO. 654).
Jesu Pastor
(No. 534).
Stella
(No. 538).
Bude
(No, 277).
14 These four tunes, together with Vox ÆTERNA and AN-
CIENT OF DAYS, are in Parker's own hymnal.
ÉZYMN TUNËS
48
-
Rev. J. S. B.
Hodges
(1830–).
Hymn
Edward
(1796-
be a permanent addition to our hymnals. We
are indebted to Americanized Englishmen for
some excellent tunes. Prominent among them
is the Rev. J. S. B. Hodges of Baltimore, who
came here in his early youth. His setting to
“O day of rest and gladness," called HODGES,
Hodges
(No. 24).
compares favorably with standard English
tunes, and his Eucharistic Hymn, "Bread of the Eucharistic
world,” has moved many hearts by its earnest (ÑO. 225).
simplicity. The tune BRISTOL to "Hark! the Bristol
glad sound! the Saviour comes,” is by his father,
Edward Hodges, who came to this country in Hodges
1838 and during his incumbency as organist 1876).
of Old Trinity in New York, was the first to
introduce the Cathedral style of service into
this country. A most worthy successor to Dr.
Hodges is Dr. Arthur H. Messiter, also English Arthur H.
born, whose fine tune MARION to "Rejoice, ye (1834).
pure in heart,” has met with general recognition (No. 520).
and use.
The composition of hymn tunes is at once Composition
the simplest and most difficult of tasks. Any tunes.
tyro in the study of harmony can put together
agreeable chord progressions allied to a singable
melody, and amateurs are disposed to think
that this constitutes a hymn tune. Such as
these are turned out by thousands. Well worn
phrases from good tunes are revamped after the
manner of a rag-carpet, and their very familiar-
ity, which breeds contempt in the musician,
Messiter
Marion
of hymn-
48
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Amateur
dabblers.
gives them a popular vogue, for they are both
easy to learn and easy to sing. Fortunately the
cheap tune is usually associated with cheap
words, and our Church is saved from a deluge
of inanity both in words and music by its wise
provision which permits nothing but duly au-
thorized hymns to be sung. While we thus es-
cape the maudlin sentiment of the Gospel hymn-
tune we are by no means free from the musical
upstart who cannot appreciate sterling worth,
and to whom the value of tradition is nothing.
He feels called upon to write new tunes to our
most treasured hymns, and worse still, he suc-
ceeds in having them sung; and not infrequently
they find their way into standard hymnals.
They are always "taking” in the popular sense,
and apt to have sensational features. Proces-
sional hymns are the favorites, for a marching
rhythm makes the first appeal to elementary
musical instincts. A formula for such a tune
would consist of a jingling rhythm recurring
with deadly regularity, a melody gaily moving
along the line of least resistance, and a few
"barber shop” chords to help out the climax,
which will be greatly heightened if some of the
sopranos sustain a high tone in the refrain-for
there must be a refrain! People will publish
tunes who would not dream of publishing verse,
and still they know infinitely more of the rules
HYMN TUNES
49
Dificulties
in good tune
writing.
of grammar, rhetoric, and poetic rhythm than
they know of harmony or composition.
A good tune is most difficult to write because Toni
within very circumscribed limits something defi-
nite and characteristic must be expressed.
While comparatively simple material must be
used, it should neither be commonplace nor remi-
niscent. The parts must be in convenient range
of the different voices. The harmonic frame
must not be too elaborate for the melodic pic-
ture. It must be concise, logical, artistic, and
well-balanced. It must have sentiment without
sentimentality, dignity without angularity. It
is not surprising, then, that one of the foremost
of American composers when invited to con-
tribute to the hymnal of a leading denomination
declined with thanks, excusing himself on the
ground that he would rather write a sonata than
a hymn tune!
While it is true that our greatest composers Best tunes
have rarely turned their attention to hymn-tune musicians.
writing, it is equally true that our best tunes
have been written invariably by trained musi-
cians who, at the same time, were earnest, de-
vout Christians. And this suggests the query,
Is not the first requisite of the Church com-
poser a reverent spirit: reverence for the Chris-
tian religion, reverence for literary values, rev-
erence for musical expression ?
The criticism aimed at the amateurish dab-
by trained
Professional
dabblers.
50
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
bler in hymn-tune writing also holds good in
many instances in the profession, for many mu-
sicians dash off wretched hymn tunes who are
excellent performers, teachers, or choirmasters
but who have had no special training in compo-
sition or in the ethics of good Church music.
A most curious contradiction is the fact that
musicians who have the highest standards when
judging the work of others and whose ideals and
taste are unquestioned, seem to lose their view-
point entirely when they take their pen in hand,
and perpetrate a kind of music they would not
tolerate in others.
If these would-be Church composers would
stop to consider that the language of the Scrip-
tures and of the Prayer Book are models of
purity and refinement, that the hymns in
use with us are for the most part the work
of trained and scholarly minds, and that any-
thing short of these high standards would be
unseemly to offer to Almighty God, they might
perhaps realize that music as a worthy consort
deserves equally serious consideration.
A good tune is judged by precisely the same
standards as a good hymn. The thought must
be worthy, the expression adequate, the work-
manship above criticism, and the artistic sense
apparent. Logic, order, proportion, and per-
spective must all be there, as well as an assuring
sense of mastery in all the details. If we are to
Essentials of
a good tune.
HYMN TUNES
51
wed music to worthy words the work of compo-
sition is not to be entered into unadvisedly, but
reverently, discreetly, and in the fear of the
Lord.
This chapter will best be brought to a close
by a quotation from that admirable and most
suggestive book, "Musical Ministries in the
Church," by Waldo Selden Pratt, Professor
of Music in the Hartford Theological Semi-
nary. Professor Pratt sums up the situation
in the following appreciative way, and one
scarcely knows which to admire the more, his
broad and sure grasp of the whole question, or
the beauty and completeness of his powers of
expression:
“Our Christian hymns are surely among the
most powerful agencies we have for developing
the religious sentiment of our people. The best
of them are exquisitely beautiful in form and
imagery, are magnetic and noble in tone and
spirit, and deal habitually with topics and as-
pects of truth that all lie close to the heart of
the Gospel. As a rule, they spring out of re-
ligious experience at its best and they tend to
lift experience to its highest levels. The very
cream of truth and of soul-life is gathered into
them. They contain the refined riches, the
precious essences, the cut and polished jewels
of Christianity in all the ages. They tend to
be superlative and ideal in both thought and
expression, simply because so often they come
from souls of rare endowment and unusual
spiritual attainment. They therefore push on
52
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
ber truthit what in our often
far beyond what most of us could perhaps our-
selves say in sober truth. But they proclaim
and represent nothing but what in our hearts
we long for and aspire unto. They often
ascend into the realm of ecstacy, and speak as
of seeing the invisible and participating in the
inaccessible. Herein they are truly prophetic,
the records of the insight and intuition and
rapture of seer and saint. These sublime qual-
ities, of course, are not possessed by all hymns,
but they mark so many that in these days it is
possible for practical hymn-singing to confine
itself to such continually if it chooses.
"It is by no means as commonly seen as it
ought to be that entirely parallel claims may
safely be made for much of the tune music that
belongs to our hymns. The best of it, espe-
cially in recent periods, is as beautifully ar-
ticulated as the finest sonnets or the most ex-
quisite miniatures, is rich and thrilling in total
effect, and is charged at every point with the
same spiritual intensity as the hymns that
have called it forth. Most of our finer tunes
are written by men of devout character and
sympathies, and are plainly marked by reli-
gious fervor and elevation. If we accord the
praise of being true revelators to Wesley,
Cowper, Montgomery, Bishop How, Ellerton,
Ray Palmer, and many others of the same high
rank, we should be ready to give similar ac-
knowledgment to the scores of musical artists
who have wrought side by side with them in
the same noble ministry, like Gauntlett and
Dykes and Barnby and Sullivan and Stainer,
not to name others of other schools. Popular
appreciation of the interior beauty and nobility
HYMN TUNES
53
of tunes falls behind that of the value of
hymns simply because of popular ignorance,
and even musical critics are often perversely
blind to the triumph involved in writing a
really excellent hymn tune. Sooner or later,
however, the one will be valued not less than
the other."
II.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING.
The lemn
Plan of
lecture.
The hymn-singing of the Christian Church
had its roots in the psalmody of the Hebrew
people, and it is the purpose of this paper to
trace in a cursory manner its development
through the crude but elaborate music of the
Jews, the hymn singing of the early Christians,
the plainsong of the Roman Catholic Church,
the chorales of the Lutherans, the psalm singing
of the Calvinists and Puritans, and the spiritual
songs of the Wesleyans, as well as through the
practice of our own Church, until we arrive at
modern hymnody, which will receive special
consideration as to its meaning and application
to the Protestant Episcopal Church of America.
I. HISTORY OF HYMNODY.
Hebrew
music.
In Exodus 15 we read as follows:
"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel
this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I
will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed
gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He
thrown into the sea.
CONGREGATIONAL Y
55
SINGING
Hebrew
congrega-
tional
“And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of
Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the
women went out after her with timbrels and
with dances.
“And Miriam answered them, Sing ye unto
the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously:
the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the
sea."
While we are uncertain as to the precise
meaning of the word "singing" in the above 5
singing.
quotation (for the term may have signified
naught but a shouting or crude chanting), yet it
seems quite possible that congregational singing
in well-defined melodies was a settled habit
among the Hebrews, even in the time of Moses
and Miriam, for the lifting up of the voice of
the populace in song was doubtless a primitive
instinct in the heart of man. But it was not
alone in vocal strains that Israel praised the
Lord, for we read in the account of the proces-
sion of the Ark that "David and all Israel
played before God with all their might, and instrumental
with singing, and with harps, and with psal-
teries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals,
and with trumpets.” (I. Chron. 13: 8.)
To prepare for the Temple service there was music.
formulated an elaborate musical plan enlisting
no less than 4,000 singers and players, all of
whom were probably males. This vast body
was under the instruction of 288 skilled musi-
cians and a head precentor or "master of song."
Hebrew
instrumental
music.
in
Templo
56
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
At the dedication of the Temple we read the
following interesting account of the music in
II. Chron. 5:12:
"Also the Levites which were the singers,
all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun,
with their sons and their brethren, being ar-
rayed in white linen, having cymbals and psal-
teries and harps, stood at the east end of the
altar and with them an hundred and twenty
priests sounding with trumpets.
"It came even to pass, as the trumpeters
and the singers were as one, to make one sound
to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord:
and when they lifted up their voice with the
trumpets and cymbals and instruments of mu-
sic, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is
good : for His mercy endureth forever: that
then the house was filled with a cloud, even
the house of the Lord.”
The account establishes beyond a doubt the
great importance attached to music by the Jews.
We might infer that with the development
of an official band of performers, the participa-
tion of the people in the services of the inner
Temple was more or less restricted. In the outer
courts, however, it seems that congregational
singing was more generally cultivated, the
voices of women and children joining in the
popular celebrations.
The extensive use of instruments, the trum-
pets for interludes, the pipes and stringed in-
struments for accompaniments, the cymbals to
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
57
mark the rhythm, all go to indicate a consider-
able development in concerted music. Then
again the psalms are unquestionably intended
for the purposes of song. The very nature of
their parallel construction at once suggests anti-
phonal singing, either between precentor and
congregation, or between answering choirs."
As to the character of the music of the Jews Character
we are quite ignorant. The accent marks music,
which exist in ancient manuscripts are supposed
to have been guides or helps to the singers in re-
membering the melodies. Their exact use has
never been solved, and it is extremely doubtful
if a solution to their mystery will ever be found.
The music may have been of the most primitive
character, consisting of chant-like intonations
and cadences; or, as some Jewish authorities
contend, it may have been of a more developed
nature and the germ or source of the plainsong
music that rose to such heights of beauty and
perfection in the Latin Church. Traditional
melodies which the Jews claim as authentic
Temple music are still to be heard in the syna-
gogues of to-day, but these melodies vary widely
in different countries, agreeing only in certain
of Hebrew
1 The psalms constitute an inexhaustible mine of riches
for the musical composer down to the present day, and
excerpts from them form the text of our greatest anthems
and cantatas. They occupy an important place in the
liturgy of all Christian Churches, and in their metrical ver-
sion they are an important part of our hymnody.
58
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Early
Christian
music.
peculiar melodic progressions which are unmis-
takably of Oriental origin.
In the first centuries of Christianity we find
an exact parallel to the development of music
as it occurred among the Jews. Before the
crystallization of formis of worship in the early
Church the people joined universally and
heartily in the singing of the psalms and hymns.
This was following the injunction of St. Paul
(Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) in “Speaking to your-
selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs.” As St. Paul makes this triple allusion
in his letters both to the Ephesians and the
Colossians it is thought that in "psalms” he re-
fers to the psalms of the psalter, in "hymns” to
the canticles of the Old Testament, and in
"spiritual songs” to hymns composed by the
Christians themselves.
We read of the early Christians assembling
before daylight and singing hymns alternately
to Christ, and of employing in their meetings
"two choirs, one of men and one of women.
From each of these a person of majestic form
was chosen to lead. These then chanted hymns
in honor of God, composed in different measures
and modulations, now singing together, and now
answering each other by turns.” This last prac-
tice suggests the antiphonal music of the Jews,
from whom it was no doubt derived. That the
music was not always of the simplest or most
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
59
singing a
source of
suitable character is indicated by the action of
Clement of Alexandria (died 220 A. D.) who
forbade the use of certain melodies because of
chromatic intervals.
Later on the Church authorities were
Hymn
obliged in self-defence to confine the singing ,
o we singing heresy.
of the people to certain psalms and canticles and
to interdict the promiscuous singing of hymns,
as it was such a fruitful source of spreading se-
dition and heresy.
In Gibbon we read:
“The Arians had been forbidden by the Em-
peror Theodosius to have places of worship
within the city. But on Saturdays and Sun-
days and great festivals they were in the habit
of assembling outside the gates, then coming
into the city in procession at sunset, and all
night, in the porticoes and open places, singing
Arian hymns and anthems with choruses.
Chrysostom feared that many of the simple
and ignorant people would be drawn from the
faith. He therefore organized nightly proces-
sions of orthodox hymn-singers, who carried
crosses and lights, and with music and much
pomp rivalled the efforts of the heretics. Riots
and bloodshed were the consequence. Very soon
an Imperial edict put a stop to Arian hymn-
singing in public. The use, however, of hymns
in nocturnal services of the Church became es-
tablished.”
Congregational singing was thus in general Congrega.
use in the early days of the Church, but, as was ing in the
the case in the Temple music, with the develop- Church.
red thatuld be dnightly carrie
tional sing-
60
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
A hymn as
defined by
St. Augus-
tine.
ment of the liturgy and ritual of the Roman
Church and the perfecting of their ecclesiastical
organization, the people's part in the services
was finally reduced to a few responses. The
singing of the psalms, canticles, hymns, and
Mass numbers was entrusted to trained chor-
isters who were ecclesiastics of a minor order,
and thus the performance of music in the
Roman Church became largely a clerical func-
tion. Hymn-singing in all probability contin-
ued to be indulged in by the laity in the home
circle, in private worship, and perhaps at spe-
cial popular religious functions.
St. Augustine thus defines a hymn:
"Hymns are the praise of God with song;
hymns are songs containing the praise of
God. If there be praise and it be not God's
praise, it is not a hymn. If there be praise and
that God's praise, and it be not sung, it is not
a hymn. To constitute a hymn, then, it is neces-
sary that there be these three things: praise,
the praise of God, and song.”
Under this definition psalms and special acts
of praise, such as the Gloria in Excelsis, the
Magnificat, etc., were termed hymns. The hymn
referred to as sung by our Lord and His Apos-
tles at the Last Supper was doubtless the Hallel,
which included Psalms 113th to the 118th, and
it is quite possible that the psalm "When Israel
Peregrinus. came out of Egypt,” was sung to the Peregrine
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
tone, a Gregorian which is used to this day in
many of our churches and which has been asso-
ciated with that psalm since the earliest musical
records. The Te Deum is frequently referred Te Deum.
to as the Ambrosian hymn, and tradition has it
that at the baptism of St. Augustine on Easter
night, 387, St. Ambrose and his distinguished
convert improvised the great hymn in alternate
strophes. The Te Deum, however, is of Greek
origin in all probability.
Metrical hymns in the modern sense of the Metrical
word were not fully developed until about the
fifth century, and St. Ambrose is credited with
their introduction into the Western Church.
They became very popular in the succeeding
centuries, a vast number being written by monks
and priests of the Roman communion. Of
these some 3,500 have been traced and cata-
logued by specialists in hymnody. Some of our
best known hymns come from the medieval
Latin Church poets, such as "Jerusalem, the main
golden," "For thee, O dear, dear country,"
“Brief life is here our portion," "Jesus, the very
thought of Thee," "Come, Holy Ghost, our souls
inspire," “O Sacred Head surrounded,” “The
day is past and over," and many others.
When the Christian religion invaded Ger- tiongrega-
many the Roman Church authorities found singing in
themselves compelled to reckon with the innate
love of the German people for music. This love
Mediæval
, hymns.
Congrega-
tional
62
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
had long expressed itself in "folk-songs,” both
in their secular and religious relations. As
early as 1195 we read of a choral society being
formed in Prague for the study of spiritual
songs, and in the thirteenth century popular
songs were permitted at certain church festivals.
But this was a far cry from the personal ap-
proach to God encouraged by Luther. When he
maintained the right of laymen to participate
in public worship and to praise God through
their beloved medium of song and in their na-
tive tongue, the enthusiasm of the people knew
no bounds. This sudden liberty on the part of
the people to freely express their religious emo-
tions, combined with the assurance of salvation
by faith alone without priestly intervention, re-
sulted in a veritable flood of verse and melody.
It is estimated that over one hundred thousand
hymns have been written in Protestant Germany
alone, and their accompanying chorale melodies
number many thousands. It is claimed that the
hymn-singing made many more converts to the
German Evangelical Church than did the
preaching.
The intense love of Luther for music and
his practical knowledge of the art, together with
the innate musical nature of his followers and
their reverent attitude toward religion, all com-
bined to evolve a type of hymn tune which for
dignity, breadth, and fundamental worth has re-
Lutheran
hymns.
The German
chorale.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
63
Psalm
Calvinists.
mained unexcelled. Skilled musicians busied
themselves with arranging and composing melo-
dies, and their efforts resulted in such a high
standard of attainment, and such a correspond-
ing elevation of public taste, that the Lutheran
Church has never suffered from trashy or un-
worthy hymn music. - .
With the Calvinists it was quite different. singing of
They looked upon the efforts of man as an unfit
offering to Almighty God, and they therefore
confined their singing to metrical versions of the
psalms of David. As to music, Calvin ex-
pressed himself as follows: "Those songs and
melodies which are composed for the mere pleas-
ure of the ear, and all they call ornamental mu-
sic, and songs for four parts, do not behoove the
majesty of the church, and cannot fail to greatly
displease God.” In consequence the tunes se-
lected were of a sober not to say a forbidding
character. Like many of the German chorales,
the melodies set to the Genevan Psalter (as the
official Calvinistic psalm-book was called) were
taken from folk-songs, but of French origin.
The most famous of these tunes is that known as
OLD HUNDRED, which was originally sung not to
the hundredth but to the one hundred and
thirty-fourth psalm. A visitor to Geneva in
1557 gives the following account of the psalm-
singing of the Calvinists:
“A most interesting sight is offered in the
Old
Hundred
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Psalm
singing of
Puritans.
city on the week days, when the hour of the
sermon approaches. As soon as the first sound
of the bell is heard all shops are closed, all con-
versation ceases, all business is broken off, and
from all sides the people hasten into the nearest
meeting house. There each one draws from his
pocket a small book containing the psalms with
notes, and out of full hearts, in the native
speech, the congregation sings before and after
the sermon. Every one testifies to me how
great consolation and edification is derived
from this custom."
Calvin's abhorrence of ritual and his detes-
tation of art in any of its manifestations as an
adjunct to religion, including both organ and
choir, found sympathetic response in both the
English Puritans and the Scotch Presbyterians.
Many English Protestants, during the religious
persecution of Mary, fled to Geneva, where
they fell under the influence of Calvin. Upon
their return to England they brought with them
the psalm-singing habit. Metrical psalms at
once sprang into enormous favor, not only with
the Nonconformists but in the Established
Church as well. Would-be poets not only versi-
fied the psalms, but the canticles, the Creed, the
Lord's Prayer, and a considerable portion of the
New Testament in addition. A semi-official ver-
sion of the psalms appeared in 1562 under the
title:
"The Whole Booke of Psalmes collected
into English metre, by T. Sternhold, J. H.
Sternhold
and Hopkins
Psalm-book.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
ILY
65
Tato and
Hopkins, and others, conferred with the Ebrue,
with apt notes to sing them withal. Set forth
and allowed to be sung in all churches, of all
the people together, before and after Evening
Prayer, and also before and after sermons, and
moreover in private houses for their godly
solace and comfort, laying apart all ungodly
songs and ballads, which tend only to the en-
couraging of vice and the corrupting of youth.”
The Sternhold and Hopkins version, known
later as the "old version,” despite its crude-
ness and literalness, enjoyed immense popu-
larity and was not displaced until 1696, when
the "new version" by Tate and Brady came into Brady.
use, a version which sacrificed the ruggedness
of Sternhold and Hopkins for weaker, if more
graceful lines. Next in turn came Watts' ver- version.
sion to which he gave the title "Imitation of the
Psalms of David in the Language of the New
Testament.” This version was of a much higher
order of literary and poetic merit and became
popular with the dissenters. In the meantime,
the Scotch Presbyterians had replaced their first
Psalter (a combination of the Genevan Psalter,
Sternhold and Hopkins and original para-
Rous'
phrases) by Rous' Version, which appeared in version.
1650 and met with great favor. *
Watts'
2 It may be of interest to add that the Genevan Psalter
passed through at least a thousand editions; that it was
translated into the Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, Bo-
hemian. Polish. Latin, and Hebrew Languages, and was used
even by the Roman Catholics. Julian, in his "Dictionary of
Hymnology," gives a list of 326 versions of the entire 150
psalms in the English language alone.
66
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Ainsworth’s
version.
Bay
mook
Psalm-book.
"Lining
out'' or
deacon-
ing.'
The Puritans brought with them to this
country a version by Ainsworth, while the
Church of England adherents remained faithful
to Sternhold and Hopkins. In 1636 a commit-
tee of Congregationalists prepared an original
transcription of the psalms into verse known as
the Bay Psalm-book, and later as the New Eng-
land Version.” Owing to a scarcity of books
there arose the custom of “lining out the
metrical psalms in New England, and a device
more fatal to musical effect could hardly be
imagined. Each line of the psalm was first
read over by the clerk or minister and then sung
by the congregation. The music was thus
broken up into disconnected fragments and was
apt to lose its identity. In fact it not infre-
quently happened that a congregation became
“side-tracked” and ended with a tune other than
the one "pitched” at the start. The only argu-
ment in favor of this unhappy custom was the
fact that it permitted the introduction of new
hymns without the expense of printing them,
and it was no doubt due to this habit that Watts
wrote a new hymn for over two hundred con-
secutive Sundays. So ingrained was this custom
of “lining out that it was contiņued even after
the hymns were thoroughly familiar to all the
congregation.
A word as to the tunes used to the metrical
This passed through seventy editions.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
67
tunes.
psalms. The Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter Early psalm
of 1562 contained forty tunes, mostly in com-
mon metre, for all but twenty of the one hun-
dred and forty psalms were in that metre. The
melody only was printed and the tunes were of
rather a severe type, Old Hundred and Dundee
being samples. The Scotch Psalter of 1635
contained one hundred and forty-three tunes
from French, English, and German sources.
Among the dissenters the tunes gradually grew
less in number until in some communities they
were reduced to six or eight in number, and
these attained such a traditional and senti-
mental value among the ignorant that it was
considered almost heretical to use other music.
This restricted repertoire of tunes, together with
the deadening effect of “lining out” may have
been responsible for the decline in psalm- Decline
singing, which in the eighteenth century degen- singing.
erated into a dull and lifeless exercise. The
principle of individual license in praising God
was carried to such an absurd extent that every
one claimed the right to sing as he pleased, and
the tunes were distorted with all manner of
grotesque turns and twists, according to the
whim of the singer.
It will be remembered that in the Noncon-
formist churches organs were not permitted
they were considered an abomination unto the
Lord-and there were no trained choirs, conse-
Decline
of psalm
68
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Hymn
singing
of the
Wesleyang.
quently the music, such as it was, was confined
to unison singing. In the midst of these un-
promising conditions came the Wesleyan move-
ment, which for the metrical versions of the
Psalms then in use substituted the fervent re-
ligious poetry of Charles Wesley and his asso-
ciates. The hymns were set to the melodies of
popular songs and found immediate and wide-
spread acceptance. To "sing like the Method-
ists” became proverbial, and as in the days of
Luther, inspired hymn singing again demon-
strated its power over the human soul.
In the meantime the Established Church re-
mained true to Sternhold and Hopkins, but the
musical situation was greatly improved by the
appearance of Ravenscroft's book of tunes in
1621, an excellent collection of music harmon-
ized in four parts in musicianly manner and
Ravenscroft with the melody in the tenor part. When Tate
1635?). and Brady came into vogue Ravenscroft's fine
book was superseded by Playford's tunes, a col-
1693?).
lection arranged in three parts but with the
melody in the soprano. These tunes were not
Hymn
singing
in the
Established
Church.
Thomas
(15827-
John
Playford
(1623-
4 The full title of Ravencroft's Psalter is as follows:
"The Whole Booke of Psalmes: With the Hymns Evangeli-
cal and spiritual. Composed into 4 parts by Sundry Authors
with severall Tunes as have been and are usually sung in
England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Italy, France, and the
Netherlands."
The first edition of Playford's Psalter was published
in 1671 with the following title: "Psalms and Hymns in
solemn musick of four parts on the Common Tunes to the
Psalms in Metre: used in Parish Churches." It was, how-
ever, a later edition in three parts that became very popular.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
69
Psalm
singing in
America.
Judge
Sewall.
comparable with those of Ravenscroft, being of
a florid and ornate character.
As to conditions in the early days of this
country, church music suffered no improvement
when Genevan Psalmody, together with the
habit of “lining out," was transferred to New
England by the Pilgrims and Puritans. Five
tunes, among them Old Hundred, York, and
Windsor, comprised the musical stock in trade.
The diary of Judge Samuel Sewall, who was
Diary of
for twenty-four years a precentor, throws inter-
esting side-lights on early New England music.
The musical sensibilities of the singers were evi-
dently not of a highly developed nature, and
there were difficulties regarding the pitch, as no
tuning forks or pitch-pipes were in use at the
time. The pious and God-fearing Judge chroni-
cles as follows:
"1705, sixth day, December 28th. Mr. Pem-
berton prays excellently, and Mr. Willard
preaches from Ps. 66:20 very excellently.
Spoke to me to set the tune; I intended Wind-
sor and fell into High Dutch, and then, essay-
ing to set another tune, went into a key much
too high. So I prayed Mr. White to set it:
which he did well, Litchfield tune. The Lord
humble me and instruct me, that I should be the
occasion of any interruption in the worship of
God.”
A further note indicates that it was not al-
ways the good Judge who was at fault:
70
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Early
American
tunes.
William
Billings.
“Lord's Day, February 23, 1718. I set York
tune, and the congregation went out into St.
David's in the very second going over. They
did the same three weeks before. This is the
second sign. I think they began in the last line
of the first going over. This seems to me an
intimation and call for me to resign the pre-
centor's place to a better voice.”
The New Englanders, unlike the Virgin-
ians, were not long content with the imported
tunes, and with true Yankee enterprise and in-
genuity began the manufacture of their own
tunes. Among the first to do this was William
Billings, who was born in Boston in 1746. His
trade was that of a tanner, but his passion was
music, and he pursued his self-taught way with
great energy and enthusiasm. By this time,
through the influence of singing-schools, choirs
had come into existence and four-part singing
was a possibility. Hymns were gradually com-
ing into use, particularly those of Dr. Watts,
and a style of hymn music known as the "fugu-
ing tune” had come over from England. In
these tunes, instead of the four parts singing to-
gether in the ordinary way, one part would lead
off with an animated phrase, which would be
imitated in one or more of the remaining parts,
somewhat after the style of a fugue. Billings
waxes enthusiastic over the fuguing tune and
thus describes it:
"It has twenty times the power of the old
Fuguing
tunes.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
71
Billingg'
Psalm-books.
slow tunes, each part straining for mastery and
victory, the audience entertained and delighted,
their minds surpassingly agitated and ex-
tremely fluctuated, sometimes declaring for one
part, sometimes for another. Now the solemn
bass demands their attention, next the manly
tenor: now the lofty counter, now the volatile
treble. Now here, now there: now here again,
O ecstatic! Rush on, you sons of harmony!”
Billings was an uncouth but forceful per-
sonality and neglected his tanning trade to lead
choirs, with a voice that drowned all the others,
to publish psalm-books, which had a wide sale,
and to compose music, which had a certain crude
worth. He succeeded in interesting an influ-
ential backing and published successively "The
New England Psalm Singer or American Chor-
ister," "The Singing Master's Assistant,” “Mu-
sic in Miniature," "The Psalm-singer's Amuse-
ment,” “The Suffolk Harmony," and "The
Continental Harmony." His tunes became
very popular and were sung around the camp-
fires of the Revolutionary Army. The best
known among them was a tune called CHESTER,
and it was frequently played by the fifers in
the army.
One of Billings' contemporaries and rivals
was Oliver Holden, whose tune CORONATION to
"All hail the power of Jesus' Name” has quite
outlived any effort of Billings' and which is to
On
O
.
Oliver
Holder and
Coronation.
72
IN THE CHURCH
Y TAY
MUSIC Psalm-
singing in
New York
City.
be found in all the hymn-books of the present
generation.
New England was far more enterprising in
matters musical than New York. According
to one authority there was as late as the year
1800 practically no Church music in New York
City save the Genevan Psalter with its time-
worn tunes. The only exception was in Old
Trinity Church, Broadway, where we find rec-
ords of hymn and anthem singing beginning
with 1754. Psalm singing was also deeply
rooted in our own Church, for we discover that
on August 21, 1707, an order was made by the
vestry of. Trinity parish that the New Version
of metrical psalms, by Tate and Brady, shall be
introduced "the next Sunday come seven-night,
and that no other psalms be sung in ye said
church.” This would imply that the Old Ver-
sion of Sternhold and Hopkins had been in use
and perhaps with the fine tunes in Ravenscroft's
collection (1621).With the advent of Tate and
Brady it is likely that Playford's "Whole Book
of Psalms” (1677) was drawn upon for tunes,
as it was immensely popular in England.
Trinity was supplied with its first organ in
1741. After its installation and following the
English custom, the children of the parish char-
ity school were called upon to lead the singing.
They were given some instruction in singing,
were taught the metrical psalms by rote and a
Music at
"oid
Trinity.''
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
73
William
Tuckey.
few simple anthems. This was the extent of
the music in the parish until the arrival of Wil-
liam Tuckey from England, who advertised
himself as "Professor of the Theory and Prac-
tise of Vocal Music, late Vicar Choral of the
Cathedral Church of Bristol, and Clerk of the
parish of St. Mary Port in said city, now resi-
dent in New York.” He was an indefatigable
composer and set about publishing all sorts of
hymns, anthems, and services of his own pro-
duction. He was parish clerk at Trinity for four
years, but ceasing to give satisfaction he was dis-
missed. However, upon the inauguration of a
new organ in 1762 his services were secured to
organize and drill a mixed chorus, and for the
first time a Te Deum was performed in this Pin
country. It was announced in the following of
pompous style in the public press :
“To all lovers of Divine Harmony. Whereas
it is the custom in Protestant congregations in
Europe on times of rejoicing, as well on An-
nual as particular days of Thanksgiving, to
sing the Te Deum, therefore by particular de-
sire, a subscription is opened, for the encour-
agement of so laudable a practice in this city.
Proposals as follows: Every lady, gentleman,
etc., to subscribe whatever they please, for
which subscription money William Tuckey has
obligated himself to teach a sufficient num-
ber of persons, to perform the Te Deum, either
with or without an organ, or other instruments,
and that it shall be as good a piece of music
performance
Te Deum,
m, there of Thankwell on
74
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Chanting in
Trinity
parish.
as any of the common Te Deums sung in any
Cathedral in England.”
Up to the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury there is no mention of chanting, but it
seems almost incredible with the constantly
increasing attention paid to music in Trinity
parish that chanting was not attempted. It
came eventually, however, for in 1809 a book
entitled “The Churchman's Choral Companion
to his Prayer Book” was published by Trinity
parish, which evidently indicated the musical
service at that period. The editor says that
“Chants are the only kind of music which is
calculated for general use in public worship,”
and he further remarks that "metre singing, by
its fluctuating nature and restless spirit of
novelty, is an object of attention to the young
and of neglect to the aged.” Despite the grad
ual introduction of anthems, canticles, and ser-
vices, the hymn singing for years continued to
be the psalms in metre. The sectarian churches,
however, and particularly the Methodists, were
rapidly abandoning the psalms for the hymns
of Watts and the two Wesleys.
It is well within the last century that the
custom of singing "spiritual songs” or hymns
has grown up in the Church of England. While
the Church readily took up the Calvinistic habit
of metrical psalm-singing it was slow to adopt
the hymn-singing of the dissenters. No hymn
Hymn
singing in
America.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
75
Protestant
Hymnal.
book met with universal favor or general use
until the appearance of "Hymns Ancient and
Modern” in 1861, and its success was phenome-
nal. As to this country, many of us still re-
member the metrical psalms which were bound
up with the Book of Common Prayer in the days
when the clergyman would exchange his sur-
plice for an academic gown while preaching the
sermon. While "Hymns Ancient and Modern"
was used to some extent it was not until 1871,
when our own official hymnal was first issued,
that psalm-singing was entirely abandoned and
hymn-singing in the modern sense of the word Episcopal
became general among us.
II. CONGREGATIONAL SINGING.
The religious and musical press indulge function
periodically in heated discussions as to the
proper function of music in our church services
and the relative importance of the rights of
choir and congregation in the matter.
Some contend, and with no little asperity,
that the worship of Almighty God concerns but
the priest on the one hand and the people on
the other; that the choir represents the people
and the moment anything is sung in which the
people can not readily and easily join, the choir
usurps the rights of the people and arrogates to
itself privileges which it has no authority to
exercise. It is "praising God by proxy," a
1
of music in
the church.
