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 The Music Lover's Library 
 
• •• 
 
 ■ • • • t 
 
 GIOVANNI FlERLUIGl 
 
 DA PALESTRINA 
 
 I'H 1>' (' ri'F, I) !.• 1,1, \ ,N1 I'N 1('.\ 
 
The Music Love/s Library 
 
 Choirs and Choral 
 Music 
 
 By 
 
 Arthur Mees 
 
 Former Conductor of the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus; 
 
 Conductor of the New York Mendelssohn Glee Club, 
 
 of the Albany Music Festival Association, Etc. 
 
 With Portraits 
 
 Charles Scribner's Sons 
 New York :: :: :: 1901 
 
MUSI 
 
 Copyright, 1901, by 
 Charles Scribner*s Sons 
 
 .... .J • • 
 
 Trow Directory 
 
 Printing and Bookbinding Company 
 
 New York 
 
 r MUSIC LIBRARY^ 
 UNIVERSITY I 
 
 M4 
 
TO 
 
 MY WIFE 
 
 2^i4r)'^^ 
 
Preface 
 
 As chorus singing is the sphere of public 
 musical activity which now belongs legiti- 
 mately to amateurs, and choral music the class 
 of music for the performance of which the pub- 
 lic is almost entirely dependent on amateurs, 
 the question as to how chorus singing and 
 choral music came to be what they are must 
 be of general interest. To throw light on this 
 subject is the purpose of this book. It is, there- 
 fore, not a compendium for the professional, but 
 a book for the amateur which will tell him 
 something about the beginnings and the course 
 of development of chorus singing; something 
 about the origin of choirs, their constitution, 
 and the nature of their activity at different pe- 
 riods ; something about the history of the most 
 important choral forms, particularly the Mys- 
 tery and the Oratorio, about their essential 
 characteristics, and about the first and other 
 notable performances of the best known of 
 
Preface 
 
 them. In the chapter devoted to choral culture 
 in America will be found a review of the con- 
 ditions which led up to the organization of 
 singing societies in this country, and of the cir- 
 cumstances under which the choral institutions 
 that were conspicuously instrumental in ele- 
 vating the standard of chorus singing were es- 
 tablished. The last chapter is devoted to some 
 observations on the qualities necessary to the 
 efficient chorus singer and chorus conductor 
 and on the general principles which, according 
 to recognized authorities, should be observed 
 in order to make choral performances what 
 they ought to be. 
 
 If, in addition to giving information not with- 
 in easy reach, this book — the first of its kind so 
 far as the author knows — should succeed in 
 demonstrating how puissant a factor in shap- 
 ing the course of musical progress chorus sing- 
 ing has been in the past, and how necessary it 
 is to the dissemination of sound musical taste 
 at the present time, the author's purpose will 
 be fully realized. 
 
Contents 
 
 Page 
 
 I. Among the Hebrews and Greeks .... 3 
 
 II. In the Early Christian Church .... 20 
 
 III. In the Mediaeval Church 44 
 
 IV. After the Reformation 67 
 
 V. The Mystery. Bach . 92 
 
 VI. The Oratorio. Handel 113 
 
 VII. Other Choral Forms 139 
 
 VIII. Amateur Choral Culture in Germany and 
 
 England 161 
 
 IX. Amateur Choral Culture in America . .186 
 
 X. The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor .212 
 
 Index .231 
 
Portraits 
 
 Palestrina .... 
 
 . Frontispiece 
 
 Purcell ..... 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 . . . 76 
 
 Bach . . . 
 
 . 102 
 
 Handel 
 
 . 120 
 
 Mendelssohn .... 
 
 . 146 
 
 Fasch . . 
 
 . . 166 
 
 Carl Zerrahn .... 
 
 . . . 198 
 
 Leopold Damrosch . 
 
 . 202 
 
choirs and Choral Music 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 WHILE choral music was undoubtedly 
 practised among the barbarous and un- 
 civilised peoples from time immemorial in con- 
 nection with the dance as an essential element 
 of their religious ceremonies, it is to the music 
 of the Hebrews and Greeks, the inheritors of 
 the Egyptian and Assyrian theories, that the 
 tone-art of the early Christians, out of which 
 grew the tone-art of to-day, is directly trace- 
 able. 
 
 The highly imaginative and poetical spirit 
 of the Hebrews, as illustrated in the eloquent 
 epics and lyrics of the Bible, could not but 
 seek vent in music, the art most intimately in 
 accord with such a spirit and best adapted to 
 satisfy it. It is not surprising therefore that the 
 Hebrew tribes even during the nomadic exist- 
 ence which they led for many centuries — an 
 existence ill calculated to encourage artistic 
 activity — should have adopted and made ser- 
 viceable to their own purposes such features 
 
 3 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 as appealed to them in the music of the peoples 
 with which they came into contact : the Assy- 
 rians and Egyptians. As national conscious- 
 ness developed with concentration and a more 
 settled mode of life, the Hebrews found leisure 
 to transform and elaborate these elements in 
 accordance with their taste and the require- 
 ments of their religious observances, which 
 they delighted in investing with all possible 
 grandeur and impressiveness. To this end the 
 Levitic and prophet schools were instituted, in 
 which young men were instructed in arts and 
 sciences, music and poetry, in order to be fitted 
 for the duties which the state and the church 
 might demand of them. In these schools 
 bodies of instrumentalists and vocalists were 
 formed and made conversant with the poetic 
 and musical traditions, while those who gave 
 evidences of the creative faculty were entrusted 
 with the task of composing new poems and 
 melodies as occasion required. 
 
 The factors employed in the worship of the 
 Hebrews were, expressed in current terms, 
 soloists, selected choruses of men and women, 
 a grand chorus of the people, and an orchestra. 
 That this view is not a fanciful one is proven 
 by the biblical record and the fact that it is in 
 perfect accord with the spirit and the structure 
 of Hebrew poetry. The song of triumph of 
 
 4 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 Moses and Miriam after the destruction of 
 Pharaoh and his host evidently enlisted the co- 
 operation of such forces. The choirs chanted 
 or sang antiphonally, the men responding to 
 the intonation of Moses and the women to ^^^ 
 that of Miriam, while the multitude from time 
 to time joined in refrains to the accompani- 
 ment of instruments, singers and players mov- 
 ing about in the measured steps of a panto- 
 mimic dance. Whatever may have been the 
 artistic merits of this celebration and similar 
 ones, it is evident that the combination on a 
 vast scale of music, poetry, and pantomime was 
 calculated to produce a profound impression. 
 
 It remained for David, however, to place 
 Hebrew tone-art on a firm basis. Possessed 
 of extraordinary talent for poetry and music, 
 which had been developed in the prophet 
 schools, he realised that by investing the re- 
 ligious observances Avith pomp and magnifi- 
 cence he could create a feeling of national 
 pride and political power which would prove 
 of inestimable value to the future welfare of his 
 people. He himself instituted the ceremonies 
 amidst which the ark was brought to the tab- 
 ernacle prepared for it, and appointed trained 
 musicians to lead them and to have a care for 
 their proper performance. These ceremonies 
 are described in the First Book of the Chroni- 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 ~y 
 
 cles. A precentor gave out the chants and 
 conducted the choir of professional singers, 
 which was accompanied by harpers and play- 
 ers of the psalteries (probably a kind of lute, 
 the strings of which were plucked with a 
 plectrum). Three conductors kept the whole 
 body in time and in step by beating cymbals 
 as it executed the evolutions of a dance. The 
 trumpeters, who constituted a special division, 
 punctuated the different strophes or verses of 
 the songs with interludes adapted to the nature 
 of their instruments. David himself headed the 
 procession improvising at intervals in a rhapso- 
 dical manner words and melodies to the tones 
 of his harp, the chorus replying with refrains. 
 
 While the preparations for building the new 
 temple were in progress, David took measures 
 to increase the forces upon whom the perform- 
 ance of the service depended. The total num- 
 ber of singers and instrumentalists was raised 
 to four thousand, who were regularly instruct- 
 ed in the music of the ritual. Of these two 
 hundred and eighty-eight were masters of the 
 theory and practice of music, and these again 
 were subdivided into twenty-four classes, each 
 of which was under the leadership of one of 
 the sons of the three supervising Levites. On 
 extraordinary occasions choruses of women 
 and boys were permitted to take part in the 
 
 6 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 religious ceremonies, for the knowledge and 
 practice of music were not confined to those set 
 apart to officiate in the temple. Music was the 
 common property of all classes and occupied a 
 prominent place in private as well as in public 
 celebrations. This David sanctioned and en- 
 couraged by attaching to his court a royal 
 chapel, a trained chorus of men and women. 
 
 Solomon, David's son and successor, provided 
 even more liberally for everything pertaining 
 to the music of the temple and the royal house- 
 hold, in which he himself took an active part. 
 The Song of Solomon, which was probably 
 written for performance by the court singers, 
 is supposed to have been a pastoral play imita- 
 tive of a Hindoo idyl. As dramatic represen- 
 tations, however, were forbidden by law, it may 
 have been given as a cantata by choruses sing- 
 ing antiphonally to pantomimic dances. That 
 the poem is well adapted to such a treatment 
 Palestrina illustrated by setting it to music in 
 the shape of a choral dialogue. 
 
 The musical achievements of Solomon's reign 
 reached their culmination in the services at the 
 dedication of the newly built temple ; and on a 
 scale of magnificence difficult to conceive these 
 must have been if the record of Josephus is at 
 all trustworthy. According to this historian 
 the king commanded that for this great event 
 7 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 as well as for permanent use thereafter two 
 hundred thousand trumpets and trombones be 
 constructed, and forty thousand stringed in- 
 struments, such as harps and psalteries, be 
 fashioned of the finest brass, and that for the 
 chorus of Levites two hundred thousand gar- 
 ments of fine linen be made. While this ac- 
 count is undoubtedly exaggerated it goes to 
 prove that the ceremonies were of such gran- 
 deur as to give rise to extravagant estimates. 
 The overpowering effect produced when " the 
 trumpeters and singers were as one to make 
 one sound " is eloquently described in II Chron- 
 icles, V. 13 and 14. 
 
 The temple service under Solomon marked 
 the acme of the musical culture of the Hebrews, 
 as Solomon's reign marked that of their polit- 
 ical power. With the death of this great ruler 
 the spirit of national unity disappeared, disin- 
 tegration set in, and the religious ceremonies 
 lost much of their dignity and splendor. A 
 last attempt to restore them to their former 
 estate was made by the Jews after their return 
 to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity 
 in 536 B.C., when they brought with them 
 a trained choir of two hundred and forty-five 
 men and women. With the destruction of 
 Jerusalem by Titus, in 70 A.D., the remnants 
 pf the Jewish nation were dispersed, and what 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 had been preserved by them of their original 
 temple service was given over to the uncer- 
 tainty of oral tradition. Thanks to the tenacity, 
 however, with which the Hebrews clung to 
 their religious ceremonies and customs, the 
 scattered tribes retained essential features of 
 their sacred art, which left their impress on the 
 church music of the early Christians. This 
 appears to have been the case particularly 
 with the sect of the Therapeutae, Essene Jews, 
 who flourished in the neighborhood of Alexan- 
 dria until the fourth century of the Christian 
 era. The chants and hymns, old and newly 
 composed, which they sang at their great relig- 
 ious festivals must have exerted a strong influ- 
 ence on the ritual of the Eastern Church, for to 
 the initiative of the Therapeutas is attributed 
 the adoption by the Christians of antiphonal 
 singing, the choral dialogue, which is undoubt- 
 edly of Hebrew origin, being a natural result 
 of the antithetical character of Hebrew poetry. 
 While little is known regarding the musical 
 system of the ancient Hebrews and regarding 
 the melodies of their chants and hymns, there 
 can be no doubt as to the lofty character of 
 Hebrew music in view of the mission it was 
 made to fulfil and in view of the exalted re- 
 ligious enthusiasm which permeates the poems 
 to which it was wedded. Although it has been 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 demonstrated, that the accent marks — not the 
 vowel points, which are of much later origin — 
 served as means of musical notation, the princi- 
 ple of deciphering them has not yet been dis- 
 covered, and until this has been accomplished 
 such ancient manuscripts as are still in exist- 
 ence are of little assistance in determining ques- 
 tions regarding Hebrew music. Nor can reli- 
 able conclusions be drawn from the services 
 as now conducted in the synagogues, the songs 
 or chants in use in the different countries of 
 Europe, not to speak of Asia and Africa, hav- 
 ing little in common. Nevertheless there are 
 traceable in most of them certain intervallic 
 progressions, embellishments, and cadences 
 which are so characteristic and suggestive of 
 Oriental music and are so evidently based on 
 scales of their own as to justify the assumption 
 that in them some of the elements of ancient 
 Hebrew music have survived in spite of the 
 unreliability of traditional transmission. 
 
 While the music of the Hebrews was calcu- 
 lated to impress by its grandeur and massive 
 power, that of the Greeks depended for its ef- 
 fect on refinement and perfection of detail. The 
 descriptions of Hebrew music which have been 
 handed down, dwell principally on the external 
 features of the musical celebrations. The trea- 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 tises on Greek music, on the other hand, which 
 have been preserved, are of a musico-philosophic 
 nature and concern themselves with the most 
 complicated problems in rhythm, metre, scale 
 construction, modes, and with questions regard- 
 ing the interrelation of music, poetry, and his- 
 trionics. True to their lofty views as to the 
 mission of the tone-art, the Greeks evolved in 
 the course of time a remarkably intricate and 
 delicately constructed musical system, fitted to 
 and corresponding with the forms of their epic, 
 lyric, and dramatic poetry, on which it was 
 based. 
 
 In Greek choral music, associated as it was 
 with religious festivities, two distinct tenden- 
 cies manifested themselves. The first of these 
 had its origin in the worship of Apollo and was 
 national and ethical in character ; the second 
 had for its source the cult of Dionysus, and was 
 of an individual and sensual type. Within the 
 former a large number of choral forms devel- 
 oped, such as hymns of praise, paeans of victory, 
 prayers to Apollo, hymeneal songs, dirges and 
 lamentations; the latter tendency was repre- 
 sented by one form only : the dithyramb, which 
 Arion was supposed to have converted from a 
 type of song used in Bacchic revels, into an 
 antistrophic hymn. In this Greek tragedy had 
 its source. 
 
 iz 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 The festivals of Dionysus, the god of wine, 
 were celebrated in the rural districts with or- 
 gies, processions, and games accompanied by 
 dances to the strains of cyclic choric songs. 
 According to tradition Thespis (600 B.C.) inter- 
 larded the strophes of these songs with the re- 
 cital with pantomimic gestures of myths apper- 
 taining to Dionysus. By means of masks a 
 single actor impersonated the different charac- 
 ters concerned in the narrative. In the course 
 of time the recital was provided with instru- 
 mental accompaniment, and thus the melodrama 
 was called into existence. Then, with the in- 
 troduction of additional actors, the dialogue was 
 made possible, and finally, with the employment 
 of costumes, scenery, and stage mechanism, the 
 apparatus of the Greek drama was rendered 
 complete. 
 
 Each of these innovations necessarily tended 
 towards forcing the chorus, which had origi- 
 nally been the main factor, into the background 
 so far as its active participation in the play was 
 concerned ; yet the task which it was required 
 to perform continued to be of the highest ar- 
 tistic significance and to demand the most thor- 
 ough and careful preparation. 
 
 The place occupied by the chorus was the 
 orchestra, a platform erected in front of and a 
 little below the level of the stage, with which it 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 was connected by steps, as at times the pres- 
 ence of the singers was required on the stage 
 proper. With the action of the drama the 
 chorus was not identified. Although composed 
 of men only, it represented a body of men or 
 women who, standing in no immediate relation 
 to the characters in the play, annotated the oc- 
 currences with words of advice, warning, or 
 comfort. At points of rest, between the scenes 
 or acts, the chorus sang longer lyric pieces 
 referring to the progress of the plot and its 
 ethical purpose. In these intermezzi^ — to use a 
 familiar term — which were accompanied by ap- 
 propriate gestures and most carefully designed 
 evolutions, the full chorus, the chorus subdi- 
 vided for the purpose of responsive effects, 
 semi-choruses, and individual singers were em- 
 ployed. The chorus was kept in time and step 
 and in accord with the instrumentalists by the 
 corypheus, who marked the rhythm by clapping 
 his hands, striking together pieces of wood or 
 shell, or by stamping his feet, which were clad 
 in sandals with wooden or metal soles so that 
 the beats might be more distinctly heard. Such 
 a conductor was subsequently called by the 
 Romans manuductor if he made use of his hands, 
 pedicularius if he made use of his feet. 
 
 In order to appreciate the importance of the 
 dramatic representations in ancient Greece it 
 
 13 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 must be remembered that they were not pri- 
 vate undertakings intended for the amusement 
 of the public, but festivals of a semi-religious 
 character, which were considered essential to 
 the political and moral welfare of the nation ; 
 that they provided the arena in which the mas- 
 ter minds of the nation contended for suprem- 
 acy, for the immortality of which the victor 
 could be certain ; and that they were therefore 
 guarded in their every feature with jealous 
 care. The rivalry which they stimulated ex- 
 tended to the choruses, for these were repre- 
 sentative of the districts which furnished them, 
 and to the successful one an artistically deco- 
 rated tripod was awarded as prize. 
 
 The organisation of the choruses was pro- 
 vided for by law. The poet whose drama was 
 to be performed made application for a chorus 
 to a magistrate. If his request was granted, the 
 best singers were sought out in each district 
 and subjected to an examination. The requisite 
 numbers having been selected, wealthy citizens 
 chosen to be choragi furnished the means neces- 
 sary for the sustenance, instruction, and equip- 
 ment of the choir. The singers were then 
 trained by a chorus master assisted by the 
 leader of the orchestra, unless the poet himself 
 preferred to assume this duty. The tripod 
 presented to the best chorus became the prop- 
 
 14 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 erty of its choragus, who dedicated it to a 
 deity and placed it on a monument set up for 
 the purpose. A street in Athens was com- 
 pletely lined with choragic monuments, of 
 which one erected by Lysicrates about 335 B.C. 
 is still in existence. The outlay for choruses 
 was much increased in the course of time by 
 the efforts of the choragi to make sure of 
 the prize by securing professional singers and 
 clothing them in the most costly and gorgeous 
 costumes. It is related that one competitor 
 expended ten thousand eight hundred drach- 
 mae (about twenty -five hundred dollars) on 
 choruses within two years, a sum which at 
 the time was considered enormous. It was 
 largely owing to the difficulty of finding cho- 
 ragi that the chorus was eliminated from the 
 comedy. 
 