76
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Music
divided
between
priest, choir,
and people.
principle which some natures seem incapable of
comprehending. These outbreaks are without
doubt occasioned by those churches in which the
music of the choir is over-emphasized, and
r. where the congregation is deprived of its proper
share in the musical portions of the service.
This, however, is a short-sighted view of the
situation. If ancient custom and the authority of
the primitive Church are to be heeded, the service
is divided between three participating bodies,
the clergy, the clerks or choristers, and people.
The priest is to say or sing the psalms and ver-
sicles, to read the lessons, and to join with the
clerks and people in the Lord's Prayer, the con-
fession, the psalms and the Creed. The clerks
are to join with the people in the responses, the
Kyries and the Amens, while the clerks are to
sing the anthem, for the rubric says "In quires
and places where they sing, here followeth the
anthem.” According to traditional custom the
clerks are also to sing the five anthems in the
Communion service: the Nicene Creed, the
Sanctus, the Benedictus, the Agnus Dei, and
the Gloria in Excelsis.
The people are to take part in the responses,
psalms and hymns, but are only to worship nega-
tively while the choir sings the more elaborate
music of the service.
The principle of silent worship is obviously
as logical as the principle of silent prayer. We
ra
1
Silent
worship.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
77
Advantages
of congre-
gational
singing.
can praise God as effectually through the sing-
ing of the choir as we can pray to Him through
the voice of the priest. The raison d'être of a
congregational singing is the opportunity it sat
gives both for individual and collective expres-
sions of worship or praise, and the music should
never be of a nature that would debar anyone
from participation on account of its difficulty.
On the other hand, the principle of honoring
Almighty God by dedicating to Him and His
service our noblest architecture, our most beau-
tiful sculpture and painting, and our best dic-
tion applies with equal force to our music, and
the special work of the choir should represent
the highest expression of the art and should
be rendered in a manner as far above criticism
as circumstances will permit.
The services of the Church are looked upon Worship
by many people as offering convenient oppor- personal
tunity for the voicing of their personal prayers
and praises. They quite overlook, or fail to
remember, the broader aspect of the case, which
is that these services are also an act of worship
on the part of the Church as a whole, and
contain elements of far greater importance and
dignity than our individual needs or desires.
Thus while the Church makes every provision
for personal approach to and communion
with the Almighty through the use of response
and psalm and hymn, it also has moments when
Worship
both
and general.
78
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Chanting
of the
Psalter.
the worshipper must forget his personal equa-
tion and feel himself a part of the Church
Universal. Until this attitude of mind is at-
tained one can never appreciate to the fullest
extent the beauty, the force, and the eminent
fitness of our liturgy and ritual, and the evi-
dent propriety of elaborate and artistic music.
While the choir, then, has its distinct and
appropriate place in the economy of our public
worship, it would be as inexcusable to have it
usurp the functions and rights of the congrega-
tion as to have the congregation with its lim-
ited musical and artistic capacity attempt to
displace the choir in its peculiar province.
Confining ourselves to the Book of Common
Prayer (for it must be remembered that hymn-
singing is not an integral part of our services
but an addition thereto), it is in the psalms of
David that the people find their chief oppor-
tunity of joining in the services of the Church.
But most unfortunately the inherent difficulty of
chanting, the only practicable way of singing
the psalter, is so great that it debars the con-
gregation from active participation. This
difficulty in setting prose to music was prob-
ably responsible for the versification of the
psalms, which adjusted them to popular choral
expression. We have already observed how uni-
versally these metrical versions were used and
how they gradually became replaced by religious
Difficulty of
chanting.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
Choral
responses.
poems, commonly called hymns. Among the
Scotch Presbyterians and a few other branches
of that persuasion, psalm-singing still obtains,
but among Christians at large hymn-singing has
all but universally superseded psalmody, and
has become the one great musical occupation of
our modern congregations. Before treating this
important subject at length we will consider
briefly the other portions of our ritual which
present opportunities for congregational sing-
ing.
The responses in the choral service are prop-
erly the people's part, and the musical setting
of Thomas Tallis, written over 300 years ago,
has neither been improved upon nor discarded,
although occasional sporadic attempts are made
to do both the one and the other. Tallis' Re-
sponses are simplicity and dignity itself in their
original form, but they have undergone a curi-
ous perversion. In Tallis' time it was the cus-
tom to write the melody in the tenor part, and
the alto and soprano were independent parts
added above. People nowadays take it for
granted that the melody is in the soprano part,
and when they hear Tallis' Responses they join
in the soprano instead of the tenor part. It
would be far better if choirs would adopt the
Ferial or daily arrangement of the responses,
for in this arrangement the original plainsong
melody is put in the soprano part, or better yet
Tallis'
setting.
80
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Harmonized
Confessions
and Creeds.
to have the plainsong sung in unison until it
is thoroughly acquired by the congregation.
When the custom has been once thoroughly es-
tablished it would have a fine effect on festivals
to have the choir sing the usual Festal arrange-
ment while the people sing their proper part in
the plainsong melody.
A reprehensible habit is the custom of
using harmonized Confessions and Creeds.
These parts, together with the Lord's Prayer,
should be so simple that every one can join in,
and they should therefore be monotoned or sung
to a single tone. The organ may play varied
harmonies, but to have the choir sing anything
which discourages participation—and in the
Confession of all things—is certainly an in-
fringement on the rights of the people and
should not be tolerated. The so-called "Ely
Confession” is very nice” from a musical point
of view, but is unquestionably wrong in princi-
ple. Furthermore, the habit of singing the re-
sponses with expression and with exaggerated
ritards and diminuendos is a piece of sentimen-
tality that is without warrant. It is not to be
expected that a congregation can indulge in the
finer nuances of artistic interpretation and the
worshippers feel instinctively that their coöp-
eration is out of place. Those who do join in
This criticism does not refer to anthem settings of the
Nicene Creed in the Communion Service which are not in-
tended for the people.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
81
canticles.
merely mar the performance of the choir. In
the anthems and services the choir has ample
opportunity to exhibit its finesse as well as its
prowess, and it can well afford to leave to the
people their few opportunities of congrega-
tional singing.
The practical difficulties of chanting the Chanti
psalter have been alluded to, but it is quite pos-
sible for all to join in the chanting of the can-
ticles, as they are sung so frequently that the
pointing is soon fastened in the memory. The
singing of the Venite is perhaps as generally
joined in by the congregation as the singing of
the hymns. Next to this comes the Nunc Di-
mittis in point of familiarity, and then the
Benedictus. The Te Deum, the Magnificat, and
Nunc Dimittis are apt to be sung to anthem set-
tings, where they have choirs of ability, and sad
to say, too often where they have choirs of so
little ability that it would be far better and
more edifying to use simple chants. When the
canticles are chanted the choirmaster should see
to it that the music selected is of a simple and
straightforward character and of a nature to in-
vite coöperation on the part of the worshippers.
There are simple anthem settings of the can-
ticles, particularly of the Magnificat and Nunc
Dimittis, which are well within the capacity of
the congregation. It would be very advanta-
geous if such were printed on card-board slips
82
MUSIC IN THD CHURCH
The Gloria
in Excelsis.
and distributed among the pews. It would be
an indication that all were expected to take part
in the performance of the music, and the
printed notes would be of assistance to many.
There is one hymn of the ancient Church
which next to the long metre doxology is more
generally known than any one musical number
in our whole liturgy, i. e., the Gloria in Ex-
celsis to the so-called “Old chant.” It is a
thousand pities that the music is of such an
unsatisfactory character. Its source is un-
known, but the chant itself is known and sung
not only throughout our own Communion but
among the various Protestant denominations
also. A custom so widespread and long estab-
lished is almost impossible to supplant, but
it is most devoutly to be wished that some day
an equally simple but better and worthier mu-
sical setting may be found and become univer-
sally current.'
We will now return to the important sub-
ject of hymn-singing.
Hymn singing is essentially and fundamen-
tally a congregational function. It is equally
deplorable whether this function be largely
taken over by a trained choir, or whether
through general apathy and indifference it de-
Hymn
singing
essentially
congrega-
tional.
? May that day also include a correction of the text and
avoid the redundant appearance of the phrase "that takest
away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us," which
doubtless crept in through the typographical error of a
"printer's doublet."
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING TU
83
generates into a lifeless and listless practice.
Nothing is more inspiring than good, hearty
congregational singing, nothing attracts and
holds people so effectually, and nothing creates
in so large a measure religious zeal and fervor.
The hymn singing of a congregation is almost
an unfailing barometer of its spiritual condi-
tion. Good hymn singing is a sure indication
of a wide awake and energetic parish, one
where the people turn out and join sincerely in
the service. On the contrary, poor hymn sing-
ing is an index of spiritual indifference and
stagnation. With such a powerful agency at
hand for the promotion of genuine religious
feeling and enthusiasm it is singular that hymn
singing is not assiduously and systematically
cultivated. It is within the means of the hum-
blest parish, for it is not, happily, a question of
expense, but of well-directed intelligence, skill,
and devotion to the cause.
How shall we secure this desirable custom
of hearty and spontaneous hymn singing ?
It is a difficult question to answer, for con- How to
ditions vary in every parish and suggestions hymn
that might aid in one case might prove quite
futile in another. We can only generalize in
the hope that some of the suggestions offered
may be found of practical value, or, failing in
this, that such an awakening of interest may re-
secure good
singing.
84
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Ability to
sing general.
-
sult that better methods may be discovered than
any hinted at in this lecture.
In the average congregation we have a mu-
sically crude but not altogether incapable mass
of people. There are comparatively few who
absolutely cannot "carry a tune” as the phrase
goes. In fact they are in about the same pro-
portion as the color-blind. But many are timid,
others indifferent, and the usual result is a
faint-hearted attempt at singing by perhaps one-
half of the congregation. Take this same body
of people, let them attend some public gather-
ing where their patriotic feeling is thoroughly
aroused and they will sing America in a man-
ner that will leave no doubt as to their vocal
possibilities.
This experiment simply establishes the fact
that the ability to sing is there provided the in-
centive is sufficiently strong.
The maxim "to him that hath shall be
given” and its converse are most aptly proven
by congregational singing. A stranger enters a
large church where everybody sings, and sings
heartily. He immediately feels encouraged to
join in and adds his quota to the inspiring gen-
eral effect. Per contra, he attends a small
church where apathy and listlessness prevail
and he hesitates to open his mouth, however
much he may wish to do so.
How shall we improve our congregational

CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
25
Intelligent
guidance
necessary.
11
singing; how get those who sing to sing better,
and how encourage to sing those who do not sing of
at all? There is only one way and that is by
the enthusiasm, the hearty interest and the ju-
dicious guidance of the clergy in coöperation
with the choirmasters and organists. How often
is the importance of singing mentioned in our
churches? How often are the people urged to
join in more earnestly? What attempts are
made to give the people a little instruction or
direction in their singing ?
To accomplish anything the importance of
music must be magnified, interest must be
. aroused and a desire to do something awakened.
When a vested choir is once installed all
thought of congregational singing is apt to be
forgotten, and no attempt is made to encourage
or increase the participation of the people. A
choir is not performing one of its most import encourage
tant duties if it does not improve the hymn format
singing. As a matter of fact it generally does singing.
so, but this result is accidental rather than in-
tentional.
Sir John Stainer brought the choir of St. Stainer an
Paul's Cathedral, London, from a state of in-
difference and incapacity to one of the highest ti
beauty and efficiency. He was equally inter-
ested in the people's part of the service and con-
tended that in the ideal church the congregation
should form a vast amateur choir. A choir,
Choir should
congrega-
advocate of
congrega-
tional
singing.
86
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Congrega-
tional
rehearsals.
amateur or otherwise, necessarily implies re-
hearsing, and herein lies the crux of the whole
situation. If our Church people could only be
sufficiently interested to attend an occasional re-
hearsal, wonders would be accomplished. If
they could be induced in some way as a body to
give a few minutes to instruction and rehearsal
at stated intervals, the results would amply re-
pay any effort involved in drawing them to-
gether. Why could not a Sunday evening, say
once a month, be given over to hymn singing ?
A shortened form of Evening Prayer might
open the service and the remainder of the hour
be devoted to informal talks on the history of
Church music and the rehearsing of congrega-
tional music.
The talks should include information con-
cerning both hymnology and hymn music, for
an appreciation of the literary worth of hymns
is quite as essential and quite as interesting as
the study of the tunes. If widely advertised
such a service would tend to attract non-church
members as well as non-church goers, for the
love of hymn singing is more widespread than
the love of church-going. An absolute condition
to success would be a liberal supply of hymnals
with the music.
C.
8 Of course it would be far better to hold these pro-
posed rehearsals on a week night, and in some gathering
place other than the church itself, but in these days of
endless demands upon one's time the Sunday afternoon or
evening would probably be found more favorable.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
Tho
Methodist
Desirability
of cheap
hymnals
with music.
In this regard we may well learn from our
Methodist brethren. A new official Methodist Hymnal.
hymnal was put forth about three years ago.
It has better music type, better letter press,
better paper, better printing and better binding
than almost any of our hymnals, and an edition
with music, in substantial cloth binding, sells
for fifty cents. This enables the average church
to put hymnals with music in every pew, and the Desirability
far-sighted policy that supplies so excellent a boy
book at such a minimum of cost will greatly im-
prove the singing in the Methodist churches.
Their congregational singing, too, stands in far
less need of improvement than ours. Another
point worthy of imitation is that the Methodist
Church itself, through its Book Concern, pub-
lishes the hymnal, and consequently profits
largely from its sales. The low price has re-
sulted in an enormous demand with correspond-
ing profits to the Church at large.
The advantage of a liberal supply of hym-
nals containing the music lies in the fact that
now-a-days so many people have some knowl-
edge of musical notation, and while they may
not be ready readers, the sight of the music is a
great encouragement and assistance in the learn-
• It is gratifying to note that this new Methodist Hymnal
appropriates many of our best hymns and tunes. It marks
a great advance over its predecessor in both literary and
musical value.
88
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Congregation
as choral
society.
ing of new tunes. It gives confidence to the
singer as well as a feeling of responsibility.
In case a congregation is brought to the point
of attending rehearsals it would be an interest-
tion ing experiment to treat it as a choral society and
to divide the singers into the four parts: so-
prano, alto, tenor, and bass. In any consider-
able body of people there is sure to be a certain
percentage of singers who have had experience
in part singing, and a still larger percentage
who could carry their respective parts with a
little practice. These two elements would soon
be sufficiently strong to carry the weaker singers
with them and the result would be a properly
constituted choral body prepared to sing mod-
ern hymns as they should be, i. e., in harmony.
Thus instead of having nine-tenths of the peo-
ple singing the melody-a very unbalanced
and unmusical arrangement--the hymns would
be sung with properly balanced parts instead of
a few singers here and there essaying something
besides the soprano part. Also it would height-
en the pleasure and interest of the singers to
sing and hear sung all the parts of the harmony.
The scheme may be considered visionary, but it
is an experiment well worth trying where there
is a good sized congregation. If the hymn prac-
tice met with success, chanting might be at-
tempted and perhaps simple anthem settings to
the canticles.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
89
Other
devices
hymn
Another plan to encourage the singing of
the congregation is to forego the usual services to promote
of the choir in the chancel on occasion and to singing.
distribute the choristers throughout the church,
so that by their singing they may stimulate
more general participation. The music should
of course be of a strictly congregational charac-
ter and familiar to the people. Still another
plan would be to have an auxiliary informal
choir sit in the front pews or some section of
the church where their efforts would be effective.
If none of these suggestions are practicable
naught remains but exhortations and urgings
on the part of the priest and painstaking care on
the part of the choir and organist to make the
hymn singing as attractive as possible, with the
hope of winning hearty response from the pews.
As to the choice of tunes there is but one Good tunes
thing to do. Use the very best tunes avail-
able and ample interest will be returned
upon the investment. It is a mistaken notion
that good tunes are more difficult to learn than
poor tunes; that the congregation will enter
more heartily and readily into the singing of
trashy tunes than worthy tunes. With the
backing of a choir of very moderate attain-
ments it is only a question of slight persistence
to establish the custom of singing nothing but
thoroughly good tunes, and when this is the case
no one will care for anything else. We have
necessary.
90
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Plainsong
tunes.
such a rich treasury of tunes both ancient and
modern that there is not the slightest excuse for
lowering our standards or pandering to ques-
tionable tastes.
To start with, the plainsong tunes—those
noble melodies which have stood the wear and
tear of ages-should be given a fair trial. They
are especially suited for congregational use as
they should invariably be sung in unison, and
they are the only tunes which are quite satisfac-
tory without accompaniment. They speak to us
at first with unfamiliar phrases and we are dis-
posed to reject them because they are not
"pretty." ! Prettiness is the last attribute of a
good hymn tune. We may have “pretty"
waltzes, serenades, or nocturnes, but not pretty
hymn tunes. A hymn tune may be graceful,
beautiful, attractive, and ear-pleasing, but un-
less it has a certain undertone of earnestness and
reverence it should have no place in the services
of the Church. We can in our tunes run the
whole gamut of religious emotion from the
depths of woe to the most joyous exuberance and
still maintain a certain balance of dignity. The
plainsong tunes are never trivial or common-
place but are strong and rugged and full of char-
acter. Most of us are familiar with "O Come,
O Come, Emmanuel” and appreciate its uncom-
promising straightforwardness. There are six
or eight more plainsong tunes in our hymnals
CONGREGATIONAL 11
TA
inhle odontold German
chorales.
SINGING 91
and at least “O Quanta Qualia” and “Veni
Creator Spiritus” should not be overlooked.
They do not follow the agreeable curves of mod-
ern melodies, but what they lack in grace they
more than atone for in freedom and vigor. If
properly sung their unconventionality and un-
worldliness will finally bring conviction.
Another class of tunes admirably adapted G
for congregational singing are the sturdy and
historic tunes of the German Lutheran Church.
They, too, are best sung in unison and the manly
vigor of "Now thank we all our God” and the
deep pathos of the Passion Chorale, “O sacred
Head surrounded,” are typical and well-known
instances of sterling worth.
The early English composers have also given
us most excellent tunes for congregational use,
such as Dundee, St. Anne, St. Peter and Tallis'
Evening Hymn, and succeeding composers have
added to the list. The modern tunes of Dykes
and Barnby, while more graceful in outline and
more gracious to the ear, are not so well adapted
for unison singing, as the melodies lack the
strength and solidity necessary when a consider-
able number of adult male voices are singing the
air. It is not contended by any means that their
use should be discouraged on this account, but
from an artistic or ideal standpoint they are
open to criticism when sung in unison. They
only obtain their full effect when sung by a good
English
tunes.
2
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
General
participation
first aim.
choir with well-balanced parts. To sensitive
ears such tunes as Barnby's MERRIAL to "Now
the day is over," or his setting to “O paradise,"
or Dykes' "Lead, kindly light," have a very
clumsy and ill-balanced effect when sung in
unison, and this is one of the reasons why musi-
cianly organists sometimes shrug their shoul-
ders or make wry faces when the congregation
is singing.
We cannot, however, look for over-refine-
ment in congregational singing. The primary
question is not one of artistic effect but of devo-
tional uplift through hearty co-operation on the
part of the worshippers. If this is attained in
any considerable degree we can well dispense
with ultra-esthetic considerations, although our
constant aim should be to have our musical ef-
forts on as high a plane as possible. It would
be well if the hymn-tune composers of the fu-
ture paid more attention to unison tunes which
leave scope for varied treatment in the accom-
paniment.
The possibilities for variety in hymn sing-
ing are not usually considered. Aside from the
combined forces of choir and congregation we
have the following factors:
I. The choir as a whole in harmony.
II. The choir as a whole in unison.
III. The men of the choir in unison.
IV. The boys of the choir in unison.
Variety
in hymn
singing.
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
93
St.
V. The congregation as a whole.
VI. The men of the congregation alone.
VII. The women of the congregation
alone.
VIII. Solo voices singing or in combination.
Take for example the Palm Sunday hymn, Theodulph.
“All glory, laud, and honor," to the German
tune ST. THEODULPH by Teschner, which is
usually sung as a processional. It is rather tax-
ing to sing through consecutively and the follow-
ing suggestions will relieve the strain and make
it far more varied and effective:
Verse I. "All glory, laud, and honor,"
choir and congregation in harmony.
Verse II. “Thou art the King of Israel,”
men of choir and congregation in unison.
Verse III. "The company of angels,"
women and boys in unison.
Verse IV. "The people of the Hebrews,"
men of choir and congregation in unison.
Verse V. "To Thee before Thy passion,”
women and boys in unison.
Verse VI. "Thou didst accept their praises,"
all voices in unison.
The refrain "All glory, laud, and honor” to
be sung by all in harmony as far as possible.
It will be observed that there is a certain
amount of appropriateness in the distribution
of the verses between the low and high voices.
Of course such a procedure necessitates either
94
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Sarum.
printed or verbal explanations and the sympa-
thetic co-operation of the congregation, but the
final effect is worth some pains to secure.
Barnby's fine tune SARUM to "For all the
saints” can be made very attractive by distribut-
ing the verses after the following programme: *
Verse I. All the voices in harmony as far
as possible.
Verse II. All the men's voices in unison in
the melody
Verse III. The congregation alone.
Verse IV. Choir alone in harmony.
Verse V. All men in unison.
Verse VI. Choir alone in harmony.
Verse VII. Congregation alone.
Verse VIII. All the voices in unison with
free accompaniment.
To have the congregation sing alone is by no
means an unheard of thing, as it has been suc-
cessfully accomplished in a number of churches
and with striking effect.
Several of Dykes' picturesque tunes are es-
pecially adapted for choir and congregation or
solo and congregation, such as "I heard the
voice of Jesus say," "Come unto Me ye weary,"
and “Christian, dost thou see them.” “Art
thou weary" is also well suited for solo and
chorus.
In regard to the rate of speed in hymn-
singing it is impossible to lay down any hard
1
Tempo
of tunog.
CONGREGATIONAL SÍNGING
95
and fast rules. The size of the building, the
number of singers, the nature of the occasion,
and the character of the tune must all be con-
sidered. Young and enthusiastic choirmasters
are apt to force the speed at the expense of
dignity, but too quick movement is no greater
fault than intolerable dragging: "º
This intolerable dragging obtains largely in
Germany and Holland, where it becomes fre-
quently most distressing. The one virtue is
the fact that no one attempts to sing anything
but the melody, for the organist is apt to play
very elaborate and constantly changing har-
monies. He plays the melody very prominently
and religiously keeps one note ahead of the con-
gregation. The people sing lustily, however,
even if they frequently consume nearly two min-
utes in a four line hymn. To judge from the
original notation the chorale melodies were sung
in more varied rhythm than is the custom now,
and some writers contend that they were taken
with much more life and freedom, and thus ac-
count for their enormous popularity in Luther's
time. This is indeed strange, for one is prone
10 The writer once heard the Litany hymn, saviour, When
in Dust to Thec, sung about twice too fast. It was done
without accompaniment and with excellent tone quality.
In remonstrating with the organist after the service, the
latter maintained that if the hymn had been sung more
slowly the singers would lose the pitch. Here is a case in
point. The congregation was ignored that the choir might
be exploited and the character of the hymn was totally de-
stroyed in order that the choir might keep up to the pitch.
In both instances the more important principle was sacri-
ficed for the lesser.
96
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Best hymn
singing in
England.
to think that the element most admired in
the German chorale is its sustained dignity,
and to change its stately and even flow would
be to destroy its most eminent characteristic.
Taken as a whole England probably has the
best congregational singing of any country, as
she has also the best choirs and the best organs.
In no country is the love and practice of choral
singing so universal and the Church reaps the
benefit of this praiseworthy habit. English tra-
ditions, therefore, should not be treated slight-
ingly in regard to the speed rate of hymn tunes,
and a noted authority gives the following me-
tronome marks for certain familiar tunes:
(The beat of a metronome is gauged so
many beats to the minute.)
St. Anne ................
Old Hundred ............ 80
St. George's, Windsor. .....
Eventide ................. 100
Ewing ......
........100
Ellers . . ................104
St. Gertrude .............104
Some of these marks will doubtless be con-
sidered too slow by the impetuous American,
whose restless blood clamors for excitement even
in the hallowed precincts of the House of God.
But those who appreciate dignity and true rev-
erence will find them not far astray.
Certain Church musicians of the more con-
LI
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
97
S
No one
universal
servative stripe are disposed to set up the Ger-
man chorale as the one type and standard of type of tune,
hymn tune. They overlook the fact that modern
hymns have a more personal and introspective
character than those of the Lutheran era and
that they require a corresponding musical inter-
pretation. To sing the typical chorale melody
to modern religious poetry is an anachronism
and a violation of good taste. The early hymns
dealt largely with objective expressions of
praise, of faith, or of penitence, and the early
tunes were of such interpretative amplitude as
to do duty for a considerable variety of texts.
There were, of course, instances of close associa-
tion of words and music, but it arose more from
custom than any inner bond of connection.
Nowadays we expect a tune to closely fit the Tune should
sentiment of the words, to enhance their mood
and reinforce their meaning. When a tune is
found that thoroughly accomplishes this object
to the satisfaction of those competent to judge,
it is a wise policy to leave it undisturbed. Both
text and tune gain by association and the two
form a homogeneous whole with which famil-
iarity does not breed contempt. On the con- Advantages
trary, they become more and more beloved with
use. Imagine the Christmas season without tunes.
"Hark! the herald angels sing," and "O come,
fit text.
of
traditional
11 The well-known tune to this hymn (originally Hark !
how all the welkin rings) was adapted from Mendelssohn's
Testgesang by W. H. Cummings in 1855. According to
Mendelssohn's own opinion the tune was not suitable for
sacred words.
98
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
all ye faithful,” or Eastertide without “The
strife is o’er" and "Jesus Christ is risen to-
day," sung to their familiar tunes, associated as
they are with our earliest years ! No new tunes,
however good or attractive, could awaken the
same emotions or mean so much to us! But no
rule is without its exception and it does rarely
happen that a new tune is better than the old
and worthy to displace it. But we must be
quite sure of our ground and not be carried
away by passing fancies. For example, the
hymn“Jerusalem, the golden” to the tune EWING
-a thoroughly good and characteristic setting.
In some churches this fine tune has been dis-
carded for a jingling melody which begins like
“Yankee Doodle” and ends with a shriek on A-
lat. The absurd part of the whole matter is
that EwING is found fault with for its extreme
range while this other tune goes two notes
higher !!
UL
12 Dr. Neale, who so beautifully translated Jerusalem,
the Golden from the original Rhythm of Bernard of Cluny,
thus writes: “I have so often been asked to what tune
the words of Bernard may be sung, that I here mention
that of Mr. Ewing, the earliest written, the best known,
and with children the most popular: no small proof, in my
estimation, of the goodness of Church music.” The melody
originally appeared in triple rhythm, as follows:
CONGREGATIONAL SINGING
99
Choice of
tunes should
considered.
The use and choice of tunes should be gov-
erned by deeper principles than ephemeral
pleasing qualities. Clap-trap effects and cheap cu
construction are as objectionable in music as be well
they are in literature, and a lack of knowledge
or taste scarcely justifies their exploitation. If
one is inexperienced he need not look far for
expert and capable opinion either among men
or books. While liberal allowance must be
made for individual opinion and taste there is
nevertheless a fairly well-defined line where
good music ceases and poor music begins.
Familiarity with a good tune is precisely
analogous to familiarity with a good poem. It
is a valuable addition to our spiritual stock-in-
trade and something to be appreciated and
treasured.
There is a strong feeling for greater unity Hymns
on the part of nearly all Christian bodies, and a of unity.
constantly growing bond of sympathy is the use
of certain hymns and tunes which have become
a bond
100
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
well-nigh universal throughout the Christian
world. Each new edition of the sectarian
hymnals draws more and more from the best
Anglican sources. The German chorales are
finding their way into the better English and
American hymn-books of all denominations.
The Roman Catholics do not hesitate to borrow
from us and from Protestants generally, not
even drawing the line at that war-cry of the
Lutherans, "Ein' Feste Burg ist Unser Gott.”
Accounts are balanced by the growing inter-
est in plainsong music, which had its develop-
ment largely in the Church of Rome. This in-
terchange of congregational music of all creeds
cannot but soften prejudice, increase sympathy,
and call attention to much that is common to all
Christian believers.
All schools of hymn music have their place
and their peculiar value, and it behooves us of
the Anglican Church to cultivate an eclectic
spirit that our congregational music may be-
come wide in scope and rich in quality.
Eclectic
spirit
necessary.
III.
THE ORGAN.
Organ as an
instrument.
There are few evidences of the skill and in-
genuity of man that can compare with the
church or concert organ as it stands to-day.
From a purely mechanical point of view it is an
extremely complex instrument, its construction
calling for a practical knowledge of carpentry
and cabinet-making, of pneumatics and hy-
draulics, of electricity and acoustics, as well as
of the handling of metal and leather. On the
artistic side it requires furthermore a keen sense
of tone color and a feeling for proportion and
balance in the distribution of the various quali-
ties of sound. In the exposed portions of the in-
strument it touches upon the arts of architecture
and mural decoration. Without the artistic
sense mechanical resourcefulness would count
but little, for we admire an organ finally for its
beauty of tone and its majestic volume of sound
rather than for the cleverness of its action, the
ease of manipulation, or the attractiveness of its
case.
102
MUSIC IN THD CHURCH
The origin.
Greek
Syrinx.
Pipes
of Pan.
To a person interested in both music and
mechanics there are few more fascinating pur-
suits than the study of the development of this
king of instruments. Tradition has it that the
wind blowing through a broken reed gave the
first suggestion of the organ pipe. In any event,
the production of agreeable tones by blowing
across the edge of a pipe or reed was probably
known in Jubal's time, and his "organ” may
have been a number of such pipes bound to-
gether, whose graduated lengths gave forth the
notes of the scale. An instrument of this sort
was known among many ancient peoples. The
Greeks, for instance, called it a syrinx, after a
lovely water maid beloved by Pan. This in-
strument was in common use and contained
from three to nine pipes, the usual number be-
ing seven. While the first pipes were made of
reeds they were later made of horn, ivory, bone,
wood, or metal."
As these pipes were closed at the lower end
they give the first example of the so-called
"stopped pipes” which have the acoustical pe-
culiarity of giving a tone nearly an octave lower
than the same length of pipe would produce if
left open. In the earliest types the pipes were
1 According to the legend Syrinx did not reciprocate the
love of Pan, and to escape his importunities she fled, and
was changed by her sisters into a reed. However, this dia
not lessen Pan's devotion, for he cut the reed and divided
it into seven portions, gradually decreasing in size. These
be bound together with wax and formed a musical instru-
ment upon which he continued to voice his passion.
TED ORGAN
103
Chinese and
Peruvian
Pandoan
pipes.
Roumanian
stopped by nature, as the reeds were cut off just
below the knot.
The Chinese employed twelve or sixteen
tubes of bamboo, while the Peruvians made use
of both cane-stalks and soapstone in their instru-
ments. Later this "banded-together" series of
tubes became known as Pandean Pipes, and
they are still to be found in remote sections of
Europe where modern civilization has not yet
penetrated. These pipes of Pan were quite
popular in England a century or so ago with
travelling musicians, and they are still occa-
sionally to be met with in connection with
Punch and Judy shows. A modern Roumanian Modern
specimen in the South Kensington Museum in specimen.
London contains twenty-five tubes arranged in
à curve.
In time it was discovered that the tone
could be more easily produced by arranging a
mouthpiece after the manner of a penny
whistle, rather than by the original method of
blowing across the top of the tube.
The Egyptians seem to have been the first bepantian
to discover this principle as well as that of lat-
eral holes in the pipe to govern the length of
the column of air, thus securing a series of tones
from one pipe.
As the deeper toned pipes were exhausting
to blow by the mouth, the construction of a reser-
voir or wind-chest followed, upon which the
104
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Mochanical
progr888.
pipes were placed, tightly fitting into holes
made to receive them. Wind was supplied by
two blowers blowing alternately with their
mouths through flexible tubes into a wind-chest.
At first all the pipes sounded at once unless
silenced by the hand or fingers.
The next advance was the placing of slides
underneath each pipe, by the manipulation of
which the air could be admitted or cut off at
will, and the wind supply was greatly improved
by replacing the human mouth with a smith's
bellows. Pipes were made of various metals
as well as of wood, and these crude instruments
gradually increased in size and power.
By the beginning of the Christian era or-
gans of this type were in common use, and some
of them were fitted out with very clever blowing
devices, the so-called “hydraulic organ” making
use of the weight of water to regulate the wind
supply. “Open” pipes, "stopped” pipes, and
"reed” pipes were in use, thus giving variety of
tone quality, and most of the underlying prin-
ciples of modern organ construction were at
least suggested in these rough prototypes. A
quotation from the poet Claudian about 400
A. D. refers to the hydraulic system of blowing
and indicates that organs were large, powerful,
Popular
use.
Hydraulic
organg.
2The use of skins as a reservoir for wind, after the
manner of a bagpipe, was a device known to the Greeks
as early as 400 B. C.
THE ORGAN
105
and easy of manipulation in his day. He speaks
as follows:
"Let there be also one who by his light
touch forcing out deep murmurs and managing
the unnumbered tongues of the field of brazen
tubes, can with nimble finger cause a mighty
sound; and can move to song the waters stirred
to their depths by the massive lever."
Julian the Apostate is said to have referred A fourth
century
to an organ of the fourth century in the follow- organ.
ing terms:
"I see a strange sort of reeds; they must,
methinks, have sprung from no earthly, but
from a brazen soil. Wild are they, nor does
the breath of man stir them, but a blast, leap-
ing forth from a cavern of ox-hide, passes
within, beneath the roots of the polished reeds;
while a lordly man, the fingers of whose hands
are nimble, stands and touches here and there
the concordant stops of pipes: and the stops,
as they lightly rise and fall, force out the
melody.”
St. Jerome is quoted as describing an organ
L5 Wed Visuus century
at Jerusalem, with twelve brazen pipes, two ele- organ.
phant skins, and fifteen smith's bellows, which
could be heard at the Mount of Olives, a dis-
tance of nearly a mile.
The value of the organ for Church purposes orga
worship.
was soon perceived, especially as an aid to the
singing. It appears that Spain in the fifth
century was the first to use the instrument for
A fifth
106
MUSIC IN TAD CHURCH
A Spanish
organ.
Venice,
France,
Germany,
England.
this purpose, being followed by Italy, England,
France, and Germany, in the order named.
A Spanish organ is described in Hawkins'
"History of Music” as being two feet long, six
inches broad, and furnished with fifteen playing
slides and thirty pipes. An organ of such di-
mensions would be far different in size from the
one mentioned by St. Jerome at Jerusalem, but
it was probably intended for choir purposes
only.
Venice was noted for its fine organs in the
ninth century, but later France and Germany
were said to produce the best instruments.
About this period organs with pipes of brass or
copper became numerous in England. An old
manuscript Psalter in the library of Trinity
College, Cambridge, contains an interesting
picture of a tenth century organ. Eleven pipes
varying in length from about three inches to
two feet are mounted upon a wind-chest, and
four men manipulating as many levers are sup-
plying the wind. Two organists are evidently
urging the blowers to greater effort. Two per-
formers for eleven pipes seems a liberal allow-
ance when we consider that nowadays one or-
ganist manages several thousand pipes unaided.
A treatise on organ building appears as
early as the eleventh century and it describes
very fully the construction of instruments at
that time. This treatise informs us that a letter
Eleventh
century
treatise
on organ
building.
THE ORGAN
107
Cathedral.
was attached to the tongue of each slide in order
to indicate the pitch. These slides fitted into
slits like the lid of a domino box, and they ne-
cessitated double motions as the opening of one
slide was accompanied by the simultaneous clos-
ing of the one used previously.
The following account of an organ in Win- winchester
chester Cathedral gives an excellent idea of the
development of the organ in England in the
tenth century. It is by a monk named Wulstan,
who died in 963:
“Such organs as you have built are seen
nowhere fabricated on a double ground. Twice
six bellows above are ranged in a row, and
fourteen lie below. These, by alternate blasts,
supply an immense quantity of wind, and are
worked by 70 strong men, laboring with their
arms, covered with perspiration, each inciting his
companions to drive the wind up with all his
strength that the full-bosomed box may speak
with its four hundred pipes which the hand of
the organist governs. Some when closed he
opens, others when open he closes, as the indi-
vidual nature of the varied sound requires.
Two brethren (religious) of concordant spirit
sit at the instrument, and each manages his
own alphabet. There are moreover, hidden
holes in the forty tongues, and each has ten
pipes in their due order. Some are conducted
hither, others thither, each preserving the
proper point (or situation) of its own note.
They strike the seven differences of joyous
sounds, adding the music of the lyric semitone.
108
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Great
and choir
organs.
Like thunder the iron tones batter the ear, so
that it may receive no sound but that alone.
To such an amount does it reverberate, echoing
in every direction, that every one stops with
his hand his gaping ears, being in no wise able
to draw near and bear the sound which so
many combinations produce. The music is
heard throughout the town, and the flying fame
thereof is gone out over the whole country.”
This most interesting account indicates that
two organs, corresponding to our Great and
Choir organs, were in use, that to increase the
volume ten pipes were in operation with each
slide, and that each player "managed his own
alphabet,” or in other words, manipulated the
tongues with their appropriate letterings. The
three sets of playing slides doubtless controlled
different degrees of force, so that a limited de-
gree of variety was possible.
In the eleventh century at the Cathedral in
Magdeburg we hear for the first time of an
organ with a key-board. It is said to have con-
tained sixteen notes, but the keys were far dif-
ferent from the narrow strips of ivory of to-day.
These first efforts consisted of a key, or more
properly a lever, from three to five inches in
width, and the action was so stiff that it required
a blow from the fist to operate it. Hence,
organists were first called “organ beáters.” The
8 The "seven differences of joyous sounds” refers to the
seven notes of our C major scale, the "lyric semitone" being
B flat, the first chromatic note to be introduced into the
Magdeburg
Cathedral
First
key-board.
scale.
THE ORGAN
109
Introduction
of sharpg
addition of the sharps or flats was a process of
slow evolution. The "lyric semitone” B flat and fats.
was added about the tenth century. This was
followed in order by F sharp, E flat and G
sharp. It was probably the fourteenth century
before all twelve notes of the chromatic scale
were in use. At first these additional notes
were played from shorter levers, separated from
and above the original keys-almost like
another key-board. The long and short keys
were later brought close together and reduced
in size so that they could be played by alternat-
ing the thumb with the fingers. This process of
reduction in size was gradually continued until
the present dimensions were reached.
By the fourteenth century churches were portatre
very generally supplied with organs and they
were of two sorts, positive or stationary organs,
and portative or movable organs. The porta-
tive, or regal organs, as they were also called,
were so small that they could readily be moved
from place to place and they were used to ac-
company the plainsong of the choir. The pos-
itive organ of Halberstadt Cathedral, built in Cathedral.
Nicholas
1361 by Nicholas Faber, a priest, was the most Faber
famous instrument of its day. It contained
three claviers or key-boards, twenty-two keys,
fourteen of which were diatonic and eight chro-
matic, the wind being supplied by twenty bel-
lows blown by ten men. Its largest pipe was
Positive and
portative
organg.
Halberstadt
(1361).
110
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
key-board.
thirty-one feet in length, approximating in size
those of the great instruments of to-day. This
organ was so arranged that a portion of the
pipes could be silenced at will, thus giving re-
lief to the constant full organ effect which had
obtained previously.
Pedal
The introduction of pedals, a key-board for
the feet, occurred in the fifteenth century. At
first they consisted of one octave only, without
chromatics, and their use was confined to long
sustained tones, from which custom the present
harmonic device of an organ point or pedal
point was derived. About this time the four
fundamental qualities of organ tone were
evolved, the “diapasons," the “flutes," the
"strings” and the “reeds."
pment The greatest advance, and the one which
opened the way for the future development of
the organ, was the device whereby any set of
pipes could be used at will. In the earlier
organs increase of power was gained by adding
more pipes to each key. As these pipes were all
served by one pallet, they all sounded at once
when the pallet was opened by pressure of the
key. By the addition of other key-boards with
a different selection of pipes a contrast of tone
and power was possible, but only in a very re-
stricted way. The first step in advance was a
contrivance by which certain of the sets of pipes
could be silenced at will. This was followed by
of stop
control.
THE ORGAN
111
the introduction of a long transverse slider
which brought into play or silenced any de-
sired set of pipes. The fact that the tone
was "stopped” or silenced by this device un-
doubtedly gave rise to the term “stop” as ap-
plied to the handle which adjusted the slider,
and the same word also became a collective
term for any one set of pipes. For instance, of stop." ;
"Flute stop” refers properly to the knob or
handle which brings the flute pipes into action,
and it also applies to the same set of pipes as
a whole.
Although the device of "stopping.” pipes orig- St
inated in Germany it was soon introduced into into and
England. A builder by the name of Antony Antony
Dudyngton erected an organ in the church of a
All Hallows, Barking, near the Tower of Lon- All Hallows,
don in the year 1519, and it contained three London.
"stops.” It was described as a "pair of organs”
and had a compass of four octaves, beginning
with the note two octaves below middle C. The
lowest octave was a so-called “short octave," the
keys from C to E flat inclusive being wanting at
the lower end. To offset this, the lowest key E
sounded the low C, the F sharp key sounded D,
and the G sharp key sounded the low E. The
remaining keys spoke their proper tones. There
was no pedal key-board, as pedals were not
added to English organs until some two hundred
and fifty years later, although they had been in
introduced
into
Dudyngton
(1519).
112
MUSIC IN TAD CHURCH
use on German organs considerably prior to this
period.
York
Minster
organ.
Disorders
of the
Common-
wealth.
1
In 1634 York Minster was supplied with a
two-manual, or two key-board organ, the Great
organ containing nine stops and the Choir organ
five. The stops were diapasons, principals, and
flutes.
At this period the progress of organ building
in England, together with that of music and the
arts in general, received a severe blow due to the
religious and political upheavals of the Com-
monwealth. In 1643 it was ordained by Parlia-
ment "that all organs and the frames and cases
wherein they stand in all churches and chapels
aforesaid shall be taken away and utterly de-
faced, and none other hereafter set up in their
places.” In the following year a second ordi-
nance "for the further demolishing of monu-
ments of Idolatry and Superstition” was en-
acted. In pursuance of these orders many
organs were completely destroyed. At West-
minster Abbey we are told the "soldiers brake
down the organs and pawned the pipes at sev-
eral ale houses for pots of ale.” Luckily a
number of the prominent Cathedral organs es-
caped as well as certain in the principal colleges
of Oxford and Cambridge.
The puritanical prejudice against musical
instruments compelled organ builders to turn
to other trades. By the time of the Restoration
THE ORGAN
113
Bernard
Schmidt
(16307-
1708).
Renatus
Harris.
there were few who had retained their cunning.
Bernard Schmidt, a noted organ maker, was in-
duced to come to England from Germany. He
soon attained to such fame and popularity that
he was known far and wide as “Father Smith.”
He and his rival, Renatus Harris, were the first por
great organ builders of England. Remnants of
their skilled workmanship in the way of pipes
and organ cases may be found to-day in some of
the most noted English organs. In Father
Smith's first organ, built in 1660 in the Ban-
queting Room, Whitehall, London, he intro-
duced the first "reed” stops in the country, in-
cluding two Trumpets and a Vox Humana. The
Tremolo, or "shaking stop" as it was first called,
had already been in use for some fifty years.
Another novelty for which Father Smith was
responsible was the first "Echo" organ, which
contained four stops."
In May, 1664, both Father Smith and Ren-
atus Harris placed organs on trial in the famous
Temple Church, London. After a thorough test Can
of nearly two years' duration Father Smith London.
triumphed, but not to the detriment of Harris'
reputation.
In 1710 Renatus Harris built in Salisbury Cathedra.
Templo
Salisbury
4 The stops in the Echo organ were duplications of cer-
tain stops in the Great organ, but they were enclosed in a
separate box which muffled t he sound and gave the effect
of an echo. This was the precursor of the swell organ,
which later had the box supplied with movable shutters,
making it possible to "swell" or increase the tone.
114
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
First Swell
organ.
John
Snetzler
(1710-
1800?).
Cathedral the first four-manual organ in Eng-
land. The usual Great, Choir, and Echo organs
were supplemented by a second Great organ the
pipes of which were borrowed from the first
Great organ. The first “Swell” organ appeared
six years later, the pipes of which were enclosed
in a large box. By means of overlapping shutters
controlled by a movement of the foot the tone
could be varied in volume to a considerable ex-
tent. The first “Dulciana” or string-tone stop
was brought into England in 1754 by a German
named Snetzler. In 1790 the pedal key-board
was introduced into England after having been
in use in Germany for upwards of four hundred
years. In 1809 combination pedals (iron levers,
operated by the foot and controlling certain
groups of stops) were first applied.
Organs at this period had no definite range.
Some had G as the lowest note, some F, and
some C. The pedal-board extended two octaves
but was not continuous. The upper octave re-
peated the notes of the lower octave. Many of
the stops were incomplete, not extending the
whole length of the key-board. The action in
the larger organs was very stiff and precluded
any rapid passage work. The organist of the
celebrated organ at Haarlem, in Holland, was
in the habit of stripping like a blacksmith for
his arduous hour's work when giving a perform-
Pedal
key-board
and
combination
pedals.
Organs not
yet fully
developed.
THE ORGAN
115
Pneumatic
action.
Charles S.
(1806-?).
ance. The necessity for lightening the touch re-
sulted in the pneumatic lever, an invention
whereby the finger was relieved from making
direct connection between key and pipe. In
the pneumatic action the depression of the key
admitted wind into a little bellows the inflation
of which was utilized as the motive power.
This mechanical device was of the greatest im-
portance in the evolution of organ building, as it
was now possible to increase their size and scope
to any desired extent. The device was invented
in 1832 by an Englishman named Barker, but it Barker
was first applied practically by the great French
organ builder, Cavaillé-Col, in an instrument
erected by him in 1841 in the Abbey Church of
Saint Denis, near Paris.
In the development of new tone qualities and
also in mechanical improvements, the continen-
tal builders were considerably in advance of the
English.
At the great Industrial Exhibition of 1851
in Hyde Park, London, a French organ by Du- & Sons.
croquet of twenty stops, and a German organ
by Schultze & Sons of fifteen stops, were in-
stalled. They both had two manuals and pedal,
the French organ having a manual compass of
five octaves, the German of four and a half.
Pedals and manuals began with C on both or-
gans. These organs attracted much attention
owing to the superiority of their tone quality
Iniluence of
continental
builders.
Ducroquet.
Schultze
116
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Superiority
of French
reeds and
German
strings.
and their general effectiveness, quite eclipsing
the native organs of the same or even larger
size. Up to this period the tonal appointment
of English organs consisted of diapasons of vari-
ous pitch and force, and reeds not conspicuous
for their beauty or smoothness. The French
organ was noticeable for its fine reeds (which
were mounted on a separate sound-board and
supplied with extra wind-pressure), and its
flutes. The Oboe, Cor Anglais, and Flute were
all excellent imitations of these respective or-
chestral instruments. The German organ at-
tracted attention more particularly to its string-
tones stops, having a Gamba and two Geigen
Principals or Violin Diapasons. The soft-
toned Dulciana up to this time had been the
only string-toned stop known in England, and
that, too, was an importation from Germany, as
has already been mentioned. These two organs
did much to broaden the horizon of English
builders and a consistent and constant improve-
ment in their output has followed, placing them,
in some respects at least, as the leading expo-
nents of organ building in the world to-day.
To have heard the great Willis organ in St.
Paul's Cathedral, the magnificent instrument
by Hill & Son in Westminster Abbey, the fa-
mous product of Norman & Beard in Norwich
Cathedral, the beautiful instruments by T. C.
Walker & Co. in Southwark Cathedral, and
The great
English
organs.
THE ORGAN
117
French
Walker & Sons in St. Margaret's, Westminster
(the latter built to specifications by E. H. Le-
mare, the noted virtuoso), or the much-talked-of
organ by that modern genius, Hope-Jones, in
Worcester Cathedral, is to admit that no other
country could possibly duplicate so many mas-
terpieces of organ construction by so many
different builders. In France the great house The great
of Cavaillé-Col has erected instruments of the organs.
first rank in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, in
St. Sulpice and the Madeleine in Paris, and in
the Town Halls of Manchester and Sheffield in
England, while the house of Merklin has con-
structed excellent organs. Germany has lost
rank somewhat in recent years and at present
has no organ builders of international reputa-
tion. Some of its most famous cathedrals have
but inferior instruments, and its reputation for
fine organs still rests upon the products of a cen-
tury or so ago. Among these are the noted or-
gan built for the monks at Weingarten by
Gabler in 1750, the fine Silbermann organ in
nu organ 1 The great
the Strasburg Cathedral, the Walcker organ German
in Ulm Cathedral built in 1853, and the Mooser
organ in Freiburg, Switzerland, built in 1834.
The most famous continental organ is doubtless The
that at Haarlem, Holland. This renowned in- organ.
strument by Christian Müller, was begun in
1735 and was more than three years in build-
ing. It contains sixty stops and is more notable
organs.
Haarlem
118
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Canada:
Casavant
Bros.
First organ
in America.
for its volume and power than for the beauty
of its solo stops. It is practically in its original
condition to-day as no attempt has been made
to modernize it, but it still excites the wonder
and admiration of tourists.
To turn to America, Canada has produced a
firm of organ builders, Casavant Bros. of St.
Hyacinthe, Quebec, who are placed in the front
rank by the most eminent organists such as
Frederick Archer, Clarence Eddy, and E. H.
Lemare. In Montreal, Toronto, and other Ca-
nadian cities they have magnificent instruments
equipped with the most approved modern ap-
pliances.
The first pipe organ in America was im-
ported from England and was the property of
Thomas Brattle, treasurer of Harvard College.
On his death in 1713 he left it to the Brattle
Square Church. This was in the Puritan days
when the music consisted of psalm-singing, and
instruments were considered too profane to be
used in church. The gift was not accepted, as
they "did not think it proper to use said organ
in the public worship of God.” In accordance
with the will it was transferred to King's
Chapel, Boston, the Episcopalians having no
scruples about accepting it. The organ was a
small affair of six stops and it is still in exis-
tence. Several other organs were brought over
from England from time to time, the largest
TED ORGAN
119
American
builder.
(1690-?).
being a thirteen-stop instrument intended as a
gift by Bishop Berkeley for the town named
after him. As the gift was refused it went to
Trinity Church, Newport, R. I.
Probably the first organ builder in America First
was John Clemm of Philadelphia, who came to organ
this country in 1736. He was born in Dresden John Clemm
in 1690 and learned his art with the famous
Andreas Silbermann, the greatest of Ger-
many's organ builders. Clemm was evidently
a capable workman, for he was engaged by the
vestry of Trinity parish, New York, to build a
three-manual organ for their use in 1739. The
organ was set up in 1741 and contained ten
stops on the Great, ten on the Choir, and six on
the Swell, a large instrument for those days.
We read that it had a "frontispiece of gilt pipes,
and was otherwise neatly adorned.” It is prob-
able that many of the stops did not run through
and that the Swell manual was of short compass.
A few years later Edward Bromfield built
an organ for a Boston church which is said to
have been superior in construction to the im-
ported specimens.
As old Trinity, New York, has always been Organs in
in the lead in Church music, the successive or- Trinity,'ks.
gans in that historic church give us a general
idea of the progress of organ building in this
country. Clemm's organ was evidently not an
unqualified success, for after twenty years' use
Edward
Bromfield.
Organg in
Wold
120
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
John
Snetzler.
it was condemned. In 1764 an organ by Snetz-
ler, a German builder, who introduced the Dul-
ciana stop into England, and who built several
fine instruments for that country, was imported.
This organ was destroyed by fire in 1776 and
no description of it remains. In 1791, after
the rebuilding of the church, an organ described
by the rector as “of no great power, but sweet-
toned and well adapted for the size of the build-
ing," was brought from England, built by Hol-
land. It had seven stops on the Great, six on the
Choir, and six on the Swell, the latter being short
one octave at the bass end. It was a "G” organ
(having GG as the lowest note), and no pedals.
Dr. Edward Hodges, the celebrated English or-
ganist, who did so much to make the music of
Trinity famous, evidently did not agree with
the rector's estimate and spoke of it as "an ex-
ceeding poor affair.” But such as it was it did
duty for forty-five years. In 1846 a new
organ, after specifications by Dr. Hodges,
was installed by Henry Erben, of New York
City, the leading builder of his day, and
the instrument still stands as a fine speci-
men of the art of organ-building. It had sev-
eral curious features, for it was planned before
there was any general consensus of opinion re-
garding the compass of key-boards and pedals.
The Great organ contained twelve stops and ex-
tended five and one-half octaves, beginning an
Henry
Erben.
TEE ORGAN
121
octave lower than is the custom now. The Choir
organ had sixteen stops and the same compass
as the Great, but the lowest octave did not
speak. The Swell organ of nine stops had six
and one-half octaves, but the lower two octaves
were silent except with two stops designed to
furnish a deep bass. The organ was supplied
with a pedal key-board of two octaves but only
one stop, and that of the unusual 32-foot pitch.
The lowest pipe is large enough to hold twenty
men and fourteen boys. This largeness of scale
holds good throughout the organ and gives to it
a nobility and amplitude of tone which is lack-
ing in many modern organs even of much larger
stop capacity. The roominess of its location
and the fine acoustics of the building are also
important factors in the satisfying general re-
sult.
Jardine & Son of New York City made Jardine
excellent instruments at this period, not only in
this country but also in England. The next firm
of note was Hook & Hastings, who for many
years held the lead. In 1853 they erected the
first large concert organ in Tremont Temple,
Boston, which was equipped with four manuals
and pedal, seventy stops and nearly 4,000 pipes.
Some twenty-five years later they installed a
fine instrument in the Cincinnati Music Hall.
Their church organs are also famous and are to
Hook &
Hastings.
122
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Boston
Music Hall
organ.
be found in many of the principal cities of the
country.
The art of organ building in this coun-
try received a great impetus upon the erec-
tion of the great organ in Boston Music Hall in
1863 by Walcker of Ludwigsburg, Germany.
It cost $70,000 and was opened with much
pomp and ceremony and it became the mecca of
all lovers of organ music in America. When
the Boston Symphony Orchestra was founded it
was discovered that the famous organ interfered
with the acoustics of the hall. The decision to
remove it in 1884 was received with bitter op-
position. The instrument was stored away and
finally sold for $1,500.
The development of organ building in re-
cent years in the United States has proceeded at
such a rapid rate that it is impossible to more
than hint at its progress and expansion. Hook
& Hastings had a formidable rival in Johnson
of Westfield, Mass., who built many fine church
organs, Chicago claiming some forty of them.
Hilborne L. Roosevelt of New York City, a
man of ample means and with a passion for or-
gan building, came next to the fore. About
thirty-five years ago he entered into the business
of organ building with the laudable intention
of turning out nothing but the highest class of
work regardless of expense. He declined to
enter into competition with other firms and
Rapid
Progress.
Johnson
and Son.
Hilborne L.
Roosevelt.
THE ORGAN
123
1
First organ
with
electric
action.
asked at least fifty per cent more for his organs
than other builders. He perfected a new wind-
chest as well as a tubular pneumatic system, and
at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in
1876, he exhibited the first organ with electric
action. His independence, inventive ingenuity,
and artistic skill (for the voicing of his pipes
received as great attention as the construction
of the mechanical parts) set new standards and
had a most stimulating effect upon the trade at
large. For a number of years he secured the
most important contracts and was an acknowl-
edged leader. He died in the midst of his am-
bitions and labors and the business was taken
over for a time by his brother Frank. Later it Roosevelt.
passed into the hands of the Votey Co. of De- Votey Co.
troit, who built the great organ at the World's
Fair, Chicago, in 1893. Roosevelt's principal
rival was the Hutchings Co. of Boston, a firm Co.
noted for their beautiful and refined organs.
The Votey Co. and the Hutchings Co. joined Hutchings-
hands about 1901 and at once assumed a pre-
Votey Co.
eminent position in the organ-building world;
constructing organs which embrace the excel-
lencies of the Roosevelt, the Votey, and the
Hutchings systems. A typical and perhaps the
best product of the Hutchings-Votey Co. is the
magnificent organ in Woolsey Hall at Yale Uni-
Frank
Hutchings
5 This organ is now at Ann Arbor, Mich. In one of the
halls of the State University.
124
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Organ
at Yale.
Austin Co.
E. M.
Skinner
Co.
versity, built in 1902. It contains four man-
uals, seventy-eight speaking stops, twenty coup-
lers and all the wealth of modern appliances
for mechanical control in the way of pistons and
combination pedals.
Another fine specimen of American organ
building is the superb organ by the Austin Or-
gan Co. of Hartford, Conn., in All Saints'
Cathedral at Albany, N. Y. Of the more re-
cent organs erected in this country the most
notable is the great organ in the College of the
City of New York, built by the Ernest M. Skin-
ner Co. of Boston. It represents the culmination
of American organ building to date, and it vies
with the best English makes in breadth and dig-
nity and the best French makes in brilliancy.
As it is intended purely for concert purposes it
has been made as orchestral as possible and with
remarkable success. Like all great organ build-
ers, Mr. Skinner's genius is equally divided be-
tween great mechanical skill and ingenuity on
the one hand, and the ability to produce tones
of great perfection and beauty on the other.
Any record of organ building either in
America or England, however fragmentary,
should include mention of the products of
the fertile brain of Robert Hope-Jones. Mr.
Hope-Jones has invented new qualities of tone
color and bas introduced radical changes into
all departments of organ construction. His
Robert
Hope-Joneg.
THE ORGAN
125
latest instruments are so arranged that any stop
can be played at any pitch from any key-board.
He employs cement swell-boxes with tone re-
flectors and laminated lead shutters. Instead
of draw stops he employs what might be termed
an extra key-board, each note of which repre-
sents a stop and is thrown on or off by a slight
motion of the finger. A clever device automat-
ically provides a "suitable bass” for any combi-
nation of stops. A so-called "double-touch” per-
mits the player, by pressing the keys more
deeply, to bring additional force to such note or
notes as he may desire. Mr. Hope-Jones' abil-
ities attracted wide attention in England before
he came to this country. He is now located at
Elmira, N. Y., where he is president of the
Hope-Jones Organ Co. The organ in the audi- Organ at
torium at Ocean Grove, N. J. (a building seat- Grove.
ing ten thousand people), exemplifies the Hope-
Jones theory of producing unlimited power and
considerable variety from comparatively few
stops by virtue of his system of pipe construc-
tion, voicing, and heavy wind-pressures.
Of Western firms the more prominent are Kimball
the W. W. Kimball Co., Lyon & Healy, both of Co
Lyon &
Chicago, and the Marshall Bennett Co. of Rock Healy.
Island, Ill. All these concerns have demon-
strated their ability to construct fine organs and
have excellent and notable instruments to their
Ocean
W
.
W
.
Marshall
n- Bennett Co.
126
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Largest of
all organs
in America.
Louisiana
Purchase
Exposition
organ.
credit. Lyon & Healy have since ceased the
manufacture of organs.
The largest organs in the world are not in
churches or cathedrals but in concert halls, and
America has the distinction of heading the list.
The largest instrument ever constructed was at
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis
in 1904. It contained five manuals and pedals,
one hundred and forty speaking stops, ninety-
nine mechanical appliances, and over ten thou-
sand pipes. It was built by the Los Angeles Art
Organ Co, and its cost is reported to have been
one hundred thousand dollars. The organ was
intended for the Convention Hall at Kansas
City, Mo., but owing to financial complications
it was never erected there, and it has been dis-
mantled since the exposition. The next concert
Town Hall, organs in size are the famous instruments at
N. S. W. the Town Hallº in Sydney, N. S. W., and at
Royal Albert
the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.
Both these organs are London products, the
former by Hill & Son in 1889, and the lat-
ter by Willis in 1876. The fourth largest
Auditorium, · is in our own city of Chicago in the Audi-
Chicago.
torium and has four manuals and pedals, with
one hundred and seven stops. It was built
by Hilborne L. Roosevelt.
Sydney,
Hall,
London.
This organ has a 64 ft. reed stop on the pedal organ,
the largest set of pipes ever constructed. The lowest tone
vibrates but eight times per second.
THE ORGAN
127
church
Russia.
Riga.
Cathedral
Incarnation,
Garden
City, L. I.
The two largest church organs in the world Largest
are both in Russia, one at Libau with one hun- organs in
dred and thirty-one stops and the other at Riga Libau and
with one hundred and twenty-four. The third
is in the Cathedral of the Incarnation at Garden of the
City, L. I., and has one hundred and fifteen
stops. This instrument marks a new era in or-
gan construction, as it has an electric action the
use of which permitted the distribution of the
organ in various parts of the church.' St.
Bartholomew's, New York City, is the sixth in St. Bar-
size and numbers ninety-eight stops. This is New York.
in reality two organs played from one key-
board, one being in the chancel, the other in the
gallery.
Our own Church in this country unquestion-
ably leads in its appreciation of fine organs, and
it can take a justifiable pride in the fact that it
possesses such a large percentage of the best in-
struments. That the interest in organs and or-
gan building is widespread is evidenced by the
fact that out of the twelve largest organs in the
tholomew's,
7 The development of the electric action has made the
"Echo organ' possible, whereby a few stops of a more or
less "celestial character are put in some remote place.
8 In the old days of quartette choirs both singers and
organ were placed in the gallery over the main entrance.
With the introduction of male vested ciroirs a chancel organ
became necessary. In some churches, notably at "012 Trin-
ity," New York, two organists were employed after the
manner of the large churches in Paris, one at the chancel
organ to accompany the choir, the other at the gallery
organ to play the voluntaries. Several New York churches
have had the two organs connected by electricity and
played from a combined console in the chancel. The effect
of the two organs, especially in hymn-singing, is very fine.
128
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Organ most
effective as
a church
instrument.
world, America has four. Two of these are in
Episcopal Churches, the remaining two being
concert organs.
While as a concert instrument the organ fills
a large and important place, it is in the Church
that it finds its true sphere of usefulness and
effectiveness. Its only rival is the full orches-
'tra, and this, while excelling in brilliancy, fa-
cility, and pliancy is lacking in that sustained
dignity and serenity which so admirably adapts
the organ for the worship of Almighty God.
Then it has the practical advantage that it is
under the control of one man, and even the most
extravagant salary of an organist is but a small
matter compared with the maintenance of an
orchestra.
The sustained quality of the organ tone is
especially adapted for the support and encour-
agement of congregational singing, and this fact
alone is of sufficient importance to make the pur-
chase and proper installation of an organ the
subject of most earnest thought. Yet the church
architect will rarely give the placing of the or-
gan serious consideration, and the average organ
committee is concerned mostly about obtaining
the greatest number of pipes for the smallest
amount of money."
Sustained
quality aids
congrega-
tional
singing.
o The custom which prevails both in this country and in
England of placing the selection of an organ in the hands
of a committee who have not the slightest technical knowl-
edge, is certainly open to criticism. In Continental Europe
the choice of an organ bullder in important instances is
THE ORGÁN
129
Practical
details in
of an
Favorable
location
We will now consider the practical details P
involved in the selection of an organ. In the the selection
first place it should be selected for its especial organ.
place and purpose, being neither too large nor
too small, and should be of the very best quality.
If funds are not available at once it would be
far wiser to build part of a good organ, trusting
to its completion some later day, than to rush
ahead and install a complete instrument of in-
ferior make.
It is as essential to have an organ placed in
a favorable position as it is to have the pulpit, necessary.
if the instrument is to be heard at its full and
proper value. Such a foolhardy experiment as
placing the preacher in an inaccessible corner,
where his voice would be expected to turn cor-
ners, dodge pillars, and penetrate partitions
would hardly be attempted, but this is precisely
what happens to many a fine instrument.
An English authority, Somers Clark, has 8
the following illuminating suggestions as to the
position of the organ:
“We all know that an organ must have
plenty of height above it, space about it, and
must not in itself be crowded; but there are
other points upon which the opinion of experts
would be of value.
"One of these is the position of the key-
Somers
Clark on
position of
organ.
placed in the hands of organists and musicians of the first
lank. For example, when a new organ was required for
Notre Dame, in Paris, such men as Auber, Rossini, and Am-
broise Thomas headed a committee of specialists.
130
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
board in regard to the organ and the choir.
Custom, ruled to a great extent by expense,
makes it usual to place the organ on one side
of the chancel and the organist close to the
organ. The organist cannot hear his choir
clearly. The half of the choir nearest him
sings away from him, the other half sings to-
wards him but has the other mentioned half
intervening. He is generally so near the organ
that he cannot clearly hear how much or little
noise he is making (and my experience is that
to be on the safe side he makes too much) and
lastly, having the organ and voices so close at
hand he knows but little what the congregation
is about. As far as the choir is concerned the
rules for ample space, height, and width are as
essential for the welfare of the voices as of the
organ.
“What would then be the conditions of an
ideal position for the organist?
"1. That he should hear the choir well.
“2. That he should hear the organ.
“3. That he should be able to see the choir
well and also see the clergy who may be serving
at the altar.
"4. That he hear the congregation at least
fairly well.
"5. That he should have a tolerable sight
of the nave of the church and thus be able to
keep his eye on processions and other functions
taking place there.
“6. We might add that he should be able to
see the organ in connection with a side chapel.”
G. A. Audsley, in his monumental work on
THE ORGAN
131
the Art of Organ-building, gives the following
rules for a proper placing of the organ:
"1. Sufficient floor space to allow the organ
to stand without the slightest crowding-also
back and sides to give free egress to sound and
easy access to all parts.
"2. Ample height at most favorable eleva-
tion, having considerable space above for free
emission of sound from all parts.
"3. Arches, large as possible and up to full
height of ceiling, the latter to follow shape of
the arch.
54. Every precaution against dampness and
to secure equable temperature. External walls
should be double and with air space. No win-
dows. Chambers to be lined with narrow
grooved and tongued pine, tightly joined, se-
curely nailed and varnished.”
Of still greater importance than the disposi- t
tion of the organ is the selection of the builder, sel
for a location conforming to the ideals of both
Mr. Clark and Mr. Audsley will not make a
poor instrument sound well. Owing to the gen-
eral lack of information regarding organ build-
ing, even among professional organists, and the
complicated mechanism involved, it is a simple
matter for an unscrupulous dealer to market a
very inferior product. A large number of organ
builders look upon their business from a com-
mercial point of view, and either ignore or are
ignorant of the fact that good organ building
is an art and not a trade. They honestly think
Importanco
of the
selection of
a builder.
132
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Unprinci-
pled.
builders.
they have done their whole duty if they have
delivered an instrument reasonably well made
and conforming outwardly to the specifications.
So much pressure is brought to bear upon them
through competition and through almost uni-
versal efforts to beat them down on their prices
by the churches themselves, that they are not
altogether to be blamed in the matter.
Organ builders may be classed under three
headings:
1. The unprincipled builders who deliber-
ately quote a price at which it is impossible to
build a good instrument. They are smooth
talkers and the uninformed organ committee is
easily deceived by their representations. More
stops and more pipes are offered than by any
reputable maker. Great stress is laid on unim-
portant details while the essential requisites are
carefully avoided. They have large factories
and do an extensive business, but almost entirely
in small towns or among poor churches. No or-
ganist of integrity and standing will endorse
them, though some musicians are venal enough
to do so for a consideration. What are the results ?
An instrument is delivered that seemingly com-
plies with a specification not overburdened with
details. The mechanical construction is of the
cheapest and will constantly cause either ex-
pense or annoyance. The organist will rarely
have the combined resources of the instrument
THE ORGAN
133
at his command, poor as they are. Something
will always be out of order. The tone will be
harsh and unmusical or weak and characterless;
the wind supply is apt to be insufficient; there
will be no agreeable variety of tone qualities.
The lowest octave of pipes (which in a properly
constructed organ will cost as much as the re-
maining four octaves) will be thin and wheezy,
and stopped pipes are likely to be substituted
for open ones at a great saving in expense. Even
if the congregation is content with such a
wretched instrument, no self-respecting organist
will play it except under stress of dire neces-
sity. He will always be discontented and al-
ways be on the lookout for a better instrument.
2. The second class of organ builders are
those who do excellent mechanical work, who
are apt to be honest and reliable in their deal-
ings and try to give value received. They are,
however, lacking in the artistic sense and in the
scientific knowledge necessary for first-class
work. One is reasonably sure of obtaining a re-
liable and durable instrument, of ample volume
and considerable variety of tone. Its mechan-
ical features may be excellent, but it will lack
the qualities that arouse admiration and provoke
enthusiasm, and it will never be a source of
especial pride to its owners. It will, however,
give good service, and it is this class of organ
Commercial
builders.