 While chorus singing was carefully nurtured 
 in Greece in connection with the drama, it was 
 likewise cultivated among the people as a val- 
 uable means of education and a refined type of 
 diversion. The fact that the Greek philoso- 
 phers devoted much thought to the question 
 as to what modes or keys were best calculated 
 to encourage strength of character and purity 
 of mind, shows that music was held in honour 
 as an important factor in the daily life of the 
 people. Nor is it likely that the competitions 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 in playing and singing which were inseparable 
 from the numerous festivals of the Greek cal- 
 endar, and which were listened to by the pop- 
 ulation of the whole country, should have failed 
 to excite universal interest in choral music and 
 to stimulate its practice. To choral culture 
 among the people Archilochus (700 B.C.), the 
 creator of the melodrama, gave artistic direc- 
 tion by inventing the iambics, which on ac- 
 count of their metre, corresponding to the 
 flowing, graceful triple rhythm in music, and on 
 account of their homely but spirited language 
 appealed to public taste and called into life new 
 folkmelodies. 
 
 Although the laws which governed rhythm 
 and melody in Greek music are well known, 
 no conception can be formed as to the manner 
 in which they were applied in practice, for not 
 a single well authenticated example of ancient 
 Greek music has been preserved, unless the 
 Hymn to Apollo found in the excavations at 
 Delphi in 1893 be accepted as such a one. 
 Whatever may have been the character of the 
 music to which the monologues and dialogues 
 in the drama, all of which were probably sung, 
 were set, the fact that the choruses were inva- 
 riably accompanied by dances gives colour to 
 the assumption that they were of a rhythmical- 
 ly pronounced and easily comprehensible char- 
 
 16 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 acter, the rhythms being dictated by the pro- 
 sodic quantity of the syllables. While the 
 melodic rise and fall of the voice, according to 
 fixed cadences, was probably conditioned by 
 considerations of elocution, it conformed to 
 clearly recognisable intervals, in the acoustic 
 measurement of which the Greek theorists 
 were wonderfully expert. 
 
 It is all but certain that the chorus singing 
 was in unison, perhaps at times in octaves. 
 Into the instrumental accompaniment, how- 
 ever, melodies seem to have been indepen- 
 dently introduced. These melodies were imi- 
 tative of the vocal ones, and it was considered 
 very important that the answer to a given 
 theme — the counter theme — be constructed ac- 
 cording to rule. It seems, therefore, that the 
 art of counterpoint, the art of consorting sev- 
 eral individual melodies, was practised, in a 
 limited sense, by the Greeks. 
 
 The period of florescence of Greek music 
 created by the national enthusiasm and patri- 
 otic pride which followed the Persian wars, 
 was of comparatively short duration. Greek 
 music was not an independent art which could 
 thrive dissociated from poetry. When, there- 
 fore, about the middle of the fifth century B.C. 
 the decadence of the drama set in, music fol- 
 lowed in its wake. Only in evolving theo- 
 
 17 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 retical systems on the basis of former artistic 
 achievements important results continued to 
 be accomplished. Although these systems 
 could be on the whole of little practical value 
 to the development of modern music — in cer- 
 tain ways they even retarded it — efforts were 
 constantly made to apply them, under com- 
 plete misapprehension of their purport, up to 
 the sixth century of the Christian era. 
 
 The Romans, occupied with the extension 
 of their empire and the establishment of their 
 political power, contributed nothing towards 
 musical progress. As singers and instrumen- 
 talists flocked to Rome from Greece there was 
 no want of music, but only of music that pleased 
 the vitiated taste of a people delighting in ex- 
 cesses and licentiousness. Choral perform- 
 ances were in great favour in Rome. It was 
 Greek music however — Greek music of the 
 popular kind, simple in rhythm and melody — 
 which was sung on such occasions. In defer- 
 ence to prevailing custom these performances 
 were conducted on the most elaborate scale. It 
 is recorded that at the time of Julius Caesar (loo- 
 44 B.C.) twelve thousand singers and instrumen- 
 talists were gathered together in Rome to take 
 part in a public celebration ; and Nero (a.d. 
 37-68), who degraded the art by his ludicrous 
 attempts at composing, singing, and playing, is 
 
 x8 
 
Among the Hebrews and Greeks 
 
 said to have supported five hundred court 
 musicians for his own entertainment. Ancient 
 culture had run its course. Conditions were 
 ripe for the spiritual and artistic revolution 
 which Christianity effected. 
 
 19 
 
II 
 
 In the Early Christian Church 
 
 FOR more than fifteen hundred years after 
 the dawn of the Christian era the practice 
 of music as an art was monopolised by the 
 Church ; and as the Church discountenanced in- 
 strumental music, the history of choral music 
 during that long period is the history of music. 
 In the course of that time the most highly or- 
 ganised distinctively choral forms were invent- 
 ed and brought to a state of perfection by the 
 Church composers, whose sovereign command 
 of pure choral writing has never been surpassed 
 if it has been equalled. Instrumental music 
 however, upon which the tone-art depended for 
 further progress, and in which modern music 
 had its source, was left in the possession of the 
 people who followed the promptings of their 
 own fancy in spite of theoretical rules and not- 
 withstanding ecclesiastical edicts. 
 
 While at the hand of the works of architect- 
 ure, sculpture, and painting that have been 
 preserved, it is possible to trace the course of 
 
 20 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 evolution of these arts under the influence of 
 Christianity, there is little to be found, excepting 
 fragments of theoretical and historical treatises, 
 that might illustrate the development of music 
 during the early centuries of the Christian era. 
 Even if older manuscripts than those handed 
 down — they are supposed to date from the 
 eighth, possibly from the sixth century — should 
 be discovered, little light would be thrown on the 
 subject, for it was not until about the eleventh 
 century that a system of notation came into use 
 which indicated with any degree of accuracy 
 the pitch and duration of tones, unless indeed 
 the key for the methods of notation employed 
 before that time has been lost. It seems rea- 
 sonable, however, to assume that in music the 
 primitive Christians, for a time at least, yielded 
 to the same influences and were guided by the 
 same practical considerations as in other mat- 
 ters pertaining to their religious observances. 
 
 It is a well known fact that social intercourse 
 between Christian converts and pagans, so far 
 as it did not offend religious beliefs and prac- 
 tices, remained unrestricted. In every-day life 
 little difference was apparent between the cus- 
 toms and habits of the Christian layman and the 
 Roman citizen. The buildings erected by the 
 pagans, such as the Pantheon at Rome, the ba- 
 silikas (halls of justice), and similar architectu- 
 
 31 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 ral monuments, were either turned into places 
 of devotion or made to serve as models for such 
 without a thought of the purposes for which 
 they had been originally designed. In the 
 catacombs, where in order to escape persecu- 
 tion the Christians were wont to assemble for 
 exhortation and prayer, the mural decorations 
 represented figures and scenes from ancient 
 mythology altered so as to apply to the bibli- 
 cal stories. It is not probable that in music 
 alone a different course was pursued and 
 pagan influence entirely set aside. A strong 
 argument in favour of this view is based on 
 the discovery that most of the hymns and 
 antiphons of the Roman Church conform to 
 the melodic types (nomes) peculiar to the Greek 
 hymns and choral songs accompanied by the 
 kythara, a large lyre, to which on account of 
 the fixed pitch of its seven strings these types 
 were best adapted. The use of instruments at 
 divine service being prohibited, the accompani- 
 ment was either omitted or, as some authorities 
 claim, supplied by the voices of the musically 
 better informed members of the congregation. 
 In the Eastern Church, and through it later 
 in the Western Church, the influence of Hebrew 
 music made itself felt. Philo (20 b.c.-a.d. 40), 
 a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, wrote of the 
 Therapeutae, the sect referred to in the previous 
 
 22 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 chapter, that they continued to celebrate their 
 love-feasts in the following manner : After the 
 Supper, when all had risen, two choirs, one of / 
 men and one of women, were selected, and from 
 each of these a person of majestic form was 
 chosen to lead. These then chanted hymns in\ 
 honour of God, composed in different measures ^^ ~wl 
 and modulations, now singing together and /^ 
 now answering each other by turns. Here the 
 responsive and antiphonal manner of singing 
 which was practised among the Hebrews from 
 time immemorial and was probably introduced 
 into the church by Hebrew converts, is evi- 
 dently referred to. Another feature for which 
 the Church is indebted to Hebrew tradition, 
 and to which the so-called sequences still in use 
 in the Latin Church owe their origin, were the 
 *' pneumae," florid groups of tones, prolonged 
 shouts of joy, as it were, which were sung by 
 the congregation, at first to the last vowel 
 sound of the word Hallelujah, and later to an 
 inarticulate syllable. It is stated that the Copts, 
 descendants of the ancient Egyptians, who have 
 remained true to the traditions of the Chris- 
 tian Church in Egypt, still embellish their ritual 
 with guttural ornaments and often spin out a 
 Hallelujah to the duration of a quarter of an 
 hour. 
 
 It was natural that, as the Christian congre- 
 23 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 gallons increased in number and size, efforts 
 should have been made to render the services 
 more elaborate for the sake of the worshippers 
 themselves as well as for the purpose of at- 
 tracting the public. This led to the introduc- 
 tion of melodies unsuited to church use both 
 on account of their character and their diffi- 
 culty ; wherefore Clement of Alexandria (died 
 about A.D. 220) felt called upon to interdict the 
 use in his congregation of so-called chromatic 
 melodies, probably melodies which contained 
 ornaments with chromatic tones. 
 ^^f The popularity which choral music enjoyed 
 / \ among the Christians is shown by the fact that 
 in the fourth century the singing of hymns 
 proved a powerful means in the hands of the 
 Arians to increase their following. Ephraem 
 of Edessa (died about 373), the champion of the 
 Orthodox, and himself a writer of hymns, in 
 self-defence organised and trained a choir of 
 young women, with the aid of which he gained 
 the day. At Constantinople the Arians, who 
 were not permitted to worship within the walls, 
 came into the city and congregating at public 
 places sang antiphonal songs all night long. 
 Fearful of the result, St. Chrysostom (347?- 
 407) organised with the assistance and at the 
 expense of Eudoxia, the Empress of Arcadius, 
 nightly processional hymn singing, in which 
 
 24 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 the church singers under their conductor, the 
 Empress's chief eunuch, took part to the dis- 
 comfiture of the Arians. From this it appears 
 that trained choirs belonged to the established 
 institutions of the Greek Church as early as the 
 fourth century. 
 
 In the Latin Church, which with Rome as 
 its head was destined to direct the course of 
 church music, the first step towards bringing or- 
 der into the chaos of conflicting traditions was 
 taken with the foundation of singing-schools 
 at Rome by Pope Sylvester in 314. This was 
 one of the most noteworthy occurrences in the 
 history of choral culture, for it led to the or- 
 ganisation of the oldest choral body in the 
 world, the Sistine Chapel, nominally at least 
 still in existence, which served as the proto- 
 type for all choral institutions up to the time 
 when, about the end of the eighteenth century, 
 amateur singing societies, independent of all 
 church affiliations, sprang into life. 
 
 The monopoly of church music — the only 
 music recognised as artistic up to the sixteenth 
 century, when secular music began to engage 
 the serious attention of composers, — was given 
 to the trained choirs by the decree passed at 
 the Council of Laodicea in 367, which forbad 
 all except those appointed therefor to sing in 
 church. The object of this step was not so 
 -35 
 
 // 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 much to encourage choral culture as to bring 
 uniformity into the music of the ritual and, 
 after this had been accomplished, to insure 
 its faithful preservation by tradition ; for with 
 the closing of the pagan schools by order 
 of Emperor Theodosius (346-395), what little 
 knowledge of the Greek system of notation by 
 means of uncial letters had been preserved fell 
 into oblivion among the people. 
 
 To memorise so large a number of hymns and 
 chants as were in constant use required distinc- 
 tively musical talent, and to sing them properly, 
 long technical training. In consequence the 
 singing schools of themselves developed into in- 
 s^* ,utions for the general musical as well as the 
 
 ecifically vocal instruction of men and boys of 
 xceptional gifts. The more proficient these 
 became, the more forcefully they felt and the 
 more gladly they yielded to the seductive power 
 of music for stimulating individual fancy and 
 breaking the shackles of conventionality and 
 tradition ; and thus there arose the conflict be- 
 tween the progressive efforts of the singers 
 and the restraining hand of the ecclesiastical 
 authorities, which continued throughout the 
 whole course of evolution of church music. 
 
 The first effective measures towards adjusting 
 and prescribing the music of the liturgy were 
 taken by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (340 ?- 
 
 26 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 397), who sifted the material which had accum- 
 ulated in the course of time and enriched the 
 Roman ritual by bringing antiphonal and re- 
 sponsive singing as well as Greek hymnody 
 from the Eastern to the Western Church. He 
 also translated a number of the most beautiful 
 Greek hymns into Latin and wrote new ones in 
 the latter language. These hymns were of simple 
 rhythmical structure, principally in the iambic 
 metres peculiar to Greek popular poetry, and 
 were probably intended to be sung to melodies 
 of a Greek type, for St. Augustine (354-430), 
 the collaborator of St. Ambrose, is credited with 
 having made a collection of such melodies for 
 church use. The oft repeated story that t7,t* 
 Ambrose excluded all melodies excepting thO( 
 which conformed to four certain Greek mode, 
 or scale forms, afterwards called authentic, has 
 been long since disproved. 
 
 The influence of the singing schools became / 
 more and more apparent in the course of time. 
 The ecclesiastics, who were trained in these 
 institutions from boyhood up and began their 
 activity as members of the choir, became so 
 interested in their musical studies that they 
 neglected their other duties. It was their one 
 aim to excel in beauty of tone production, 
 smoothness of execution, and expressiveness of 
 utterance. They could not be restrained from 
 
 27 
 
 y 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 altering the prescribed melodies by unduly pro- 
 longing- tones, spinning out traditional tone- 
 groups (pneumas), and introducing new embel- 
 lishments. There was imminent danger of the 
 secularisation of church music, of the church's 
 being turned into a concert room. 
 
 To remedy this state of affairs Pope Gregory 
 the Great (540 ?-6o4) induced the synod of 595 
 to pass among other corrective measures a de- 
 cree which prohibited priests and deacons from 
 assuming the specifically musical functions of 
 divine service and assigned these to ecclesias- 
 tics of inferior ranks. Furthermore, he was in- 
 strumental in bringing about the reorganisa- 
 tion of the singing schools which led directly 
 to the permanent establishment of the Sistine 
 Chapel. Of the many other musical and litur- 
 gical reforms which are persistently attributed 
 to Gregory the Great, he was not the origi- 
 nator. Least of all was he responsible for the 
 introduction of the so-called plagal modes and 
 of the system of musical notation by means of 
 the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet. 
 These innovations belong to a later date, as 
 does the so-called Gregorian antiphonary, 
 which was in all probability the work of Greg- 
 ory II. (Pope 715-731) or of Gregory III. (Pope 
 731-741). Yet tradition would have it that 
 Gregory the Great compiled this book of 
 
 28 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 hymns, chants, and melodies, and caused a copy 
 of it to be made and chained to the altar of St. 
 Peter's at Rome, as containing the only read- 
 ings authorised by the Church. 
 
 The view that there was an essential differ- 
 ence between Ambrosian and Gregorian music 
 is no longer universally entertained. If one 
 was more measured and stately than the other 
 it was the music of the Ambrosian hymn, which 
 was intended for popular, congregational use, 
 not that of the Gregorian chant, which was 
 intrusted to trained choirs. The latter was 
 not deprived of its original embellishments 
 and rhythmic life, nor written in notes of 
 equal value, as cantus planus, plain chant, 
 until the mediaeval composers made use of it 
 for the purpose of building up contrapuntal 
 riddles. 
 
 The Gregorian antiphonary was written in 
 neumes, characters consisting of points, lines, 
 accents, hooks, curves, and angles, which, 
 placed over the syllables of the words of the 
 text, indicated by their contours the directions 
 in which the voice was to modulate. They 
 were probably invented by the singers them- 
 selves, who found the Greek system of nota- 
 tion by means of letters (whether Greek or 
 Latin), if they were familiar with it, too intri- 
 cate. The neumes were nothing more than 
 
 29 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 mnemonic guides with the aid of which only 
 melodies previously learned could be recalled. 
 For the notation of unknown melodies they 
 were useless, as they indicated the direction 
 but not the distance which the voice should 
 cover in ascending or descending. Yet such 
 assistance as they afforded was invaluable, for 
 in the course of the Church year no fewer than 
 one thousand different melodies were sung, 
 some of them only once annually. 
 
 The purpose of notation in neumes was iden- 
 tical with that underlying the modern system 
 of notation, which is intended to suggest to 
 the eye the outlines of melody. Some of the 
 conventional embellishments in use to-day, 
 such as certain forms of the trill and the turn, 
 are expressed in signs traceable to the neumes, 
 while the notation of Gregorian music still em- 
 ployed really consists in neumes placed on a 
 stave of four lines. The plan of making these 
 signs more definite by means of a horizontal 
 line seems to have been devised in the tenth 
 century. The object of this line, a red one, 
 was to designate F as the basic tone, so to 
 speak, about which the tone groups repre- 
 sented by the neumes hovered. Therewith 
 one of the principles of the stave notation was 
 practically discovered. 
 
 The following example in early neume nota- 
 30 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 tion will make apparent the inadequacy and 
 intricacy of the system : — 
 
 
 
 lis. 
 
 ^l^'^.iy^ 
 
 Solution. 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 J cj J q gJ 
 
 a 
 
 Ife lu 
 
 ja 
 
 Besides the knowledge of the meaning of the 
 neumes, of \vhich there were as many as forty 
 or fifty, thorough familiarity with the traditions 
 of the Gregorian song was indispensable to its 
 correct performance. These traditions were 
 in constant danger of being distorted and were 
 indeed eventually lost. Even the care which 
 was exercised in the singing schools, and par- 
 ticularly in the Papal choir, the Sistine Chapel, 
 which was the court of last resort in contro- 
 versies pertaining to the Latin liturgy, was not 
 sufficient to preserve traditions inviolate. The 
 nature of these traditions can be gathered 
 from one of the oldest antiphonaries in exist- 
 
 31 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 // 
 
 ence, that preserved in the library of the con- 
 vent at St. Gall, Switzerland. This supposedly 
 faithful transcript of the Gregorian antipho- 
 nary was supplied, probably by a certain Ro- 
 manus, who brought it to St. Gall about 790, 
 with the initial letters of words designative of 
 the proper rhythms, variations in speed, orna- 
 ments, and vocal effects. Among the last 
 named mediaeval annotators mention the trem- 
 olo, which they liken to the pealing of the 
 trumpet ; the trillo caprino (" goat-bleat "), and 
 the gruppetti, which are compared to the ten- 
 drils of the vine — proof conclusive that the 
 Gregorian chant as originally sung was not 
 plain. 
 
 In order to commit to memory such readings 
 and to master the technical difficulties which 
 they presented, long continued study and con- 
 stant practice were necessary. For both the 
 monastic schools, which were everywhere 
 founded as the most efficient means of spread- 
 ing che new doctrine, provided ample opportu- 
 nity. They were modelled after the singing 
 schools of Rome, scholce cantorum, whose cur- 
 riculum was as follows: One hour was de- 
 voted to the study of intonation ; a second, to 
 the practice of trills and ornaments ; a third, 
 to the practice of scales ; a fourth, to acquiring 
 beauty and taste of expression. From time to 
 
 32 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 time the choristers were taken just outsied the 
 Porta Angelica, where, on account of a per- 
 fect echo, they could hear their own voices and 
 judge of the effect of their singing. To this 
 course of technical preparation there must be 
 added instruction in reading the hieroglyphic 
 neumes and the rehearsals necessary to all but 
 memorise an endless number of chants and 
 responses. Singers so trained from youth up 
 could not but attain to a high degree of profi- 
 ciency, and it is not difficult to understand that 
 Gregorian music, homophone though it was, 
 performed by a choir of such singers, in perfect 
 accord with the ceremonial, should not only 
 have produced a deep impression but satisfied 
 the highest artistic requirements as well. 
 
 Progress in choral music was not possible in 
 Italy, where the slightest deviation from the 
 rules and traditions observed by the Roman 
 singers was considered a sacrilege punishable 
 with imprisonment. Not so in the erstwhile 
 barbarian countries of middle and northern 
 Europe, where, notwithstanding unremitting 
 efforts to introduce and preserve the authentic 
 Gregorian style with the help of choristers 
 summoned from Rome, national idiosyncrasies 
 could not be suppressed nor the influence of 
 primeval customs effaced. To such an idio- 
 syncrasy the origin of the sequences, a kind 
 
 33 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 of hymn which enjoyed great popularity in 
 mediaeval times, is ascribed. 
 
 It is said that the Gallic singers with their 
 coarse, ponderous voices were unable to execute 
 the pneumae with any degree of rapidity and 
 that, in consequence, these florid tone groups 
 were so prolonged as to lose their character 
 and meaning. To prevent their complete cor- 
 ruption they were provided with texts, termed 
 proses because their rhythms depended upon 
 the accent and not, as was the case in classic po- 
 etry, on the quantity of the syllables. The most 
 important result of writing sequences (so called 
 on account of their following the verses and 
 antiphons in the ritual) lay in the reversal of 
 the heretofore observed principle that melody 
 should have no identity of its own, but should 
 be the slave of the words, whereas in the se- 
 quences the words were adjusted to a given 
 melody, and therewith the independence of 
 melody was practically illustrated. Notker 
 Balbulus (840-912), of the monastery of St. Gall, 
 famed far and wide for the excellence of its 
 boys' choir, was one of the most celebrated 
 authors of sequences. Of the many which 
 were incorporated into mediaeval office books 
 in the course of time only five are now recog- 
 nised by the Church. The two best known of 
 these are the " Stabat Mater," generally attrib- 
 
 34 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 uted to Jacobus de Benedictis (died 1306), and 
 the " Dies Irae," ascribed to Thomas of Celano 
 (died about 1255). 
 
 To the tenacity with which the peoples of 
 Northern Europe adhered to their old customs 
 in the face of the opposition of the Church, the 
 invention of harmony too is in all probability 
 due. While in Italy the exclusion of instru- 
 mental music from the Church was rigidly 
 enforced, such was not the case in England, 
 France, and Germany, to use modern geo- 
 graphical designations. Here under stress of 
 popular demand the clergy not only permitted, 
 but encouraged the playing of instruments b)? 
 providing opportunities for their study in the 
 monastic schools. The choir of the monastery 
 of St. Gall, celebrated for the elaborateness of 
 its musical services, was on festival days sup- 
 ported by an orchestra of harps {nablid), flutes, 
 an organ, cymbals, a seven stringed psaltery, 
 triangle, and bells ; while the band of the abbey 
 of Reichenau, an island in the Lake of Con- 
 stance, was noted for its completeness and 
 excellence. 
 
 Among the stringed instruments in common 
 use in the northern countries there were several 
 which were designed to produce a number of 
 different tones simultaneously ; and in imitat- 
 ing these instruments the choir singers are 
 
 35 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 supposed to have stumbled on a sort of har- 
 mony. On the other hand the fact that those 
 singers versed in the science of adding a new- 
 part, the " organum," to a given melody were 
 called organisers, gives colour to the view that 
 the roughly constructed organs in use at the 
 time, the clumsy keys of which were pressea 
 down with the fists or elbows and the tones 
 of which were likened unto thunder, may have 
 been occasionally so manipulated as to sound 
 tones simultaneously, and thus may have sug- 
 gested the new style of singing. 
 
 At first the parts extemporised by the organ- 
 isers were nothing more than the melody du- 
 plicated at the distance of the perfect octave, 
 fourth, and fifth — the only intervals at which it 
 could be accurately reproduced within a certain 
 compass without the introduction of sharps or 
 flats, then virtually unknown. As it is well nigh 
 inconceivable that a continuous series of fourths 
 and fifths should not have offended the musical 
 sensibilities, the theory has been advanced that 
 the different voices did not sing together but 
 followed one another, and in very slow time, 
 thus "breaking" and thereby softening the ob- 
 jectionable intervals. In support of this argu- 
 ment the explicit instructions to this effect 
 given in a treatise on music by Elias Sa- 
 lamonis (about 1274), a monk of the convent of 
 
 36 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 St. Ast^re, Perigord, are quoted. Mozart, how- 
 ever, in a letter written during his Italian tour 
 of 1769 and 1770 refers with surprise to a prac- 
 tice apparently then still prevalent of singing 
 the same melody at the uniform distance of a 
 fifth. 
 
 Once suggested, the possibility of singing in 
 several parts stimulated choristers to all kinds 
 of experiments, which resulted in the invention 
 of different types of the organum. To one 
 singer it occurred that he might sustain a lower 
 tone as a basis to his companion's melody; 
 another found that he could sustain a tone for a 
 time and then accompany his associate at the 
 distance of a fourth or fifth ; while a third one, 
 still more venturesome, dared to proceed oc- 
 casionally with his voice in a direction contrary 
 to that taken by his companion who followed 
 the course of a familiar tune. Thus step by 
 step the resources of singing in several parts 
 were discovered. 
 
 All this was accomplished in the study room 
 of the choir. Composers in the real sense of 
 the word there were none. Until a method of 
 notation capable of designating the duration of 
 tones as well as their pitch came into com- 
 mon use, music in two or more parts was 
 the product of the momentary inspiration of 
 the choristers ; and as the leading ones at least 
 
 37 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 were required to possess this faculty as well 
 as intimate familiarity with the restrictions to 
 be observed in its exercise, it is evident that 
 the choirs of that period must have consisted of 
 highly endowed, thoroughly instructed, and 
 well trained singers and musicians. The or- 
 ganisers were, so to speak, the soloists of the 
 choirs and were specially paid for their services. 
 
 While the organum was developing in prac- 
 tice in the singing schools, theorists were occu- 
 pied with formulating laws which might apply 
 to the new style. The first treatise on the sub- 
 ject is generally ascribed to Hucbald (840-930), 
 a Benedictine monk of the convent of St. 
 Amand sur TElnon, in Flanders (though his 
 identity is not definitely established), and the 
 name of Hucbald is therefore commonly asso- 
 ciated with the origin of the organum. Not- 
 withstanding the apparently harmonic charac- 
 ter of the organum, neither the singers nor the 
 theorists of that period had a conception of 
 harmony in the present meaning of the term. 
 They had learned to follow the course of two 
 or more melodies independently of each other, 
 but the effect produced by a number of simul- 
 taneously sounding tones (chords) they could 
 not comprehend. 
 
 Although Hucbald also thought out several 
 new systems of musical notation, his inventions 
 
 38 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 in this direction proved of no permanent value. 
 It remained for Guido of Arezzo (born about 
 995), a Benedictine monk, to discover the 
 method of stave notation which in principle is 
 still in use, and to originate a plan of reading 
 music at first sight which has its adherents at 
 the present day. So far as the former is con- 
 cerned, Guido's innovation consisted in draw- 
 ing between the two coloured lines employed 
 before his time to represent the tones F and C, 
 a black one to stand for A, and in turning to 
 account both the lines and the spaces for the 
 purpose of placing the neumes, whereby they 
 were invested with definite meaning as to pitch. 
 The second of his inventions, though not so 
 important, is here considered a little more 
 closely, because on it are based systems of 
 reading music which, adapted to the require- 
 ments of modern tonality, are still in great 
 vogue with chorus singers, especially in Eng- 
 land and America. The principal ones of these 
 are the so-called '' Fixed Do," ** Movable Do," 
 and the "Tonic Sol-Fa" systems. It may be 
 well to premise that Guido alone did not for- 
 mulate the method about to be described, but 
 that other theorists contributed their share 
 towards its development. 
 
 Guido's life -object was avowedly to be of 
 service to the Church by devising means for- 
 
 39 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 lightening the burden of *' the little ones," as he 
 called his pupils, and promoting their musical 
 knowledge. The first expedient to which he 
 resorted with this in view was based on the as- 
 sociation of ideas, and consisted in impressing 
 on the minds of the pupils a typical melody by 
 comparison with which a new one could readily 
 be learned and fixed in the memory. For this 
 purpose Guido chose a then universally famil- 
 iar hymn, dating probably from the eighth cen- 
 tury, one of a number of different versions of 
 which is as follows : — 
 
 -C^* 
 
 - 1 
 
 
 *nf 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 1 
 
 
 ^ f? '^ t, c-r 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ut que-ant la - - xis re - so - na - re fi - bris 
 
 -CV^ ^ 
 
 
 ^ /:/ ^ fO ^ 
 
 ^ t^ 
 
 rj &'— '^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ^ in <r} 
 
 r^ - r^ - ^ e^ 
 
 
 
 
 mi - - ra ge - sto-rum fa-mu-li tu - o-rnm 
 
 
 f? '^ ^ IT} '^ 
 
 -or ^ t^ ^ ^ l^ l^ - 
 
 
 
 
 —j^ ^ 
 
 
 
 
 sol - - ve pol-lu-ti la-bi-i re - a - turn 
 
 ^f 
 
 ^ /r} 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 1 
 
 -ZJ- T^ ^ - ,^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 Sane - - te 
 
 Jo - ban • nes. 
 
 As will be observed, the melody of each of the 
 first six lines of this hymn begins one tone 
 higher than the one preceding. Of this Guido 
 
 40 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 took advantage by teaching his pupils to men- 
 tally associate the first syllable of each line with 
 its corresponding tone, without intending how- 
 ever that these syllables should supplant the 
 Latin letters then in common use. His course 
 of reasoning was that whoever succeeded by 
 practice in impressing thoroughly on his mind 
 the beginning of these six verses so as to be able 
 to intone any one at will, would be able to sing 
 any one of the six tones at the mention of its 
 corresponding syllable. Out of this beginning 
 there grew the art of solmisation, which was 
 really based on a principle known to and prac- 
 tically applied by the ancient Greeks — the prin- 
 ciple of identifying the interrelation of tones 
 by means of groups of syllables associated with 
 typical groups of tones. In the Greek system 
 the series of fifteen tones which made up the 
 vocal gamut was subdivided into groups of four 
 tones called tetrachords, each of the tones be- 
 ing a whole step or tone distant from the other, 
 excepting the first and second, which were sep- 
 arated by a half step or semitone only (approx- 
 imately speaking). Each tone of such a group 
 had its name, which, regardless of the actual 
 pitch, made its relation to the other tones of the 
 group apparent. In view of the nature of the 
 ecclesiastical modes Guido subdivided the se- 
 ries of twenty-one tones in use in his time into 
 
 41 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 groups of six tones, hexachords, in which the 
 semitone occurred between the third and fourth 
 tones. For these groups he utilised the sylla- 
 bles above mentioned : Ut^ Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La. 
 
 Notwithstanding the obvious advantages of 
 the hexachord system, its practical application, 
 especially to melodies of greater range than six 
 tones, required the observance of so many intri- 
 cate rules — the rules of mutation — that the art 
 of solmisation, as it was called, was by no means 
 an easy one to master. Nevertheless it proved 
 such a boon to the choristers of that period, 
 who were wont to cudgel their brains with de- 
 ciphering the neumes, as to gain for Guido the 
 fame of being one of the greatest musical bene- 
 factors of all times. So glowing were the ac- 
 counts of the virtues of the new method which 
 reached the Pope, John XIX. (1024-1033), that 
 he summoned Guido to Rome in order to con- 
 vince himself of their truth. Guido's explana- 
 tion proved so interesting and lucid that the 
 Pope did not rise from his seat until he had suc- 
 ceeded in singing a verse at first sight. 
 
 As the ecclesiastical modes necessitated the 
 change from the Greek tetrachord to the Gui- 
 donian hexachord, so modern tonality required 
 the substitution of the group of seven tones, 
 the heptachord, for that of six. This was ac- 
 complished towards the end of the sixteenth 
 
 43 
 
In the Early Christian Church 
 
 century, and St, formed from the initials of ^^ 
 " Sancte loannes," the text of the last line of 
 the hymn quoted, was chosen for the seventh 
 syllable. In the seventeenth century, probably 
 at the suggestion of B. Donati (i 593-1647), a y 
 celebrated writer on music, f// was supplanted r' 
 by Boj the syllable now universally in use in 
 Italy, England, and America. 
 
 A large number of different methods were 
 constructed on the basis of solmisation in the 
 course of time, new sets of syllables with new 
 rules of application being proposed. Of all 
 these methods only the three named now re- 
 main in extensive use. The practical value of 
 the syllabic systems of reading music is still 
 under discussion. Only within the last few 
 years a number of leading musicians in England 
 
 ^ united in urging the abolishment of the Tonic 
 Sol-Fa method, originated by Miss Glover 
 (1785-1867) and perfected by the Rev. Mr. Cur- 
 wen (1816-1880), which is so popular in that 
 
 h country, and therewith reopened a controversy 
 of long standing. In the schools of America 
 a modified movable Do system still holds its 
 ground in the face of considerable opposition. '^" 
 
 43 
 
Ill 
 
 In the Medieval Church 
 
 WHILE the organisers did not restrict 
 themselves to the use of only those in- 
 tervals sanctioned by theorists under a misap- 
 prehension of the musical system of the Greeks, 
 they were slow to venture on extemporising 
 melodies rhythmically different from the given 
 one for fear of creating confusion among the 
 singers. Nevertheless the seductive charm of 
 creative activity led to experiments in this di- 
 rection too, and thus in the course of time the 
 art of discant originated. Its home was France, 
 the country in which the sense of harmony ap- 
 pears to have developed most rapidly up to a 
 certain point. 
 
 There were two kinds of discant, the simple 
 and the florid. The latter of these signalised 
 the most decided improvement on the orga- 
 num, for its rules permitted the introduction of 
 ornaments, so-called Jleurettes, which involved 
 the adjustment of entire groups of tones to a 
 single tone of the given melody and demon- 
 strated the availability of intervals formerly 
 
 44 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 prohibited in theory. Discant was at first prac- 
 tised in two parts only, to the lower of which, 
 the tenor (" the holder "), the task of carrying 
 or holding the cantus firmus was intrusted, 
 while the upper one took charge of inventing 
 the discant, the counter-melody. In the course 
 of time additional parts, called motettis, triplum 
 and quadruplum, were added — terms which were 
 not intended to designate particular varieties 
 of voices but simply to indicate the order of 
 the parts, the tenor being the lowest. To tri- 
 plum, the " third " part, treble, the English des- 
 ignation for the highest voice in the chorus is 
 traced. Its German equivalent diskant comes 
 from discant. The term soprano, the " high- 
 est" is of later origin. For motetus, the ety- 
 mology of which is obscure, the designations 
 meditis and alius ^ the '* middle " and " high " 
 parts respectively, were subsequently adopted, 
 as was bassus, " base," for the lowest part. 
 
 It is evident that to invent on the spur of the 
 moment more or less florid companion melodies 
 required, besides natural aptitude, a degree of 
 judgment which could be attained only by long 
 study and experience. This accounts for the 
 fact that the practice of discant was intrusted 
 to men only and was limited for a time to two 
 or at most three parts. When, however, as 
 was to be expected, certain melodic turns and 
 
 45 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 the methods of applying them became con- 
 ventional, boys could be taught to fit in simple 
 parts, and discanting in four and more voices 
 became practicable. 
 