134
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Artistic
builders.
that is most frequently to be met with in our
well-to-do churches.
3. The third class of organ builders are
those who are not possessed alone of mechanical
ingenuity and skill, but are also keenly alive to
the artistic qualities necessary to produce a
really fine instrument. They realize that the
foundation of a good organ are the diapasons,
that they must be of ample scale and of the best
material, yielding nobility of tone with ample
body. Furthermore the flutes must be mellow
and clear, the strings must have the character-
istic “biting" quality and the reeds be pungent
and pervading, without coarseness or roughness.
To produce work of this quality requires arti-
sans with special gifts for voicing and regulat-
ing and the use of the best materials regardless
of cost. The best builders take into considera-
tion the size and shape of the building and the
location of the instrument. The specifications
give regard to the proper grading and grouping
of tone values, giving volume on the one hand
and delicacy on the other. Ample wind is sup-
plied and every precaution taken to offset the
changes of temperature and the effect of damp-
ness.
Organ builders of this class, despite the fact
that they will not enter into competition con-
cerning the price, do not amass wealth. On
the contrary, they frequently meet with finan-
Good organ
building not
Good organ
profitable.
1
THE ORGAN
135
TY
cial reverses or die with but a small share of this
world's goods. One of the most noted of Eng-
lish organ builders, who built a large number
of the most famous instruments within the
last half-century, died recently and left his
heirs but a few hundred pounds as the net re-
sults of his pre-eminent skill and incessant
labor. A builder mentioned earlier in these
pages as a man of wealth sank thousands of dol-
lars annually in his laudable desire to do noth-
ing but the highest grade of work. The most
prominent organ building firm in the country
has recently been forced to make an assignment,
and one of the largest music houses in the world,
with ample capital, gave up the unequal struggle
in trying to make good organs and a reasonable
profit at the same time.
The building of a large organ is a matter
Dificulty of
of such detail and complexity that the final cost cost
to the builder can never be accurately estimated
in advance. Unlooked for difficulties in erec-
tion, delays in transportation, fluctuation in the
price of materials, and labor troubles are among
the doubtful factors to be reckoned with. The
estimated profit is frequently seriously lessened
if not entirely wiped out, when the builder
tries honestly to fulfil his contract. To meet
the bids of less scrupulous builders would be
suicidal, and a price must be asked which seems
to the uninitiated decidedly extravagant.
estimating
construction.
136
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Hints
regarding
purchase of
organ.
A church contemplating the purchase of a
new organ would do well to look thoroughly
into the matter before deciding to let a con-
tract, and a few hints will be given that may
prove of value to those who have no techni-
cal knowledge of organ construction. We will
take it for granted that the best woods are to be
used, thoroughly seasoned, and that the metal
pipes will have the proper proportions of tin
and zinc. The next matter for consideration
is the selection of the stops. Stops, or sets of
pipes, are technically named from their tone
quality and from their pitch. Stops which
Open pipes. sound the same pitch as the corresponding notes
of the piano are known as "eight-foot” stops be-
cause the lowest tone (CC) is produced by an
open pipe eight feet in length. As the notes
ascend the pipes gradually decrease in length,
the next C being one-half the length of the
lowest pipe, or four feet, the next C being
but two feet in length, and the highest C,
three octaves higher, but three inches in length.
Piano pitch may also be produced by taking a
4-foot pipe for the lowest tone instead of an
Stopped 8-foot, and plugging or stopping the top end of
it. This produces an 8-foot tone from a 4-foot
pipe, which, however, is dull and lifeless. Open
pipes are therefore much more expensive than
stopped pipes, as they are twice as large. There
are also 4-foot stops which sound an octave
pipeg.
THE ORGAN
137
higher than piano pitch, 2-foot stops which
sound two octaves higher than piano pitch, and
16-foot stops which sound an octave lower.
Eight-foot stops are the normal and most im-
portant stops for the key-board, while 16-foot
stops are the normal and most important
stops for the pedal key-board. The conclu-
sion drawn from this perhaps confusing ex-
planation, is that open stops and stops of
eight and sixteen foot pitch are the most es-
sential and the most expensive stops of the
organ. Cheap builders will load up a specifi-
cation with stopped pipes and pipes of 4-foot
and 2-foot pitch, which will make a great
showing of pipes, but their undue proportion
results in thinness and shrillness of tone. Mix- Mixt
tures should also be looked upon with suspicion
in small organs, for they are not needed. They
swell the total number of pipes, as three or more
pipes are used to each note, but they are exceed-
ingly small. Mixtures have, however, an im-
portant place in large organs, adding a rich and
"crashy" effect to the full organ. The cheap
builder will also lessen his expense considerably
by using poor material and by reducing the
scale or dimensions of the pipes at the expense
of the tone quality. The open diapasons when
of ample scale, and properly constructed reed smali.
stops, such as the Oboe, Cornopean, Clarinet,
Trumpet, Vox Humana, etc., represent the
Scales too
138
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Specification
of small
organ.
greatest items of expense as far as the stops are
concerned, but upon their quality depends the
real worth of the organ. It will thus be seen
that it is possible to draw up two specifications,
each containing the same number of stops and
the same number of pipes, but one may cost two
or three times as much as the other, and its
artistic value may be represented by a still
larger ratio of difference.
For small churches, seating from six hun-
dred to eight hundred people, it would be far
better to select a thoroughly good two-manual
organ with from nine to twelve stops than to lis-
ten to the importunities of a builder who offers
twice the number of stops for the same price.
A good organ, even if limited in scope, will in-
terest a musicianly organist and tend to retain
him. The following specifications of a nine
stop organ really contain the best parts of an
instrument of much greater size:
Great Organ.
FEET.
0
0
Open Diapason ........... 8
Gamba ..
Doppel Flute
Swell Organ.
Violin Diapason ...........
St. Diapason .......
Salicional ...............
0
0
0
THE ORGAN
139
Oboe .................... 8
Pedal Organ.
Bourdon. .................16
This scheme, with pneumatic action, per-
mitting the addition of sub and super octave
couplers, would give great variety and ample
power if properly constructed. Each funda-
mental quality of organ tone is well represented,
the diapason tone by the Open Diapason and the
Violin Diapason, the string tone by the Gamba
and the Salicional, and the flute tone by the
Dopped Flute, the Stopped Diapason, the
4-foot Flute and the pedal Bourdon, and the
reed tone by the Oboe. The Oboe would be
equally useful as a solo stop, in combination
with other stops, or in the full organ, where it
would add color and richness. Such an organ
from the best makers would cost quite as much
as the ordinary organ of twice the nominal stop
capacity, but the latter would be vastly inferior
in body and in quality, and would be overladen
with cheap four and eight foot stops. A con- Durability
congregation takes both pride and pleasure class organ.
in the possession of a really fine instrument,
and it would be a constant incentive to devo-
tion by leading in the hymns, by enriching
the work of the choir, and by appealing to the
finer emotions through well-selected voluntaries.
Durability
140
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
A poor
instrument
a bad
investment.
Incidentally many a repair bill would be saved
and the choir would be spared the embarrass-
ment of depending upon a faulty and uncertain
instrument.
A poor instrument is a constant irritant to
the musically sensitive and a never-ending
source of dissatisfaction to all concerned. The
more capable the organist, the more ready he
will be to accept the first position which offers
a better organ. The inadequacy of his instru-
ment will be a constant damper to his ambitions
both as a player and a choirmaster. The mem-
bers of the choir will have the discouraging
feeling that their best efforts are more or less
discounted by the organ, and there is always
the possibility of the mechanism getting out of
gear at the most inopportune moments. The
real value of such an instrument is discovered
when an attempt is made to dispose of it.
A word as to the care of the organ. Most or-
gan or music committees are disposed to think
that after an organ has been purchased and in-
stalled, especially if it is from the hands of a
prominent and reliable maker, that nothing re-
mains to be done. If an organ were kept in a
room of even temperature and reasonably free
from dust and dampness it would require but
little attention indeed. Unfortunately it is gen-
erally placed in a building where the tempera-
ture may vary in twenty-four hours from the
Care of
organ.
THE ORGAN
141
Sentrom
Anommen im Sensitive
ness.
Variation of
temperature.
freezing point to seventy degrees. An organ is se
far more sensitive to changes in temperature
than a piano, for it is far more complicated and
delicate. Dampness is its arch-enemy, dust and
smoke it cannot endure, and rats, mice, or cats
can do it endless mischief. It therefore stands
to reason that if the organ is not safeguarded
against these various evils trouble will result
even with the very best constructed instrument.
Take the matter of tuning, for example. It is
usually done on Saturdays before the church is upload
warmed up to the Sunday standard. The tuner
will leave it in good shape, but a change of ten
degrees will spoil all his work, for wood and
metal are affected differently by changes of tem-
perature. In fact, the organ is so sensitive that
it may be in tune at the beginning of a service
and be badly out before the close, if the tempera-
ture is raised considerably by the presence of
the congregation. The excessive changes in a
building which is only heated up once a week
are also trying to the mechanism, and it is no
cause for wonder if something goes astray.
Variations of temperature, however, are not Dampness.
so trying as dampness. We all know how that af-
fects our household furniture, and when we con-
sider that several scores of keys are connected
with several hundreds of pipes, not to mention
the stop action, it is really a matter of surprise
that organs behave as well as they do, consider-
142
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Cleaning.
ing how ill they are treated. Organs are still
placed in pockets or recesses where proper venti-
lation is impossible and where the normal tem-
perature of the building never penetrates. As
a result the metal rusts, the wood swells, the
leather decays. Under these conditions a poor
organ is apt to have one advantage over a good
one for the reason that the woodwork is green
and will not absorb as much moisture. The
simple expedient of a burning lamp or two in an
organ chamber (with proper ventilation), has
been known to revolutionize the working ca-
pacity of a troublesome instrument.
An organ should also be periodically
cleaned in order to keep it in favorable playing
condition. This is usually left until it is an
imperative necessity and then the much abused
instrument will need extensive repairs to pay
for the neglect. The thorough cleaning of an
instrument is a matter that can only be under-
taken by organ builders, for it necessitates the
dismantling of the pipes, the opening of the
wind chests, and a general dismembering of the
action. A superficial dusting of the surface
accumulations of dust is a very dangerous thing
to do, for it is apt to remove it from places
where it is doing no especial harm to the inner
mechanism, where it will do a great deal of
harm. For this reason an organ tuner moves
about with great circumspection when pursuing
TAD ORGAN
143
actions.
and electric
his work. When one takes into account the
wholesale neglect to which organs are generally
subjected it is certainly a matter of surprise
that so many instruments render fair service
Sunday after Sunday.
Up to some forty years ago, organs in this Tracker
country were supplied with tracker actions, a
system which connected the keys with the pipes
by means of narrow strips of wood. For small
organs this system was quite satisfactory and is
in use to the present day. In large instruments,
however, the duplication of this mechanical
device for several keyboards makes the action so
heavy that it is well-nigh unplayable. This led Pneumatic
to the invention of the pneumatic action already actions.
mentioned, and later to a combination of elec-
tric and pneumatic action. By means of these
systems the action is made as light or lighter
than that of a piano, regardless of the size of the
instrument. It is only in quite recent years
that the electric action has been brought to that
state of perfection that it can be absolutely re-
lied upon. With its use the keyboard may be
any distance from the instrument, or the various
departments of the organ may be distributed in
various parts of the building. Echo organs
may be placed in distant towers or concealed in
hidden chambers. The adaptation of electricity
has also greatly increased the means of con-
trol and greatly lightened the labor of the or-
144
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Increase of
mechanical
appliances.
ganist in the management of the stops and of
other mechanical appliances. In fact this fea-
ture of organ building has been developed to
such an extent that organists are beginning to
cry “Hold! enough!” for it has arrived at such
a degree of complexity that the human brain
cannot contain it all. In the olden days an or-
ganist with a fifty-stop organ would have three
manual keyboards, a pedal keyboard, six coup-
lers, one swell pedal, and six or eight combina-
tion pedals to look after in addition to his fifty
stops. Nowadays in the same size organ he
will have his fifty stops, eighteen or twenty pis-
tons, twelve or more couplers, as many combina-
tion pedals, two swell pedals, and a crescendo
pedal. While all these appliances facilitate the
manipulation of the organ, they also increase
the chances of making slips, and a nervous or-
ganist is in constant trepidation lest some over-
sight will result in an unexpected explosion of
sound. America has certainly outstripped
Europe in the development of these mechanical
appliances, but they are severely criticised by
foreign organists, notably by Edwin H. Lemare,
who is probably the greatest organ virtuoso liv-
ing, and who is phenomenally clever in feats of
registration and in the reproduction of orches-
tral effects. Mr. Lemare claims that Yankee
ingenuity has overshot the mark and that many
of these would-be aids to ready registration are
Lemare's
criticism of
American
organs.
f
the
100
:).. in anno
THE ORGAN
145
system of
control
desirable.
criticism.
in reality hindrances. A uniform system of Unfo
control would be a great boon to organists, for contrab
they would then be saved the mental wear and
tear of constantly learning new systems. Not
only has every enterprising organ builder his
own particular fads and fancies in the disposi-
tion of the stops, pistons, and levers, but he is
continually improving, or at least changing, his
own system. The following advice and crit-
icism from the highest living authority may
well be heeded by every American builder:
"In America I have found many good or- Gullmant's
gans. They are especially effective in the
softer stops, such as the Dulciana, Flutes, and
Gamba. But the full organ lacks resonance
and does not thrill. I do not think the mix-
tures and reeds of the Great organ should be
included in the swell-box, as this weakens the
tone and destroys proper balance. The pedals
in American organs are not so clear and dis-
tinct as they should be. They lack the 8-foot
and the 4-foot tone. The effect is the same as
if there were too many double basses in the
orchestra and not enough 'cellos. The 16-foot
Open Diapason in the Great organ is so power-
ful that every organ should have also the
milder 16-foot Bourdon, which gives mellow
quality to the foundation stops. But, as a rule,
the softer 16-foot stops are wholly lacking in
American organs.
“Organ builders should devote less time to
mechanical improvements, and more time to
improving the tone of their instruments. Me-
146
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
in France.
chanical appliances are multiplying so fast
that soon an organist will be unable to occupy
himself with anything except the mechanism
of his instrument. This is much to be deplored.
Organ-playing should be essentially musical,
and as far as possible in the pure style of the
organ. It should not involve constant changes
of registration. There is too much tendency
to use vibrating stops—Vox Celeste and Vox
Humana.”
These words are from the pen of Alexandre
Guilmant, and every truly musical organist will
agree with him.
Solo playing The organ as a solo instrument is used more
more general
extensively and systematically in the French
Roman Catholic churches than in those of any
other denomination or country. All the larger
churches in Paris are provided with two organs:
a small one in the chancel to accompany the
choristers, and a large one over the main portal
used chiefly for voluntaries. In the more promi-
nent churches these gallery organs are famous
and produce a thrilling effect with their full
power despite the vastness of the edifices. On
listening to organs such as these Honoré de
Balzac, that masterful delineator of human
character, has been moved to speak as follows:
“The organ is in truth the grandest, the
most daring, and the most magnificent instru-
ment invented by human genius. It is a whole
orchestra in itself. It can express anything in
response to a skilled touch. Surely it is in
Balzac's
tribute.
THE ORGAN
147
some sort a pedestal on which the soul poises
for a flight forth into space, essaying on her
course to draw picture after picture in endless
series, to paint human life, to cross the Infinite
that separates heaven from earth. And the
longer a dreamer listens to those giant har-
monies the better he realizes that nothing save
the hundred-voiced choir on earth can fill all
the space between kneeling man and a God hid-
den by the blinding light of the sanctuary. The
music is the one interpreter strong enough to
bear up the prayers of humanity to heaven,
prayer in its omnipresent moods, prayer tinged
by the melancholy of many different natures,
colored by meditative ecstasy, upspringing with
the impulse of repentance, blending with the
myriad fancies of every creed. Yes, in the
long-vaulted aisles the melodies inspired by the
sense of things Divine are blest with a grandeur
unknown before, and decked with a new glory
and might. Out of the dim daylight and the
deep silence, broken by chanting of the choir in
response to the thunder of the organ, a veil is
woven for God, and the brightness of His at-
tributes shines through it."
IV.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER.
Organists
good
musicians.
Organists as a class are credited with being
better musicians than pianists, singers, or play-
ers of orchestral instruments. The reason for
this is not far to seek. The pianist, for ex-
ample, rarely has further demands made upon
his artistic, theoretical, or technical equipment
than the effective performance of a fixed task.
In the practical pursuit of his profession it is
not ordinarily necessary that he read music well
at sight or that he be able to transpose readily.
To be sure, we read of astonishing feats at the
piano, such as Liszt's wonderful power in seiz-
ing at a glance the essential features of a full
orchestral score and transcribing it on the in-
stant for the key-board, or of Brahms transpos-
ing the entire Kreutzer Sonata a half tone lower
when confronted with an instrument tuned too
high; but these men were composers as well as
pianists. The professional accompanist should
surely be able to meet any reasonable demand
THE ORGANIST 149
ATT
AND CHOIRMASTER
must read
well at
sight.
of the singer for a change of key, but to the
average pianist transposition is an unknown
art and the ability to read readily at sight ex-
ceptional. Then the pianist's knowledge of
harmony, counterpoint, and composition is rare-
ly called into practical use, and he may enjoy
a world-wide reputation as a virtuoso and have
very scant knowledge of the theoretical side of
his art.
Not so with the professional organist. If organists
he has a post of any importance at all and is
capable of filling it in any adequate way, he
must be well equipped. Not infrequently
is he called upon to play difficult accompani-
ments without preparation. He is expected
not only to play them correctly but to adapt
himself to the idiosyncrasies of the singer
and be ready to rally at any moment to his sup-
port should he show any signs of weakness or
uncertainty. For singers are the least reliable Singers poor
of all musicians, and if they sing at sight it is
apt to be after the fashion of the famous singer
whose abilities in that direction were tested by
the great Handel, and after an ignominious
failure the candidate still protested that he
could sing at sight-but not at first sight.
Then the capable organist should at least Organists
have the ability to play the choral service, the transpose.
hymns and chants in any desired key. If the
service is sluggish and dull a little higher pitch
readers.
must
150
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH.
T7
will put new life into it. If the choir or con-
gregation is flatting in the chanting or hymn-
singing, a rousing interlude and a change of
key will invariably improve the situation.
Many priests in intoning the service will have
a strong tendency to change to a more con-
venient pitch, and it is the part of wisdom for
the organist to accommodate him, rather than
be continually trying to "boost” him to the
proper key. The clergy sometimes get credit
for phenomenal ability in striking the right
pitch, when in point of fact it is the cleverness
of the organist in adapting himself to the pitch
of the priest that is phenomenal. As many of
the older organs are tuned to the old Concert
Pitch (which is nearly a semi-tone above the
present International Pitch), many organists
will transpose difficult Te Deums or anthems
that they may be sung nearer the key intended
by the composer, and that the choir may be re-
lieved from the strain of the higher pitch.
Then the good organist should be able to
harmonize a tune well at sight, or to vary the
harmonies to a hymn or chant when they are
sung in unison. To do this in good taste and
with a ready facility requires not only a thor-
ough understanding of the complicated arts of
harmony and counterpoint, but also an inborn
intuitive taste. Hymn singing may be trans-
formed by a good organ accompaniment, and if
Organists
must har-
monizo at
sight.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
151
Organists
must
a congregation is taught to understand that an
organ interlude is an indication that the suc-
ceeding verse is to be sung in unison, inspiring
climaxes may be effected through the use of
richer harmonies and freer modulations.
Again, the organist must be ready to im- antil
provise at a moment's notice in order to fill in improvise.
any unexpected gaps in the service. To do this
artistically calls upon an intimate acquaintance
with the laws of composition and decided gifts
of imagination and conception.
Lastly, the organist must have a feeling Organists
for tone color and a knowledge of orchestral ef- registrate.
fects. The organ is the only instrument con-
trolled by one player which contains radically
different qualities of tone. It is in fact a col-
lection of many instruments which can be used
singly or in combination. The piano has been
likened to a photograph with its infinite grada-
tions of light and shade, but all of one tone,
while the orchestra suggests the richness and orchestra
variety of color in an oil painting. Although
the organ lacks the plasticity and finish of the
orchestra, still its possibilities in the way of
tonal variety are great and it is the only instru-
ment that approximates in any way orchestral
effects. While any single instrument of the
orchestra will exceed in beauty of tone and ex-
pressiveness the corresponding tone quality in
the organ, still the latter with all its restrictions
must
Piano, organ
and
compared.
152
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
often offers an effective substitute for a full or-
chestra, and it possesses other qualities in the
way of sustained grandeur which adapts it to
the peculiar needs of Church music far better
than an orchestra.'
How is the organist educated to fit him for
such an arduous and exacting task? For he
must not only be a good musician theoretically,
but also have skill as an executant of a high
order. In England, that land which excels all
others in fine organs and clever organists, in
the beauty of its musical services and in the
grandeur of its churches, it is managed in one
of two ways. Either the would-be organist en-
ters a good school of music where he receives a
thorough training in the various branches be-
longing to the profession, or (as has been the
experience of most of the celebrated English
organists) he becomes an "articled pupil” of
some Cathedral organist. An "articled pupil”
is always some talented youth who is accepted
as a musical ward by the skilled specialist who
has charge of the organ and music of one of
the numerous English Cathedrals. The lad re-
ceives his entire musical education at the hands
Education of
organist.
English
opportu-
nities.
Articled
pupil.
1 The varied demands which are made upon the musical
resources of the organist are apt to stimulate his musical
fancy, and this no doubt accounts for the fact that the
great majority of American composer's come from the ranks
of the organ players. MacDowell is perhaps the only prom-
inent exception, but such composers as Dudley Buck, Ho-
ratio Parker, George W. Chadwick, Arthur Foote, and a host
of lesser lights bear testimony to the accuracy of the state-
ment.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
153
of this specialist, and in return the instructor
commands the services of his pupil, who sooner
or later becomes assistant organist. The pu-
pil is nearly always from the ranks of the
choir, and he thus has, from his early youth,
the unequalled advantage of hearing nothing
but the best of Church music performed in an
exceptional manner. He grows up in an atmos-
phere of good ecclesiastical art and is familiar
with the best traditions. Given a moderate
amount of talent and industry he cannot help
but develop into an excellent organist and choir-
master. From the American point of view an
organist thus trained is apt to be rather hide-
bound by his traditions and lacking in force
and enterprise, but his thorough knowledge of
the service, his smooth style of playing, and his
regard for the dignity of the service are per-
haps better assets than American energy and
initiative, combined as it so frequently is with
a lack of sound, musical Churchmanship.
The Cathedral system of England has been Cathedral
a veritable nursery for the development of England.
Church music, and all who have had the
privilege of learning the results of the system
will readily admit its superiority. A large
majority of the prominent English composers
have come directly from the ranks of Cathedral
choirs or from those of the Chapels Royal. Sir
John Goss, George T. Smart and Edward J.
system of
154
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
American op.
portunities.
Hopkins were all products of the Chapel Royal
at St. James' Palace, London; while Joseph
Barnby came from York Cathedral and Sir
John Stainer from St. Paul's, London. A lad of
musical sensitiveness is fortunate indeed if he
fall under the influence of such a system in his
early youth, for it means the unconscious ab-
sorption of the best expression of religious
music, and the acquirement of standards of
judgment which will be invaluable in after life.
But what does the would-be organist of our
great Middle West do if he wishes to thoroughly
prepare himself as an organist and choirmaster?
Music schools there are in plenty and excellent
work is done in some directions, but none of
them offer anything like an exhaustive course
in organ playing and choir directing so far as
it concerns our own Church. We have no long-
established Cathedrals whose services are ac-
knowledged types of the best usage, and the
post of organist is of such uncertain tenure
that the "articled pupil” system is all but im-
possible.
The development of the average American
organist is somewhat after this fashion: On
exhibiting a little interest in music in his child-
hood he will have some desultory piano lessons,
usually from a young woman of very limited
attainments. When he gets into his teens the
organ attracts him. With very inadequate
Development
of American
organist.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
155
technical preparation he will take organ lessons
from a local organist. If he lives in a fair-
sized city he may receive very good instruction
as far as organ playing in concert is concerned,
but the chances are that he will acquire next to
no knowledge of Church music in general, and
even less of the especial music of the Episcopal
Church. His principal energies will be bent
upon concert-playing, and if he is fairly capable
and a good worker he will, by the time he has
turned into the twenties, be able to give very
respectable organ recitals. If he secures a po-
sition in a denominational church and is at all
resourceful he will get along fairly well, but if
he accepts a position in one of our own churches
with any pretensions to a good choral service he
will soon realize the inadequacies of his train-
ing. He will know nothing of the traditions
of the choral service and will have difficulty
with the simplicity of Tallis' responses. The Dificulties
chanting of the canticles and psalms will be of the mal
more complicated to him than the playing service.
of a Bach fugue, and Gregorians will be a ver-
itable bête noire. He will have had no experi-
ence in improvising, modulating, transposing, or
off-hand harmonizing. The order of the service,
especially a choral celebration, will be an
inextricable maze, and the conclusion will be
forced upon him that he has been very poorly
prepared for his profession as far as the
156
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
training
Organ
playing a
ministry of
the church.
Protestant Episcopal Church of America is
concerned. He will also discover that this
same Church is the only one with any definite
musical system or standards, that music is
an integral and important part of the service,
and that special training and talent are re-
Special
quired on the part of its organists and choir-
required.
masters. In consequence of these conditions
he will furthermore learn that the Episcopal
Church offers a far more interesting and lucra-
tive field than the sectarian Churches.
The fundamental mistake in this organist's
education has been that he pursued his work
purely from the secular side and no atten-
tion had been paid to it as a ministry of the
Church. i Church organists should be primarily
Churchmen and secondarily musicians, but sad
to relate the reverse is the rule and there are
all-too-many organists whose interest in religion
has reached the vanishing point. The interest
Irreligion of of this large class of organists is principally
confined to the pleasure and satisfaction they
get out of the purely musical side of their work.
They may have, and frequently do have, excel-
lent taste as regards Church music, but the
proper attitude of mind is lacking. Even our
sectarian brethren have been stirred by this pre-
vailing irreligion among organists and choir
directors, and the Congregationalists, at least,
have attempted to improve the situation. They
organists.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
157
have founded an affiliated school of music with
one of their Theological Seminaries, the
avowed intention of which is to teach the theo-
logical students something about music and its
relation to religion, and the musical students
something about religion and its relation to
music. It is a lamentable fact that organists
who are first concerned about the fitting wor-
ship of Almighty God according to the best of
their musical gifts are few indeed, while the
opposite type, who use their positions to ex-
ploit their own cleverness, and who consider a
church as primarily a place to give recitals in,
are all too numerous.
When we reflect that the development of Dearth of
Churchly musical services after the English ists and
model has taken place only within the past half masters.
century, and when we take into consideration
the fact that the American Church makes no
provision whatever for the training of its musi-
cians, it is not surprising that there should be
such a dearth of good organists and choir-
masters.
While we do not have the English Cathedral
system in its completeness to develop our musi-
cians, still our vested choirs serve as a base of
supply and a preliminary training school for
our future Church musicians. Many of the
best and most successful organists and choir-
masters in New York are "old Trinity boys,"
good organ-
choir-
Vested
choirs a
training
school.
158
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Diocesan
School of
Church
Music.
while here in Chicago we have already direct
results from the ranks of the pioneer vested
choirs of this city among our prominent musi-
cians. If this early start in the choir ranks
could only be followed up by a comprehensive
course in a well-equipped diocesan school of
Church music our musical future would be
more promising. An ideal school of such a type
should be well-endowed and under the guidance
and supervision of a musician of wide experi-
ence, superior training, and above all, sound
Churchmanship. This institution would nat-
urally be associated with the Cathedral of the
diocese. The Cathedral, if possible, should
maintain daily choral services of a high stand-
ard which should serve as practical models to
the musical students. Not only should expert
organists be trained in such an institution, but
special attention should be given to the art of
developing the boy voice, an art that is but lit-
tle understood in this country.
Responsibil- The organist divides with the officiating
priest the responsibility for the religious atmos-
phere of the church service. By well-considered
voluntaries, by an earnest desire to swell the
hymn of praise or deepen the fervor of prayer,
he may materially augment the ministrations
of the priest and sensibly aid the devotions of
the congregation. On the contrary, by begin-
ning divine worship with an irrelevant or tri-
S
ity of the
organist.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
159
Selection of
Voluntaries.
fling organ selection, by playing the chants or
hymns in a careless or flippant manner, or by
making evident a desire to "show off” the organ
or his own performance, he can seriously dis-
turb the reverent impulses of the people and
nullify in a measure the efforts of the priest.
It is a matter of astonishment how little at-
tention is paid to the selection of voluntaries
and how little considered is their fitness to the
rest of the service. In England and Northern
Germany, at least, better standards prevail, and
the typical American custom of playing a sen-
timental Romance or Serenade on the Oboe
with Tremolo for an opening voluntary, would
hardly be tolerated. Nor would the noisy
march for a closing voluntary meet with greater
favor. The whole question is most pertinently Dr. Dufield
summed up by the Rev. Howard Duffield, D.D., voluntary.
of the First Presbyterian Church, New York
City, who is himself an organist and musician
on the organ
2 Only recently the writer attended service in a promi-
nent church in a large Eastern city. To his utter amaze-
ment and disgust the organist played a sensuous and im-
passioned love song from Saint Saens' "Samson and De-
lilah" while the congregation were receiving the Holy Com-
munion. As if this were not a sufficient insult to every
instinct of decency or reverence, it was followed by a selec-
tion that (unintentionally, let us hope) at once suggested
the principle motive in Richard Strauss: "Til Eulenspiegel,"
a fantastic orchestral composition which humorously depicts
the adventures of a freakish imp who is finally hung for
his tricks. It was at least some relief to learn that the
r organist was ill and that these atrocities were per-
petrated by an assistant. But it was none the less a most
painful and trying experience.
160
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
of ability. In the “Church Economist” he
speaks as follows:
“The usual method of closing the church
services by a noisy outburst of organ music
seems to have been specially planned to dissi-
pate any spiritual impression which may have
been produced. It is hard to conceive of a
better scheme for promptly and effectively ob-
literating all the influences of the worship
hour. The prayers have soothed and strength-
ened the heart; the holy song has banished the
discords of life and winged the soul with new
courage; the open Scriptures and the earnest
sermon have searched and thrilled the soul, and
brought wider vision, and larger hope, and
braver purpose. The whole being, quickened
with the brooding consciousness of coming very
near to God in the sweet shelter of His House,
bows for the benediction, and longs to carry
away as in abiding possession the light and
comfort of this holy hour. Bang-whang-whang
goes the drum; tootle-te-tootle the fife.
"The amen from the pulpit is the signal for
a blizzard of sound. The Postlude' must be
played instantly and thunderously. Every stop
is drawn, the manuals are coupled, the full or-
gan blares and roars fortissimo, and every re-
ligious idea goes to the winds helter-skelter,
like leaves in a cyclone. Custom has decreed
that the service must be followed with musical
din; that the hallowed silence of the peace un-
speakable which has been stealing into the soul
must be roared and clamored away; that every
resolution and aspiration and feeling of fellow-
ship with Christ shall be stunned, dazed, over-
THE ORGANIST TO
161
AND CHOIRMASTER
whelmed, swept out of existence by an untimely
and meaningless Niagara of noise. Worship-
pers are habitually hustled out of God's House
amid the roaring of a Fanfare,' or a "Grand
Choeur,' or 'Sortie,' or Fantasia,' or worse, but
always something fortissimo and allegro, which
means, being Englished, “as loudly as you can
and as quickly as you can drive away all holy
thought and purpose.'
“This postlude habit amply justifies the
Scottish antipathy to the ‘kist of whistles. To
compel an organist to follow the benediction
by an instant opening up of his organ to its
utmost power of reverberation is neither ra-
tional, nor devotional, nor musical. It is not
national because it is a sheer waste of good
music and trained skill. No one pretends to
listen to a postlude. Should one desire to do
so he can only catch a fragment while on his
march to the door. The power of the organ
is being exhibited and the ability of the organ-
ist is being taxed under circumstances which
absolutely prevent their accomplishing any good
result, or even of being appreciated at their
true worth. It is not devotional. One of the
most able and experienced of soul winners has
termed the loud postlude 'a characteristic speci-
men of satanic ingenuity.' In its great mo-
ments the soul seeks quiet and shrinks from
noise. When the depths of the heart are stirred
the outburst of such a racket smites, like a
blow on the face. It is not musical. The ar-
tistic sense revolts at it as utterly as the devo-
tional sentiment. A master musician aptly de-
scribed it as 'reducing music to the function of
a door mat. It is based upon the assumption
so hehe to the bed and the las
162
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
that the organ has no higher possibility as an
adjunct of divine worship than to drown the
shuffling feet of the congregation as it assem-
bles or disperses. A well-known director of
church music recently remarked that if he
played at all after church the people were sure
to talk; if he played loudly they talked loudly,
if he played softly they talked softly; but no
one ever attached any meaning to the music,
or seemed to suppose it accomplished any
higher purpose than to give them a chance of
talking without being heard.
"The organ can be so used as to intensify
the spirit of worship. It can be employed as
a potent aid in deepening devotion, and uplift-
ing feeling, and carrying home into the depths
of the soul the impressions which have been
awakened by the service hour. After hymns
have been sung, and Scripture read, and the
sermon preached, and a word of prayer offered,
there comes a natūral pause in the moment of
the service, when the sound of the voice,
whether in speech or song, may well be hushed,
and be succeeded and supplemented by the heart-
warming and soul-searching ministries of mu-
sic. The soul has been uplifted to God in song,
has listened to God in His Word, has meditated
upon God at the call of His servant, has spoken
to God in prayer; and it instinctively demands
that for a few moments, before it leaves the
holy church's calm, it should be still and know
God.
“Just here the organ can preach. Just here
the introduction of carefully selected and well
interpreted music will do more than speech
could; will carry home to deeper depths every
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
163
Accompani-
good impression; will touch, kindle, expand,
uplift the soul and atmosphere the entire
service with an influence in which it shall long
continue to move." 3
The matter of accompanying the Church ment of
service can, on the one hand, be discharged in a serica
mechanical and perfunctory manner, while on
the other it may call upon all the resources of a
highly-skilled and sensitive musician.