 The impulse which the art of discant gave to 
 choral culture in France was extraordinary. 
 The singing schools of France had ever since 
 their establishment in the sixth century enjoyed 
 the reputation of being among the best in Chris- 
 tendom. In promoting the knowledge of dis- 
 canting they became superior to all others. 
 Not only were the institutions already in exist- 
 ence provided with the best instructors of the 
 new style, but schools, maitrisesy were founded 
 for the special purpose of teaching it to the 
 young, and the royal chapel, organised by Pepin 
 in 752, was turned at the command of Philip 
 IV. (1285-1304) into a body of model discanters. 
 The practice of discanting actually became a 
 mania. The members of the choruses and chap- 
 els who were particularly proficient in this art 
 were in great demand, and the standing of a 
 body of singers was decided by the number and 
 excellence of the discanters of which it could 
 boast. As with constant practice the singers 
 acquired the ability to extemporise with more 
 freedom, they took pride in embellishing their 
 part more and more richly, so that, in addition 
 to inventiveness and judgment, technical skill 
 
 46 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 in vocalisation became indispensable to their 
 equipment. 
 
 In their efforts to outdo their colleagues some 
 discanters conceived the idea of singing two or 
 even three given, generally well known melo- 
 dies at the same time, making such changes 
 only as were necessary to avoid too disagree- 
 able consequences. Confusion became worse 
 confounded when other voices attempted to 
 add something new to such combinations. The 
 melodies chosen for elaboration were not only 
 Gregorian chants but folk-melodies as well, the 
 original words of which were retained without 
 any thought and certainly without any inten- 
 tion of offending piety. This practice, which 
 was not discontinued until towards the end of 
 the sixteenth century, was, notwithstanding 
 its objectionable features, of benefit to music, 
 because it helped to counteract the prevailing 
 mechanical, calculative tendency by the intro- 
 duction of the vitalising power of the French 
 folk-song. 
 
 So long as two or even as many as four sing- 
 ers accustomed to each other's methods and 
 idiosyncrasies joined in discanting, serious mis- 
 understandings could be avoided, but when a 
 whole chorus attempted to do so, disastrous re- 
 sults were inevitable. This hastened the inven- 
 tion and perfection of a system of notation by 
 
 47 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 means of which the relative duration of tones 
 could be designated. It was the outcome of a 
 series of practical experiments made one by 
 one by the discanters, not the discovery of a 
 single mind. Music written according to this 
 system was called measured music, musica men- 
 surata, in contradistinction to plain music, mu- 
 sica plana, the unisonous Gregorian chant, in 
 which the duration of tones was originally de- 
 termined by the prosodical rules governing the 
 Latin text. The chorale notes in which the 
 Gregorian chant is written to this day, although 
 identical in shape with the measured notes, do 
 not stand for definite relative values. They are 
 nothing more than simplified neumes. 
 
 One of the first treatises on measured music 
 was compiled either by a Franco of Cologne, 
 who lived during the latter part of the eleventh 
 century, or by one of several Francos who are 
 believed to have flourished a century or more 
 later. The characters in use about that period 
 were neumes which had been transformed for 
 practical reasons into notes with black square, 
 oblong, and lozenge-shaped heads. Each of 
 these notes represented twice the value of one 
 of the next lower denomination until the church 
 composers adopted the ratio of three to one 
 also, as symbolical of the Holy Trinity, and for 
 a time (during the twelfth arid thirteenth cen- 
 
 48 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 turies) wrote almost exclusively in triple metre. 
 The complications to which this subdivision of 
 the same symbols into different relative values 
 gave rise, were increased by an intricate system 
 of metrical signatures and rules which made 
 of measured music a mathematical science and 
 placed almost insurmountable difficulties in 
 the way of the choristers who were compelled 
 to decipher them. Yet the general principle 
 upon which measured music rested furnished 
 the basis for modern musical notation. 
 
 Measured music did not introduce the ele- 
 ment of rhythmic organisation into the tone- 
 art. The measured notes were simply technical 
 devices calculated to facilitate singing in parts. 
 For rhythmic design, by which is meant the 
 symmetrical arrangement of tone groups of 
 clearly comprehensible rhythmic structure, 
 music is not indebted to the works of the 
 church composers, even the greatest among 
 them, but to the folk-song and the instrumental 
 dance-forms cultivated by the people. 
 
 In the hundred and fifty years, from about 
 1 1 50 to 1300, during which measured music 
 was practised side by side and in connection 
 with discant, such progress was made in the 
 formulation of rules for writing in a number of 
 parts that the close of the period of tentative 
 effort began to dawn and musical composition 
 
 49 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 began to enter the sphere of art, — the art of 
 counterpoint. This differed from written dis- 
 cant and was superior to it in that the parts 
 added to one or two given melodies were not 
 tones or tone groups strung together at random, 
 but melodies as organic and coherent as the ones 
 with which they were to be associated. As, 
 notwithstanding the apparent individuality of 
 each melody, every tone in its relation to the 
 other simultaneously sounding tones was sub- 
 ject to the severe rules of polyphony then con- 
 sidered binding, pieces so constructed were 
 said to be in counterpoint, point against point, 
 or note against note. 
 
 Neither political nor artistic conditions in 
 France were favourable to the full development 
 of the new style of music which had originated 
 there. It fell to the lot of the Netherlands to 
 bring the technics of counterpoint to perfec- 
 tion in the course of the two hundred years 
 following. From the middle of the fourteenth 
 to the middle of the sixteenth century the 
 Flemish masters held almost exclusive sway 
 over the musical destinies of Europe. 
 
 Although with counterpoint composition in 
 the real sense of the word was introduced and 
 a limit was set to the extemporaneous efforts 
 of the choristers, progress in music continued 
 to rest largely with these, for with but few ex- 
 
 50 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 ceptions the great church composers were 
 members of celebrated choirs and gained 
 their knowledge and experience in choristers* 
 schools. Nor was the art of discant neglected 
 as the practice of carefully writing out all 
 the parts of a choral composition obtained 
 vogue. The cantus supra librum or contrapunto 
 a mente, as mental counterpoint was called in 
 contradistinction to written counterpoint, af- 
 forded a rich field to singers for the exercise of 
 their talents in discanting. Mental counter- 
 point, extemporising in the contrapuntal style, 
 was practised in the churches of Italy up to the 
 present century, choristers versed in it being 
 much sought and more liberally remunerated 
 than those who could sing by note only. Im- 
 provising was considered the supreme test of 
 musicianship. On his Italian tour of 1770, 
 Mozart, then a lad of fourteen, was frequently 
 requested to submit to this ordeal and was ac- 
 claimed a genius on the strength of the ease 
 with which he passed it ; and sixty years later 
 Mendelssohn challenged universal admiration 
 by the occasional display of his gift of improv- 
 isation. That Bach required his pupils to play 
 on the spur of the moment accompaniments in 
 the contrapuntal manner is well known. 
 
 Difficult as it was to master the intricacies of 
 reading measured notation under any circum- 
 
 51 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 stances, it was made doubly so by the aberra- 
 tions into which composers were led in their 
 efforts to arrive at the highest possible degree 
 of excellence in the technics of composition. 
 To decipher the contrapuntal riddles which 
 the choristers were expected to solve almost 
 offhand was a task worthy of the efforts of the 
 best educated musician. These riddles were 
 not originally thought out for their own sake 
 or in order to puzzle the singer, but for the 
 purpose of enabling the composer to keep in- 
 tact, to the eye at least, the contours of the 
 prescribed short Gregorian chant or of the 
 folk-song on which an entire mass or a long 
 motet (an elaborate form of polyphonic com- 
 position on freely chosen sacred words) was 
 based. As the constant repetition by the tenor 
 of the same melody would have unavoidably 
 become monotonous, the composer formed 
 new melodies without changing the notation 
 of the original one by requiring the singers to 
 resort to such devices as reading the notes 
 backward ; reversing the direction of the in- 
 tervals without altering the intervals them- 
 selves ; lengthening or shortening one or more 
 tones ; or introducing occasional rests. The 
 rules for the guidance of the singers, which 
 were generally given in metaphorical mottoes 
 often couched in obscure Latin verse, were 
 
 52 
 
In the Mediseval Church 
 
 called canons, whence the designation canon, 
 now applied to a composition constructed 
 strictly according to the rules of imitation. 
 
 Quite as difficult to figure out were the in- 
 tricacies which composers delighted in creat- 
 ing on the basis of the subtle metrical system 
 of measured music. It became customary to 
 change the metre frequently in the course of a 
 piece, not uniformly in all the parts, but in 
 each part independent of the others, so that it 
 was often necessary to sing simultaneously 
 groups, which, consisting of such combinations 
 as those of four, five, eight and twelve tones, 
 clashed metrically. These were indicated not 
 by the simple methods now employed but by 
 means of signatures with the application of 
 which to the notes, which remained unaltered 
 in shape, the singer was expected to be per- 
 fectly familiar. The climax of artifice, however, 
 was reached when composers wrote masses or 
 motets for four or more parts on one stave, the 
 notes on which each of the parts was com- 
 pelled to read in a different metre and even in 
 frequently changing metres. In the following 
 example the opening measures of such a riddle, 
 a " fugue for four parts out of a single one " by 
 Pierre de la Rue (born about 1450), are given 
 in their original form and in their solution. 
 On examination it will be found that the same 
 
 53 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 melody is assigned to all the four parts in as 
 many different metres. 
 
 Fuga qnatnor vocum ex unica (Fetms TJatensis{. 
 
 H 
 
 A w q 
 
 3X=XS 
 
 Xc 
 
 :etc. 
 
 H$5= 
 
 Solution. 
 
 I 
 
 te 
 
 PLI^ 
 
 :^=iit 
 
 li^EZlt 
 
 i^ 
 
 IE 
 
 :a- 
 
 ^t 
 
 t=:t^. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^iE 
 
 The introduction of the more elaborate forms 
 of discant and counterpoint made necessary 
 the organisation of select choirs of adults who 
 devoted themselves to the practice of the florid 
 style, while the ordinary choirs of boys and 
 men confined their efforts to the Gregorian 
 chants harmonised in a rhythmically uniform 
 manner. Being dependent on the select choirs 
 for the performance of their works, composers 
 were, therefore, limited to the comparatively 
 small compass of male voices. Efforts to find 
 a way out of this serious difficulty suggested 
 
 54 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 the expedient of singing in falsetto, which by 
 the fifteenth century resulted in the extension 
 of the vocal scale to three octaves, whereas in 
 the eleventh century it had covered little more 
 than two octaves, reaching up to about B 
 (on the third line of the stave with the G or 
 treble clef). The male alto or counter-tenor, 
 generally a baritone or bass trained in the use 
 of the falsetto, is still to be found in the cathe- 
 dral choirs and glee clubs of England. In the 
 sixteenth century the range admissible in 
 choral music was practically exhausted by the 
 discovery in Spain of a secret which enabled 
 male singers to command the whole compass 
 of the boy or woman soprano. These Spanish 
 singers were in great demand until they were 
 in part displaced in the course of the seven- 
 teenth century by the artificial male sopranos, 
 who eventually became the tyrants of the Ital- 
 ian operatic stage. In the church choirs of 
 Italy and Southern Germany such singers were 
 preferably employed as principals, though not 
 to the exclusion of boys and natural falsettos, 
 up to the nineteenth century. In 1745, when 
 Haydn was a member of the choir of St. 
 Stephen's, Vienna, there were about a dozen 
 artificial male sopranos in the Austrian Impe- 
 rial chapel. In Italy they are not unknown at 
 the present day. In France and England, how- 
 
 55 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 ever, their sphere of activity was confined to 
 the Italian opera, boy sopranos being preferred 
 for choirs. 
 
 The mediaeval composers divided the voices 
 at their disposal into two classes : the acute, em- 
 bracing boys* voices and the voices of the natu- 
 ral and artificial adult male sopranos and altos; 
 and the grave, embracing men's voices in their 
 normal state. The parts for the former they 
 called cantus and altus, those for the latter tenor 
 and bassus. In employing the different higher 
 or lower varieties of these classes with a view 
 towards producing the desired tone effects they 
 displayed the greatest skill, and for the pur- 
 pose of clearly designating these varieties made 
 use of an elaborate system of clefs. The classi- 
 fication of voices now current is, of course, of 
 recent date and gradually crystallised under 
 the influence of the Italian opera singers and 
 composers. 
 
 No less influential than the Flemish com- 
 posers were the Flemish choristers. It was 
 largely owing to the superiority of the latter 
 that church choirs assumed the dignity of ar- 
 tistic institutions and were converted from 
 bodies of clericals instructed by monks in the 
 tradition of the Church, into organisations of 
 professional singers and musicians trained by 
 the best masters and ambitious of promotion 
 
 56 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 and fame. The Flemish singers were cele- 
 brated all over Europe. In Italy, France, and 
 Germany it was a cause for constant complaint 
 that these foreign choristers were in greater 
 demand and more liberally remunerated than 
 the native ones. It was the highest ambition 
 of kings and princes to have in their chapels as 
 many Netherlanders as possible and, above all, 
 to be able to boast of a Netherland chapel mas- 
 ter, for whom no honours and emoluments were 
 considered too great. 
 
 The history of the chapel of Duke Albert of 
 Munich, of which Orlando di Lasso (i 532-1 594), 
 the only Flemish master to be compared with 
 Palestrina, was conductor, may serve to illus- 
 trate how some of the celebrated choirs of that 
 time were organised and trained. Through 
 the influence of the fabulously wealthy house 
 of the Fuggers, Lasso was induced to leave 
 Antwerp and take up his residence in Munich. 
 He was empowered to bring with him his best 
 singers and to secure additional ones, as well 
 as the most competent instrumentalists, wher- 
 ever they could be iound in all Europe. The 
 boys were domiciled in his own house, towards 
 the purchase of which the Duke had contributed 
 a large sum. Here they were under the per- 
 sonal supervision of Lasso, who instructed them 
 in the art of singing and in the theory of music, 
 
 57 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 not, however, to the neglect of their general 
 education. Appreciative of the advantages of 
 studying under so great a master, many of the 
 boys returned after their voices had changed, 
 so that in the course of time the chapel con- 
 sisted of boys and men who, with but few 
 exceptions, had been trained from the very 
 beginning by Lasso himself. This choir re- 
 mained under his direction for thirty-seven 
 years. *The chapel in its entirety embraced 
 r twelve basses, fifteen tenors, thirteen adult male 
 altos, sixteen boy sopranos, five or six artificial 
 male sopranos {musici), and thirty instrumental- 
 ists. With such resources at his command 
 Lasso, who according to all accounts was not 
 only a severe disciplinarian but an inspiring 
 conductor as well, must have attained results 
 of the surpassing excellence 6f which it is diffi- 
 cult to form an adequate conception. The 
 singing of the choir is said to have been su- 
 premely beautiful in quality and perfectly bal- 
 anced, and not to have been marred by the 
 slightest deviation from the pitch even in the 
 longest unaccompanied composition. At ban- 
 ^ quets it was customary for the orchestra to play 
 ' until dessert had been served, when the choir 
 under the personal direction of Lasso per- 
 formed a programme consisting of choruses, 
 and quartets and trios given by picked voices. 
 
 58 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 Such establishments, however, were not often 
 to be found outside royal courts, wherefore 
 they were called scholce palatince, Imperial sing- 
 ing schools, while the most highly developed 
 polyphonic style of singing, to which such bod- 
 ies only were perfectly equal, was called the 
 mos palatinusy the Imperial style up to the sev- 
 enteenth century. 
 
 As was inevitable, a reaction against artifi- 
 ciality in composition set in after the possi- 
 bilities of contrapuntal technics had been fully 
 exploited by the Flemish masters, and when 
 the power of sensuous beauty inherent in har- 
 mony began to assert itself. Towards this the 
 growing cultivation of secular music largely 
 contributed. Although in secular music too 
 the polyphonic style was the prevailing one, 
 folk-songs naturally suggested a less severe 
 treatment than the mass. Especially was this 
 the case with the shorter forms, such as the 
 " Frottole," street songs, the " Cacce," hunting 
 songs, the " Ballate," dance songs, and the "Fa- 
 las," bright, rapid movements sung to unmean- 
 ing syllables. The most highly organised type 
 of secular music was the madrigal — usually 
 interpreted to signify a shepherd's song — to 
 which the church composers devoted particu- 
 lar attention, and which was subsequently 
 transferred to the early operas. 
 
 59 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 The singing of madrigals and contrapuntal 
 arrangements of popular songs was extensively 
 practised in private circles and was encour- 
 aged, even participated in, by the nobility. 
 Andreas Pevernage (i 543-1 591), master of sing- 
 ing in the Cathedral of Antwerp, arranged 
 weekly choral performances in his home for the 
 purpose of familiarising his friends with the 
 newest works in choral literature. In Paris 
 Baif, the founder of the Academy of Poetry and 
 Music, gave weekly choral entertainments in 
 which Charles IX. (King of France 1 560-1 584), 
 who was a well trained tenor singer, partici- 
 pated. In Italy chorus singing was fostered at 
 the courts of the nobility, such as the Sforza at 
 Mantua, the Este at Milan, and the Medici at 
 Florence; and in Rome Leo X. (Pope 1513- 
 1521) supported at great expense a number of 
 celebrated virtuosi to entertain him with play- 
 ing and singing secular music. 
 
 While the Flemish composers made disciples 
 among the Italians as early as the middle of 
 the fifteenth century, it was not until a hun- 
 dred years later that the master appeared who 
 turned the eyes of the musical world from the 
 Netherlands to Italy. That master was Pales- 
 trina (i 526-1 594), and the type of music which 
 he created was not an Italian one, but the 
 highest and purest type of unaccompanied 
 
 60 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 polyphonic ecclesiastical music of all coun- 
 tries and of all times. 
 
 The technical superiority of Palestrina's mu- 
 sic lies in this — that while each and every mel- 
 ody of the polyphonic structure is vocally flu- 
 ent and individually expressive, and is of equal 
 significance with every other melody, the har- 
 monies which result from the union of all the 
 melodies are so supremely beautiful and suc- 
 ceed each other so naturally as to preclude the 
 thought of calculation. It is the apparent art- 
 lessness of the tone combinations, which are 
 really the product of the most profound learn- 
 ing, that is so eloquent of his consummate skill, 
 for the simplest harmonic progressions often 
 prove on close examination to rest on the most 
 intricate forms of imitation. 
 
 Of much greater importance, however, than 
 the technical are the spiritual qualities of his 
 music. Palestrina's conception of what the 
 music of the Roman Church should be was in 
 perfect accord with the principle held by the 
 Early Church : that music should form an in- 
 tegral part of the liturgy and add to its impres- 
 siveness. This had been lost sight of in the 
 effort to develop the mechanics of composition. 
 Palestrina by force of his sovereign command 
 of all possible resources created a type which, 
 notwithstanding its high artistic organisation, 
 
 6x 
 
 / 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 never obtrudes its own beauty, but reflects, or 
 perhaps it might be better to say refracts, in its 
 exalted and chaste purity the ineffable mys- 
 teries symbolised in the ceremonies of the 
 Church. For its full effect, therefore, his music 
 is dependent on its association with the cere- 
 monies, the spiritual contemplation of which 
 had inspired it to the smallest detail. No sen- 
 suous melodies, no dissonant, tension-creating 
 harmonies, no abrupt rhythms distract the 
 thoughts and excite the sensibilities. Chains of 
 consonant chords growing out of the combina- 
 tion of smoothly flowing, closely interwoven 
 parts, the contours of which are all but lost in 
 the maze of tones, lull the mind into that state 
 of submission to indefinite impressions which 
 makes it susceptible to the mystic influence of 
 the ceremonial and turns it away from worldly 
 things. 
 
 Such melodies and harmonies as Palestrina 
 wrote and such effects as he produced by 
 different groupings of the voices were pos- 
 sible only under the system of ecclesiastical 
 modes ; to the modern system of tonality they 
 are foreign. Progress on the lines followed by 
 Palestrina was impossible. With him the gold- 
 en era of vocal counterpoint came to an end. 
 Even during his lifetime the opponents of po- 
 lyphony, the champions of the dramatic style, 
 
 62 
 
In the Mediseval Church 
 
 began to assert themselves, and instrumental 
 music to encroach on the domain of vocal music. 
 Up to 1305 the papal chapel at Rome, or sing- 
 ing guild, as it was then called, had been the 
 means of preserving the Gregorian musical rit- 
 ual as accurately as was possible by tradition. 
 In that year, however, a new choir was formed 
 at Avignon, whither the pontifical court had 
 been transferred. Under Benedict (Pope 1334- 
 1342) such emoluments, generally in the shape 
 of ecclesiastical preferments to which special in- 
 dulgences were annexed, were assured the mem- 
 bers of this choir that the services of the most 
 celebrated singers and composers of France 
 and the Netherlands could be secured. In con- 
 sequence the chapel, now numbering twelve, 
 became an organisation of virtuosi and musi- 
 cians whose pride lay in the introduction of the 
 most advanced methods. This new choir was 
 part of the brilliant retinue with which Gregory 
 re-entered Rome on January 17, 1377. Under 
 the name of pontifical chapel it supplanted the 
 old singing school and, liberally endowed by 
 Eugene IV. (Pope 1431-1447), developed into a 
 cosmopolitan university for church music, in 
 which foreign artists predominated until Ro- 
 man composers and singers had mastered the 
 polyphonic style. The number of its members 
 was increased from twelve to twenty-four, and 
 
 63 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 finally to thirty-two, the figure which has rep- 
 resented its normal strength since 1625. About 
 the year 1441 the places of the boy choristers 
 were taken by adult falsetto singers, largely 
 Spaniards. The first artificial soprano was 
 admitted into the choir in 1601. This class of 
 voices has been represented in the papal chapel 
 ever since, subject to certain conditions. The 
 Sistine Chapel, famous for the frescoes by Mich- 
 ael Angelo, was added to the Vatican in 1473 by 
 Pope Sixtus IV., and as it was here that the pa- 
 pal choir daily officiated, the choir itself became 
 known by that name. In the same year Sixtus 
 IV. erected a choral chapel in St. Peter's which 
 he provided with a body of choristers who were 
 subject to the jurisdiction of the papal singers. 
 This choir, consisting of from fifteen to twenty 
 boys and men, which was called the Julian 
 Chapel after it had been liberally endowed by 
 Pope Julius II. (1503-15 13), has remained to the 
 present day the official choral body of the Basil- 
 ica of St. Peter. Its singing is often taken by 
 the uninformed for that of the Sistine Chapel. 
 The latter was practically disbanded when on 
 September 20, 1870, the Sardinian troops en- 
 tered Rome and the temporal power of the 
 Pope came to an end, although its members are 
 gathered together on special occasions to sing 
 in the Sistine Chapel. Don Lorenzo Perosi, the 
 
 64 
 
In the Mediaeval Church 
 
 young composer in whom the devotees of Ital- 
 ian church music are placing their hopes, was 
 appointed honorary master of the papal chapel 
 in 1898. It is said that he is making efforts to 
 obtain permission to introduce women's voices 
 into the choir. While the singing of the Sis- 
 tine Chapel has always been unaccompanied, 
 the Julian Chapel has the support of two organs, 
 and two groups of double basses and 'cellos, 
 placed opposite each other with the two sections 
 into which the choir is divided for the purpose 
 of producing antiphonal effects. 
 
 The Sistine Chapel, with which the activity 
 of Palestrina as a composer was so long identi- 
 fied, has remained the authority for the proper 
 performance of his music. The traditions es- 
 sential thereto concern not only unimportant 
 details but radical features of the Palestrina 
 style. They affect even the very tones them- 
 selves, for on account of theoretical punctilios 
 chromatic signs were very sparingly used in 
 writing, singers being expected to introduce 
 them in accordance with the rules of musica 
 ficta, artificial music. This was strikingly il- 
 lustrated when the choristers of the Imperial 
 chapel at Vienna attempted to sing the cele- 
 brated Miserere by Allegri (i 584-1662), which 
 Mozart as a lad of fourteen wrote out from 
 memory after having heard it twice. As a spe- 
 
 65 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 cial favour a faithful copy of this Miserere, which 
 was guarded with jealous care by the Sistine 
 Chapel, was sent to Emperor Leopold (1640- 
 1705); yet the effect of its performance by the 
 Imperial choir was so disappointing, owing to 
 the unfamiliarity of the singers with the cor- 
 rect reading of the text, the traditional orna- 
 ments, and the proper manner of shading the 
 music, that the papal chapel master was un- 
 justly accused of having forwarded a garbled 
 version. Besides introducing the abellimenti^ 
 as the unwritten ornaments are called, the 
 Sistine choristers constantly varied the tempo 
 and produced peculiar tonal effects by means 
 of imperceptibly increasing and decreasing the 
 number of voices in accord with certain acts of 
 the celebrant at the altar, all of which was 
 necessary to the realisation of the composer's 
 purpose. As by far the greater number of the 
 compositions in the repertory of the Sistine 
 Chapel were written by the members them- 
 selves, the application of the methods in vogue 
 with that body of singers was a foregone con- 
 clusion. Unless performed accordingly, such 
 compositions must, therefore, fail of fully ex- 
 pressing the authors* intentions. 
 
 66 
 
IV 
 
 After the Reformation 
 
 WHEN in 597 St. Augustine accompanied 
 by a number of Roman choristers came 
 to the county of Kent to introduce Gregorian 
 song into England, his teachings and the in- 
 struction of his associates were so eagerly re- 
 ceived and intelligently followed that in a short 
 time English singers became famous the whole 
 Continent over. Since then choral culture in 
 England has not suffered any interruption save 
 that which took place from 1649 to 1660 under 
 the Commonwealth. Not only were the mo- 
 nastic and cathedral schools, modelled after 
 those of Rome, of the best, and the endowments 
 for ecclesiastical and lay choristers ample, but 
 secular institutions too for the propagation of 
 musical learning were encouraged by the clergy. 
 In 849 a chair of music was created in the Ox- 
 ford High School, though in all probability for 
 the study of music as a science only, and as 
 early as 1463 the University of Cambridge con- 
 ferred the degrees of bachelor and doctor of 
 
 67 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 n 
 
 music. Gerald de Berry (i 146-1220), Bishop of 
 St. David's, said of the Welsh and the inhabi- 
 tants of the north of England that they did not 
 sing in unison like the inhabitants of other 
 countries but in as many parts as there were 
 singers, who all ** finally unite in consonance 
 and organic melody under the softness of B flat." 
 On the borders of Yorkshire he found that the 
 people sang in two parts only, a habit which 
 was so deeply rooted that the children adopted 
 it as soon as they began to sing. Foreigners 
 who visited England during the fifteenth cen- 
 tury declared the chorus singing in that coun- 
 try to be equal to any to be heard on the Con- 
 tinent, and asserted that in the cultivation of 
 secular music the English were in advance of 
 all other peoples. | During the reign of Eliza- 
 beth (i 558-1603) the city of London advertised 
 the musical abilities of the boys educated in 
 Bridewell and Christ's Hospital as a means of 
 commending them as servants, apprentices, or 
 husbandmen. Even while the organum and 
 discant were in a rudimentary state in France 
 there was practised in England the more ma- 
 ture method of harmonising melodies known as 
 the Fa-burden {faux hour don) y which consisted 
 in accompanying each tone of a given melody 
 with its third and sixth, whereby an unbroken 
 series of consonant chords was formed ; and 
 
 68 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 evidences are accumulating that the art of coun- 
 terpoint too originated in England, and that 
 Dunstable (died 1453), a native of Dunstable in 
 Berfordshire, was one of its earliest exponents. 
 Then for a time English composers yielded 
 precedence to their Flemish contemporaries, 
 and while they achieved admirable results in 
 the current forms of the mass, motet, and mad- 
 rigal, it remained for the Reformation to in- 
 spire them with the energy necessary to the 
 establishment of an English national school of 
 music. 
 
 Although since the da ys o f Wycliffe (died 
 1384) ps alms were chanted m English, it was 
 n ot until about the middle of the sixteenth 
 cfintiiry^ when Marbeck's Book of Common 
 Prayer appeared, that the musical possibil ities 
 inherent in the English cathedral service be- 
 gan to be duly appreciated and the unlimited 
 field of activity to be exploited which presented 
 itself in the harmonisation, and in the adaptation 
 of plain song melodies to English words, in the 
 composition of hymns to the metrical transcrip- 
 tions of the psalms, and in the setting of the 
 canticles in the form of anthems. 
 
 For the hymns English composers did not 
 have such resources to fall back upon as 
 Luther and his collaborators had found in the 
 German folk-melodies. Hymn texts, therefore, 
 
 69 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 seem for a time to have been composed some- 
 what elaborately after the manner of short 
 motets. Soon, however, such settings gave 
 way to the popular tunes in use among the 
 Protestants at Geneva. These together with 
 others of the same character, traceable partly 
 to German and partly to English sources, fur- 
 nished the nucleus of early English hymnody. 
 
 f^The first collection of hymn tunes for four 
 
 ^ voices, harmonised in the plainest manner with 
 the melody in the tenor, appeared in 1563. In 
 a collection published in 1591 the melody was 
 given to the highest part, probably for the first 
 time. The most celebrated volume of hymns, 
 however, was the one edited by Ravens- 
 croft and issued in 162 1. Not only are the 
 tunes of this collection truly devotional, but 
 their arrangements in plain counterpoint, with 
 the melody in the tenor, are models of good 
 taste and in their very simplicity disclose per- 
 fect command of the technics of polyphonic 
 writing. That such melodies and such settings 
 should have been cast aside for the inferior, 
 unchurchly ones which obtained vogue after 
 the Restoration and are in common use to-day, 
 is to be deeply deplored. 
 
 irV A distinctively English form of church mu- 
 sic, and the form in which the achievements of 
 
 i the English polyphonists culminated, was that 
 
 ^ 70 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 of the anthem. This took the place of the Latin 
 motet when the Latin language was banished 
 from the Church in England. The full (choral) 
 anthems of such masters as Tallis (died 1585), 
 Byrd (i 538-1623), and Gibbons (i 583-1625), are 
 among the choicest specimens of unaccom- 
 panied contrapuntal composition. The accom- 
 panied (verse) anthem for soloists and chorus 
 belongs to the period of decadence of the pure 
 church style, which was hastened by the 
 French tastes of Charles IL (1660-1685). The 
 permission to embody the anthem in the lit- 
 urgy, granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1559, 
 is notable for its accompanying injunction : — 
 " having respect that the sentence of the hymn 
 may be understanded and perceived," — a quali- 
 fication which anticipated by four years the 
 similar demand made by the commission of 
 Pope Pius IV. for the reformation of church 
 music and satisfied with such important results 
 by Palestrina. 
 
 Secular music of an artistic standard was 
 represented in England principally by the mad- 
 rigal, which stood in high favour with the no- 
 bility and gentry, and to which the English po- 
 lyphonists imparted a national character. At 
 the time of Henry VIII. (1509-1547), who was 
 himself a composer of high attainments, it was 
 considered a disgrace not to be able to carry a 
 
 7X 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 part in singing a madrigal. When, however, 
 counterpoint succumbed to modern harmony 
 the madrigal made way for the less elaborate 
 glee, and for the round and the catch, pecul- 
 iarly English types of music the correct per- 
 formance of which became a difficult art with 
 fixed traditions, properly understood only in 
 England to this day. Singing catches with ap- 
 propriate gestures, as was customary, formed 
 one of the principal amusements at the court 
 of Charles II., and was enthusiastically taken 
 up by the common people particularly of the 
 northern and midland counties, where aptitude 
 and love for part-singing were present to an 
 unusual degree. 
 
 In the Chapel Royal England possesses one 
 of the oldest, if not the oldest, choral institutions 
 in existence with the exception of the Sistine 
 Chapel in Rome. Although the first record of 
 such an establishment dates back to the fif- 
 teenth century only, it scarcely admits of 
 doubt that royal chapels were organised long 
 before that time. From that record it appears 
 that the Chapel Royal of Edward IV. (1441- 
 1483) was complete in every department and 
 was conducted on an elaborate scale. It con- 
 sisted of a Confessor to the Household; twenty- 
 four Chaplains and Clerks, skilled in discant, 
 eloquence in reading, and ability in organ play- 
 
 72 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 ing ; two Epistlers, ex-chorister boys ; eight 
 Children and a Master of the Children. The 
 members of the chapel were bound to accom- 
 pany the sovereign wherever he might go. 
 The children were boarded and lodged at the 
 royal palace. They had daily amongst them 
 "two loaves, one messe of greate meate, ij 
 galones of ale," and were attended by one ser- 
 vant " to traine and bear their harness and 
 lyvery in Courte." When on a journey with 
 the king's chapel they received fourpence a 
 day for horse hire. When their voices changed 
 " yf they will assente the King assygneth them 
 to a College of Oxford or Cambridge of his 
 foundation, there to be at fynding and studye 
 both suffytyently, tylle the King may other- 
 wise advance them." 
 
 While in the Chapel Royal and at St. Paul's 
 in London the children were evidently well 
 cared for, such seems not to have been the case 
 at churches of minor importance. Officers were 
 constantly roaming the country with warrants 
 empowering them to seize and take with them 
 for service in the royal chapel singing men 
 and children "with good breasts" and expert 
 in the science of music, wherever they could 
 be found, whether in cathedrals, churches, 
 colleges, chapels, houses of religion, or any 
 other place within the realm. The right of 
 
 73 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 carrying out this edict seems to have been sur- 
 reptitiously exercised in favour of other choirs 
 than those for whose benefit it had been framed, 
 and the boys so impressed appear not always 
 to have been well treated, as the following com- 
 plaint written by Thomas Tusser (i 523-1 580), 
 the author of " Five Hundred Points of Good 
 Husbandry," when he was chorister at Walling- 
 ford, indicates: — 
 
 *' Oh shameful time ! for every crime 
 What toosed ears, like baited beares. 
 What bobbed lippes, what yerkes, what nips, 
 
 What hellish toies ! 
 What robes, how bare, what colledge fare, 
 What bread, how stale ; what penny ale. 
 Then Wallingford, how wert thou abhor'd 
 
 Of silly boies." 
 
 The life of the choristers, however, was not 
 altogether one of discipline and work. They 
 enjoyed from the earliest times certain privi- 
 leges and rights from the exercise of which 
 they derived a little money and a great deal of 
 amusement. They were permitted, for in- 
 stance, during a number of days every year, 
 generally in December, to impersonate their 
 superiors and assume authority over them. 
 In doing this they displayed such skill in act- 
 ing that they were intrusted with the per- 
 formance of miracle plays and, at the time of 
 
 74 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, even with the representation 
 of masques and dramatic pieces. Under Ed- 
 ward VI. (1547-15 53) the royal chapel, consist- 
 ing of thirty-four singers and thirty-nine in- 
 strumentalists, was maintained at an annual 
 expense of more than twenty - two hundred 
 pounds sterling. 
 
 The singing of the royal choristers must 
 have been on a high plane of excellence. A 
 Venetian ambassador at the court of King 
 Henry VIIL, who had undoubtedly often 
 heard the services at St. Mark's in Venice, 
 which the great Flemish master Willaert (1480- 
 1562) had made famous, wrote "the mass was 
 sung by His Majesty's choristers, whose voices 
 are more heavenly than human. They did no 
 chant like men, but gave praise like angels." 
 
 Fortunately the reign of the bigoted Round- 
 heads, who in waging a war of extermination 
 on everything associated with the conduct of 
 the ritual of the Anglican Church directed 
 their efforts towards the complete extinction 
 of choral culture, not excepting the singing of 
 catches and glees in ale-houses, was not of suf- 
 ficient duration to quite destroy musical tradi- 
 tions. Nevertheless, when under Charles II. 
 cathedral music was restored, so much diffi- 
 culty was experienced in obtaining choir-boys 
 that it was frequently found necessary to sup- 
 
 75 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 ply their places in the chorus with adult fal- 
 setto singers and even cornets. For the Chapel 
 Royal, however, Captain Cooke, once a choris- 
 ter of the chapel of Charles I., succeeded in 
 gathering together a set of boys of most ex- 
 J^ tfaordinary talent. On one occasion the King, 
 [ who took great pride in his choir, after having 
 appealed in vain to his court composers to fin- 
 ish at a few hours' notice a thanksgiving an- 
 them for the celebration of a victory over the 
 Dutch fleet, communicated his wish to these 
 young choristers. Undaunted three of them 
 undertook and accomplished the task within 
 the allotted time by writing the piece known 
 as the " Club Anthem.** These three boys, 
 Humphrey (1647-1674), Blow (1648-1708), and 
 Turner (1651-1739), grew up to take their 
 places among the most celebrated composers 
 / of that period, and together with their fellow 
 ' chorister, Henry Purcell (1658-1695), one of the 
 greatest if not the greatest of English-born 
 musicians of all times, became the founders of 
 the new English school of church music. 
 