Those parts of the service which are ordi-
narily considered of the least consequence are
precisely the places which require the greatest
thought and preparation. Take for example and psalms.
the chanting of the canticles and psalms. How
often will an organist use the same registration
from the beginning to the end of a psalm!
Whether it expresses praise, aspiration, hope,
trust, devotion, penitence, or contrition is all
the same to his careless and thoughtless soul.
If he have an organ of only moderate size he
has a considerable variety of combinations at
his command. · Like a painter with his palette
of colors he can mix his various qualities of tone
and by their subtle use can intensify the vary- good taste
ing shades of religious emotion. Given a large
modern organ with its wealth of stops and
Variety and
necessary.
3 Travelers relate that in the Philippine Islands "Tam-
many" and "A Hot Time in the Old Town To-night" are
favorite voluntaries, and are played during the most solemn
parts of the Mass in the Roman churches. The churches
of Italy, especially the southern portion, have scarcely
higher standards, for one frequently hears operatic over-
tures and dance tunes even in famous Cathedrals.
164
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
mechanical accessories, all the more scope will
be given to the versatile and artistic organist to
vary the usual deadly monotony of chanting.
On the other hand, abrupt, ill-considered or
kaleidoscopic changes of registration are even
greater violations of good taste than monotony,
and the organist who attempts to musically pic-
ture the dramatic words of the psalms should
not be tolerated. To illustrate in a realistic
manner on the organ such passages as “One
deep calleth upon another because of the noise
of the water pipes," "Ye mountains that ye
skipped like rams,” “They go to and fro in the
evening, grin like a dog and run about the city,"
or the description of the plagues of Egypt, are
the height of absurdity and turn Divine wor-
ship into ridicule.
It is the emotional content of the psalms
that the accompanist must seize and that in a
broad-minded and comprehensive spirit. A too
finicky and detailed interpretation will defeat
its own purpose, for the force of contrast will
be lost by over-elaboration.
One of the most difficult tasks the organist
has to cope with is the accompaniment of the
Gregorian chants. To retain their innate char-
acteristic they should always be sung in unison
and this leaves the organist free to display his
musicianship and taste in supplying varied har-
monies. Nothing is more reprehensible than the
Accompani-
ment of
Gregorians.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
165
custom of dressing up these ancient plainsong
melodies with modern chromatic harmonies.
The Gregorian modes represent a development
of music totally foreign to our modern scales
and chordal material. The average organist
knows next to nothing of the ancient ecclesias-
tical modes, and is not at all familiar with the
spirit in which they were conceived. In his
ignorance he supplies them with nineteenth
century harmonies, which is as much of an
anachronism as to robe a Madonna with the
latest Paris gown. Gregorians cannot be prop-
erly accompanied without a close familiarity
with the rules of modal counterpoint, and their
real force and character are lost without such
accompaniment.
Then the effectiveness of hymn singing is Act
at the mercy of the organist. An indifferent, hymns.
careless style of playing, without definite
rhythm or clear-cut phrasing, will not invite
hearty coöperation on the part of the choir or
congregation. Many organists consider the
playing over of a tune a matter of no moment
and in consequence it is done in either a slo-
venly and inaccurate manner or with mechan-
ical and unmeaning precision. A hymn-tune
should always be announced at the rate of speed
in which it is intended it should be sung, and in
accordance with the general emotional character
of the text. To particularize: if a hymn be in
Accompani-
ment of
166
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
a jubilant vein, it should be given out with a
fair amount of organ and with sufficient energy
to put the congregation in the right spirit before
it is taken up by them. On the contrary, hymns
of a quiet and reflective nature should be played
over on a more subdued organ and in a more
deliberate manner. This, however, must not
be construed in too sentimental a manner so
that the tune loses its rhythmic outline and
swing."
The prevailing spirit of each stanza should
be suggested by the organ, avoiding a too literal
and minute exposition. Sudden transitions
from loud to soft are in bad taste and tend to
discourage timid singers. A hymn should be
treated as a coherent and logical whole, and the
ebb and flow of sentiment should be confined to
reasonable limits. A well-planned climax is
always effective and should be made use of
whenever the text permits.
Good hymn playing is rather a rare accom-
plishment and calls upon a sensitive nature that
is keen to realize and anticipate the needs of
the moment. As a rule, congregations musi-
cally are a sluggish and inert mass moving
along the line of least resistance. The organist
must infuse life and enthusiasm into this mass,
and this requires a certain aggressiveness on the
Good hymn
playing
rare.
4 One of the most difficult tasks is to play music in
moderate or slow tempo and to maintain the rhythmic unity
of the larger pulses.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
167
Practical
hints on
playing.
part of the player. He must take the reins into
his own hands and as unobtrusively as possible
guide the singers. He must exercise all the in-
genuity at his command to arouse choir and
congregation into a spirit of active coöperation,
and by his well-directed domination see to it
that the hymn singing does not degenerate into
a perfunctory and meaningless office.
A few practical hints may be useful to in- hit
experienced organists. One of the commonest by
faults is to keep the pedals forever booming,
and when to this is added the atrocious habit of
playing mostly in the lowest octave it becomes
well-nigh intolerable. Give the pedals a rest
once in a while on the quieter verses and ob-
serve what a fine effect they have when added
dignity and weight are desired. Save the
lowest tones for special climaxes or the final
summing up. Use the Great organ in its vary-
ing degrees of power alone occasionally, for
many keep it coupled to the swell practically all
the time. If the alto or tenor is particularly
melodious for a phrase or two, bring it out on a
separate manual. The melody may be played
as a solo either as written or an octave higher
or an octave lower. In the latter case it is es-
pecially effective as a trumpet solo (plus dia-
pasons) against the full swell. Contrast dia-
pasons against reeds, strings against flutes, etc.
In the accompaniment of the anthem and
11
168
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
mont of
anthems.
Accompani- the service numbers the organist can show his
art to the highest advantage. As a soloist he
rarely has opportunity to shine. The open-
ing and closing voluntaries are but casually
listened to, and set organ numbers during the
service are becoming more and more the ex-
ception. In accompanying a good choir the or-
ganist is not hampered by the restrictions placed
upon him in hymn-playing, where he is obliged
to support the voices. He can freely use the
entire resources of his instrument in lending
color and variety to his work. The art demands
as keen a sense of literary as of musical values,
for the object is not alone to enhance the effect
of the music by every legitimate means, but to
enforce the meaning of the words as well.
The art of The art of good accompaniment and the abil-
ment of**- ity to improvise are of far more practical value
ance to the Church organist than great gifts as a con-
cert player. The true spirit of devotional music
is more in evidence while accompanying the
monotoned parts of the service than in the most
elaborate anthems or canticles. The Lord's
Prayer, the Creed, the priest's part in the Li-
tany are the delight of the real Church organist.
It is his part not to make the organ conspicu-
ous, or to call attention to his own cleverness,
but to so reinforce the voice of supplication, of
faith, or of praise that his own earnestness may
be apparent to all susceptible hearts.
ment of
primo
importance.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
169
improvisa-
The organist is frequently called upon to The art of
fill in gaps in the service which would otherwise tion.
pass in awkward silence. Here again the ar-
tistic touch and the reverent nature should be
in evidence. The playing of pretty but incon-
gruous melodies, or the exploitation of the Vox
Humana with sentimental but meaningless
phrases, should be avoided. One of two prin-
ciples should be adopted for the improvisation
to be in thorough good taste. The music should
either embody a reference to what has gone be-
fore, or suggest what is to come. In other
words, the organist should have the ability to
develop or enlarge upon the musical themes
which immediately precede or succeed the situa-
tion in question. Here is opportunity for the
highest phase of the art of organ-playing, the
art that welds the whole service into a coherent,
connected, and artistic whole.
In the choral celebration of the Holy Eu- Tho choral
charist the greatest demands are made upon
the resources and abilities of the organist.
To so manage his part that the true spirit
of reverence and devotion is never lost, to see
to it that no balks or faults or hesitations
mar the sacredness of this highest act of wor-
ship, to be alert and ready to off-set or mitigate
the acts of carelessness or inefficiency on the
part of others, is no small task or responsibility.
Above all, the spirit of solemnity and devout
celebration.
170
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Rhythm the
soul of
music.
worship must be maintained until the very end
of the service, and no blatant or irrelevant post-
lude permitted to jar upon the "peace that pass-
eth all understanding."
Joachim, that greatest of violinists and mu-
sicians, contended that rhythm was the very
soul of music. Now the organ, from the very
nature of its mechanical construction, is the most
difficult of all instruments to extract rhythm
from, and the organist's constant aim should be
to overcome this fundamental lack as far as it
is possible to do so. It is quite possible to play
with well-defined rhythm on the organ, but this
is only accomplished by what might be termed
an excess of accuracy and precision. This be-
ing the case, what shall we say of the so-called
organist who is so unconscious of the impor-
tance of rhythmical integrity that he is con-
stantly coming to a standstill with his music in
order to manipulate the stops! One invariable
dictum may be laid down: if the management
of the stops cannot be effected without breaking
the rhythm, let the registration go. Smoothness
and continuity are the indispensable features
of good organ playing, and it is the player's
business to maintain these essentials at all costs.
To hang on to a chord indefinitely with one hand
while the other is groping for stops is the acme
of bad organ-playing. A clever organist with
quick wits and trained muscles will do most as-
THE ORGANIST CIT
171
AND CHOIRMASTER
The swell
pedal.
tonishing feats in stop manipulation without in-
terfering in the slightest with the rhythmic flow
of the music.
As a rule, changes in registration should co- Registration.
incide with changes of sentiment, and should
begin and end with a definite phrase or section
of the music. In the orchestra we do not begin
a musical sentence with a flute and finish it
with a violin, nor do we find one instrument
augmenting another in a haphazard way. Logic
is as essential in esthetics as in ethics.
A word of caution must be given in regard
to the use of the swell pedal. This single means
of varying the tone quantity of certain stops or
combinations of stops must be used sparingly,
or its effectiveness will be badly discounted. If
one is continually "see-sawing.” on the swell
pedal, producing erratic gusts of sound, its le-
gitimate use as a means of climax and artistic
gradation of tone is completely frustrated. The
typical self-instructed organist delights in
pumping the swell pedal with his right foot,
under the delusion that he is playing "with ex-
pression,” while the left foot is vainly attempt-
ing to accomplish the impossible task of playing
the pedal part smoothly with one foot. As in
the case of excessive registration, the greater
effect is destroyed by the smaller, and a total
lack of artistic balance results.
The custom of frequently making use of the
172
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
The full
organ.
Exaggerated
mannerisms.
full power of the instrument is also pernicious
and robs the player of one of his most potent
means of effect. It should be saved for rare in-
stances where special climax is desired, and
then its full value will be appreciated. Mere
noise for its own sake should never be indulged
in—a brass band would serve that object far
better.
It is a curious fact that bad taste and inex-
perience on the part of the organist are fre-
quently accompanied by exaggerated man-
nerisms while playing. The trained artist will
perform his difficult task with the least possible
expenditure of effort, and his movements will
be made deftly and quietly, whereas the tyro
will give the impression that organ playing is
an acrobatic task requiring great strength and
agility. These herculean efforts greatly impress
the uninitiated at times, but they are entirely
unnecessary and not only distress and disturb
the more sensitive-minded, but hamper the
player and interfere with his own measure of
success.
The relation of the organist to the priest in
charge is always a delicate one. Both belong
to professions which tend to sensitiveness and
nervous tension. The organist naturally knows
more of music than the minister, still, according
to the canons of the Church, the latter has con-
trol of both organ and organist, and if he so
<
Relation of
priest and
organist.
THE ORGANIST ALLY
173
AND CHOIRMASTER
choose, can dictate what music is to be used and
how it is to be performed. Sometimes he knows
nothing of music and does not hesitate to admit
it. Again he may possess a highly gifted mu-
sical nature and have sufficient practical knowl-
edge of the subject to be perfectly justified in
whatever criticism or suggestions he may offer.
Clergy of this latter type, however, are about as
rare as the organist who is thoroughly posted
in the ecclesiastical aspects of his profession and
in thorough sympathy with them. The organist
is altogether more prone to be interested in con-
cert-playing or in music generally, than in his
particular task of adapting himself to the ends
and conditions which surround him. With all
these differing factors presenting themselves in
varying degrees there is endless opportunity for
friction and misunderstanding. Frankness and
forbearance will be necessary on both sides.
The organist will do well to remember that
when all is said and done, he has been engaged
to perform a specific work more or less to the
liking of those who pay his salary. But the
clergyman is not to forget that a man who is
willing to make sacrifices for his ideals and con-
victions is a valuable member of the community,
and that these ideals and convictions are not
the personal conclusions of the man concerned,
but those of the best minds in the musical
world, and as such deserve respect and consid-
174
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
eration. The matter has been aptly summed up
in an address by a prominent clergyman of
New York on the occasion of his election to the
post of chaplain of the American Guild of Or-
ganists:
"Never give up one jot or one tittle of your
ideals. But you have got to understand that if
you can't get a whole loaf you had better take
a half; that if you cannot do all that you want
to do you had better do as much as you can.
I may have very high ideals, but I have to take
my fellow men as I find them. I may have
the highest ideals of music and I insist upon
holding them, but it does not follow that a plain,
simple little sermonette hasn't its value in the
spiritual life of the people, and it is also per-
fectly evident that some simple, pathetic, beauti-
ful little song, which may not be very good mu-
sically, has also its place and light in the life
of the people. Hang on to your ideals. I
would not give a snap of my finger for a man
who had no great views of his life's work and
thoughts of the music he wants to give, but he
must remember that he is dealing with people,
many of whom are utterly ignorant of music,
many of whom dislike it, and only a few really
appreciate it. And he has got to guide his life
not only with reference to his ideals, but with
reference also to the capacity of the people with
whom he is dealing."
Thus far the office of organist has alone
been considered. It is usually combined with
that of choirmaster, and the dual position calls
for a combination of qualities that is rare in-
The choir-
master.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
175
deed. An efficient choirmaster must also be a
good musician and in addition be an expert
voice-trainer, a skilled instructor, and above all,
possess the qualities which attract and interest.
Exemplary character and good Churchmanship
are even more essential in the choirmaster than
in the organist, for he should not only train
those under him in Churchly singing, but he
should also be responsible for their moral and
religious development. Without reverence for
the Church and love of the work for its own
sake, satisfactory results will never be attained.
In this regard we may well learn from the
Lutherans, who make it a rule to permit neither
organist, choirmaster, or singer to take part in
their services who is not a member of their
communion.
It is in the matter of voice-training where Knowledge
nine-tenths of our choirmasters are deficient, culture
and where one person is both choirmaster and
organist the situation is not at all improved, for
the latter is usually three-fourths organist and
one-fourth choirmaster. In other words, the in-
dividual concerned is nearly always attracted to
the work through the fascinations of the organ.
That instrument he studies with a certain degree Organists
of thoroughness, and when he finds it necessary trainers.
to include choir-training in his activities, instead
of properly preparing himself for that he trusts
to his native wit and general musicianship. The
of voice
essential.
poor voice
176
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
matter of discipline cuts such a figure in the
situation, that given a fair organist and the
ability to organize and control a choir, the
question of proficiency as a voice trainer is not
much in the foreground. To take a boy off the
street and to change his natural inclination to
yell in his chest tones to habits of really good
and correct tone production is a task so difficult
that it borders almost on the miraculous. In
addition to the necessary technical knowledge
it requires infinite patience, tact, and unfailing
good humour. It is the lack of this knowledge
of how to produce good and agreeable tones that
lies at the root of the general unsatisfactoriness
of our so-called "boy choirs." As a rule, our
boys do not sing—they shout or yell. One un-
consciously gets into the mental habit of ex-
cluding the efforts of a boy choir from the cate-
gory of real music. They are judged from
standards other than those applied ordinarily
Boy choirs to chorus singing. We have a subconscious
satisfactory. feeling that doctrinal, utilitarian, or sentimental
reasons exist which justify the use of the boy
choir, no matter how much they may offend our
ears or violate our artistic senses. And still
some of the most esthetically exacting among us
have heard choirs of men and boys which have
more than satisfied our highest ideals, and have
driven hard home the conviction that the vested
generally un-
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
177
a fad.
male choir fills every requirement of an ideal
service, both artistically and liturgically.
If this astounding gulf between our worst Boy choir
and our best choirs is largely a matter of ability
to train the human voice, why is so little em-
phasis placed upon skill in vocal culture? The
question can be answered in part by the fact
that boy choirs are to a certain extent a fad.
Every church, down to the smallest and poorest,
must enjoy the picturesque spectacle of a sur-
pliced choir, whether or not the conditions war-
rant it. Without a considerable appropriation
for its maintenance, and without an environ-
ment that will supply good material it is hope-
less to expect results that will justifiy the ef-
fort, judged from any sane or unbiased point
of view.
But unfortunately there is generally some Incompetent
one who will undertake the running of a boy
choir, even under the most adverse and unprom-
ising conditions. If the organist declines, it is
apt to be delegated to some enterprising person
whose entire preparation for the exacting task
consists in the fact that he at one time, as boy
or man, sang in a vested choir. And the choir
he sang in was probably an inferior one. In
this manner inefficiency is added to inefficiency
and deplorable traditions are established and
perpetuated. As already hinted at, the ability
to maintain a semblance of order among unruly
178
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
The discip-
linarian.
boys is of such practical value that many mu-
sical short-comings are almost gladly overlooked
if discipline is maintained. But not infre-
quently we meet the combination of bad con-
duct and wretched singing, and surely in such
cases the limit of Christian forbearance is
reached.
The primary need of good discipline has
evolved the choirmaster who has good executive
ability and the knack of attracting, holding, and
controlling choristers. With such a man in
command everything moves with military pre-
cision, including the music. The choir enter-
tainments and encampments are always a great
success. The singers are well-drilled, but in a
mechanical way. From some points of view
such a man is a prize indeed and a great boon to
the parish priest, for he relieves the latter of
much responsibility and care. Choirmasters of
this type, however, are usually lacking in the ar-
tistic sense. They have little judgment in the
selection of suitable music and little feeling for
its proper performance. Such refinements as
good tone production, accurate intonation, and
sympathetic interpretation do not enter within
their horizon.
One would think that a professional voice
teacher would be the logical choice for a choir-
master, but such is not the case. There are
several reasons for this. In the first place, it
Professional
voice teach-
ere not
available.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
179
Organist
choirmaster.
is difficult to make a boy comprehend the nice
and complicated processes of voice production.
The work is necessarily elementary and conse-
quently uninteresting to most teachers. The re-
sponsibility entailed in taking charge of a lot
of boisterous youngsters is not usually attrac-
tive. The training and developing of the boy
voice is a special art in itself which the great
majority of voice teachers know nothing about.
Lastly, a really proficient vocal instructor can
command such a sum for his services in in-
structing adults that even a good church salary
fails to tempt him.
When the offices of choirmaster and organ- subject to
ist are separated the choirmaster has charge.
The organist is almost certain to be the bet-
ter musician of the two and is placed in the
trying situation of taking orders from a man
less experienced musically than himself. It is
only occasionally that the combination works
out advantageously. The more capable the or-
ganist, the more anxious he will be to secure a
position where he is his own master. The
choirmaster is thus frequently forced to put up
either with incompetent players, or frequent
changes on the organ bench.
The situation then, as regards our choir-
masters has its complexities. Like our organ-
ists, they sadly need the aid of the Church
itself. Our peculiar needs in Church music
Special
training for
choirmasters
necessary.
180
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Action of
Church
Clubs.
are not to be found in any other Christian body,
and the necessary experience cannot be gained
outside our own walls. Surely the matter is of
sufficient importance to demand the serious at-
tention of the Church at large. One would
naturally look to the clergy to take the initia-
tive in such a cause. But it has been left to
the laymen. At the last Conference of the
Church Clubs of the United States held at St.
Louis a paper was read severely criticising
much of the music heard in our churches and
suggesting that the matter be acted upon by the
Conference. The result was the passing of a
resolution to the effect that each Church Club
of the country be asked to appoint a committee
to consider the general subject of the music in
our churches, and that each committee submit
recommendations to a central committee. It is
sincerely to be hoped that something practical
and improving may be evolved from this scheme.
Any thorough sifting of the subject will
make apparent the fundamental need of proper
training schools for our organists and choir-
masters, and the necessity of setting and main-
taining proper standards of selection and per-
formance. But any plan will fail of its pur-
pose if it does not include the musical education
of the clergy, so that they may intelligently
guide and direct the musical forces over which
they have control, and also have sympathetic
Musical
education of
clergy.
THE ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
181
appreciation for the artistic efforts of their co-
laborers. It is both trying and discouraging for
a musician trained in the best traditions of the
Church and possessing high and praiseworthy
ideals to be thrown into an environment where
all his knowledge and experience go for little or
naught. If he demurs at using music which
he knows to be unseemly or unworthy, it is all
the more to his credit. An exhaustive course
in the appreciation of Church music should find
place in the curriculum of every one of our
theological schools, and the course should be
obligatory. Even if the embryo priest should
have no taste or love for music, he should at
least be trained to understand that the choice
of music for divine worship is too serious a
matter to be left to the judgment of an uncul-
tivated taste.
The question thus resolves itself into a cam-
paign of education. The Church as a whole
A campaign
must be educated to that point where she real- of educa-
izes that she, in turn, must educate her priests,
her organists, her choristers, and through them
her people. In this way only can music receive
its full meed of appreciation and rise to its full
value as an aid to religion.
A closing word of a practical nature. A
recent report of the corporation of Trinity par-
ish, New York City, discloses the fact that over
one hundred thousand dollars was expended in
tion.
Salaries.
182
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
salaries for its clergy, and about sixty thousand
dollars for its musicians during the preceding
fiscal year. This, of course, included Trinity
Church and the various chapels and missions.
The statement makes plain the importance
which the oldest, the largest, and the most ex-
perienced parish in the American Church at-
taches to its musical services, and it establishes
a valuable basis for comparison. The appro-
priation of approximately one-half of the cleri-
cal salary list for music will be found to hold
good in all churches where the music is at all
satisfactory. This is of course based on the
assumption that the clergy are adequately paid.
The moment this proportion is materially re-
duced a church cannot in reason expect to secure
the aid of competent musical talent. The best
results are obtainable only where the musician
in charge is sufficiently well paid to enable him
to live comfortably without seeking other
sources of revenue. If he is obliged to occupy
himself otherwise during the week to any con-
siderable extent, it will divide his interests and
consume the energy and ambition that should
be devoted to his church duties. If the re-
sources of a church are insufficient to pay a liv-
ing salary it is questionable indeed if that par-
ish had better indulge in the luxury of a boy
choir. There are other resources in every par-
ish which will give far better results musically,
THE, ORGANIST AND CHOIRMASTER
183
and at much less expense both in time, trouble,
and money. But this aspect of the case will be
considered in another lecture.
V.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR.
Artistic
capacity of
boys' voices.
An English essayist remarks that if the old
Athenian commander Timotheus should arise
from the dead "he would be delighted with our
post offices, interested in our railroads, ashamed
of our oratory, horrified at our public buildings,
but dumbfounded at our musical festivals."
His astonishment at the English musical fes-
tivals would probably suffer no abatement upon
the discovery that in many instances the voices
of young lads were responsible for the beauty of
the general effect. If he were interested in this
aspect of the case he would further find out that
the greatest Cathedrals in Europe entrusted the
soprano part in their choirs not to the mature
and emotional charm of women's voices, but to
the pure tones and musical ability of lads rang-
ing in age from ten to fifteen years.
It is a fact that the most famous choirs in
employ boys. existence, choirs that scorn the assistance of or-
gan or orchestra, choirs noted for their beauty
of tone and for the perfect manner in which
Most noted
choirs
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
185
they perform the most difficult scores of the
great masters, invariably make use of the boy
voice for the soprano and sometimes the alto
part.
Whether we go to the Imperial Chapel at
St. Petersburg, the Kremlin at Moscow, the
Dom at Berlin, the Cathedral at Cologne, the
Madeleine at Paris, St. Paul's or Westminster
at London, King's College at Cambridge, or
Magdalen at Oxford, we will hear lads sustain-
ing their difficult parts with unerring accuracy,
delighting the ear with the purity of their voices
and satisfying the most exacting taste in their
artistic interpretations.
The Church of St. Thomas at Leipzig, St. Thomas'
proud in the fact that the mighty Johann Se- Leipzig.
bastian Bach had charge of its music something
less than two centuries ago, supports a choir of
men and boys that sings the works of the great
Cantor every Sunday in the year. And they
are works of such complexity that well-equipped
and experienced choral societies plume them-
selves upon the occasional performance of a
Bach motette or cantata, not to mention the rare
performances of his Passion according to St.
Matthew or St. John, or his gigantic Mass in
B minor.
All this testimony goes to prove the wonder- Great
ful capacity and efficiency of boys, provided boys.
they are properly and sufficiently trained.
choir,
capacity of
186
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Sight-read-
ing ability.
Therein lies the whole secret-properly and
sufficiently trained. The boys who sing in these
world-famous choirs ordinarily receive their en-
tire education at the hands of the Church they
serve. They are, of course, selected for their
natural musical gifts, but boys of like capacity
exist in all large cities and in considerable num-
bers. It is the daily musical training and the
skilled attention they receive which is respon-
sible for the wonderful results, and not the phe-
nomenal qualities of the boys themselves.
The sight-reading abilities of these boys put
to shame many an adult professional. They
read music as they read words. Hymn music
is as child's play to them, and anthems and mot-
ettes of no mean difficulty are sung through the
first time without hesitation or fault. But it is
the result of severe daily drill and of a life
having music as its consuming activity.
The Cathedrals of England are supplied
with Choir Schools where the young lads not
only receive sound musical training but also a
general education, superior to that given in the
public schools. They are nearly all boarding
schools and in return for a liberal education the
pupils sing at the daily Cathedral services.
Without such a perfect system of training
schools the results obtained would be impossible.
When we recall that England has some thirty
Cathedrals distributed over her restricted area
English
choir
schools.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
187
Cathedral
services as
and that music has been systematically culti-
vated in them ever since the Reformation-a pe-
riod of over 350 years—it is small wonder that
she has such high standards of Church music
and that her Church people generally appreciate
these standards. Good boy voices were in such
demand in the middle of the sixteenth century
that a musical "press-gang” scoured the country
for boys with good “brestes” or voices, and they
were empowered to seize such boys for service
in St. Paul's Cathedral or the Royal Chapels.
These Cathedral services serve as models Cathedral
which are emulated by the parish churches, the models.
more important of which maintain services
quite up to Cathedral standards. Even if the
parish churches are not provided with choir
schools of their own they will experience no
difficulty in securing choir boys already trained,
for there are schools established for this special
purpose.
Contrast this enviable state of affairs with Disadvan-
conditions as they exist in this country. We conditions
have no historic background musically speaking,
no well-defined standards of performance, and
few acknowledged models. Thoroughly cap-
able organists and choirmasters are rare. The
time given to the work is inadequate. Choir
boys already trained are almost an unknown
quantity, and choir schools are in their infancy.
The average choral service is performed in a
tages of
in America.
188
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Average
choir poor.
Best choirs
not up to
European
Standards.
coarse, unmusical, and inartistic manner. No
one takes any pleasure in it. It is considered
the normal state of affairs, and if a vested choir
is wanted, crudities must be put up with as a
matter of course.
With these conditions prevailing in the
large majority of cases, it is not surprising that
Church people of refined musical sensibilities
are frequently repelled by our services, and it
is difficult for them to believe that there can
possibly be any real merit in the so-called "boy
choir.”
It is true that in New York City one hears
services of decided merit and in our larger
cities there are choirs whose attainments are
most commendable. Still the best of these do
not compare with the famous choirs of Europe,
and the question arises, Why cannot we, with
our energy, ambition and natural resources,
have choirs equal to the greatest?
The only possible way is by the establish-
ment of choir schools, and this conclusion is
gradually forcing itself upon the consciousness
of our leading churches. Before giving the
actual results of this conclusion, a short sketch
of the introduction of the vested male choir into
the Protestant Episcopal Church of America,
and its development in our own diocese, may be
of interest.
The first vested male choir that historians
Necessity of
choir
schools.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
189
Sketch. St.
Charleston,
have been able to trace seems to have been in Historical
St. Michael's Church, Charleston, S. C., in the Michael's,
year 1798. It is quite plausible that a Southern s. C.
church should have been the first to transplant
the English custom to these shores, for the
Church was far stronger and lived more nearly
up to the standards of the Mother Church in the
Virginias and Carolinas than was the case in
New England, where under Puritan domina-
tion the Church was poor and weak, or in New
York, where the Dutch and French Reformed
churches were in the ascendancy. Of the his-
tory or longevity of this first surpliced choir we
know nothing. The second choir is not heard of
until 1841 and then at Flushing, L. I. The Flushing,
Church of the Advent, Boston, is reported to Church
have had a vested choir in 1859. As early as Advent,
1761 boys were made use of in "Old Trinity," te
New York, but they were not vested nor did they
WOU Vesteu tot uiuuey New York
sit in the chancel, but in the gallery. In 1709,
a parish Charity School was organized and for
many years the children of the school, both boys
and girls, led with their crude singing the
metrical psalms, and sang an occasional simple
anthem.
With the advent of Dr. Edward Hodges, the Edward
eminent English organist and composer, in
1839, a capable choir was for the first time
organized. At first it consisted of boys, women,
and men, who occupied places in the organ gal-
L. I.
of the
Boston.
Trinity,"
City.
Hodges.
190
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Arthur H.
Messiter.
lery over the main portal. The women were
gradually eliminated and early in 1859 had en-
tirely disappeared. Dr. Messiter in his inter-
esting "History of the Choir and Music of Trin-
ity Church” gives an entertaining account of the
well-nigh surreptitious methods by which the
choir was gradually transferred from the gal-
lery to the chancel, a process which was vigor-
ously opposed by many of the congregation.
Several sorties were made during week-day ser-
vices before the singers were permanently in-
trenched behind the choir pews—but with the
men to the front. The choir was still unvested
and the question of surplices was also a matter
of bitter controversy. It was happily solved by
the appearance of the Prince of Wales upon the
scene of strife, and in order not to offend his
majesty, the choir was properly vested on the
occasion of his attending service at Trinity on
October 14, 1860. To prevent any possible em-
barrassment the vestments were worn the pre-
vious Sunday by way of dress rehearsal. On
this occasion two loud reports were heard dur-
ing the reading of the Second Lesson, and a
musket ball fell in one of the pews, without
hurting any one. Whether it was a hostile
demonstration or not was never ascertained.
After Trinity's lead the use of the vested
choir slowly extended to other parishes, but it
was a quarter of a century before the profes-
First
Vestments
in "Old
Trinity.''
Vested
choirs
displace
quartetto
choirs.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
191
in the
Racine
sional quartette, that "baneful medium for the
glorification of four people” as it has been aptly
put, had all but disappeared.
In the west the honor of first introducing Development
the vested choir and the choral service belongs West.
to Racine, Wis. A Mr. Machin was appointed
choirmaster at Racine College about the year
1862, and the simple service he introduced was College.
the sensation of the hour by reason of its nov-
elty. As none of the college clergy could intone,
Mr. Machin did so himself, and he was conse- Mr. Machin.
quently much looked up to for his superior abil-
ities. Helmore's Psalter was used, but little
else except hymns was attempted. He was suc-
ceeded by a Mr. Rowe, also an Englishman, and Mr. Rowe.
later by the head-master, Gerald R. MacDowell, MacDowell.
who was very gifted as a choirmaster.
The material for the choir was drawn from
the various schools, but the constant changes in
the grammar school boys and the undeveloped
voices of the college students left much to be
desired in the general effect. The institution
fell upon evil days financially, and the college
department was finally abandoned. As the ser-
vices were confined practically to the faculty
and students this attempt at a proper musical
service had but little influence on the Church at
large.
A more potent and far-reaching endeavor to
establish a permanent choral service was made
Gerald R.
192
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Cathedral
of SS.
Peter and
Paul,
Chicago.
First
Cathedral
in U. S.
Chicago.
in the year 1865, when Bishop Whitehouse, the
second Bishop of Illinois, took possession of the
then Church of the Atonement, and made it the
Cathedral Church of the diocese, the first Cathe-
dral foundation to be established in the United
States.
Several attempts were made at this period
to make use of boys' voices in other churches of
Chicago, but vestments were not used nor was
the choral service attempted. A man by the ap-
Mr. Mozart, propriate name of Mozart endeavoured to train
St. James',
boys to assist in the music of St. James' Church,
the oldest parish in the city, but was unsuccess-
ful. A better venture was made at Trinity
Church, which was then on Jackson street where
the Illinois theater now stands. Mr. W. D.
Rowlands, who sang there as a boy, wrote in
1886 as follows concerning music at Trinity:
"I sang in Trinity Church choir twenty-one
years ago (i.e., in 1865). It was composed of
boys exclusively. We numbered fifteen and were
seated in the organ gallery over the entrance,
seven on each side of the organ. I, being the
soloist, had a seat beside the lady soloist in
front of the organ, and used to feel especially
favored. During the service when it came our
turn to sing the curtains were always drawn so
that we might be heard and not seen. We
chanted the psalms, I singing the first verse and
the choir responding, changing alternately. The
chorister sat down stairs and we were left to our
fate upstairs. We always managed to sing in
Trinity,
Chicago.
W.D.
Rowlands.
TIE VESTEĎ MALE CHOIR
193
t cach lady som vibrati, of
Choir.
.
ul
Fitzhugh
tune and to keep good time. Members of the
congregationi often spoke of the thrilling im-
pression it made on them—could only think of
angels' voices sounding from heaven, vibrating
through the rafters. The lady soloist always
sang one selection at each service during the
collection. I sang in the choir two years—it
had just been started previous to my joining. I
believe it was continued until the church was
destroyed by fire (the great fire in 1871). Mr.
Ludden was the name of the chorister. Prof.
Cutler, I think, was the organist.”
To return to the Cathedral. Mr. William Cathedral
Fitzhugh Whitehouse, a son of the Bishop, was William
an amateur organist and much interested in the Whitehouse.
choral service. A mixed choir already existed
and occupied seats in the east transept under
the leadership of a Mr. Tobey. Mr. Whitehouse
collected some boys together and instructed
them in the mysteries of chanting. They occu-
pied seats in the west transept by the organ, a
small and inefficient instrument, incapable of
supporting the voices. Mr. Tobey had no sym- Mr. Tobey.
pathy with the boys and friction existed between
the two choirs. The most agreeable part of the
service musically was doubtless the fine voice of
the Bishop's chaplain, the Rev. John Wilkinson. Rev. Tohm.