 Naturally in sympathy with the dramatic 
 movement following the Renaissance, which 
 bore music from the ecclesiastical modes and 
 f the unaccompanied polyphonic style towards 
 modern tonality and the accompanied mono- 
 die style, these choristers were urged on in 
 
 76 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 the new direction by Charles II., who, having 
 acquired a decided taste for the melodious 
 and brilliant French operatic music during his 
 stay on the Continent, insisted on its introduc: 
 tion into the Church. Accordingly he com- 
 manded his composers to write bright, tune- 
 ful pieces in which the solo voices would be 
 duly considered and interludes frequently in- 
 troduced for the orchestra of viols, sackbuts 
 (trombones), and cornets with which he filled 
 the organ loft of the royal chapel. In comply- 
 ing with his wishes they created the verse an- y >j 
 them with its short melodious and more or less 
 florid movements for solo voices, chorus, and 
 organ or orchestra. Purcell's works in this 
 form as well as in the larger choral forms, such 
 as those of the sacred cantata and the ode, were 
 of so advanced a type and showed so keen 
 an appreciation of the means of characteris- 
 tic expression inherent in music that Handel 
 felt safe in accepting them as models for his 
 early compositions of the same kind. Influ- 
 ences similar to those which dictated the sub- 
 stitution of the verse for the full anthem, were 
 responsible for the supplanting of the time 
 honoured unisonous Gregorian with the mod- 
 ern harmonised single and double chant. 
 
 With the introduction of Christianity into 
 Germany provisions were made for the instruc- 
 
 77 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 tion of the clergy and choir-boys in the proper 
 performance of the Roman ritual by the foun- 
 dation of schools in Fulda in 744 and shortly af- 
 ter in Ratisbon, Wurzburg, Mayence, and other 
 cities, similar to the Roman singing schools and 
 presided over or inspected at intervals by Ro- 
 man choristers. The people being necessarily 
 debarred from participation in the regular ser- 
 vices of the church, which were conducted in 
 Latin, sought and found opportunities to give 
 praise in their own language and in their own 
 songs at church festivals for which definite lit- 
 urgical forms had not been provided and which 
 in the course of time had assumed the charac- 
 ter of popular celebrations. In this they were 
 encouraged by the clergy, who translated Latin 
 church hymns into the vernacular and wrote 
 new ones adapted to folk-melodies. Some of 
 the sequences of Notker Balbulus, already re- 
 ferred to, originated in this way. The folk- 
 melodies themselves underwent changes in the 
 course of time under the influence of the Gre- 
 gorian chants, which the people, who heard 
 them constantly, involuntarily imitated. This 
 is particularly observable in many of the tunes 
 which were introduced in the miracle plays, 
 the forerunners of the oratorio. 
 
 As early as the thirteenth century every 
 church festival had its canticum vulgare, its pop- 
 
 78 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 ular song, in which the congregation joined 
 either at a designated place in the course of the 
 service or at the end of it. In Bohemia, a coun- 
 try noted for its wealth of beautiful and charac- 
 teristic folk-music, the singing of spiritual songs 
 was made the subject of special study. With 
 this purpose in view the first choral society of 
 which there is any record was organised at 
 Prague in 1 195. This was the *' Society of Cho- 
 rus Singers," and its expressed object was the 
 improvement of popular sacred music. Its mis- 
 sion was later taken up by the " Choruses of 
 Literati," singing societies established by stu- 
 dents of seminaries and universities in order to 
 promote congregational singing in the vernac- 
 ular. In Germany similar movements were be- 
 gun towards the end of the fourteenth century. 
 Notwithstanding the fact that interest in sa- 
 cred music was widespread in Germany, the 
 practice of discant and counterpoint yielded no 
 important results in that country until the Ref- 
 ormation necessitated the introduction of a new 
 type of church composition by revolutionising 
 the liturgy. Up to that time the German poly- 
 phonic composers followed in the footsteps of 
 the Flemish masters ; and while some of them, 
 such as Finck (about 1500) and Isaak (died 
 about 1 5 17), the composer of the noble tune 
 " Inspruck ich muss dich lassen," which Bach 
 
 79 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 so often made use of, applied the Flemish 
 methods with conspicuous success to German 
 folk-melodies and spiritual songs, they did not 
 found a distinctively national school. 
 
 All this was changed by the Reformation. 
 The individual, personal nature of the new 
 doctrine not only permitted but required the 
 employment of the vernacular and the partici- 
 pation of the congregation in divine service. 
 In order to encourage this Luther (1483-1546) 
 advocated the retention of the most familiar 
 hymns of the Latin Church, which he translated 
 into German, and the introduction of popular 
 folk-songs and spiritual songs, the texts of 
 which he and his collaborators adapted for 
 church use. This was the origin of the Protes- 
 tant chorale. In the course of time new tunes 
 were added, Luther himself being a contributor. 
 The melody of the Battle Hymn of the Refor- 
 mation, " Ein' feste Burg," however, generally 
 ascribed to him, was composed by Walther 
 (1496-1570). Luther, who loved music and had 
 studied it in the schools of Mansfeld, Magde- 
 burg, and Eisenach, insisted that these melodies 
 should be harmonised artistically — which meant 
 in the polyphonic manner then prevalent — yet 
 so as not to distort or make unrecognisable their 
 contours. Rupf, chapel-master to the Elec- 
 tor of Saxony, and Johann Walther, cantor at 
 
 80 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 the court of Frederick the Wise at Torgau, ac- 
 complished this task. The first collection of 
 chorales collated and edited by Walther was 
 published in 1524 at Wittenberg in five books, 
 each containing a single vocal part only. In 
 this collection the melody with but a few ex- 
 ceptions was given to the tenor, while in later 
 hymn-books the principle of assigning the lead- 
 ing part to the highest voice, so successfully 
 carried out in the arrangements for congrega- 
 tional use made by Dr. Lucas Oseander and pub- 
 lished in 1586, was almost universally adopted^ 
 One of the most characteristic features of the 
 chorales, particularly of those resting on folk- 
 tunes, was the irregularity of their metrical 
 construction, the combination of duple and 
 triple metre. This peculiarity was unfortu- 
 nately sacrificed in the course of time to the ef- 
 forts of the organists to extemporise elaborate 
 polyphonic accompaniments. The German 
 chorale in tones of uniform value, as now sung, 
 is but a shadow of its original self. 
 
 Great importance though Luther attached to 
 congregational singing, he did not fail to advo- 
 cate the retention of trained choirs and thereby 
 to encourage the composition of choral music 
 in the more elaborate forms. In writing such 
 works the German composers remained true to 
 the dignified style becoming the church, and to 
 
 81 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 this it was due that polyphonic methods were 
 not entirely forgotten when the monodists of 
 Italy and France became the musical lawgivers. 
 
 In the perpetuation and improvement of the 
 schools for the education of choristers, which 
 had been founded under the Roman Church, 
 Luther took an active interest. Having him- 
 self received his musical instruction in mo- 
 nastic and cathedral schools and realising the 
 need of such institutions, he appealed to civic 
 authorities, parishes, and wealthy citizens to aid 
 in supporting them when, with the secularisa- 
 tion of bishoprics and with the suppression of 
 abbeys and the alienation of their lands, they 
 and the choirs connected with them were dis- 
 solved. Luther had been a ** poor scholar *' too 
 and one of the currendani^ who earned a spare 
 penny by singing hymns and spiritual songs 
 before the houses of the well-to-do ; and having 
 learned from observation the religious influ- 
 ence of this practice, he urged its continuance. 
 In addition he advocated the formation of so- 
 cieties for the propagation of church music. 
 
 While on the one hand church choirs neces- 
 sarily sacrificed some of their efficiency for a 
 time with the loss of the compact organisation 
 due to their semi-clerical character, they on 
 the other hand became the means of diffusing 
 musical knowledge among the people as they 
 
 82 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 ceased to be hedged in by monastic regula- 
 tions. Among the institutions which helped 
 to usher in the new era in choral culture that 
 of the currendi was one of the most efficient. 
 Although justification for its existence had long 
 since passed, such an institution was stubbornly 
 kept alive in Berlin for the pecuniary return 
 it yielded until about twenty years ago, when 
 it was prohibited from continuing its practices. 
 The idea of organising peregrinating choirs 
 for the purpose of disseminating religious doc- 
 trines among the people and at the same time 
 of providing means for the indigent scholars, is 
 generally ascribed to Scipio Damianus, Bishop 
 of Asti (died 1472), yet from time immemorial 
 it was one of the privileges of the pupils of the 
 monastic schools on certain festival days to 
 go about town with appropriate emblems and 
 invite the bestowal of alms by singing. In 
 the course of the Reformation these juvenile 
 choirs, the currendi, not only served as a po- 
 tent means of spreading the new doctrine, but 
 became an important feature as well in the prop- 
 agation of choral culture. The currendani, as 
 the members of the currendi were called, were 
 selected from the lower classes of the parochial 
 and cathedral schools and instructed to assist at 
 divine service by singing choral responses and 
 chorales. As many of them were poor boys, 
 
 83 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 and the remuneration for these duties, if there 
 was any, was trifling, they were encouraged to 
 pass from house to house and sing canticles in 
 two or three parts, for which they received a 
 small compensation. In the course of time it 
 became customary to engage their services on 
 every possible opportunity, for in Germany no 
 ceremony or celebration was considered com- 
 plete without its musical accompaniment. At 
 baptisms, on birthdays, at weddings, and on 
 countless similar occasions the currendani were 
 in demand, so that they were often about from 
 early in the morning till late at night. What- 
 ever the little singers received was handed to 
 the teacher, who at the end of the week divided 
 it up and, after having given to each one the 
 amount necessary for his sustenance, held what 
 remained in trust until the end of the school- 
 term. Daily instruction in singing and in the 
 music of the ritual was given gratuitously. 
 The celebrated English historian Burney, who 
 was much amused at the little choristers, de- 
 scribes them as wearing " black undertaker-like 
 uniforms and large grizzle wigs," and asserts 
 that in the larger cities they received a thaler 
 every quarter of a year from the resident am- 
 bassadors for agreeing not to sing before their 
 doors. In order to avoid conflict the curren- 
 dani were divided into a number of choirs 
 
 84 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 to each of which a certain territory was as- 
 signed. 
 
 In the higher, the Latin schools, especially 
 in those connected with cathedrals, the cus- 
 tom of making provisions for the lodging and 
 boarding of a number of boys and youths with- 
 in the school enclosures, generally old monas- 
 teries, remained in force after the Reformation, 
 In return for the enjoyment of these privileges 
 the alumni, as these boys were called, were 
 bound to serve as members of the church choir 
 or of the church orchestra, when instrumental 
 accompaniment was required, for they received 
 not only vocal but instrumental instruction as 
 well. The funds requisite for the sustenance of 
 additional alumni were often furnished by per- 
 sons interested in church music. In some par- 
 ishes as many as fifty alumni were provided 
 for. 
 
 On these choirs devolved the duty of singing 
 the figurate music, music written in florid coun- 
 terpoint, to which the little currendani were 
 not equal, and to them belongs the credit of 
 having popularised in Germany the works of 
 the polyphonic masters, which had been until 
 then cultivated almost exclusively by the royal 
 and princely chapels, composed largely of 
 Flemish and Italian singers. 
 
 The alumni were really competent musicians, 
 85 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 many of whom looked forward to a professional 
 career. The only drawback to the efhciency of 
 the choruses of alumni was that the tenors and 
 basses lacked the sonority of maturity, while the 
 sopranos and altos could serve for a short time 
 only, on account of approaching change of voice. 
 It is said that it was not unusual for a lad of 
 seventeen to sing a soprano solo of a Sunday 
 and a few weeks later to be one of the basses. 
 
 A phenomenon for which it is difficult to ac- 
 count is that the secret which made it possible 
 for male adults to sing high soprano parts, and 
 which was supposed to be known to the Span- 
 iards alone, appears to have been in the posses- 
 sion of some of these young men. Spitta, the 
 biographer of Bach, whose testimony is unim- 
 peachable, asserts that it was not uncommon 
 for the adult choristers who sang the solos in 
 Bach's works to command a range up to E and 
 F in Alt., and Burney writing in 1732 from Vi- 
 enna referred in laudatory terms to the sing- 
 ing in falsetto of the '' poor pupils." In Dres- 
 den the chorus for the Grand Opera even was 
 made up of the alumni of the School of the 
 Holy Cross from 17 17 till 18 17, when Carl Maria 
 von Weber organised a special opera chorus. 
 
 As the alumni, like the currendani, were per- 
 mitted to sing in private houses and in this way 
 derived considerable income, applicants for ad- 
 
 86 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 mission into such choirs were numerous, and 
 conductors could, therefore, be exacting in their 
 demands. Bach himself at the age of fifteen 
 left Ohrdruf for Luneburg in order to apply 
 for such a position, which, of course, he ob-« 
 tained. That the alumni were technically well 
 trained is evident from the requirements which 
 the works of Bach and his contemporaries, com- 
 posed with such singers in view, make on skill 
 in intonation and execution. The ability to 
 surmount easily such difficulties as those of 
 rapid scales and trills was considered absolutely 
 indispensable to the equipment of a chorister. 
 
 The influence of the currendani and alumni on 
 choral culture in Germany was highly benefi- 
 cial. Even after their official connection with 
 church choirs had ceased, the former boy chor- 
 isters as students at the seminaries and univer- 
 sities continued to manifest their interest in 
 choral music by establishing choruses and par- 
 ticipating in the services of the church. To- 
 gether with the adjuvanteSy voluntary assistants, 
 who reinforced the instrumentalists regularly 
 employed, they made it possible to undertake 
 the elaborate production of large accompanied 
 choral works, especially on festival days. At 
 the University of Leipsic, for instance, a chorus 
 musiais was organised in the sixteenth century 
 for the purpose of adding interest to the aca- 
 
 87 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 demic functions by means of musical perform- 
 ances. This chorus, the members of which 
 were former alumni, was endowed by the gov- 
 ernment and became so celebrated in the course 
 of time that churches were glad to obtain their 
 cantors (directors) from its ranks. 
 
 The students also formed collegia musica, in- 
 stitutions the origin of which is attributed to 
 Jodocus Willichus (born 1501), who is said to 
 have organised the first society of this kind at 
 the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder. The 
 members of these societies generally met in 
 taverns, where they played and sang for their 
 own pleasure as well as for that of a few in- 
 vited friends and then enjoyed a repast. 
 The collegium musicum founded by Telemann 
 (1681-1767), a prominent composer and influen- 
 tial musician, gave performances in the New 
 Church which attracted wide-spread attention, 
 especially during the Leipsic Fair, on account 
 of their brilliant operatic style, to the disadvan- 
 tage of the dignified services in the Church of 
 St. Thomas conducted by Bach, who eventu- 
 ally superseded Telemann. To such societies 
 institutions like the Gewandhaus Orchestra of 
 Leipsic are to be traced. 
 
 In the smaller towns, where the means for 
 supporting alumni were not at hand the music 
 lovers, many of whom had been currendani in 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 their youth, constituted themselves into choirs 
 and made it possible to sing figurate music in 
 co-operation with the boy choirs. They fur- 
 nished instrumental accompaniment too on 
 church festivals. These cantoreyen^ as they were 
 called after their instructors and directors, the 
 cantors (originally rectores chori), were the suc- 
 cessors of the religious brotherhoods which 
 were common in Switzerland and Bohemia in 
 the twelfth century and had Cecilia for their 
 patron saint. 
 
 One of the oldest and most long lived of 
 such cantoreyen, and a typical one, was that at 
 Torgau, which supplanted the chapel of the 
 Elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise (1544- 
 1556), and was founded by Walther, a member 
 of that chapel and afterwards Luther's adviser. 
 This cantorey organised from among the towns- 
 people " for the elevation of public divine ser- 
 vice by artistic singing, if possible with the 
 accompaniment of instrumental music," be- 
 came a guild which enjoyed the protection of 
 the town council and the assistance of the 
 wealthy citizens. It was the pride of the whole 
 community and its services were in frequent 
 demand. In the course of time it was turned 
 into a society resembling in many respects the 
 singing clubs of to-day. In 1596 associate 
 members, as they would now be called, were 
 
 89 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 admitted. The entrance fee for these was a 
 goodly quantity of Torgau beer. Once a year 
 a convivium musicum, a banquet with music, was 
 arranged, towards the expense of which each 
 member contributed his share. In these cele- 
 brations the chorister boys were allowed to 
 join, **it is to be hoped by partaking of the edi- 
 bles only " adds the serious minded chronicler. 
 For being late at rehearsals the active members 
 were fined five pfennige, about a cent and a 
 half, for each quarter of an hour. Absence 
 from a rehearsal was punished with a fine of 
 three groschen, about six cents. The cantor 
 was authorised to summon the singers for 
 practice whenever he considered it necessary. 
 In 1628, it was resolved that "■ pleasing music " 
 should be performed at the annual banquet, 
 which Otto Taubert (1811-1891), the chronicler 
 referred to, and himself cantor at Torgau for a 
 time, declares to have been the first effort at 
 cultivating secular music among the middle 
 classes. Simultaneously with this innovation 
 the initiation fee was fixed at fifteen thalers 
 for passive, and five thalers for active members, 
 from the payment of which, however, the cler- 
 gy, town waits (musicians authorised by law to 
 follow their calling), and organists were exempt. 
 The chorus at that time numbered twenty-five, 
 and the limit of membership for the whole 
 
 90 
 
After the Reformation 
 
 society was set at sixty. This association was 
 wrecked, as were most of its kind, by the 
 gradual preponderance of its social over its 
 musical interests. Its musical activity ceased 
 in 1735, but its annual banquets took place until 
 1 77 1. The cantoreyen were the forerunners of 
 the modern amateur choral and orchestral so- 
 cieties. 
 