This unsatisfactory condition of affairs lasted
for two years, when the mixed choir of men and
women was dispensed with. Up to this time a
small sum had been paid the singers, but the
choir was now put upon a volunteer basis. In
maah
temat
Wilkinson,
194
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Bishop
Whitehouse.
Rov. John
Harris
Knowles.
Rev. C. P.
Dorset.
First
vested
choir.
his address to the Diocesan Convention in 1867
the Bishop speaks of the choir as follows:
“The music has risen to a chaste standard,
and the well-trained choir of boys meets our ex-
pectations. These choristers will be put into
surplices as soon as stall-seats can be prepared
and a larger robing-room built.”
In the fall of this year the Rev. John Harris
Knowles of St. John's, Naperville, was ap-
pointed Canon Chaplain of the Cathedral.
Canon C. P. Dorset was precentor of the choir
and Mr. Whitehouse, organist. The surplices
came before the larger robing-room, and in Feb-
ruary, 1868, six boys, duly vested in long sur-
plices, entered the chancel from the diminutive
vestry room singing “Jerusalem, the golden,” to
Ewing's well-known tune. Shortly after Canon
Knowles was induced to take charge of the
choir, but much against his wishes. When a
student in the General Theological Seminary in
New York a few years before (1862), he had
sung in Trinity Church choir under Dr. Cutler
where he became familiar with many traditional
usages in the English choral service and ac-
quainted with the better class of Church music
generally. His sensitive, artistic nature was
greatly impressed by both the music and the
dignified ceremonial that obtained at “Old
Trinity.” A man of unusual musical apprecia-
tion and judgment, he labored under the disad-
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
195
Opposition
to vested
choirs.
Pioneer
work of
Canon
Knowles.
vantage of having had but meager training on
the practical side of the art.
The establishment of a vested choir and a composted on
choral service required no little courage. It
was an unheard of thing at that time and was
looked upon as rank popery. It caused dissen-
sion and bitter feeling, and many left the Cathe-
dral for other parishes. No capable or experi-
enced choirmaster was obtainable short of im-
portation from England, and no funds were at
hand to pay a choirmaster in any event. So
the energetic Canon set to work, gathered to
gether what material was at hand, and what he i
lacked in professional training he atoned for
in unbounded enthusiasm and fixity of purpose.
Already at St. John's, Naperville, he had estab-
Naperville,
lished a choral service and choral celebration in Ill.
1865, but with an unvested choir of men and
women. When he came to the Cathedral the First
service was only partly choral, but soon the
evening service was completely so, Tallis' Re- service.
sponses and Trinity Psalter being used.
The choir at first were seated in wooden
kitchen chairs arranged choir-wise in the chan- nings.
cel, and wore long surplices without cassocks.
Among the half-dozen men were two or three
Englishmen-one of them an adult alto—who
had sung in choirs in their native land. It
seems incredible that a Bishop, two canons, and
sixteen choristers all robed in the little vestry-
St. John's,
Cathedral
choral
Unpreten-
tious begin-
LU
196
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
TYT
First solo
boy.
Resource-
fulness of
Canon
Knowles.
room off of the chancel, which is now the organ
chamber, yet such was the case.
The writer entered the choir in 1868, and
was the first boy in the choir to sing the alto
part as he was also the first boy to sing oratorio
solos, an accomplishment that has since be-
come of common occurence. A new three-man-
ual organ soon followed the old one in the west
transept and it was considered a grand instru-
ment at the time of its installation. Its distance
from the choir was somewhat of a disadvantage,
a condition that was rectified some twelve years
later by its removal to the present location.
The resourcefulness of Canon Knowles was
early manifested. For an anthem he would
take a short psalm—the Twenty-third for ex-
ample--and after selecting a melodious chant
would have certain verses sung as solo, duet or
quartette to contrast with the full chorus. It
was not long, however, before real anthems were
attempted and such old-time English favorites
as "Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is,"
by Kent, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the
hills,” by Whitfield, “By the waters of Baby-
lon," Allen, were imported from London, as
they were unattainable in this country at that
time. Cutler's "Trinity Anthems” were also
sung, and it is a pity that such a fine collection
of sterling Church music has since fallen into
disuse. Occasional trips to England added
First
anthems.
1.
1
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
197
First
Services.
Cathedral
choir a
organiza-
Choristers'
Association.
stimulus to the zeal and musical ambition of the Et
Canon, and in the course of a few years com-
plete musical Services were given, such as
Smart in F, Armes in A, and Stainer in E flat.
The choir was strictly a volunteer organiza-
tion and its function and importance were duly volunteer
magnified. In 1870 the Cathedral Choristers' tion.
Association was formed with its quota of offi- Choristers
cials. As its printed constitution read, it was
formed "to secure for the choral worship of Al-
mighty God that attention which such a holy
work demands; to insure the proper rendering of
the same by careful preparation in rehearsals,
and prompt and regular attendance at public
services, and by organization to perpetuate and
place on a firmer basis the volunteer choir of
the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul.”
Monthly business meetings were held and Choir
the junior choristers elected representatives,
who attended these meetings with full voting
powers. Choir picnics, excursions, and ban-
quets were held, and choral services were given
in other churches and communities, thus spread-
ing a love and desire for the choral service.
Prizes and medals were awarded at the annual
Christmas festival of the Sunday school to
worthy boys for attendance, progress in music,
and reverential demeanor, and all received valu-
able gifts. Admission of juniors to the choir
was effected through the use of a formal service
Choir
activities.
198
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
First
festival
service.
laying stress on the sacredness of the office. At
the Sunday School festival on Trinity Sunday
selected choir boys would read from the lectern
lessons illustrative of the Christian year. The
choir increased in size until it numbered from
thirty to thirty-five members.
The state of efficiency attained by the choir
at this period is best shown by its first festival
service, which was held in the Cathedral on No-
vember 30, 1870."
PROCESSIONAL, “Songs of Praise,” arranged from
a March by .......................Costa.
CANTATE AND DEUS MISEREATUR in A.....
.......................Bridgewater'.
ANTHEM, "Like as a Father”..........Hatton.
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS from Twelfth Mass. .Mozart.
Solo, “O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to
Zion.”
Solo, “But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul in
Hell.
CHORUS, "Hallelujah”
From the "Messiah,” Handel.
The funeral of Bishop Whitehouse was a
Whitehouse. memorable occasion, the music being of a most
impressive and appropriate character. Canon
Knowles had remarkable tact and taste in plan-
ning and executing ceremonials, and he was
Funeral of
Bishop
1 Simple daily choral services were held at this time coin-
ciding with the opening and closing of the Cathedral Day
School, the writer beginning his career as organist on
these occasions with the limited repertoire of one hymn
and one chant. He later became assistant organist to Mr.
William Fitzhugl Whitehouse, and upon the resignation of
the latter (at the time his father, the Bishop, died), he be-
came organist.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
199
tion of
McLaren.
equally successful in arranging the services at Consecra-
the consecration of Bishop McLaren on De- Bishop
cember 8, 1875. Seven or eight Bishops were
present and a host of clergy. The choir ac-
quitted themselves finely with Gounod's St. Ce-
cilia Mass—then a novelty.
A number of standard anthems and services
by such composers as Stainer, Barnby, Smart,
Sullivan, Gounod, etc., received their first per-
formance west of New York at the hands of
the Cathedral choir under the guidance of
Canon Knowles. That the attainments of the
choir constantly increased is evidenced by a lec-
ture on Church music given by the Canon on
February 16, 1879. The church was packed
and the lecture was repeated on March 11, fol-
lowing. The musical illustrations sung by the
choir were as follows:
GREGORIAN MUSIC: The Seventh and Eighth
Tones and the Hymn "Pange Lingua.”
ANGLICAN CHANTS: ........ Croft and Barnby.
HYMN Music: ............ Cruger and Dykes.
ANTHEMS:
“O Where Shall Wisdom be Found,”..Boyce.
“Hosanna in the Highest,"........ Stainer.
MUSIC FOR THE HOLY EUCHARIST: Gounod's St.
Cecilia Mass. Selections from Barnby and
Garrett.
It must be borne in mind that all this mu- of Canon
sical activity on the part of Canon Knowles was
in addition to his regular priestly duties, and
Illustrated
Lecture on
Church
Music,
Devotion
Knowles.
200
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Musical
library.
it was only at times that he had any assistance
in this latter respect. It required great devo-
tion and purpose, unflagging zeal and a world
of patience. It was musical pioneering in every
sense of the word, and Church music throughout
the West received a great impetus through the
courage, conviction, and high standards of
this enthusiastic champion of good Church art.
No trouble or expense was too great when mu-
sical ideals were concerned. A large, well-
selected, and comprehensive musical library
was largely paid for out of the Canon's slender
purse, and if works were too expensive to buy or
unobtainable, his own hand spent many weary
hours in making MS. copies. His discriminat-
ing taste permitted nothing unworthy, and his
whole-hearted consecration to the cause had its
reward in setting a proper standard of Church
music in its proper setting of a Cathedral.
The chorister of the old Cathedral days has
many pleasant recollections stored in his mem-
ory: of picnics and excursions, of concerts and
social gatherings. Two pleasant trips were
made to Aurora, Ill., one at the laying of the
cornerstone of a new church and a second to
give a benefit concert. Several most enjoyable
trips were made to Racine College on invitation
of the lamented Dr. de Koven, where the sing-
ing of the Cathedral Choir was much admired.
The Knights Templars' service at Grace
Social
features.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
201
Spread of
vested
Church and a special service for St. George's
Society at the Cathedral were always pictur-
esque and interesting occasions.
As in the case of "Old Trinity," New Develop-
York, the Cathedral Choir has developed mu- musical
sicians of prominence who in all probability
would have followed other pursuits had it not
been for the early musical surroundings which
brought forth talent and perhaps unsuspected
ability. Nor was the bold stand in regard to choirs.
a full choral service at the Cathedral without its
effect throughout the diocese. Parishes with
High Church proclivities were naturally the
first to follow. On Christmas day, 1870, a
vested choir of seventeen boys and eight men
made their first appearance in the Church of
the Ascension. This was shortly after Canon
Ascension,
Dorset, the first precentor of the Cathedral, had Chicago.
been appointed priest there. The organist was
Henry Pilcher, a former Cathedral boy. From
the nature of the services at the Ascension, spe-
cial stress was laid on the Mass music, and in
later years under Father Ritchie with Harrison Father
M. Wild as organist and choirmaster, the church
became notable for its fine selection of Masses.
Not only were the usual run of English Com-
munion services used, such as Stainer, Monk,
Dykes, but also adaptations from the Latin
Masses of Weber, Mozart, Gounod, etc. The
Ascension has the distinction of being the only
Henry
Pilcher.
Ritchie.
Harrison
M. Wild.
Latin
Masses.
02
202
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Gregorians.
Calvary,
Chicago.
St. James',
Chicago.
John L.
Hughes.
church in the diocese to use a real Gregorian
psalter (Redhead's) and to make persistent use
of plainsong hymn tunes.
If the writer's memory is not at fault, Cal-
vary Church followed next with the vested
choir. The more prominent and aristocratic
churches were slower in giving up their quar-
tette choirs. St. James' had elected Dr. Vib-
bert from the East as its rector, and he stipu-
lated a vested choir as one of the conditions of
acceptance. On May 4, 1884, after nine months
of arduous drill under the direction of Mr.
John L. Hughes, Chicago's first English choir-
master, the choir appeared in the chancel, and
in regard to tonal quality and finish it sur-
passed all others in the diocese. Mr. C. E.
Reynolds was the organist. Mr. Hughes soon
resigned on account of ill health and the choir
attained great proficiency and a most enviable
reputation under the enthusiastic and devoted
guidance of Mr. William Smedley. Grace
Church soon followed with a semi-choral even-
ing service in October, 1884, the quartette choir
singing in the morning and continuing until
January 1, 1886, when the vested choir per-
formed full duty. Then came the new St.
Clement's Church, where, on November 23,
1884, at its dedication a vested choir of eleven
boys and ten men sang a full choral service.
Canon Knowles, who had severed his connection
C. E.
Reynolds.
William
Smedley.
Grace
Church,
Chicago.
St.
Clement's,
Chicago.
Canon
Knowles.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
203
extension
choirs.
with the Cathedral, was priest, and the writer
was choirmaster and organist.
The remaining churches in Chicago in- Rapid
stalled vested choirs in rapid succession and of vested
the custom spread to the smaller towns; even
village churches are not content without some
semblance of a “boy choir.” It is an open ques-
tion whether the movement is the result of a
desire to conform to Churchly traditions, or
whether the motive springs from a wish to emu-
late the larger parishes. If a surpliced choir
always satisfied the ear as well as it does the
eye, the veil of charity might well be drawn
over the underlying impulse.
If a chancel choir must obtain there is no Chancel
question but that it should consist of males. males
In this regard the Church patterns after the
Temple service, where the choir consisted of Ancient
males drawn from the tribe of Levi. Women
and girls sang only in the congregation or in the
court set apart for the use of women, but not
in the sanctuary, to which our chancel corre-
sponds. It is against all tradition, precedent,
or practice in all the historic churches to permit
women to perform priestly functions, and the
services of a chancel choir can only be looked
upon as an adjunct to the priestly ministrations
at the altar. While the Church of Rome has
allowed its music to become secularized to a
certain extent, and has made extensive use of
choir of
only.
precedent.
204
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Practical
reasons
for male
choirs.
19
Other
factors.
women singers, they have always been relegated
to the gallery and naught but men and boys
permitted in the chancel.
There are purely practical reasons for
the use of male choirs. Boys and men are
sturdier than girls or women and may be de-
pended upon in all weather and at all times.
It is no infrequent spectacle on a stormy night
to find more people in the choir stalls than in
the pews, and the worship of Almighty God pro-
ceeds undisturbed, as it should, regardless of
weather or the presence of a congregation.
Thus we have excellent reasons for the use of
male choirs on account of their fitness, utility,
and reliability. But other factors enter into
the discussion. As has been before intimated,
there is also a fundamental principle that in its
public services the Church should only offer its
best: its best in thought, diction, ceremonial,
and material surroundings. This principle
should certainly be extended both to music and
the manner of its performance. With sufficient
means and material this end is best subserved
by a choir of men and boys. While the trained
boy voice is indisputably the most beautiful of
all, the untrained boy voice is exactly the re-
verse. We have much better raw material in
the voices of girls and young women. They
naturally produce a more agreeable quality of
tone, they are innately more refined and mu-
Advantages
of the
female
voice.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
205
I
sical, and far better results can be obtained
from them with less ability and effort on the
part of the choirmaster, than is the case with
boys. Moreover they are better behaved, more
docile, and their voices have not the annoying
trick of breaking when the point of maximum
usefulness has been gained. It is a question
of relative values in many instances. On the
one hand we have the male choir with its tradi-
ditional authority and fitness, plus coarse sing-
ing, poor interpretation, and boisterous behav-
iour; on the other we have the mixed choir with
its violation of churchly custom, plus better
voices, more artistic finish, and better conduct.
The writer would at once cast his vote for Arrange-
the latter, provided always that the girls or mixed
women were not permitted to sit in the chancel.
They could occupy seats in the front pews
where they would be sufficiently near the men
to produce a good effect musically. Academic
gowns and “mortar-board” caps would seem the
most appropriate garb for the women, while the
men (occupying the chancel) would retain their
historic vestments. This arrangement would
not interfere with the much-beloved choral pro-
cessionals, as the women could file into their
seats, the men diverging into the chancel."
In some cases one-half of the frantic effort
ment of
choir.
2 The processional is a purely American habit, and is
only indulged in on special occasions in England.
206
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
The quar-
tette choir.
spent in sustaining an unsatisfactory boy choir
would result in a good mixed choir, which
would render the music in an agreeable and
effective manner. Good results are also ob-
tained with a few good women voices when the
boys are weak and unequal to the task. One
hears excellent music by choirs of this charac-
ter, but unfortunately the unchurchly custom of
seating the women in the chancel is generally
followed.
Even the quartette choir is not an unmiti-
gated evil. If proper music is selected, and the
voices are well-trained and agreeable, very good
music is indeed possible, if not of the most desir-
able churchly quality. However, one good
singer to lead the congregational singing, and to
do an occasional solo, is preferable to a poor
quartette, and infinitely better than a combina-
tion of two or three voices when the harmony
will be out of balance. The writer heard some
quite satisfactory singing by a choir of but four
girls in a Northern Michigan church. They
were vested but occupied seats in the transept
in front of the organ. The voices were fresh
and good, and of ample volume to fill the small
church. In the hands of an experienced organ-
ist very excellent music indeed could have been
supplied by these four young girls. But there,
again, is the crux of the whole situation, an ex-
perienced organist! Small towns do not possess
The
precentor.
A choir
of girls
only.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
207
small
England's
advantages
deficiencies.
them and small churches cannot afford to Limitations
pay them. In any congregation of a hundred sibilities of
people there is hidden enough musical ability parishes.
to make a good choir provided there is a musi-
cian at hand with sufficient wit, devotion, and re-
sourcefulness to extract it. This is where Eng-
land has a great advantage over us. Between and our
her choir schools and her many fine choirs she is
supplied with capable choirmasters who know
their business, and their number is constantly
increasing, but with us, outside of the large
cities, capable choir leaders are indeed few and
far between. Here again the necessity for the
adequate training of church musicians is
brought to the forema training which the
Church herself should provide.
One of the greatest evils attending the boy Small
choir in the small church is the spirit of mis- ambitious.
placed emulation which seeks to use precisely
the same music that is sung in the larger
churches with well-equipped choirs. Nothing
is more painful, reprehensible, or utterly inex-
cusable than the performance of music beyond
the capacity of a choir. Man is not edified nor
God glorified by a choir madly wrestling with
music beyond its powers, offending sensitive
ears with its unseemly noises, and keeping the
auditors in a state of nervous tension for fear of
a total collapse! The whole object and purpose
of music is perverted under such circumstances.
choirs too
208
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Justice
due the
composer.
Choirmaster
to blame.
A composer gives forth to the world his best
thoughts, assuming at least that they will be
sung in tune and with reasonable accuracy,
agreeable tone production, and intelligent inter-
pretation-else his most noble conceptions be-
come travesties and instead of offering to Al-
mighty God something worthy of His praise,
we offer Him but a caricature of what the com-
poser intended.
Choirmasters are principally to blame for
this lamentable state of affairs, and it results
from one of two causes: either the choirmaster
is incapable of selecting music suited to the
capacity of his forces, and hence must borrow
ideas from his neighbors, or else he thinks that
for the protection of his own dignity and stand-
ing he must have compositions of a certain class
on his programmes, regardless of how they may
be performed.
But the retort is made that you cannot in-
terest a choir for any length of time by singing
hymns and chants and simple anthems. There
is a modicum of truth in this. Choirs, and es-
pecially volunteer choirs, must be kept inter-
ested or disintegration will set in. To a certain
extent choristers must be kept on their mettle
and be given tasks that require application and
perseverance. To sing the same old things over
and over again will demoralize any choir; they
must have change and new incentives to effort.
Choirs
need
incentive.
0
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
209
No dearth
of good
music.
To meet this necessity there is an enormous out-
put of church music, of all degrees of merit and
difficulty, and it is being added to every day at
an astonishing rate. To select properly from
this immense mass requires time, patience, ex-
perience, and judgment, qualities that are not
: often found in one choirmaster, especially if he
is on scant pay. It is much simpler and easier
to note the programmes of neighboring churches
and to use these selections whether they are
suitable or not.
Another factor in the equation is that choir-
masters who have not the ability or knack of
getting a good tone become dulled in their musi-
cal perceptions and take roughness and crude-
ness as a necessary evil that cannot be elimi-
nated.
While it frequently is desirable to have a Good
choir modify its ambitions respecting the use of always a
difficult and intricate compositions, it is not in-
tended to imply that there should be a
weakening in the quality of the music se-
lected. There is good and bad music from
the simplest to the most complex. It is a fact
that there is little difficulty in interesting the
members of a choir in good music. They may
object at the start, but with a little perseverance
good music is sure to win its way. As with
hymn singing, if good standards once prevail
no inferior product will suffice. But it is
music
necessity.
210
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Artistic
cultivation.
The esthetic
8088e.
equally to the point to cultivate the taste and
perception of the singers as regards artistic,
musical interpretation—to appreciate good
tone quality, fine shading and expression, ac-
curacy, and good pitch. Here, again, where the
esthetic sensibilities have once been thoroughly
aroused, nothing short of good work will satisfy
the singers.
Boys and young men are prone to look upon
singing as an athletic exercise for the display of
strength. There is a certain excitement in mak-
ing a noise, and this in addition to the mental
alertness required in reading words and music
at once, together with the pleasure in the music
itself, makes rather an attractive occupation.
So, unless carefully guided, the young idea is
apt to acquire a very mistaken notion of what
music really is. When once an appreciation of
the "still small voice” is awakened and when a
chorister can discriminate between mere noise
and musical sonority, many of the choirmas-
ter's troubles will have disappeared.
It is difficult, however, to establish these de-
sirable conditions of esthetic advancement un-
less choristers have the advantage of daily drill
in music, and daily drill is only possible when
there is a choir school. This brings us back to
the important subject of the choir school, the
institution which has given to England its ac-
Choir
schools.
THE VESTED MALE OHOIR
211
New York
LUL
Musical
in Parish
knowledged preëminence over all other nations
in the matter of musical services.
Although Trinity Church, New York City, Trinity,
does not maintain a choir school, it is in her city.
records that we first find mention of attempts in
that direction. The children of her charity
school, established in 1709, were the first to re-
ceive instruction in church music, although it
was of the most elementary character. Later
the school became exclusively a boys' school.
In 1843 steps were taken by the vestry of
the parish to improve the musical instruction Instruction
and, doubtless under pressure from Dr. Edward day school.
Hodges, the noted organist, sixteen scholarships
were established for pupils of the parish school,
who were to be instructed in music two days a
week by the parish musical director. The
scheme, however, did not prove very satisfac-
tory, Dr. Hodges reporting in 1847 that
"Trinity school does not furnish musical talent
enough to feed the class." The boys at this
period sat in the gallery opposite the altar and
were not vested.
About the year 1870 in the Cathedral of SS. Cathedral
Peter and Paul, Chicago, a parish day school school,
was in existence which was also intended to
serve as a choir school. The resources of the
Cathedral did not permit of the employment of
a professional musician, and the instruction of
the choristers in music was undertaken by
I
Choir
Chicago.
212
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Daily
choral
service.
St. Paul's
Choir
school,
Baltimore.
Dr. J. S. B.
Hodges.
Canon Knowles. Daily choral morning and
evening services were maintained until the
great fire in 1871, when conditions were created
which put an end to the venture, although both
the Cathedral and the school buildings escaped
the ravages of the flames.
The first church in this country to establish
permanently a choir school was St. Paul's,
Baltimore, where the venerable Dr. J. S. B.
Hodges was rector. It is peculiarly appropriate
that this should be the case, for Dr. Hodges is
not only an accomplished musician but also a
son of the famous Dr. Edward Hodges already
referred to in connection with “Old Trinity,"
New York. St. Paul's choir school was
founded in 1873 and accommodates thirty boys.
A priest is headmaster with a musician as as-
sistant. Two courses of study are offered, one
leading to college, the other to holy orders, with
the result that seven graduates have been or-
dained ministers of the Church..
The first choir school in New York City was
established by Grace Church, Broadway and
Tenth street. Grace Church was one of the last
to abandon the quartette choir, but when it
adopted the vested choir it did so in no half-
hearted way, for liberal provision was made for
the support and maintenance of the choristers.
Some six years ago a splendidly equipped build-
ing was erected for the use of the choir school,
Grace
Church
Choir
school,
New York
City.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
213
Business
fessional
courses.
containing reception room, library, dining-
room, dormitories for sixteen boys, besides the
necessary domestic quarters and an infirmary
with apartments for trained nurses. An ad-
joining tower supplies lecture and recitation
rooms, and a gymnasium. The roofs of both
structures provide a playground after the man-
ner of St. Paul's choir-house in London. Four-
teen day scholars are accepted in addition to the
sixteen boarders. The latter are attracted from
all parts of the country by the superiority of
the instruction, including as it does courses and pro-
leading to a business as well as to a professional
life, and by the distinction of singing in a prom-
inent metropolitan church.
A choir school was maintained at Fond du choir
Lac, Wis., for some years, where the Cathedral Fond du
Close is surrounded by a group of solidly-con-
structed buildings which are excellent models of
good ecclesiastical architecture. The group in-
cludes the Cathedral proper (with its stained
glass, its artistic frescoes, sculpture and paint-
ings), a large and finely equipped Girls' School,
a Clergy-house and a Choir School. Unfortu-
nately, through lack of funds the latter is tem-
porarily closed.
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Catire
New York City, looking to the future establish-
ment of a more complete plant, instituted a city.
day school for choristers some years since.
Cathedral
school,
Fond du
Lac.
Cathedral
school,
New York
214
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
.
Gymnasium
and mili-
tary drill.
St. Thomas',
New York
City.
Like the school at Grace Church, the instruction
offered is of such a nature as to draw a very de-
sirable class of boys, while the gymnasium and
military drill are additional attractions. Candi-
dates for admission must be from nine to eleven
years of age, of good character, and give promise
of real vocal and musical ability. After accept-
ance they are periodically examined, and if
found wanting musically or otherwise they are
dropped from the rolls. Furthermore the par-
ents are obliged to sign an agreement not to
withdraw their sons from the school without ex-
press permission.
St. Thomas' Church, Fifth avenue, New
York, is another instance of a parish slow to in-
troduce the surpliced choir but ready to give
generous support to the change the moment it
is once decided upon. Five years ago this
church maintained a famous musical service
performed by a quartette and mixed chorus. It
has funds in hand, it is reported, for the erec-
tion of a choir school and will doubtless be the
next to provide itself with adequately trained
boys.
The new Cathedral at Washington has plans
ington, D. C. already drawn for a magnificent choir school.
A generous Churchwoman has made ample
financial provision, not only for the building, but
for an endowment as well. We therefore have
· promise in the near future of choirs that should
The Cathe-
dral, Wash-
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
215
choir
vie with the best in England and which should
be a constant incentive to the wealthier parishes
to "go and do likewise."
Choir schools can be maintained at an ex- Expense of
pense varying from fifteen hundred dollars per schools.
annum to ten times that amount. The mini-
mum sum would naturally represent a modest
establishment for day scholars only, and it
could support but a headmaster and one assist-
ant. But with the right instruction and in-
structors such a school, with its close personal
attention, its superior moral tone, and its musi-
cal advantages, would offer decided attractions.
Such adjuncts as a gymnasium and military
drill (which appeal 'so strongly to the boys
themselves) would require a larger appropria-
tion but would doubtless pay in the end. The
proposition of housing and boarding students
would call for still more funds and could only
be considered by wealthy parishes.
It is quite within the range of possibility Possibility
for a choir school to attain such a degree of mainte-
excellence in its instruction, outside of the mu-
sical subjects, as to attract pay students in suf-
ficient numbers to either partly or wholly de-
fray the cost of maintenance.*
of self-
nance.
In addition to its Cathedrals, England has some thirty
or forty parishes and college chapels supplied with choir
schools. Magdalen College, Oxford, maintains its choir from
an endowment left some five centuries ago. A condition of
the bequest is to the effect that the support of the choir
is the last thing to suffer in case of a shrinkage of income.
In the more famous schools a notice of a vacancy brings
216
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Choir
schools
the one
satisfactory
solution.
Literature
ou vested
choirs.
The choir school is the one satisfactory solu-
tion of the "boy choir” question, but unfortu-
nately it is a solution open to comparatively
few of our churches. The many parishes
which could not possibly consider the establish-
ment of such a school will have to content them-
selves with existing circumstances, in the hope
that the near future may produce a larger
supply of capable, reverent, and devoted Church
musicians.
The literature on the formation, the train-
ing, and the management of boy choirs is so
plentiful, practical, and up-to-date that it
would be a waste of time and effort to give
any hints or suggestions along these lines in
a paper of this nature. Excellent books are
published on both sides of the Atlantic, but
those bearing an American imprint will be
found the more useful, as the conditions in this
country are distinctly different from those in
England.
One of the oldest English books on the sub-
ject is by Dr. Troutbeck, a former precentor of
Troutbeck. Westminster Abbey. It gives a wholesome
insight into what is expected of a thoroughly
trained choir, and contains a valuable list of
services and anthems for all possible occasions
and of the highest merit. J. Varley Roberts in
Church
choir
training.
John
Troutbeck.
a flood of applications, and all concerning boys of superior
musical and general intelligence.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
217
method of
choristers.
Roberts.
training
Choir boys.
George
(
Training
his "Practical Methods of Training Choristers" Practical
reveals the processes by which he has attained training
such superior results with his noted choir at J. Varley
Magdalen College, Oxford. It is admirably
edited and printed and contains fifty-four pages
of practical exercises. The "Art of Training
Choir Boys,” from the hands of Sir George
Martin, organist and choirmaster of St. Paul's Art of
Cathedral, London, is a concise and useful
book by that eminent Church musician and lays Martin.
stress on the necessity of a knowledge of voice
culture. It is supplied with copious vocal ex-
ercises.
A. Madeley Richardson, formerly organ- “Choir-
ist and choirmaster at St. Saviour's Collegiate. Based on
Church, London, has a very valuable book in his Produc-
“Choir-Training Based on Voice Production.” Madeleg.
It covers the whole field of choir music and is
written in an incisive and clear style. The
same author's book on "Church Music" in
Longmans, Green & Co.'s "Hand-books for the
Clergy," takes up the whole question of Church
music in a most interesting and vigorous man-
ner. Richardson is a modern of the moderns,
and his book will be especially enjoyed by
those who have no sympathy with Gregorian
chants, plainsong hymn tunes, or Palestrina mo-
tettes, subjects which he treats with scant cour-
tesy.
J. S. Spencer Curwen, the great "tonic sol-
Voice
tion.'' A.
Richardson.
218
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
"The Boy
Voice."
J. S. S.
Curwen.
"Hints on
Boy-Choir
Training.'
G. E.
Stubbs.
faist,” has a book entitled “The Boy Voice”
which is sort of a compendium on the subject,
as it has contributions from a number of noted
choirmasters. In this country the most widely
known and popular book is "Hints on Boy-
Choir Training,” by Dr. G. E. Stubbs, organist
and choirmaster of St. Agnes' Chapel, Trinity
Parish, New York. Dr. Stubbs is one of the best
known and best equipped writers on Church
music and has charge of the Ecclesiastical De-
partment of the “New Music Review.” His
book is eminently practical and displays a
thorough knowledge of our needs in boy-choir
training. The book has passed through several
editions.
A more recent work and one also capitally
adapted to the American boy in the American
Church is "In the Choir-room," by Walter
Henry Hall, organist and choirmaster of the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York
City. Like all true choir trainers, Mr. Hall is
a specialist in tone production, and he gives
many practical directions in developing the boy
voice.
"Clergy and Choir,” by the Rev. Charles R.
and Cholerno Hodge of New Lenox, Ill., is a book of rather
more extended scope as it also considers con-
gregational singing, mixed choirs, quartette
choirs, children's music, the organ, the organ-
• In the
Choir-
room.''
Walter
Henry
Hall.
«Clergy
Rev. Charles
R. Hodge.
THE VESTED MALE CHOIR
219
Powell.
ist, etc. It is interesting and gives the clergy-
man's point of view.
“Choralia," by the Rev. James Baden Choralia."
Rev. James
Powell, is a most readable and suggestive book Baden
by the precentor of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge,
London, where he has established a parochial
service noted for its beauty and dignity. Like
Richardson's "Church Music" it deals with the
question of ecclesiastical music at large and is
not essentially a manual on choir-training.
While this bibliography of the subject of
vested choirs is not complete, it is at least suf-
ficient to show that the subject has received
careful attention at the hands of skilled spe-
cialists, and that no one interested need remain
in ignorance regarding the most approved meth-
ods of forming and developing boy choirs. But
it is astonishing how uninformed the average
choirmaster is concerning his own business, and
how he prefers his own happy-go-lucky methods
rather than to profit by the experience and sug-
gestions of men who have made a pronounced
success of their work. The subject is important
enough to demand most careful thought and
study both on the part of the priest and the
choirmaster.
4 For additional works on Vested Choirs see Bibliography
· in the Appendix.
VI.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC IN THE
ANGLICAN CHURCH.
Plainsong
an artistic
product.
It is not generally known, even among peo-
ple interested in music, that a highly developed
system of Church music existed before the
twelfth century, a system not only complete and
perfect in itself, but capable of great expres-
siveness. Moreover it is the only system that
has ever been formally adopted by the Church
and prescribed as the authentic musical setting
to its Liturgy. Yet this is the case and the
so-called "plainsong" of the early Church, far
from being the crude beginnings of modern
music, or a worn-out and discarded art form,
remains to-day a complete entity in itself, full
of vital force and meaning to those who seriously
study and adequately comprehend it.
The Liturgy of the Church was originally
conceived for musical expression and was al-
ways intended to be sung. It appropriated the
musical idiom of its day and generation, an.
idiom derived from the complicated system of
Greek scales with perhaps traces of the tradi-
Origin of
plainsong.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC 221
tional Temple music of the Hebrews. Out of
this material grew the system variously known
as plainsong, plain chant, Gregorian chant, or
Gregorian tones. As has been already stated, scales.
the Greek scales or modes which formed the
basis of plainsong were originally four in
number: the Dorian, the Phrygian, the Ly-
dian, and the Mixo-Lydian. These scales cor-
respond to a conjunct series of white notes
on the piano beginning with D, E, F, and
G, respectively. If a melody confined itself to
any one of these scales and did not exceed its
keynote more than one adjacent note at either
end, it was in the "authentic” mode of its series.
For example, AMERICA is an authentic mode for Authentic
its melody lies within the octave of its keynote
with the exception of the fourth note, which is
immediately below the key note or "final.”
Later four collateral or “plagal” modes were Plagal
developed, each of which was founded upon an
authentic scale but began and ended a fourth
lower but retained the same "final” as the
scale from which it was derived. Thus OLD
HUNDRED is in a plagal mode, for its range ex-
tends four notes below and five notes above its
"final,” the latter appearing as the central note
of the melody, rather than its highest or lowest
note. Tradition ascribes the authentic modes
to St. Ambrose and the plagal modes to St. St. Ambrose.
Gregory. In any event St. Gregory collected St. Gregory.
The Greek
modes.
modes.
222
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
The Anti-
phonarium.
Present
major and
minor
scales the
last to be
developed.
the various chants then in use, systematized
them in an authoritative volume called the
“Antiphonarium,” and established singing
schools for instruction in their proper perform-
ance. Thus his name became inseparably con-
nected with plainsong chants."
Our modern major and minor scales ap-
peared later in two additional modes known as
the Ionian and the Æolian, respectively.
AMERICA is thus Ionian and OLD HUNDRED
Hypo-Ionian. The plainsong tune to “Come,
Holy Ghost, our souls inspire” is Mixo-Lydian,
while “O come, O come, Emmanuel" is Dorian.”
The Gregorian chants as known in the An-
glican Church are but a very small part of the
plainsong system. Their use is confined to
the psalms and canticles. There are in addi-
tion most elaborate settings of the usual Mass
numbers as well as for the variable Introits,
Graduales, Offertories, Sequences, etc. Each
Gregorian
chants but
small part
of plain-
song.
1 The plagal modes received the prefix "hypo." Conse-
quently the Hypo-Dorian scale began on A but had its final
on D; the Hypo-Phrygian on B with its final on D, etc.
If America is played beginning on D and nothing but the
white notes employed, it will be in the authentic Dorian
mode. If the same process is pursued with Old Hundred
the plagal Elypo-Dorian mode will result. If the same
tunes are begun in E. the two Phrygian modes will be heard,
if on F the two Lydian, if on G the two Mixo-Lydian. It
must not be forgotten that the white notes are alone to be
played. Experiments with these well-known melodies will
at once impress the listener with the radical difference be-
tween the modern major scale and the ancient ecclesiastical
modes.
2 This latter melody is really Æolian, but the Dorian
mode was later modified by lowering the sixth note of the
scale, which made it agree with the 2olian in the order of
its steps and half-steps.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
223
of plain-
Mass number had its proper mode, but the tune
varied for the different Church seasons. It is
claimed that to have a command of plainsong
melodies for all the offices of the Roman Church
one must know at least a thousand tunes, no
two of which are exactly alike. Many of these peculiarities
melodies are of great charm and beauty and song.
owe much of their attractiveness to the habit of
singing melodic phrases to a single syllable.
These groups of notes were known variously as
ligatures, perieleses, melismas, or jubilations.
A German writer thus comments upon the in-
ner essence of this ancient art:
"In the Middle Ages nothing was known of No need
accompaniment; there was not the slightest need paniment.
of one. The substance of the musical content,
which we to-day commit to interpretation
through harmony, the old musicians laid on
melody. The latter accomplished in itself the
complete utterance of the artistically-aroused
fantasy. In this particular the melismas, which Melismas,
carry the extensions of the tones of the melody,
are a necessary means of presentation in medie-
val art; they proceed logically out of the prin-
ciples of the unison melody. Text repetition is
of accom-
3 The following names were given to the eight original
Gregorian modes as indicative of their esthetic content:
First Mode (Dorian) "Modus Gravis."
Second Mode (Hypo-Dorian) "Modus Tristis."
Third Mode (Phrygian) "Modus Mysticus."
Fourth Mode (Hypo-Phrygian) "Modus Harmonicus."
Fifth Mode (Lydian) "Modus Laetus."
Sixth Mode (Hypo-Lydian) "Modus Devotus."
Seventh Mode (Mixo-Lydian) "Modus Angelicus."
Saston Wagenbypolyuan dorus Depotu
Lighth Mode (Hypo-Mixo-Lydian) "Modus Perfectus."
224
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
No text
repetition.
Pneumae.
unknown. While modern singers repeat an es-
pecially emphatic thought or word, the old melo-
dists repeat a melody or phrase which expresses
the ground mood of the texts in a striking man-
ner. And they not only repeat it, but they
make it unfold, and draw out of it new tones of
melody. This method is certainly not less artis-
tic than the later text repetition, it comes nearer,
also, to the natural expression of the devotion-
ally inspired heart.”
Not only were the melismas referred to in
the above quotation employed, but echoing
phrases to inarticulate sounds were added called
pneumae. These ornate phrases are extremely
difficult to sing and require long training.
Schools were established as early as the fourth
century under St. Sylvester, and certain monas-
teries, notably that at St. Gall, Switzerland,
were noted for their expertness both in singing
and teaching this difficult art.
This was the musical system that St. Augus-
tine carried to England in the year 596 at the
behest of Gregory the Great, although he was
cautioned not to insist upon the Roman use
should it be objected to in the older British
churches. However, it was adopted by York
and Canterbury and soon spread to other local-
ities. As was the case on the continent, the
authentic melodies as found in the Antiphon-
arium established: by Gregory became corrupted
and many local "uses” came into vogue. Of
Plainsong
in England.
St. Augus-
tine (596).
Adopted by
York and
Canterbury.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
225
S
.
Litany.
Merbecke
these the Sarum or Salisbury Use was of great Sarum Use.
beauty despite its unauthenticity, and later
was considered as a model for Anglican
churches. As soon as Roman supremacy was
thrown off and the use of the Latin tongue dis-
pensed with, the ancient plainsong was adapted
to the vernacular. The first part of the Eng-
lish service to appear in print was the Litany, Cranmer's
translated by Archbishop Cranmer and ar-
ranged to its traditional plainsong melody.
This was in 1544. In 1550 John Merbecke John
(or Marbecke) published his famous "Booke of (1550).
Common Praier Noted,” which was an adapta-
tion of the plainsong of the earlier rituals to
the first liturgy of Edward VI. Bumpus in
his "English Cathedral Music” thus speaks of
the work:
“This, the earliest choral book our Church
possesses, was not merely a Directory for the
performance of Matins and Evensong, but it
also contained the office of the Holy Communion
and that of the Burial of the Dead. It was
noted throughout for priest and people. Thus
it supplied a deficiency sure to be felt through-
out the country on the substitution of the Eng-
lish for the Latin rite. It is not easy to dis-
cover the precise extent to which Merbecke's
book was used in the English Cathedral service
during the latter half of the sixteenth century.
Primarily intended for the use of the Chapel
Royal, it constituted a model for the whole coun-
try, and its adoption as the authentic choral
226
MUSIC IN TAD CHURCH
Merbecke's
tho standard
plainsong
service.
book of the Church—not only for choirs, but
also for congregations—is placed beyond all
doubt. Based musically upon the Use of Sarum,
it formed a complete antiphonarium' for the
reformed liturgy."
This first edition of Merbecke was not har-
monized, the plainsong being alone printed on
the old four-line stave. In 1844 William
Pickering of London printed a beautiful fac-
simile with its rubricated staves, diamond-
headed notes, black-letter type, and ample mar-
gins.
Merbecke’s adaptation of the plainsong to
the English text was done so thoroughly and
well that it has remained to this day unchanged
and has always been the standard plainsong ser-
vice. In recent years both John Stainer and
Harmonized Basil Harwood have edited Merbecke with har-
monies, and its sturdy, manly music is winning
the recognition it deserves. The Nicene Creed
is especially fine and is particularly suitable
for Advent and Lent.
In the meantime the art of counterpoint
and of harmony had made considerable ad-
vancement. Composers sought to put several
melodies together and in course of time masses
appeared in two, four, six, eight, twelve and
even in forty parts, some of them masterpieces
of musical ingenuity, far surpassing in this
respect the efforts of modern writers.
versions.
Beginnings
of part
writing.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
227
tal masses.
collection.
(1560).
At times composers would develop the mu- Contrapun-
sic for the entire mass from a single plainsong
melody or cantus firmus, as it was called. In
this case the mass would take its name from
the melody in question and we would have the
Missa, “Veni, Sponsa Christi," "Tu es Petrus,"
etc., as the case might be. Occasionally the mu-
sical subject would be borrowed from secular
sources, and not always of the most commend-
able nature. Thus we have the mass of the
"Armed Man” and the mass of the "Red
Noses."
In 1560 a book was published by John Day John Day's
with the following title:
“Certaine Notes set forthe in foure and three
partes, to be song at Mornyng, Communion, and
Evenyng Praier, very necessarie for the Church
of Christe to be frequented and used: and unto
them be added divers Godly Praiers and psalms
in the like forme to the honour and prayse of
God. Imprinted at London, over Aldersgate,
beneath St. Martin's, by John Day.”
These compositions were in the contrapun- Contrapun-
tal style, a style which is of far more artistic
merit than the ordinary church music of to-
day. Instead of a pleasing melody in the so-
prano to which the other parts supply agreeable
harmonies, the contrapuntal style endeavors to
have each voice part of equal importance and
melodic beauty, so that we have a combination
of independent melodies, harmonizing with
tal music.
228
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Thomas
Tallis
(1520-
1585).
each other and welded into a complete whole.
This style of music was also supplied to the
Motette, which later developed into the An-
them."
To this period belongs Thomas Tallis, the
first English Church composer of note. He is
known principally by his Versicles and Respon-
ses and his Litany, which are in general use to-
day throughout the Anglican communion. It
is to be hoped that their devout and churchly
strains may never cease, for they link us di-
rectly with the earliest days of our Prayer
Book and lay stress upon our historic continu-
ity. .
Tallis made use of the traditional plainsong
melodies in his Versicles and Responses and
harmonized them in a masterful manner. It is
a matter of dispute whether the harmonization
was originally in four or five parts. In this
country we are accustomed to a four part ver-
sion while in England they are generally sung
in five parts.
Tallis' reputation as the greatest composer
Tallig'
Responses.
Tallis' great
gifts as a
composer.
4 The term Motette was first confined to unaccompanied
sacred music with Latin text, the latter being neither a
canticle or a Mass number.
* While on the subject of the choral service it might be
added that unless a priest is available who can sing his
part in an acceptable manner, it is best dispensed with.
If the intoning is out of tune or performed inaccurately or
inadequately it is distressing in the extreme. To have the
priest's part read and the responses sung is equally repre-
hensible. It is but patchwork at best and serves 20 pur-
pose whatever.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
229
Tallin' Song
parts.
of his day, however, does not rest upon his har-
monization of the responses, but upon a large
number of masses, motettes, and anthems, com-
positions that are preëminently musical and
scholarly and which command the respect of
musicians of all time. Like most musicians of
that epoch, Tallis changed his religion to suit
that of the Crown, writing with equal facility
masses and motettes for the Roman service or
communion services and anthems for the Angli-
can. But as he largely favored the Latin text
it would seem that at heart he was a Roman
Catholic. The most remarkable specimen of
Tallis' contrapuntal skill is his "Song in Forty in forty
Parts," which was written for eight choirs of
five parts each. Davey in his "History of Eng-
lish Music” comments as follows upon this ex-
traordinary tour de force :
“Every earnest student should thoroughly ex-
amine this work, noting how the themes are
fugued through the choirs, how the various sec-
tions of the great choral body are employed anti-
phonally, how long-sustained harmonies are oc-
casionally varied by quickly changing succes-
sions of chords, and how imposing an effect is
produced by the two rests for all the voices, es-
pecially the one before the last clause, when
thirteen of the voices stop in the chord of C,
and, after a minim rest, all the forty enter on
the chord of A. Everything an unaccompanied
choir can do is required in this masterpiece of
the polyphonic style."
230
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Richard
Farrant
(circa
1564).
Venetian
tribute to
English
music.
Richard Farrant was a contemporary of
Tallis and a man of real talent. Several of his
anthems are still in use in the English Cathe-
drals, and are sung occasionally in this coun-
try. The anthem, "Lord, for Thy tender mer-
cies' sake,” is the most popular, but its authen-
ticity is seriously questioned-experts assign-
ing it to a much later period than the middle
of the sixteenth century. .
A Venetian ambassador at the Court of
Henry VIII. wrote as follows concerning Eng-
lish Church music at this period: “The mass
was sung by His Majesty's choristers, whose
voices were more divine than human. They did
not chant like men, but gave praise like angels.”
Thus early was the supremacy of Anglican
art recognized and acknowledged.
William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons were
worthy successors to Tallis and Farrant and
they added greatly to the fame of English mu-
sic. Byrd, who was a Roman Catholic, wrote
mostly to Latin texts and many of his motettes
have since been arranged to English words. He
left a legacy of fifty-four anthems and the fol-
lowing quaint defence of the art of singing:
1. It is a knowledge easily taught and
quickly learned, where there is a good master
and an apt scoller.
2. The exercise of singing is delightful to
nature, and good to preserve the health of man.
William
Byrd
(1558-
1623).
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
231
Orlando
3. It doth strengthen all parts of the breast
and doth open the pipes.
4. It is a singular good remedie for a stut-
tering and stammering in the speech.
5. It is the best means to procure a perfect
pronunciation and to make a good orator.
6. It is the only way to find out where na-
ture hath bestowed the benefit of a good voice.
7. Because there is no music of instruments
whatever to be compared to the voyces of men,
when they are good, well-sorted, and ordered.
8. The better the voyce, the meeter it is to
honour and serve God therewith, and the voyce
of man is chiefly to be employed to that end.
"Since singing is so good a thing
I wish all men would learn to sing."
Orlando Gibbons is considered one of the Orlando
Gibbons
best of England's musicians, and he is fre- (1583-
1625).
quently referred to as the English Palestrina.
Like Byrd, he wrote many madrigals, but there
was little distinction made between the sacred
and secular styles in those days beyond the text.
With Gibbons, who was a Protestant, the habit
of writing to Latin texts largely disappeared,
and a new era in church music set in which is
best explained by the following quotation:
Gibbons, as it were, stood at the parting of
the ways. Brought up with the strains of Tallis,
Byrd, Tye, Merbecke, and other worthies of the
old school ringing in his ears, he perceived that
another world of music was opening: emotion
and expression were destined to take the place
of orderly, though cold, counterpoint. This new
232
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
feeling is reflected in his music, sacred and
secular. On this foundation Gibbons built
up a series of noble anthems, different from any-
thing that had appeared before his time. It is
exalted music that flows along with a stately
melody, grand in its sonorous harmony, and im-
pressive in its religious solemnity."
The Festival of the Three Choirs, which
comprises the Cathedral choirs of Gloucester,
Worcester and Hereford, frequently makes use
of Gibbons' fine anthems to this day, and this
is true of a number of other important musical
gatherings.
The flourishing condition of English
Church music suffered a serious decline during
the troublous times of Charles I. and of the
Commonwealth under Cromwell. Political
and religious dissensions were not congenial to
the gentler arts, and many composers of music
forsook the pen for the sword. Under the fan-
aticism of the Puritans the stately Cathedrals
were disfigured and despoiled, organs and val-
Decline of
music
during the
Common-
wealth.
o There was a curious custom in those days of collecting
"spur money' from any person entering a Cathedral wear-
ing spurs. Their jangling was supposed to interrupt the
service and choir-boys were permitted to extort a small fee
from any and all offenders. Even the King was not exempt
from it as entries in the the royal expense account prove.
The boys, doubtless to the detriment of their vocal efforts,
were constantly on the lookout for victims, and never al-
lowed them to escape. On one occasion the boys made way
with a recalcitrant's hat, and on complaint to a magistrate
the boys were sustained in their traditional rights. In
some places the victim had the right to demand that the
youngest of the boys sing his "gamut'—a somewhat compli-
cated form of scale. Upon failure no "spur money" could
be collected. This custom obtained as late as 1850 in some
of the Cathedrals.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
233
uable collections of music representing the ac-
cumulation of many years were destroyed, and
the singing of music other than that of the met-
rical psalms was prohibited. In the short space
of fifteen years the traditions for the perform-
ance of the choral service were all but lost. It
took some time to restore the Cathedral service
to its former standard of excellence and there
was a lack of uniformity in the various dio-
ceses. The "uses” were at such variance that it
was thought necessary to have a standard ver-
sion established. At the request of the Univer-
sity of Oxford Edward Lowe compiled a man-
ual in 1661 entitled “A Short Direction for the
Performance of Cathedral Service, publisht for
the information of such persons who are ignor-
ant of it, and shall be called to officiate in Cath-
edral and Collegiate Churches, where it hath
formerly been in use."
This Directory contained the responses and
litany as noted by Cranmer and Merbecke; two
settings for the Te Deum to a chant known as
“Canterbury tune” (one for men's voices and
the other in four-part harmony), Festival re-
sponses and Litany by Tallis, and a hymn.
The Restoration found no boys capable of Dearth of
taking their parts in the Cathedral services.
We read that
"for above a year after the opening of His
Majesty's Chapell, the orderers of the Musick
Edward
Lowe's
Cathedral
Service
(1661).
boys.
234
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Ohurch
music under
Charles II.
there were necessitated to supply superior parts
of the music with cornets, and men's feigned
voices, there being not one lad for all that time
capable of singing his part readily."?
Under the influence of Charles II. music
Charles II. underwent a change which at the time could be
hardly called for the better, but which eventu-
ally proved advantageous. The King had be-
come accustomed to the French style of music
during his exile, and Tudway, the historian,
thus comments upon the then state of affairs :
"The standard of Church music began by
Mr. Tallis, Mr. Byrd, etc., was continued for
some years after ye Restauration, and all Com-
posers conformed themselves to ye Pattern
which was set by them. His Majesty, who was
a brisk and airy prince, coming to ye crown in
ye flower and vigor of his age, was soon, if I
may say so, tyred with ye grave and solemn
ways, and ordered ye Composers of his Chapel
to add symphonys, etc., with instruments to their
anthems, and thereupon established a select
number of his private musick to play ye sym-
phonys and Ritornelles which he had appointed.
The king did not intend by this innovation to
alter anything of the established way. He only
appointed this to be done when he came himself
to ye chappell which was only upon Sundays, on
ye mornings of ye great Festivals and Days of
Offerings. The old masters, viz., Dr. Child,
7 The cornet was a reed instrument somewhat like the
oboe, though coarser in tone, and not the familiar brass
band instrument of the present day. They were often made
of wood covered with leather. Under these conditions com-
posers were constrained to write music for men's voices
alone until boys could be properly trained.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC.
235
Pelham
(1647-
Dr. Gibbons, and Mr. Lowe, organists to His
Majesty, hardly knew how to comport themselves
with these new-fangled ways, but proceeded in
their compositions according to ye old style, and
therefore there are only some full services and
anthems of theirs to be found.”
A Captain Henry Cook was made master of Henry Cook
the children of the Chapel Royal after the Res-
toration and soon succeeded in gathering to-
gether a remarkably gifted set of young choris-
ters, some of whom developed into the greatest
musicians of their day. One of the most tal- Humphreys
ented was Pelham Humphreys. His abilities 1674).
so attracted the attention of the King that he
was sent to Paris to study with the great Lulli,
the most famous of the early French composers.
Humphreys, who was but twenty when he re-
turned from an extended stay in Paris, brought
back with him a touch of the French style. He
introduced the declamatory recitative, an Ital-
ian device, into English church music, and also
added new harmonies to the English stock in
trade. John Blow was another of Captain (1848
Cook's famous boys who developed into a good
no 1708).
composer. In the music both of Humphreys
and Blow the element of the picturesque and
dramatic came more to the fore and the texts to
their anthems were evidently chosen with these
qualities in view.
The anthems of the earlier composers, taking Anthem!
John Blow
ca
236
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
The Verso
Anthem.
their pattern from the Latin motette, were for
the full choir from beginning to end, and if
accompanied by the organ, the latter simply du-
plicated the voice parts. The taste of the King
led to a freer treatment of the organ part, and
preludes and interludes were added. The next
development was the breaking up of the full
anthem into contrasting sections for one, two
or more parts, to be sung either by solo voices
or more usually by one side of the choir. This
was known as the "Verse Anthem” in contradic-
tion to the "Full Anthem.” The organ was
necessarily an integral part of the Verse An-
them for it supplied the verse parts with proper
accompaniment, especially when there were not
sufficient parts to complete the harmony. The
instruments used in addition to the organ were
the violins, the cornets or oboes, and the sack-
buts or trombones.
Dr. John Blow had one pupil of such pre-
eminent abilities that he requested to have the
fact that he was "Master to the famous Mr.
Henry Purcell” engraved upon his tombstone.
And it is further stated that he resigned his
position as organist of Westminster Abbey that
this young man, then twenty-two, might have
the post. Henry Purcell was not only the
greatest of English composers but the greatest
musician of his age, not excepting Lulli in
France or Scarlatti in Italy. Germany had not
Henry
Purcell
(1658-1695)
Greatest
musician of
his age.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
237
Purcell's
as yet produced a really great composer, as the
mighty Johann Sebastian Bach was not born
until 1685, twenty-seven years after Purcell's
birth.
Purcell was also one of Captain Cook's
boys, and upon his death Purcell came under
the charge of Pelham Humphreys, and upon
the demise of that talented man at the early
age of twenty-seven, Dr. Blow became his
master. Purcell wrote no less than 107 anthems Anthems.
(besides many services and much secular mu-
sic), works full of strength, dignity, breadth,
and expressiveness. He brought to perfection
the "verse” or “solo” anthem. He had no sym-
pathy with the French tastes of the King and
declared himself
“to lean towards a just imitation of the most fa-
mous Italian masters, principally to bring the
seriousness and gravity of that sort of music
into vogue and reputation amongst our country-
men, whose humours it is time now should be-
gin to loathe the levity and balladry of our
“neighbours, the French.”
None of Purcell's music was published dur- ,
ing his lifetime and his great gifts were but lit- appreciated.
tle appreciated. In fact up to 1828, when Vin- vincer
cent Novello began to publish four quarto vol- Novello.
umes of Purcell's music, but a dozen anthems
were known to exist in print. In 1836 a body
of professional and amateur musicians formed
a Purcell Club to study and perform his works. Purcell Club.
Purcell un-
238
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
This club gave annually at Westminster Abbey
a morning and an afternoon service devoted to
Purcell's works, and, after a dinner, a perform-
ance of his secular compositions in the evening.
These meetings reached their climax in 1858,
the bicentenary of Purcell's birth, when a
grand commemoration was held, attended by a
vast number of musicians and others.
Purcell developed the bass solo to its full-
est dignity and in his verse anthems he treats
the chorus parts with unusual brevity, but they
are none the less effective in their grandeur and
straightforwardness. Purcell died at the early
age of thirty-seven and was interred at West-
minster together with Tallis, Gibbons, Blow
and other musical worthies. A critic in 1848
thus speaks of the Purcell celebration that year:
"But what we remark with the greatest pleas-
ure is the strong and growing passion of the
public for his works. The immense crowd of
hearers which filled all the open avenues of the
Abbey, exhibiting the deepest interest in the
music, afforded testimony to the progress of a
composer who has not yet resumed his true po-
sition. The latest in this respect is the greatest.
Every year's experience tends to show that
Handel must ultimately make way for Purcell,
and that the German history of vocal music,
sacred and secular, needs certain corrections in
favour of England.”
The developments of sixty years have hard-
ly borne out the hopes expressed by the above
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
239
decline of
music.
William
1727).
writer as far as popular appreciation is con-
cerned, but Purcell still is held in the highest
esteem by all earnest students of Church music.
After Purcell, who died in 1695, there was Gradual
a gradual decline in the quality of English Church
church compositions. William Croft, to whom
the well-known hymn-tune ST. ANNE is at- (1677-
tributed, was, however, a man of much force
and left a list of nearly 100 anthems behind
him. Croft was also a pupil of Dr. Blow's and
well schooled in the dignified Cathedral style
of writing. His compositions are still popular
in the English Cathedrals, and Sir John Stain-
er pays the following tribute to his morning
service in the key of A.
“One of the finest, if not the finest, settings
of the Te Deum and Jubilate to which the Eng-
lish Church can point is that by Croft in A.
It combines a suitable variety of sentiment with
a dignified unity as a whole; and while in turn
it is plaintive, penitential, or joyous, it bursts
at the close of the Gloria to the Jubilate into
a rich Fugato, highly artistic and effective.”
Croft also wrote a fine setting to the musi-
cal portions of the burial service which has
been in constant use both in St. Paul's and the
Abbey.
We now arrive at the time when Handel George
Frederick
came to England. Owing to the fact that Han- Handel
del spent the larger part of his artistic career in 1769).
England and that he became a naturalized citi-
(1685-
240
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Chandos
anthems.
Early
criticisms
of Handel.
zen in 1726 he is almost claimed as an English
composer. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon
the abilities of this great genius, upon the
sublime qualities of his oratorios, or upon the
commanding position he assumed among Eng-
lish musicians. He so towered above his con-
temporaries that their efforts seem weak and
puny in comparison. While capellmeister to
the Duke of Chandos he wrote twelve anthems
on a grand scale, with orchestral accompani-
ment, known as the Chandos anthems, but his
oratorios have attained such popularity that lit-
tle attention is paid nowadays to his other
works.
The Rev. William Mason, Precentor of
York Minster, thus criticised one of the Chan-
dos anthems in 1782:
"Mr. Handell has taken more liberty with the
words than is usually done. So much indeed as
might lead one to conclude that he formed the
composition out of his musical commonplace,
and adapted words to airs previously invented,
which it is probable enough was the case, not
only in this, but in many of his later produc-
tions.”
This criticism is not without warrant, for
Handel not only transferred themes of his own
from instrumental pieces or operas to his sacred
works but he appropriated material from other
composers without the slightest compunction.
However, it must be admitted that he developed
Handel's
plagiarisms.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
241
Greene
1755).
these stolen ideas in a marvelous manner and
thus rescued them from oblivion. Another sub-
ject of criticism was his use of the orchestra,
that he sacrificed the voices and melodic charm
for the sake of instrumental effects. This
criticism has a familiar sound, for the same
fault has been found with Beethoven and Wag-
ner, and it will continue to be found by those
who look upon the orchestra as a mere accom-
paniment to the voices and not an added means
for intensifying the general effect.
A great admirer and friend of Handel's was Maurice
Dr. Maurice Greene, organist of St. Paul's (1696-
Cathedral. Handel would frequently attend
the afternoon service and after it was over he
and Greene would lock themselves up in the
church and Handel, stripped to his shirt, would
play long into the evening on the fine organ
built by the famous Father Smith. The
organ contained a set of pedals, a rarity at that
time.
Greene composed anthems of no little merit, Greene's
adding a touch of the German and Italian man-
ner. Being a man of independent means, he
had an ambition to collect and publish in full
score the finest specimens of English Cathedral
music, much of which was only in manuscript Collec
and sometimes only in separate voice parts. He Cathedral
did not live to complete his task, but turned William
over his material to Dr. William Boyce, who (1710-1779)
anthems.
Boyco's
Bollection of
Music.
242
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Church
music at
low ebb.
published three notable volumes between the
years 1760 and 1768.
Boyce also wrote good anthems, one espe-
cially, “O, where shall wisdom be found ?” being
still considered a very fine specimen of the Ca-
thedral style. Boyce died in 1779 and for a
period of about forty years after that date
Church music rapidly deteriorated. It was in
the days of the fox-hunting parsons, when reli-
gious life was at low ebb and those in authority
took little or no interest in music and made no
provision for its proper maintenance. As a con-
sequence the dignified and stately music of the
Cathedral school was neglected and the new
compositions were of a florid and frivolous type,
utterly out of harmony with a dignified and
reverent service.
A craze for adaptations and arrangements
set in. An ingenious Mr. Bond took excerpts
from various works of Handel's, fitted them to
new texts and called the patchwork an anthem.
Worse still, passages from various composers of
different nationalities would be worked over
into a hodgepodge, and words were fitted to the
music in the most careless manner. Italy had
fallen from its high estate when Palestrina
wrote his marvelous motettes and masses, and
Italian composers with their ear-tickling and
sensuous melodies became immensely popular
in England. The inasses of the Roman Church
Craze for
adaptations.
Frivolous
Italian
music
popular.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
243
Now
music.
were drawn upon, not to be used in translation
in the Communion service, but set to transla-
tions utterly at variance with the original text.
Masses were written, and by composers of
great fame, simply as show pieces of music and
with little or no regard to the sacredness of the
words.
But it was not long before the music of elements in
Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, and, English
a little later, that of Schumann, Chopin, and
Mendelssohn became known in England, and
this knowledge brought new elements into Eng-
lish musical life. The effectiveness of music
had gained enormously through the use of new
and bolder harmonies, greater varieties of
rhythm, and more complex processes of develop-
ment. The spinet and clavichord evolved into
the harpsichord, and that in turn into the piano-
forte. Organs were immensely improved, both
tonally and mechanically. The modern orches-
tra, developed from crude beginnings, arrived
at a high state of development. Virtuosi, both
vocal and instrumental, astounded the world
with their marvelous gifts. The Cathedral
style with its austere, classic dignity and im-
passive grandeur was to gain a richer and
warmer color and to speak in more impassioned
accents.
Thomas Atwood was the first English com- Atwood
poser to be materially influenced by these 1838):
Thomas
244
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Mozart's
influence.
Felix Men-
delssohn-
Bartholdy
(1809-
1847).
changing conditions and he was also the first
composer to attempt to drag England out of its
musical slough of despond. In 1783 he went to
Naples, studying with a local teacher. Two
years later he went to Vienna, where he was the
pupil and the close friend of Mozart. This
graceful and poetic master's influence is plainly
discernible in Atwood's music, for it is notice-
able for its clearness and delicacy of taste.
Later Atwood became an intimate friend of
Mendelssohn, the latter spending some time in
Atwood's home in the suburbs of London, while
recovering from an accident. Atwood was or-
ganist at St. Paul's and Mendelssohn, like Han-
del before him, was a great admirer of the
Father Smith organ and would spend many
hours improvising on this magnificent instru-
ment, playing until the bellows blowers re-
volted.
Of a more vigorous talent than Thomas At-
wood's was that of his god-son, Thomas Atwood
Walmisley, a composer who combined the dig-
nity of the old school with the freedom of the
new. A Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis of his in
D minor is well known on both sides of the At-
lantic and the somewhat sombre but fine setting
is especially suitable for Advent or Lent.
The name of Wesley is quite as prominent
in the musical history of England as it is in its
religious history. Charles Wesley, the great
Thomas
Atwood
Walmisley
(1814-
1856).
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
245
hymn writer, had in the person of Samuel Wes- Samuel
ley a wonderfully gifted son. He was born in (1786-
1766 and at the age of four he could play and
improvise on the organ. He taught himself to
read and write at the age of five by his unre-
mitting study of Handel's oratorio of Samson,
all of which he committed to memory. Before he
was eight he wrote an oratorio which he called
Ruth, and he presented the same to Dr. Boyce.
Before he was of age he was a fine classical
scholar, a splendid organist and pianist, and
the most brilliant extempore player in England. Brilliant
Wesley wrote much for the Roman Catholic player.
service and was thought to be in sympathy with
it in his religious beliefs. This he denied,
claiming only a musical interest in the matter.
He was extremely fond of Gregorian music and
said the greatest treat of his life was playing
at a Gregorian Requiem when fifty priests sang
the plainsong while he improvised the harmon-
ies. Both as composer and performer Wesley
ranked far above his contemporaries as well on as player
the continent as in England. One of his
sons, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, inherited his s.
father's talent and worthily upheld his reputa-
tion. At the age of seven he became a chorister
in the Chapel Royal under Hawes, who de-
clared him to be the best boy who ever passed
through his hands. Despite his talents (which
received general recognition), he had a troubled
1837).
Wesley's
precocity.
extempore
High rank
and com-
poser.
Samuel
Sebastian
Wesley
(1810-
1876).
246
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Solid style
of organ
playing.
Gifts as a
composer.
life, for the church authorities where he was en-
gaged cared but little for music and gave Wes-
ley scant opportunity to exercise his gifts. Al-
though he had several Cathedral positions, it
was only while he was organist at Leeds Parish
Church that he received substantial and sympa-
thetic support. Like his father, he was a fa-
mous organist, and very gifted in improvisa-
tion. He set the pattern for a solid, noble style
of organ playing that has since placed England
in the forefront as a country of fine organists.
As a composer of sacred music he ranked with
Spohr and Mendelssohn, and his anthem “The
Wilderness" is considered a model in all re-
spects. To a greater extent than Atwood, his
music shows the influence of continental music,
and the severity of the Cathedral style is tem-
pered by warmth of feeling and a picturesque
imagination. Dr. Sparks, the well-known or-
ganist, thus speaks of the first performance of
“The Wilderness”:
"Well do I remember the first rehearsal by the
Exeter choir of The Wilderness, the astonish-
ment and delight of the vicars choral with
its rich and wonderful modulations, its deep re-
ligious fervor, its difficulties and grand effects.
As one of the choir boys taking part in the
lovely quartette at the end, 'And sorrow and
sighing shall flee away,' I was greatly inter-
ested, and remember to this day the deep emo-
tion which this inspiration awoke in me. If
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
247
Rise of
possible, a still greater delight was afforded the
choristers when they were taught to sing the
fresh, responsive duet, "See that ye love one
another, which forms part of the fine anthem
Blessed be the God and-Father.'”
This last mentioned work was written when
internal troubles in the Church left Wesley
with but one bass singer and the boys for Sun-
day duty, and for this sadly unbalanced collec-
tion of voices he wrote an anthem full of force
and beauty.
With the Wesleys English Church music re- Church
covered from its lethargy and since that time
England has had an unbroken chain of fine
church composers, men of splendid technical
equipment, of reverent attitude toward their John Goss
work, and of expressive artistic powers. John 1880).
Goss nobly upheld the new school of writing
and enriched the stock of anthems with many
fine specimens. His setting of "The Wilder-
ness" vies with Wesley's in popularity and
power, and his little anthem, “O Saviour of the
world,” has touched a multitude of hearts with
its quiet beauty and deep religious feeling. Of
similar calibre was Henry Smart, whose ster- Henry
ling service in F has found universal acceptance (1813-
by reason of its honest, solid, and effective qual-
ities. The Te Deum from this service is per- George
haps more widely used than any other setting. Mactarren
Macfarren, Sterndale Bennett, and Elvey are 1887).
music.
(1800-
1879).
Alexander
(1813-
245
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
William
Sterndale
Bennett
(1816-
1875).
George Job
1893).
Barnby
(1838-
1896).
other writers of this school and they each pos-
sess good, if not preëminent, qualities.
We now reach two very prominent names of
Elvey (1816. modern times and their possessors have each
had a widespread influence, although their
styles are very different. The names are Joseph
Barnby and John Stainer. In the lecture on
hymn tunes the relative abilities and the char-
acteristics of these two men were dwelt upon
Joseph at some length. Barnby strenuously objected to
model his work after that of his predecessors
and claimed the right to express his thoughts in
his own idiom, unhampered by tradition. This
he did in a striking way and his hymns, an-
thems, and services soon won immense popu-
larity, although they were severely criticised by
the more conservative members of the profes-
sion. Barnby delights in rich chromatic har-
monies and in his choral works he borrows
from the modern German part-song and the ro-
mantic school of instrumental music. There is
a sensuous beauty about his compositions and
a glow of color that is very fascinating, and
when one is under the spell of it, it is difficult
to judge aright of its real value. But Barnby
has the faults of his virtues and his excessive
use of harmonic color is more or less at the ex-
pense of solidity and real wearing qualities.