 With the decline of religious enthusiasm and 
 the decadence of musical taste due to the grow- 
 ing popularity of the Italian operatic style, the 
 institutions which had fostered the highest 
 types of polyphonic choral music passed away. 
 The choruses of currendani, of alumni, and of 
 students at seminaries and universities, with 
 isolated exceptions, died out for want of moral 
 and material support. But the love of music 
 which they had sown in the hearts of the Ger- 
 man people of every class and which in the 
 course of time made the German nation the 
 most musical of all nations, never grew cold. 
 Choral culture only lay dormant for a time, to 
 be reawakened to new and more beautiful life 
 than ever with the organisation of amateur 
 choral societies. 
 
 91 
 
V 
 
 The Mystery. Bach 
 
 "HPHE Passion," by which is meant the gos- 
 1 pel narrative of Christ's Passion set to 
 music wholly or in part, is the most elaborate 
 representative of a type of dramatico-ecclesias- 
 tical functions the origin of which can be 
 traced to remote antiquity. The original des- 
 ignation "mystery" as a collective title for 
 such functions, the retention of which Spitta 
 has suggested, is to be advocated because it 
 keeps before the mind their source, character, 
 and purpose, and serves to facilitate the differ- 
 entiation between the Passion and the oratorio 
 proper, which is essential to the correct under- 
 standing of both. 
 
 The prototypes of the Christian mysteries are 
 to be found in the Egyptian mysteries of Osi- 
 ris, the Indian mysteries of Vishnu, the Greek 
 mysteries of Dionysus, and the Roman mys- 
 teries of Bacchus, all of which were religious 
 festivals instituted to commemorate and propi- 
 tiate the deities at certain periods of the year, 
 
 92 
 
The Mystery 
 
 Just as with the Greeks a high art form, the 
 drama, grew out of the Dionysiac mysteries, so 
 one of the highest types of choral music, the 
 oratorio, ultimately developed out of the pop- 
 ular Christian mysteries, without, however, 
 displacing the original ecclesiastical functions 
 themselves in which they were rooted and 
 which the strong hand of the Church restored 
 again and again to their sacred dignity and 
 has preserved in their pristine purity to the 
 present day. 
 
 The early Christian hymnographers, espe- 
 cially those of the Eastern Church, followed 
 classic models both as to their metrical forms 
 and their dramatic construction not only as a 
 matter of taste but as a matter of policy as 
 well. The last Olympic games took place in 
 394, while in Rome pantomimes with choral 
 and orchestral music, representing incidents 
 from heathen mythology were not suppressed, 
 notwithstanding Imperial decrees, until a cen- 
 tury later, and it was largely for the purpose of 
 furnishing a substitute for such performances 
 that the hymn -writers frequently cast their 
 compositions for the celebration of church fes- 
 tivals into a form not unlike that of the Greek 
 drama. 
 
 One of the oldest known plays, or rather 
 mysteries, of this kind is attributed to Greg- 
 
 93 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 cry of Nazianzen, patriarch of Constantinople 
 from 380 to 381. It treated the history of the 
 Passion in the shape of a dialogue interspersed 
 with hymns corresponding to the choruses of 
 the dramas of ^schylus and Sophocles. 
 
 Of the cycles of hymns of Romanus and his 
 followers written in the course of the sixth 
 and seventh centuries, a number have been pre- 
 served. One of these by Romanus himself, 
 intended for Christmas or Epiphany, embraces 
 an account of the Nativity and its wonders; 
 a dialogue between the wise men, the Virgin 
 mother, and Joseph ; a scene representing the 
 arrival of the magi, who tell of the religious 
 conditions of Persia and the East, recount the 
 cause and adventures of their journey, and 
 offer their gifts ; a scene picturing the Virgin 
 interceding for them with her Son and in- 
 structing them in Jewish history ; and a clos- 
 ing prayer for the salvation of the world. The 
 style of the hymns of which this is an example, 
 indicates that they were intended to be sung 
 — possibly with instrumental accompaniment. 
 They were used at divine service and collected 
 in hymn books which remained in great favour 
 until the tenth century, when they were no 
 longer recognised as church books. That sim- 
 ilarly constructed poems were current in the 
 Western Church admits of no doubt. 
 
 94 
 
The Mystery 
 
 With the adoption of the Gregorian antipho- 
 nary, which in effect eliminated congregational 
 singing from the liturgy, the opportunities for 
 incorporating such hymns into the ritual nec- 
 essarily disappeared. On the other hand the 
 possibilities inherent in the liturgical forms for 
 investing the gospel narrative with something 
 like dramatic interest by the aid of illustrative 
 living pictures and vocal music, were taken ad- 
 vantage of by the clergy, especially on festival 
 days, as early as the fifth century, and the peo- 
 ple themselves were encouraged to supplement 
 the church ceremonies by commemorating the 
 great events in sacred history in a manner not 
 unlike that of the traditional pagan celebrations. 
 In the course of time the church festivals be- 
 came popular festivals, and such they have re* 
 mained to the present time. Even in Protes- 
 tant Germany the principal feast days of the 
 Church are popular holidays the religious im- 
 port of which is almost forgotten. 
 
 There were two influences at work, then, in 
 shaping the mysteries: the one coming from 
 the Church and having for its basis the lit- 
 urgy ; the other coming from the people and 
 having for its source the dramatic and spectac- 
 ular performances of the pre-Christian era. Out 
 of the former, principally, grew the liturgical 
 mysteries which culminated in Bach's Passions; 
 
 95 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 out of the latter, the popular mysteries and 
 moralities which became the prototypes for the 
 oratorio and opera. 
 
 In order to bring home as forcibly as possible 
 to the understanding of the people the signifi- 
 cance of the leading incidents from sacred his- 
 tory which the church festivals commemorate, 
 the custom became prevalent about the eighth 
 century of giving prominence to the personal 
 elements in the gospel narrative by distributing 
 the chanted dialogue among a number of differ- 
 ent officiating ecclesiastics and assigning the 
 utterances of the various groups, such as those 
 of the shepherds in the Christmas story, the 
 disciples and the people in the Passion and 
 Easter stories, to all of them combined. It is 
 not improbable that occasionally scenic decora- 
 tions were arranged in front of the altar, fitting 
 costumes donned by the clergy, and histrionics 
 moderately resorted to. Further than this no 
 effort was made at dramatisation, nor were the 
 scenic adjuncts really sanctioned by the Church. 
 
 At such representations the official language 
 of the Church, Latin, and the authorised melo- 
 dies of the Gregorian chant were used through- 
 out, the impersonators being the priests, their 
 assistants, and the choristers. 
 
 This method was perpetuated by the papal 
 singers, by whom the Passion was celebrated in 
 
 96 
 
The Mystery 
 
 the following manner : The gospel texts were 
 chanted to the prescribed Gregorian tones, 
 without any accompaniment whatever, by three 
 ecclesiastics, called Deacons of the Passion, to 
 one of whom, a bass, were assigned the words 
 of Christ, to another, a tenor, those of the Evan- 
 gelist, and to the third, an alto, those of the 
 other personages. In the utterances of the 
 people, the turbce, all joined. As the Gregorian 
 melodies suffered changes in the course of their 
 oral transmission, a number of different read- 
 ings of the chants of the Passion were current 
 in the Sistine Chapel until 1685, when there was 
 published at the command of Pope Sixtus V. 
 the authoritative version which has since been 
 closely followed. About the same time an im- 
 portant innovation was made in the service by 
 the introduction of choral settings of the tur- 
 bae. These were provided by Vittoria (1540- 
 1608), one of the most illustrious of Palestrina's 
 followers, who wrote music to the exclamations 
 of the crowd in four parts in the simplest and 
 severest polyphonic style, which was sung by 
 the choristers from the choir in the Sistine 
 Chapel for the first time in 1585 with such effect 
 that the custom has been adhered to ever since. 
 Vittoria's turbas were not intended to be dra- 
 matic in style ; nor would dramatic choruses be 
 in place in association with Gregorian chants 
 
 97 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 and an ecclesiastical function — a fact which 
 Mendelssohn seems to have overlooked when 
 he complained in a letter from Rome to his old 
 teacher Zelter that the turbas were set to such 
 tame music. Passions of the kind described are 
 termed (Gregorian) chorale Passions. 
 
 While Luther recommended the retention by 
 the Protestant Church of the chorale Passion 
 translated into German, he advocated its fur- 
 ther artistic development. Accordingly his as- 
 sociate Walther after having written two in the 
 old style in 1552, composed a third one which 
 belongs to a more advanced type in that the 
 choruses, the turbse, disclose an effort at char- 
 acteristic expression. 
 
 The freer application to the chorale Passion 
 of the newly acquired science of harmony re- 
 sulted in the motet Passion, in which the whole 
 gospel history, including even the narrative of 
 the Evangelists, was assigned to several solo 
 voices and chorus. Such a one by Gesius 
 (1555 ?-i6i3), in which the words of Christ were 
 set for four voices, those of the People for five, 
 those of St. Peter and Pilate for three, and 
 those of the Maid Servant for two, was pub- 
 lished in 1588 at Wittenberg. Heinrich Schutz 
 ( 1 585-1672), who transplanted the rapidly ma- 
 turing methods of the Italian dramatic com- 
 posers into Germany, applied them unhesitat- 
 
 98 
 
The Mystery 
 
 ingly in his "Seven Last Words of Christ," 
 making use of the instrumental resources of 
 the time : an orchestra consisting of a number 
 of keyed instruments and different kinds of 
 lutes and harps. In his Passions, however, 
 probably in deference to tradition, Schiitz re- 
 turned to the purely vocal method, employing 
 the melodic types of the plain chant in the 
 solo passages, but treating them in the new de- 
 clamatory, recitative like style. The choruses 
 he composed with perfect freedom and imbued 
 with a degree of vigour and descriptiveness 
 which heralded the passing of the chorale and 
 motet Passion and the approach of the dramat- 
 ic oratorio Passion. 
 
 So long as it was considered obligatory to 
 cling to the scriptural text and, in a measure, to 
 the plain chant, there was little opportunity 
 to take advantage of the symmetrically con- 
 structed lyrical forms, such as the arioso and 
 the aria with orchestral accompaniment, which 
 the Italian dramatic composers had called into 
 life. The steps necessary to remove this diffi- 
 culty were boldly taken by Sebastiani, organ- 
 ist and chapel-master at Brandenburg, in 1672. 
 Sebastiani not only interlarded the gospel nar- 
 rative of his Passion with verses of chorales, 
 the melodies of which he arranged for solo 
 voices in the form of the aria, but also wrote 
 
 99 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 original recitatives to take the place of the 
 plain chant and added an orchestral accompani- 
 ment for strings (large and small viols of from 
 five to seven strings each), organ, a " positive '* 
 (small portable organ), harpsichord, lutes, and 
 theorbe (bass lutes). Therewith the chorale 
 Passion received its death-blow and the ora- 
 torio Passion was created in which free scope 
 was given to composers for the application of 
 the means of musical expression in vogue in 
 the lyric drama. 
 
 An attempt to raise all the barriers between 
 the oratorio and the Passion was made by the 
 poet Hunold, who in his " Passion Story of 
 the Bleeding and Dying Christ " treated the 
 sacred story after the manner of an opera text. 
 Noteworthy features of this poem were the 
 soliloquies, emotionally contemplative com- 
 mentaries on the progress of the action, which 
 were retained in almost all subsequent Passion 
 texts and became to Bach, who identified them 
 with personified poetic ideas, such as '* the 
 Daughter of Zion" and ** the Christian Church," 
 a medium for the transmission of some of his 
 most beautiful and tender utterances. Hu- 
 nold's libretto set to music by Reinhard Keiser 
 (1674-1739), one of the most prolific opera com- 
 posers of the Hamburg school, was performed 
 during Holy Week of 1704. 
 
Bach " • "'^ 
 
 Reaction against the bold secularisation of 
 the Passion history having set in, efforts were 
 made to remove the most objectionable features 
 at least of such texts. Of the many versions 
 in which this was kept in view, the one by 
 Barthold Heinrich Brookes, a member of the 
 town council of Hamburg, published in 1712, 
 met with the approval of the clergy and at the 
 same time satisfied the requirements of com- 
 posers. The setting of it which Handel made 
 in 1 716 at Hanover was his last composition 
 on a German text. Bach copied the first half 
 of it with his own hand for the purpose of 
 study. The poem by Brookes differed from 
 that by Hunold principally in the reinstate- 
 ment of the narrator, the Evangelist, and in the 
 reintroduction of the chorale, the elimination 
 of both of which by Hunold had been the 
 principal cause of offence. 
 
 At the time of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685- 
 1750) the influence of the Italian dramatists 
 had made serious inroads on church music, 
 particularly on the mystery, the original lit- 
 urgic character of which had almost entirel}^ 
 been lost sight of. Bach, however, being thor- 
 oughly imbued with the true spirit of these 
 church services was enabled by the strength of 
 his genius to restore this spirit and make sub- 
 servient to it the musical forms and means of ex- 
 
Choirs dhd Choral Music 
 
 pression which had developed under the hands 
 of the Italian composers and toward the eleva- 
 tion of which to the highest artistic dignity he 
 contributed more than any other single master. 
 
 So far as the skeleton of the form of Bach's 
 Passions is concerned it does not differ materi- 
 ally from that of the pristine chorale Passion, 
 for it consists of the verbally unaltered Gospel 
 narrative with its dialogues and utterances of 
 the crowd set as of old for single voices and 
 for chorus. About this framework cluster the 
 soliloquies, the reflective passages, which mir- 
 ror the emotions of the believer as he contem- 
 plates the significance of the narrative ; and the 
 chorales, the popular {volksthiimliche) element, 
 which invite the participation of the congrega- 
 tion and threading their way through the en- 
 tire musical fabric emphasise its Protestant and 
 German character. These diverse constituents 
 Bach not only elaborated with clear judgment 
 and marvellous skill and invested with intense 
 expressive power, but combined into a homo- 
 geneous art- work, which, notwithstanding an 
 infinite variety in details, is dominated by the 
 ecclesiastical spirit of the mediaeval mystery. 
 
 Bach is generally credited with having com- 
 posed eight mysteries, of which five were Pas- 
 sions, one a Christmas, one an Easter, and one 
 an Ascension mystery. Of his Passions there 
 
BACH. 
 
Bach 
 
 have been preserved those according to the 
 Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. John, and 
 fragments of one according to St. Mark. Of 
 these the Passion according to St. Matthew is 
 best known by far and is most frequently per- 
 formed, unfortunately to the all but total neg- 
 lect of the one according to St. John. 
 
 In order fully to grasp the spirit of Bach's 
 Passions it is necessary to remember that they 
 were written with their performance as church 
 services in view. Bach having in mind the ec- 
 clesiastical chorale Passion, which was still sung 
 at his time, particularly in Saxony and Thu- 
 ringia, studiously avoided introducing extrane- 
 ous dramatic elements for the sake of effect 
 merely. The music of Bach's Passions is thor- 
 oughly lyric. It is the expression of the re- 
 ligious devotion of his own individual self as 
 representative of that of his fellow believers. 
 Even the dramatic portions are not the utter- 
 ances of actors in a drama, but those of the 
 Christian congregation which is carried away 
 in its contemplation of the events to the point of 
 identifying itself with the actual participants in 
 the scene. Bach, therefore, did not strive to 
 individualise the characters concerned in the 
 Gospel story. The singers who give expression 
 to the utterances of these personages do not 
 stand for the characters themselves but speak 
 
 103 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 for the hearer who passes with them through 
 the scriptural scenes. One character only did 
 Bach isolate from all the others and picture in 
 a distinctly individual color : the character of 
 the Saviour ; and this he accomplished by the 
 delicate means of the accompaniment, which, 
 when set to the words of Jesus, is intrusted to the 
 strings, in contrast to the clavichord, which sup- 
 ports the other recitatives. It is likewise neces- 
 sary to the understanding of Bach's Passions to 
 bear in mind that they are essentially Protes- 
 tant, services of the people and for the people. 
 The foundation of their musical structure is the 
 Protestant chorale, the vernacular of the Prot- 
 estant Church, as it appears not only in the 
 simple form suited to the participation of the 
 congregation, but also in the marvellously beau- 
 tiful and ingeniously built up choral move- 
 ments, such as the opening and closing ones of 
 the first part of the St. Matthew Passion, in 
 which the chorale is the vital element. 
 
 As Bach's Passions are not oratorios, but 
 spiritual mysteries, in other words, church ser- 
 vices, they should be performed amid the sur- 
 roundings and under the conditions with which 
 in view they were composed in order to be 
 thoroughly comprehended and appreciated. 
 This is all the more necessary as the music of 
 Bach gains nothing from the adventitious means 
 104 
 
Bach 
 
 of overwhelming volume in chorus or orches- , 
 tra. Its tissue is so delicate that any attempt_^J 
 to magnify its constituent threads only tends 
 to destroy the exquisite quality of the fabric. 
 Bach's music is as intimate as chamber music. 
 Its strength lies in the noble, elevated, sincere, 
 and heartfelt character of its themes, its beauty, 
 in the perfect harmony between form and con- 
 tent. The subtlety and exhaustiveness with 
 which the prevailing thoughts are elucidated 
 from every point of view cannot be realised 
 without earnest study. Bach's music must be 
 approached in the same loving spirit in which 
 it was written, and with the same patience 
 which was expended on every detail of its 
 construction ; for Bach, ever loyal to his Teu- 
 ton nature and to his reverence for art, gave 
 expression to his innermost emotions in the 
 choicest and most carefully considered manner, 
 unmindful whether his musical language would 
 be easily understood and would appeal directly 
 to his hearers or not, so long as it voiced his 
 own feelings and satisfied his own refined taste 
 and his keenly critical musical sensibilities. 
 Bach's music, therefore, is not for the masses^ 
 and it is not strange that even his monumental 
 St. Matthew Passion should have been per- 
 mitted to lie buried in musical archives for al- 
 most a century — until Mendelssohn unearthed 
 105 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 it and conducted a performance of it on March 
 12, 1829, at Berlin. 
 