His music is at times almost cloying in its rich-
ness, but despite this fact we would be loth
Character-
18tics.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
249
(1840-
to part with most of his music, for many of his
compositions are of unquestionable worth.
Stainer represents qualities of a different John Stainer
type. While by no means imitative, his music 1901).
in a manner is a logical evolution from that of
the Wesleys, Goss, and Smart. It is essen-
tially sane, solid and well-balanced, and at the
same time it is full of imagination and expres-
siveness. He was particularly happy in select-
ing graphic texts and used plenty of words,
thus avoiding vain repetitions—a glaring fault
in some of his predecessors. One always feels
the note of sincerity in his music, and the ear-
nest desire to enhance the meaning of the text
and the avoidance of effect for the mere sake of
effect. His “Crucifixion” is a remarkable ex- Chociation,
ample of his ability to move and impress his
auditors with very simple means—and it stands
quite unequalled in this respect.
Stainer never attempted a task beyond his
powers and contented himself with Church
music, for which he had the greatest love and
reverence. Since Goss' “O Saviour of the
world," no such simple example of pure religious
musical expression has come to us as Stainer's
“God so loved the world.” It was most fittingly
sung at the unveiling of a memorial tablet in
St. Paul's Cathedral in commemoration of
Stainer's great work in rehabilitating the music
1
250
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Arthur
Seymour
Sullivan
(1842-
1900).
in that famous fane, and it deeply moved the
hearts of all those present on that occasion.
Arthur Seymour Sullivan also deserves a
place among the notables of English Church mu-
sic, although with him it was not a subject that
absorbed his entire or perhaps his best atten-
tion. He possessed in a high degree the valu-
ble faculty of writing effectively for voices and
always avoided unnecessary difficulties. His
music is most melodious and singable, but one
is at times inclined to feel that the music is of
more consequence than the text, and when such
is the case it removes the composer from the
first rank of excellence.
These three prominent exponents of modern
Anglican Church music have been succeeded by
a host of younger men, many of whom have
marked talent. Such composers as John E.
West, George C. Martin, and Villiers Stanford
witness to the fact that Church music is very
much alive in England to-day and that the ar-
-). tistic quality of the output is not deteriorating.
Along with the tremendous development of
modern instrumental music, Church music is
expanding its borders and drawing upon a
wider range of musical material for its expres-
sion. More and more demand is made upon
the capacity of the singers and the skill of the
organist. The organ is no longer a mere support
to the voices, but it is treated independently and
John E.
West
(1683 —-).
Charles "
Villiers
Stanford
(1852 )
George
Clement
Martin
(1844 -).
Modern
tendoncies.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
251
Ol organ
vies in importance with the choral parts. Com- Importance
posers strive for variety of expression and an part.
avoidance of the old melodic and harmonic
formulas. In their desire for originality they
not infrequently overstep the mark and write
music that is essentially unvocal. There is a
disposition among the more advanced writers to
treat voices like the wood-wind instruments of
the orchestra, with doublings and criss-crossings
of the parts. Sometimes it is effective and
sometimes it is not. With the multiplication
of musical festivals, the orchestra is used more
and more, and with it comes the temptation to
exploit the instruments rather than the voices.
But with all this exploitation and experiment
there is a distinct gain and without it music as
an art would surely retrograde.
For some years many composers have been Limitations
under the impression, if not the conviction,
that all the possibilities in the way of choral
expression have long since been exhausted, and
the most one can hope for is to equal the
efforts of some great master of choral writing
like Bach, Handel, or Mendelssohn. But ge-
nius delights in upsetting fixed conclusions and
Edward Elgar and his followers have certainly Edward
extended the field of choral effects if they have (1867 –).
not actually created new ones. Elgar, in his
large sacred works, has discarded the oratorio
form with its distinct divisions into choruses,
of choral
music.
Elgar
252
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Church
music in
America.
concerted numbers, and solos, and has adopted
instead the Wagnerian principle of continuous
movement. His one idea is the enhancement
of the meaning of the text by every device
known to modern music. His "Dream of Ger-
ontius” and more especially his "Apostles” and
"The Kingdom” are in reality religious propa-
ganda and must be accepted as such if one is to
comprehend their full import. Elgar's methods
place his sacred music beyond any suspicion of
concert purposes and elevate it to the higher
plane of a moral and religious force.
We are also making progress in America.
A half century ago, in the days of the quartette
choir, arrangements from secular and some-
times from operatic sources prevailed. Orig-
inal compositions were weak and poor indeed,
being a mixture of mawkish sentimentality and
blatant noise. Dudley Buck was the first and
almost the only American composer of promi-
nence, who wrote especially for the Episcopal
Church. Most of his music was intended for
the quartette choir and it was a marked advance
on anything which had preceded it. Buck's mu-
sic, while melodious and effective, is however,
far removed from the English standards, being
less dignified and more emotional-its too fre-
quent cadences giving somewhat of a patch-
work effect. His conception of the text is apt
to be over-sentimental and his musical expres-
Dudley
Buck
(1839-
1909).
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
253
sion of it too literal. The historic canticles
of the Church should have breadth and dignity
as their prevailing keynote, and anthem texts
taken from the Scriptures should have in their
musical garb the same high qualities that they
have as literature. However, Buck stood more
nearly for a distinctive style of American
Church music than any other composer and his
later works evinced a far higher standard of
attainment than his early efforts. The best of
them will deservedly remain upon our choir
programs for many years to come.
It is only in quite recent years that we have
developed Church composers of sufficient abil-
ity to compare them favorably with their Eng-
lish contemporaries. Foremost among these is
Dr. Horatio Parker, whom Yale has honored Horatio
with its Chair of Music, and who in turn
honors Yale by his pronounced musical gifts.
Parker's oratorios and sacred cantatas rank
among the most important productions of their
kind composed in recent years. They are most
highly regarded in England and his "Hora No- Regarded
vissima,” as well as other works, have been pro- England.
duced at the great music festivals held in that
country. Cambridge has conferred upon him
the honorary degree of Doctor of Music, the
first instance, so far as the writer is aware, that
this signal honor has been conferred upon an
American composer. Dr. Parker brings to his
Parker
(1863--).
highly in
254
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
Character-
istics.
work ripe musicianship, a fertile and inventive
imagination, and in addition a penetrating in-
sight into literary values that is all too rare.
In addition to his larger works he has written
anthems and service numbers, which are all
marked by the same fine qualities of force,
dignity, and distinctive personality. He always
has something of importance to say and says it
well. His compositions easily represent the
high-water mark of American attainments in
the field of Church music, and we, as a nation,
may take a just pride in them. We are also
indebted to Dr. Parker for his gifts as a teacher
and his efforts in this direction have brought
forth most excellent fruit.
Arthur Foote, George W. Chadwick, and
other prominent American composers have
written much excellent Church music, but it
has not been especially associated with the
Episcopal Church. The list of all those who
Average of
attainments are doing good and creditable work is too long
to mention. Suffice it to say that the average
of attainment is slowly improving and that the
prospect for the future of Church music in
America is at least encouraging.
Fostering The preëminence of the English school of
Church music is the direct result of centuries
spent in systematic efforts to foster and im-
prove religious art. Art in any of its forms
cannot flourish without congenial environment,
Other
American
composer8.
improving.
care of the
Church of
England.
ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC
255
Church.
positive ideals, and a stimulating atmosphere.
It is of slow growth and attaches itself only to
permanent institutions or conditions. Archi-
tecture, sculpture, painting, and music all owe
their development to the ancient, historic
Churches, and the great masterpieces of eccle-
siastical art have been wrought out under stress
of religious faith and zeal.
If sacred art is to flourish in America it will Responsibil-
only develop under the active and coherent ef- American
forts of the Church. The growth and expan-
sion of art, particularly music, has been tre-
mendous in recent years, but composers have
turned mainly to ancient sagas, folk-lore, the
drama, poetry, realism, and idealism for their
inspiration. But after all, that which most
deeply stirs the souls of men are the things
which concern life and death. Faith in the
Creator, the hope of heaven, the dread of hell
and an abiding realization of what the tragedy
on Calvary has signified to a sinful world:
these have been the compelling factors which
have given us our very greatest art products.
The mountain peaks of musical endeavor are
still the "Messiah” of Handel, the monumental
masses of Bach and Beethoven, the "Requiem”
of Mozart, the "Elijah" of Mendelssohn, and
the “German Requiem” of Brahms. No operas,
no secular cantatas approach them in sublimity
or beauty. The highest manifestations of art
256
MUSIC IN THE CHURCH
de
school of
Church
mugic.
must perforce have to do with the most vital
things of life.
An American While certain of our gifted American
Church composers have given us works of dis-
tinction and well-defined personality, they can
scarcely be credited with the creation of an
American school of Church music. It is ex-
tremely doubtful if such a school can ever arise,
for the causes which result in strongly differen-
tiated types of music are rapidly disappearing.
Such types are dependent upon isolation, differ-
ing habits, traditions, forms of worship, and
mental concepts of religion. With the mani-
fold means of intercommunication of modern
life, which increase every day, the nations
are growing closer and closer, and distinctive
characteristics are fast losing their identity.
The Church music of the future would seem to
be a composite of many styles and many in-
fluences. Let us hope it will be a survival of
the fittest-a composite of the splendid plain-
song of the early Church, the masterly poly-
phony of the Middle Ages, the classic dignity of
the English Cathedral style, plus the richness
and fulness of modern art.
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INDEX OF TUNES
ADDSTD FIDDLIS, "O come, all ye faithful," 24, 97.
ADORO TD, “Jesus, my Lord, my God, my all," 38.
ALFORD, “Ten thousand times ten thousand," 31.
ALLELUIA PERENNE, “Sing Alleluia forth in duteous
praise," 31.
ALL SAINTS, “The saints of God! their conflict past,” 41.
AMERICA, “Our fathers' God! to Thee," 24.
ANCIENT OF DAYS, 45.
ANGELS OF JESUS, "Hark! hark my soul," 37.
ANGEL VOICES, "Angel poices, ever singing," 42.
ASCENSION, "Hail the day that sees Him rise," 30.
ATTOLD PAULUM, “Across the sky the shades of night," 16.
AUBURNDALE, "Christ is our Cornerstone,” 45.
AUGHTON, "He leadeth me," 43.
AUGSBURG, 18.
AURELIA, "The Church's one foundation," 26.
AUSTRIA, “Glorious things of thee are 'spoken," 20.
BARNBY, "Come hither, ye faithful," 37.
BEATI, “The saints of God! their conflict past," 40.
BENEDICTION, "Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we
raise," 27.
BETHANY, “Nearer, my God, to Thee," 43.
BLESSED HOME, “There is a blessed home,” 40.
BRANNENBURG, "More love to Thee, O Christ," 46.
BRDMON, 18.
BRISTOL, "Hark! the glad sound,” 47.
BUDD, “Thou, Who with dying lips," 46.
CALKIN, “O Father, bless Thy children," 42.
CAMDEN, "Tling out the banner," 42.
CHARITY, “Gracious Spirit, Holy Ghost,” 40.
CHESTDR, 71.
CLOISTORS, “Lord of our Life," 38.
CODNI DOMINI, “Draw nigh and take the Body of the
Lord,” 42.
CONTRITION, “O the bitter shame and sorrow,' 41.
CORONAD, “Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious," 31.
CORDD NATUS, 10.
CORONATION, “All hail the power of Jesus' Name," 71.
COURAGE, “Fight the good fight," 45.
CROSS OF JESUS, “In the Cross of Christ I glory," 40.
DARWALL, “In loud, exalted strains,' 25.
DocIUS, 16.
266
INDEX OF TUNDS
DIES IRAD, “Day of wrath! O Day of mourning," 32.
Dix, “As with gladness men of old," 20.
DOAND, "Fling out the banner," 42.
DUNDDD, "O God of Bethel, by Whose hand," 21.
DUNDY, 21.
DOMINUS RDGIT ME, “The King of love my Shepherd is,” 31.
EASTER HYMN, "Jesus Christ is risen to-day," 30.
DCCE AGNUS, 10.
EIN FESTD BURG, "A mountain fastness is our God," 13,
14, 100.
ELLACOMBD, “Come, praise your Lord and Saviour," 19.
ELLDRS, “Saviour, again to Thy dear Name we raise," 28.
EUCHARISTIC HYMN, “Bread of the world,” 47.
EVENING HYMN, "All praise to Thee, my God, this night,”
22, 23.
EVENTIDE, “Abide with me," 30.
EWING, “Jerusalem, the golden," 26, 98, 194.
FIFE, "O perfect love," 37.
FOUNDATION, “How firm a foundation," 44.
FRANCONIA, “Stand, soldier of the Cross," 19.
FRENCH, 21.
FRDNCH DUNDDD, 21.
Grace CHURCH, “O Thou, to Whose all-searching sight,” 20.
HAMBURG, "My God, permit me not to be," 43.
HANFORD, "Jesus, my Saviour, look on me," 42.
HANOVDR, "O worship the King," 21.
HEINLEIN, “Forty days and forty nights," 18.
FERNNHUT, “Wake, awake, for night is flying," 16.
HODGES, "O day of rest and gladness,” 47.
HOLLINGSIDD, “Jesus, Lover of my soul," 30.
HOLY DAY, “Lord, lead the way the Saviour went,” 44.
HOLY TRINITY, “Lord, lead the way the Saviour went,” 37.
HURSLEY, "Sun of my soul," 19. .
JESU PASTOR, “Jesus, tender shepherd, hear me," 46.
JORDAN, "O God, in Whose all-searching eye,” 37.
KING OF GLORY, “In loud, exalted strains,” 45.
LAUDES DOMINI, “When morning gilds the skies," 38.
LDONI, “The God of Abram praise,” 5.
LUTHÐR'S HYMN, “Great God, what do I see and hear," 15.
LUX BENIGNA, "Lead, kindly Light," 32, 92.
LUX EOI, "Alleluia ! Alleluia ! hearts and voices heaven-
ward raise,"' 41.
LYONS, "How wondrous and great," 19.
MAGDALENA, “I could not do without Thee," 41.
MARION, “Rejoice ye pure in heart," 47.
MAR SABA, "Now the laborers' task is o'er,” 37.
MEINHOLD, “Tender Shepherd, Thou bast stilled," 19.
MELCOMBD, "New every morning is the love," 25.
MOLITA, "Eternal Father, strong to save," 32.
MERRIAL, "Now the day is over," 38, 92.
MENDELSSOHN, "Hark! the herald angeis sing," 97.
INDEX OF TUNES
267
MISSIONARY HYMN, “From Greenland's icy mountains," 43.
MORNING HYMN, “Awake, my soul, and with the sun," 25.
MOUNT SION, “O'twas a joyful sound," 45.
MORTRAM, 25.
MUNICH, "O Word of God incarnate,” 19.
NACHTLIDD, “The day is gently sinking to a close," 26.
NOUMARK, 18.
Nicha, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty,” 31.
NORWICH, 21.
NUN DANKDT, "Now thank we all our God,” 17.
NUTFIELD, “God that madest earth and heaven," 30.
O BONA PATRIA, “For thee, o dear, dear country," 41.
O FILLII ET FILLIAD. 10.
OLD HUNDRDD, “With one consent let all the earth,” 63, 69.
OLIVET, “My faith looks up to Thee,” 43.
OLMUTZ, "Ye servants of the Lord,” 43.
O QUANTA QUALIA, 9, 91.
OXFORD, “Lord, a Saviour's love displaying,” 40.
PANGD LINGUA, 10.
PARADISE, "O Paradise, O Paradise," 36, 92.
PASSION CHORALD, “O sacred Head surrounded," 13, 16.
PILGRIMS, "Hark! hark, my soul!" 26.
PLDYOL, "Children of the heavenly King,” 20.
PORTUGUESE HYMN, 24.
PRO PATRI, “God of our fathers, whose almighty hand,” 44.
RATISBON, “Bread of beaven, on Thee we feed, 18.
When our heads are bowed with woe," 28.
REDHDAD, 76, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me," 28.
RDGENT SQUARD, "Christ is made the sure foundation," 26.
ROST, “The Saints of God! their conflict past,” 41.
ST. AGNES, “Calm on the listening ear of night,” 31.
ST. ALBINUS, “Jesus lives! Thy terrors now," 26.
ST. ALPHDGD, “Brief life is here our portion,” 26.
ST. ANDREW, “The Cross is on our brow," 37.
ST. ANDRDW OF CRETD, "Christian, dost thou see them,”
32, 94.
ST. ANSDLM, “O One with God the Father," 37.
ST. ANNE, "O God, our help in ages past," 20, 24, 239.
ST. ATHANASIUS, "Holy, Holy, Foly Lord," 28.
ST. BODS, “Jesus! Name of wondrous love," 31.
ST. CROSS, “O come and mourn with me awhile," 31.
ST. CHRYSOSTOM, 38.
ST. CUTHBERT, "Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed,” 31.
ST. DROSTANE, "Ride on, ride on in majesty," 31.
ST. EDMUND, "Nearer, my God, to Thee," 41.
ST. FLAVIAN, “Lord, who throughout these forty years," 23.
ST. GONTRUDD, “Onward, Christian soldiers," 42.
ST. GEORGD, “Blest be the tie that binds," 20.
ST. JOHN, “Behold the Lamb of God!" 32.
ST. JOHN, WOSTMINSTER, "According to Thy gracious
word,” 25.
268
INDEX OF TUNES
ST. KEVIN, “Come, ye faithful, raise the strain," 42.
ST. MARTIN, “While shepherds watched their flocks by
night," 23.
ST. MATTHIAS, “Sweet Saviour, bless us ere we go,” 30.
ST. OSWALD, "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah," 31.
ST. SYLVESTDR, “Days and moments quickly flying," 32.
ST. THDODULPH, “All glory, laud, and honour," 17, 93.
ST. THOMAS, "LO! He comes with clouds descending," 25.
SALZBURG, "At the Lamb's high feast we sing," 17.
SAMUEL, "Hushed was the evening bymn," 42.
SANDRINGHAM, “O perfect love," 37.
SARDIS, “Light of those whose dreary dwelling," 44.
SARUM, "For all the saints,” 37, 94.
SEFTON, “Lift up your heads," 42.
STELLA, “All my heart this night rejoices," 46.
STDTTIN, 16.
STOCKPORT, 25.
STUTTGART, “Come, Thou long-expected Jesus," 19.
SWABIA, “This is the day of light,” 19.
TALLIS' Canon, “All praise to Thee, my God this night," 22.
TALLIS' HYMN, “All praise to Thee, my God this night," 22.
TALLIS' ORDINAL, “In token that thou shalt not fear," 23.
THD GOOD FIGHT, “We march, we march to victory," 40.
TRURO, "Arm of the Lord, awake," 25.
ULTOR-OMNIPOTDNS, “God the All-merciful," 41.
UNDI DT MOMORDS, “And now, O Father, mindful of the
love," 30.
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, “Oft in danger, oft in woe," 26.
VINI CRDATOR, “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire," 9, 91.
VENI EMMANUDL, "O come, O come, Emmanuel,” 8, 90.
VDSPDR, "Holy Father, cheer our way,! 40.
VICTORY, "The strife is o'er," 10, 98.
Vox ÆTERNA, “Hark! the Voice eternal," 45.
Vox DILDCTI, “I heard the voice of Jesus say," 32, 94.
WALTHAM, “Fling out the banner," 42.
WESTMINSTER, “Lord, in Thy Name Thy servants plead," 25.
WINCHESTER Now, “On Jordan's bank the Baptist's cry," 19.
WINCHESTER OLD, “When all Thy mercies, O my God," 23, 24.
WINDSOR, 69.
WORGAN, "Jesus Christ is risen to-day," 19, 98.
YORK, 69.
YORKSHIRD, “Christians awake, salute the happy morn," 25.
ZOPHYR, “With broken heart and contrite sigh.” 43.
GENERAL INDEX
Accompaniment of Church
service, 163; of Gregor-
ians, 164; of bymns,
165 ; of anthems, 168;
importance of, 168.
American Church Music, 256.
Anthem, The Full, 235; the
Verse, 236.
Antiphonarium, 222.
Articled pupil, 152.
Attwood, Thomas, 243.
Bach, Johann Sebastian, 12,
14, 17, 19.
Baker, Henry W., 31.
Balzac, Honoré de, 146.
Barnby, Joseph, 33 et seq.
52, 248.
Barthélémon, Fracois H., 25.
Bennett. W. Sterndale. 247.
Berkeley, Bishop, 119.
Bernard of Cluny, 26.
Billings, William, 70, 71.
Blow, John, 24, 235, 236
et seq.
Boyce, William, 241, 245.
Bradbury, William B., 43.
Brattle, Thomas, 118.
Buck, Dudley, 252.
Buckoll, H. J., 14.
Burney, Charles, 25.
Byrd, William, 230, 234.
Calkin, J. Baptiste, 42.
Calvin, John, 63.
Canon, 22.
Carey, Henry, 24.
Cathedral of SS. Peter and
Paul, Chicago, choir his-
tory or, 192 et seq.
Cathedral system of Eng-
land, 153, 186.
Cathedral services as models,
187.
Chadwick, George W., 254.
Chandos, Duke of, 240.
Chanting of psalter 78; of
canticles, 81.
Charles I., 232.
Charles II., 23, 234.
Child, William, 234.
Choirmasters, 174 et seq.
Choirs, American Vested
male, 157, 176, 177, 184
et seq.; 203 et seq.;
historical sketch of,
East, 189; West, 191 ;
spread of, 203; litera-
ture on, 216.
Choirs, advantages of female
voices, 204 ; mixed, 205 ;
girl, 205 ; quartette, 206.
Choir schools, English, 186;
necessity of, 188; Ameri-
can, 210 et seq.; expense
of, 215.
Choral Celebration, 169.
Choral Responses, 79.
Chorales, German, 11 et seq.,
62, 100.
Church Clubs, action of, 180.
Church music, early Chris-
tian, 58; in England,
224 ; decline of 239, 242;
rise of, 247; modern
tendencies, 250; in
America, 252.
Claudian, 104.
Clement of Alexandria, 59.
Clergy, guidance of, 85 ;
musical education of,
180.
Commonwealth, disorders of,
112, 232.
Congregational singing, 54,
75 et seq.; in the Ro-
man Church, 59; in
270
GENERAL INDEX
Germany, 61, 95; de-
vices to promote, 88.
Cook, Captain Henry, 235,
237.
Contrapuntal music, 227.
Cranmer, Archbishop, 225.
Croft, William, 20, 239.
Crüger, Johann, 17.
Curwen, J. Spencer, 38.
Dabblers, amateur, 48; pro-
fessional, 49.
Darwall, Rev. John, 25.
Davey, Henry, 229.
Day, John, 227.
Development of music in the
Anglican Church, 224
et seq.
Decius, Nicolaus, 16.
Diocesan school for Church
music, 158.
Dorset, Rev. Canon C. P., 194.
Duffield, Rev. Howard, 159.
Dykes, Rev. John B., 28, 31,
33, 36, 52.
Edward VI., liturgy of, 225.
Elgar, Edward, 251.
Elvey, George J., 247.
Ely Confession, 80.
Ewing, Alexander, 26.
Foote, Arthur, 254.
Farrant, Richard, 230.
Frederick the Great, 15.
Gauntlett, Henry J., 26, 52.
Gibbon, Edward, 59.
Gibbons, Orlando, 231, 235,
238.
Gloria in Exceisis, 82.
Goss, John, 247, 249.
Greek modes or scales, 6, 221.
Gregorian chants, 202, 221.
Greene, Maurice, 241.
Guilmant, Alexandre, 146.
Hallel, 60.
Handel, George Frederick,
239, 244,
Harmonized confessions and
creeds, 80.
Harwood, Basil, 226.
Hassler, Hans Leo, 16.
Hawkins' History of Music,
106.
Haydn, Franz Joseph, 19.
Hebrew music, choral, 54 ;
instrumental, 55 ; char-
acter of, 57.
Hedge, Dr. F. A., 15.
Hodges, Edward, 47, 120,
212.
Hodges, Rev. J. S. B., 47,
212.
Holden, Oliver, 71.
Hopkins, Edward, J. 27, 28.
Hughes, John L., 202.
Humphreys, Pelham, 235,
237.
Hymnal, Protestant Episco-
pal, 75; Methodist, 87.
Hymnody, History of, 54.
Hymn playing, art of, 165 ;
practical hints on, 167.
Hymns, early Latin, medie-
val Latin, 61, Lutheran
62.
Hymn singing, a source of
heresy, 59; in England,
68; of Wesleyans, 68;
in America, 74; how to
secure good, 83; variety
in, 92; in Germany, 95 ;
best in England, 96;
bond of unity, 99.
Hymns Ancient and Modern,
10, 29, 75.
Hymn tunes, Importance of,
1; choice ol, 2, 88, 98;
responsibility for, 3 ;
early English, 20, 91;
modern English, 25 ;
American, 42; composi-
tion of, 47; essentials
of, 50; early American,
70; fuguing, 70; tempo
of, 94, 96; advantages
of traditional, 97.
Improvisation, art of, 169.
Julian, the Apostate, 105.
Klug, Joseph, 15.
Kyrie, twelfth century, 7.
Knowles, Rev. Canon J. H.,
194, 202, 212.
Lemare, E. H., 117, 118, 144.
"Lining out,” 66.
GENERAL INDEX
271
Lowe, Edward, 233, 235.
Lulli, Jean B. 235.
Luther, Martin, 12, 13, 62.
Lyra Sacra Ameriana, 35.
Lyric semitone, 109.
MacDowell, Gerald R., 191.
Macfarren, George A., 247.
Machin, (?) 191.
Mason, Lowell, 42.
Mason, Rev. Wm., 240.
McLaren, Bishop, 199.
Melismas, 223.
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Fe-
lix, 15, 16, 17, 19, 97,
244, 246.
Merbecke, John, 225.
Messiter, Arthur H., 47, 189.
Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 15.
Monk, William H., 29, 36.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus,
244.
Mozart, (?) 192.
Musical Ministries in the
Church, 51.
Neumark, George, 17.
Nicolai, Rev. Philipp, 16.
Novello, Vincent, 24, 237.
Organ builders :
Audsley, G. A., 130.
Austin Organ Co., 124.
Barker, Charles S., 115.
Bennett Organ Co., 125.
Bromfield, Edward, 119.
Casavant Bros., 118.
Cavaillé-Coll, 117.
Clark, Somers, 129.
Clemm, John, 119.
Ducroquet, M., 115.
Dudyngton, Antony, 111.
Erben, Henry, 120.
Faber, Nicolaus, 109.
Gabler, Johann, 117.
Harris, Renatus, 113.
Hill & Son, 116, 126.
Hope-Jones Organ Co., 117,
124.
Hook & Hastings, 121.
Hutchings Organ Co., 123.
Hutchings-Votey Co., 123.
Jardine & Son, 121.
Johnson & Son, 122.
Organ Builders.-Continued.
Kimball Co., W. W., 125.
Los Angeles Art Organ
Co., 120.
Lyon & Healey, 125.
Merklin, 117.
Mooser, 117.
Müller, Christian, 117.
Norman & Beard, 116.
Roosevelt, Ellborne L.,
122, 126.
Roosevelt, Frank, 123.
Schmidt, Bernard, 113.
Schulze & Sons, 115.
Silbermann, Andreas, 117,
119.
Skinner Co., Ernest M.,
124.
Smith Father, 113, 241,
244.
Snetzler, John, 114, 120.
Votey Organ Co., 123.
Walcker, 122.
Walker & Co., T. C., 116.
Walker & Son, 117.
Willis Henry, 116, 126.
Organist and choirmaster,
148.
Organists, good musicians,
148; education of, 152
et seq.; irreligion of,
156; dearth of good,
157; responsibility of,
158; hints to, 170; re-
lation of priests and,
172; poor voice train-
ers, 175; subject to
choirmaster, 179.
Organ playing, importance
of, 156.
Organs, history and struc-
ture of, 101 ; origin of,
102; hydraulic, 104 ;
early types, 105, 106;
Great and Choir, 108;
first key-board, 108;
portative and positive,
109; introduction of
sharps and flats, 109;
first pedal keyboard,
110; development of
272
GENERAL INDEX
stop control, 110 ; first
swell, 114; combination
pedals, 114; pneumatic
action. French, German
and English, 116; first
American, 118, 119;
electric action, 123, 143;
largest, 126, tracker ac-
tion, 143; mechanical
appliances, 144; criti-
cism of American, 144.
Organs, purchase of, loca-
tion and selection of,
129 et seq.; cost, 135,
136; specification of
small organ, 138; dura-
bility of good organs,
139; care of, 140.
Organs, use of, aids congre-
gational singing, 128 ;
essentially for Church
use, 128, 251 ; registra-
tion, 171.
Organ Voluntaries, 159.
Organs mentioned :
Albany, N. Y., Cathedral,
124.
Boston, Mass., King's
Chapel, 118.
Music Hall, 122.
Tremont Temple, 121.
Chicago, Ill., Auditorium,
126.
Columbian Exposition,
Cincinnati, Ohio, Music
Hall, 121.
Freiburg, Switzerland, St.
Nicholas, 117.
Garden City, L. I., Cathe-
dral, 127.
Haarlem, Holland, 117.
Libau, Russia, 127.
London, England, All Hal-
lows, Barking, 111.
Banqueting Room, White-
hall, 113.
Royal Albert, Hall, 126.
St. Paul's Cathedral,
116.
St. Margaret's, West-
minster, 117.
Organs mentioned, London.
Continued.
Southwark Cathedral,
116.
Temple Church, 113.
Westminster Abbey, 116.
Magdeburg, Prussia, Cathe-
dral, 108.
Manchester, Eng., Town
Hall, 117.
Newport, R. I., Trinity,
119.
New Haven, Conn., Wool-
sey Hall, Yale Uni-
versity, 123.
New York, N. Y., College
of the City of New
York, 124.
St. Bartholomew, 127.
Trinity, 119.
Norwich, England, Cathe-
dral, 116.
Ocean Grove, N. J., Audl-
torium, 125.
Paris, France, Notre Dame,
117.
Saint Sulpice, 117.
Philadelphia, Pa., Centen-
nial Exposition, 123.
Riga, Russia, 127.
St. Denis, France, Abbey
Church, 115.
St. Louis, Mo., Louisiana
Purchase Exposition,
126.
Salisbury, England, Cathe-
dral, 113.
Sheffield, England, Town
Hall, 117.
Sidney, N. S. W., Town
Hall, 126.
Strasbourg, Germany,
Cathedral, 117,
Ulm, Germany, Cathedral,
117.
Weingarten, Germany,
Monastery, 117.
Winchester, England, Ca-
thedral, 107.
Worcester, England, Cathe-
dral, 117.
123.
GENERAL İNDEX
273
Organs mentioned.Contin
ued.
York, England, Minster,
112.
Organ voluntaries, 159.
Palestrina, 10, 242.
Parker, Horatio, 43, 253.
Perieleses, 6.
Peregrine Tone, 60.
Pilcher, Henry, 201.
Pipes, Pandean, 102; Chi-
nese, Egyptian, Peru-
vian, Roumanian, 103.
Pipes, organ, open and
stopped, 136; reed, 137.
Plainsong, origin of 4, 220 ;
characteristics of 5 et
seq., 223; popularity of,
10; an artistic product,
220; in England, 224;
Cranmer's Litany, Sar-
um "Use," 225.
Plainsong tunes, 4, 90.
Playford's Tunes, 68, 72.
Pleyel, Ignaz J., 20.
Pneumae, 224.
Prague Choral Society, 62.
Pratt, Waldo S., 51.
Precentor, 206.
Psalms in Metre, Genevan
Psalter, 63; Sternhold
and Hopkins, 64; Rous
and Watts, 65; Ains-
worth, 66; Bay Psalm-
book (New England Ver-
sion) 66.
Psalm singing, of Calvinists,
63; of Puritans and
Scotch Presbyterians,
64; of the Established
Church, 64 ; early tunes,
67; decline of 67; in
America, 69 et seq.
Purcell, Henry, 236.
Ravenscroft, Thomas, 68, 72.
Reading, John, 24.
Redhead, Richard, 28.
Reformation, the changes of,
11 ; music of, 12, 61.
Ryenolds, C. E., 202.
Rhythm, the soul of music,
170.
Ritchie, Father, 201.
Roman Church music, 59,
221.
Rosenmüller, Johann, 17.
Rowe (?) 191.
Rowlands, W. D., 192.
St. Ambrose, 221.
St. Augustine, 60, 224.
St. Gall, 224.
St. Jerome, 105.
St. Sylvester, 224.
Salaries, 181.
Sarum Use, 225 .
Scotch Psalter, 67.
Sewall, Judge, 69.
Smart, Henry, 26, 247.
Smedley, William, 202.
Sparks, William, 246.
Stainer, John, 40, 52, 85,
239, 248, 249.
Stanford, C. Villiers, 250.
Sternbold and Hopkins, 64,
65, 66, 67, 72.
Sullivan, Arthur, S., 23, 41,
52, 250.
Syrinx, 102.
Tallis' Responses, 79, 228,
233.
Tallis, Thomas, 22, 228, 233,
234, 238.
Tate and Brady, 65, 68.
Te Deum, 61, 73.
Temple Music, 4, 55.
Teschner, Melchior, 17, 93.
Tobey (?) 193.
Trinity Parish, New York,
72, 73, 119, 181, 189,
211.
Tuckey, William, 73.
Turle, James, 25.
Wainwright, John, 25.
Walmsley, Thomas A., 244.
Watts, Isaac, 65, 70.
Webbe, Samuel, 25.
Wesley, Charles, 68, 244.
Wesley, Samuel, 245.
Wesley, Samuel Sebastian,
245.
274
GENERAL INDEX
West, John D., 250.
Whitehouse, Bishop, 194, 198.
Whitehouse W. Fitzhugh,
193.
Wild, Harrison M., 201.
Wilkinson, Rev. John, 193.
Wulstan, 107.
DATE DUE

Ada 18
DEC O B Recen
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NOV 2 1 RECO
JAN 19 1982
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MAN 1 9 1988
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一一一一一一一一
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學生
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書學
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