 On the technical resources as well as the ar- 
 tistic perceptivity of the chorus Bach's works 
 make great demands. His was not the ideally 
 vocal style of the mediaeval polyphonic com- 
 posers, who spent their whole lives among 
 choirs only, and to whom choral music was the 
 only artistic music. Bach's younger years were 
 devoted principally to the study of the organ 
 and of organ music, and this determined his 
 style, which tended to the consistent contra- 
 puntal elaboration of themes rather than to 
 the production of specifically choral effects, 
 though he knew well how to achieve these 
 whenever it served his purpose. With the ca- 
 pabilities of his favourite instrument in mind he 
 frequently wrote passages which are more in- 
 strumental than vocal in character. To give a 
 transparent and intelligent performance of any 
 of the more difficult works of Bach, not to 
 speak of one which discloses their deeper lying 
 spiritual meaning, is, therefore, not an easy task. 
 
 The Passion according to St. Matthew, in 
 its original version, was sung for the first time 
 at the Vesper service of Good Friday, April 
 15, 1729, at the Church of St. Thomas, Leipsic. 
 In its present revised form it was probably not 
 heard before 1740. It is constructed on a gi- 
 106 
 
Bach 
 
 gantic scale, for two choirs, among which the 
 six soloists are apportioned, two orchestras, 
 and an organ. In the stupendous introduc- 
 tory double chorus a third choir is necessary 
 to carry the chorale which is the key to the 
 movement. 
 
 What resources Bach had at hand on that 
 memorable Friday to meet such extraordinary 
 requirements is an interesting question, it can 
 be partially solved with the aid of a letter writ 
 ten by him to the town council of Leipsic 
 shortly after the first performance of the St. 
 Matthew Passion, in which he complained of 
 the inadequacy of his choral and instrumental 
 forces and requested that they be increased. 
 His demands were indeed moderate. He 
 asked for no more than three, or, if possible, 
 four singers (including the soloist) in each part 
 of each of the two church choirs of which he 
 as cantor was the director, and of from eighteen 
 to twenty instrumentalists for each accompa- 
 nying orchestra. He showed that of the fifty- 
 five alumni in his charge in the school of St. 
 Thomas only seventeen were competent, and 
 that there were only eight musicians who were 
 bound by contract to serve in the orchestra, 
 these eight being three " artist violinists " (pro- 
 fessionals), four town pipers, and one apprentice 
 who played the bassoon, " of whose quality and 
 107 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 musical knowledge, however, my modesty for- 
 bids me to speak, " wrote Bach. In addition to 
 these he could count on extraordinary occa- 
 sion for voluntary assistance on the University 
 choir, of which he was the official musical di- 
 rector, on the amateur students' chorus founded 
 by Teleman, which Bach likewise conducted at 
 the time, and on a number of adjuvantes, former 
 alumni, who continued to take an active inter- 
 est in church music. Before his time stipends 
 had been set aside for the remuneration of 
 such amateur assistants, but in Bach's day they 
 were no longer available. 
 
 Taking into consideration all these circum- 
 stances and the size of the choir gallery of the 
 Church of St. Thomas, it is safe to say that at 
 the first performance of the St. Matthew Pas- 
 sion the chorus, including the soloists who, as 
 was customary, sang with the chorus, stepping 
 forward when required, numbered from twenty- 
 four to thirty-two, divided into first and second 
 chorus, while the orchestra, likewise subdivided, 
 numbered from forty to forty-five. Bach con- 
 ducted, seated at the clavichord, with gestures 
 and by playing whenever there was any wa- 
 vering or whenever he considered it necessary 
 to call attention to dynamic signs. The chords 
 in the unaccompanied (secco) recitatives were 
 given by an assistant at the organ. It is not 
 
 io8 
 
Bach 
 
 known whether the congregation joined in the 
 chorales as it subsequently did and still does 
 at Leipsic with most impressive results. The 
 solos were sung in all probability partly by boys 
 and partly by adult students particularly well 
 trained in the use of the falsetto. These solos \ 
 were conceived with such interpreters in mind, \ 
 and therefore, while Bach intended that they 
 should be sung with deep pious devotion, he 
 certainly did not wish them to be imbued with 
 an emotional intensity foreign alike to the mu- 
 sic and to the immature natures of those to 
 whom he intrusted them. 
 
 The relation between the chorus and orches- 
 tra, the latter being more numerous than the 
 former, as was commonly the case in those 
 days, was in perfect accord with Bach's inten- 
 tions. Bach in his orchestration did not aim 
 for sonority. His music consists of a multi- 
 tude of individual parts each one of which is 
 of equal importance with every other one, and 
 his instrumentation is therefore calculated to 
 keep intact the individuality of each of these 
 parts rather than to swell the tone volume. For 
 this as well as for the fundamental tone color 
 he relied on the organ, the one instrument 
 which belongs to the church and is closely 
 identified with church music, and the volume of 
 which could readily be accommodated to that 
 109 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 of the vocal body. The harmonies for the or- 
 gan as well as the clavichord accompaniment 
 Bach indicated by means of the figured bass, a 
 kind of musical short-hand employed at that 
 time, which every musician was expected to 
 read and elaborate in good taste. In accord- 
 ance with the traditions observed in supplying 
 such accompaniments, which were all but lost 
 in the course of time, Robert Franz (1815-1892), 
 as keen a critic as poetic a composer, made com- 
 plete orchestral scores of "The Passion accord- 
 ing to St. Matthew " and of a number of others 
 of Bach's works, adapted to the instruments 
 now in common use. This he did in a spirit 
 of reverence and with a degree of judgment 
 which are above praise. 
 
 Not so imposing in dimensions yet no less 
 perfect than the Passions as works of the poly- 
 DJjonic art are Bach's motets and cantatas. 
 / While the mediaeval masters had invested their 
 \ motets with a degree of elaborateness second 
 to that of the mass only, the early German com- 
 posers converted them into simple polyphonic 
 settings of chorales, adapted to the needs of the 
 Protestant Church and to the capabilities of the 
 choirs of the currendani. Bach, however, re- 
 stored the motet to its old-time dignity of the 
 highest type of unaccompanied church music. 
 The motets of Bach kept his name alive among 
 
Bach 
 
 the more efficient German choirs until it was 
 carried over the whole musical world by the 
 resuscitation of his works in the larger forms. 
 
 Unlike the motet, which is as old as counter- 
 point itself, the cantata was a creation of the 
 monodists and originally was a dramatic com- 
 position for one or more solo voices with in- 
 strumental accompaniment. Carrisimi (1604- 
 1674) in transplanting it into the church illus- 
 trated the possibility of combining contra- 
 puntal workmanship with the new harmonic 
 and melodic methods of the dramatic compos- 
 ers. In Germany the chorale forced its way 
 into the cantata as into every type of Protes- 
 tant church music. Utilising the various ele- 
 ments of both the dramatic and choral cantata. 
 Bach moulded them into a perfectly balanced 
 and highly organised form. Taking the melo- 
 dies of appropriate chorales for his principal sub- 
 ject matter, he treated them with all the poly- 
 phonic skill at his command and interlarded 
 the choral movements with recitatives, and airs 
 set to metrical texts commentative of the Gos- 
 pel lessons of the Sundays and festivals of the 
 church year. Bach composed two hundred and 
 ninety-five of such cantatas, which next to the 
 Passions are far and away the loftiest exam- 
 ples of accompanied church music and contain 
 choruses unexcelled even by Bach himself. 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 In the works of Palestrina the mediaeval type 
 of vocal polyphony, which had for its princi- 
 pal object chaste, sensuous beauty, attained 
 the highest perfection; in those of Bach the 
 modern type of polyphony, vocal as well 
 as instrumental, which has for its main pur- 
 pose the exhaustive exposition of characteris- 
 tically expressive melodies, reached the fullest 
 development. 
 
 112 
 
VI 
 
 The Oratorio. Handel 
 
 IN imitation of the semidramatic liturgical 
 ceremonials, and side by side with them, 
 the popular celebrations of the church festivals 
 developed. As has been shown, these substi- 
 tutes for the pagan religious rites were not 
 only encouraged by the Church but were per- 
 mitted to take place within the very sacred 
 walls themselves and were even participated in 
 by the clergy. One of the oldest of such popu- 
 lar mysteries, dating possibly from the fifth 
 century, was the Festum Asinorum held on the 
 Festival of the Circumcision, when in commem- 
 oration of the Flight of the Holy Family into 
 Egypt a richly caparisoned ass bearing on its 
 back a young maiden with a child in her arms 
 was led through the city and finally into the 
 church, followed by a crowd of people who 
 alternately imitated the braying of the animal 
 and sang a carol, the melody of which in a 
 version of the twelfth century has been pre- 
 served. 
 
 113 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 Of a more highly organised type were the 
 miracle plays written by monks for perform- 
 ance by the inmates of the monastic schools. 
 In these the scriptural narrative, the musical 
 setting of which was in the style of the plain 
 chant, was interspersed with explanatory dia- 
 logue, while at suitable points folk-melodies 
 provided with fitting words were introduced 
 for the sake of variety as well as in order to 
 give the people opportunities for active par- 
 ticipation. The Passion story was utilised for 
 such plays in preference to the Christmas and 
 Easter stories principally because of the su- 
 perior opportunities it offered for dramatic 
 treatment and spectacular effects, although in 
 Germany the Christmas and Easter celebrations 
 too were popular. In England Passion plays 
 were performed as early as the twelfth century, 
 and there is on record the representation of 
 such a play in 1378 by the choristers of St. 
 Paul with the explicit sanction of the clergy. 
 In 1264 a company of monks was organised in 
 France for the express purpose of performing 
 the *' Sufferings of Christ." During the thir- 
 teenth and fourteenth centuries it was cus- 
 tomary to give miracle plays on a grand scale 
 on every extraordinary occasion. In the Pas- 
 sion play of Oberammergau, which takes place 
 decennially, — the current year (1900) completes 
 114 
 
The Oratorio 
 
 such a cycle — this custom has survived by 
 special indulgence. 
 
 The scope of the religious plays was en- 
 larged in the course of time by the introduc- 
 tion of subject-matter from the Old Testament 
 and from the legends of the saints of the Church ; 
 and, in the " moralities," by the allegorical 
 treatment of religious motives, the characters 
 representing personified virtues or qualities. 
 Of the last mentioned form the troubadours 
 were probably the inventors. Among the most 
 popular subjects were such as " The Good Sa- 
 maritan," " The Prodigal Son," " The Sacrifice 
 of Abraham," and " The Spiritual Comedy of 
 the Soul." In the same degree as these plays 
 became more highly organised, the musical ele- 
 ments were forced into the background, the 
 use of the plain chant being discontinued and 
 preference given to the spoken dialogue, while 
 the choral movements were reduced to the 
 smallest proportions. 
 
 As the miracle plays drifted farther and far- 
 ther away from the liturgical services in which 
 they had originated, everything that could 
 pander to a taste vitiated by the remnants of 
 the ancient popular entertainments, which were 
 perpetuated in the farces {farsce), was intro- 
 duced. Devils and the prince of devils became 
 indispensable figures, for to them as the clowns 
 
 "5 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 and buffoons of the play the spectators looked 
 for amusement. Even the Passion story was 
 defiled by the addition of vulgarly comic epi- 
 sodes. The costumes were made so elaborate 
 and the scenery so costly that it was impossible 
 for one and the same town to arrange such rep- 
 resentations for two successive years. Every 
 link that had bound the popular mysteries to 
 the liturgical mysteries was severed. The 
 Church was compelled to condemn a practice 
 which it had sanctioned for years and which 
 could be purified and chastened only by being 
 elevated to an artistic plane. 
 
 About the year 1551 Filippo Neri (15 15-1595), 
 a learned priest canonised in 1622, instituted 
 a series of meetings at Rome in the oratory of 
 the monastery San Girolamo, and later in the 
 church of S. Maria in Vallicella, at which he 
 delivered discourses on Scripture history. In 
 order to make these more attractive to his audi- 
 ences, which consisted of young men of the 
 humbler classes, he prefaced and followed his 
 sermons with narratives of the scenes under 
 consideration cast into the shape of dialogues, 
 which were presented possibly in action, cer- 
 tainly with interspersed spiritual songs (laudi 
 spirituali) of the type made popular by the 
 choirs of laudisti, organised early in the four- 
 teenth century. Neri's assemblies led to the 
 
 116 
 
The Oratorio 
 
 formation of an educational society of secular 
 priests, which Gregory XIII. sanctioned un- 
 der the name of Congregazione dell ' Oratorio, To 
 these circumstances the adoption of the term 
 Oratorio for the religious drama is general- 
 ly traced, though on somewhat insufficient 
 grounds. No less celebrated a master thati | 
 Palestrina composed spiritual songs, in madri- j 
 gal style, for the Congregation of Oratorians. 
 
 The development of the oratorio in Rome 
 now went hand in hand with that of the opera 
 in Florence, from which it differed only in the 
 subject-matter. The first effort to apply to the 
 sacred drama the new accompanied melodic 
 style born of the attempt to revive the Greek 
 drama, was made by Emilio del Cavalieri (died 
 1599), himself one of the originators of declam- 
 atory monodic composition. The result of this 
 effort was the oratorio " La Rappresentazione di 
 Anima e di Corpo^' " Representation of the 
 Soul and the Body," an allegorical piece writ- 
 ten by Laura Guidiccioni after the plan of the 
 mediaeval mysteries or, more accurately, mo- 
 ralities. The characters in this sacred drama 
 were principally personifications of abstract 
 ideas: the World, Life, Time, Pleasure, the 
 Body, the Soul, the Intellect. The chorus 
 was seated or stood on the stage, and gestic- 
 ulated while singing. The orchestra embraced 
 117 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 one double lyre (a bow-instrument), one clavi- 
 cembalo, one large bass lute (an instrument of 
 the mandolin class), and two flutes. It was 
 placed behind the stage, out of view of the audi- 
 ence, in order that the actors who carried in- 
 struments might appear to accompany them- 
 selves. The solos were in the declamatory style 
 of that period, the short choruses, of the mad- 
 rigal type, harmonised in a primitive manner. 
 Detailed instructions for the actors were given. 
 After having described in musical monologues 
 and dialogues the conflict between worldly 
 pleasures and eternal bliss, the characters 
 typical of the former were to symbolise their 
 evanescence by divesting themselves piece by 
 piece of their gaudy ornaments until they 
 appeared as horrible skeletons. If desired, 
 a ballet with choral accompaniment could be 
 executed at the end of the performance. This, 
 the first genuine oratorio, was produced for the 
 first time in February, 1600, at the oratorio of 
 the church founded by Neri, five years after his 
 death and one year after the death of the com- 
 poser. 
 
 "^ Little progress was made in the oratorio un- 
 til Giacomo Carissimi, of whom mention has 
 been made in connection with the cantata, ap- 
 peared. This serious minded and admirably 
 equipped composer sharply differentiated be- 
 
The Oratorio 
 
 tween the opera and oratorio by giving to the 
 latter an ecclesiastical, not to say liturgical 
 character. He discouraged spectacular repre- 
 sentations as unsuited to the Church by intro- 
 ducing the historicusy the narrator, correspond- 
 ing to the First Deacon of the Passion, and 
 invested his choruses with breadth and digni- 
 ty by amalgamating the declamatory with the 
 polyphonic style. 
 
 Notwithstanding the example set by Caris- 
 simi, Italian composers were loath to make a 
 distinction between the opera and the oratorio. 
 G. A. Bontempi (1624-1705), a composer and 
 musical thinker of note, did indeed, in the ^ 
 prefatory remarks to one of his operas, desig- 
 nate the chorus as the determining factor in / 
 the oratorio style, but this principle was notj.- 
 generally followed in practice, for it required 
 much less musical knowledge and labour to 
 write recitatives and arias suited to the display 
 of technical attainments and therefore calcu- 
 lated to secure the favour of the tyrannical 
 vocal virtuoso, which was synonymous with 
 popular success, than to construct contrapuntal 
 choral movements which could not be sure of 
 appreciation. Carissimi's illustrious pupil, how-7 
 ever, Alessandro Scarlatti (1659-1725), a mar- 
 vellously prolific composer, — he wrote one hun- 
 dred and six operas and two hundred masses, 
 119 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 not to speak of oratorios— followed in the foot- 
 steps of his teacher. Emulating Carissimi's 
 polyphonic workmanship and dignity of style 
 he not only imbued his choral movements with 
 high artistic qualities but infused life into the 
 accompaniment of the recitative and cast the 
 aria into a symmetrical form. The fact that 
 Handel drew liberally on Carissimi and Scar- 
 latti for the musical subject-matter of his ora- 
 torios speaks for the excellence of the work of 
 these masters. 
 
 Material as were the services rendered by 
 Italian composers to the development of the 
 principles of modern tonality and rhythm, which 
 involved definiteness of harmonic design, the 
 capability of music for characteristic expres- 
 sion had as yet scarcely dawned on their minds. 
 It remained for George Frederick Handel (1685- 
 1759), in choral music especially, to apply these 
 principles to the supreme end of giving utter- 
 ance to human emotions with all the directness 
 and force of which that branch of composition 
 could be made capable. To the accomplish- 
 ment of this result he brought thorough famil- 
 iarity with the Italian vocal methods, absolute 
 mastery of the resources of counterpoint, then 
 almost forgotten in Italy, and an inexhaustible 
 fund of plastic melodic types. 
 
 Having followed Italian models in his operas 
 
 X20 
 
HANDEL. 
 
Handel 
 
 and in his two Italian oratorios, Handel did 
 not arrive at the full consciousness of his own 
 powers and of the direction in which he could 
 most successfully exert them until he had re- 
 peatedly failed in his London operatic ventures 
 and had learned to realise the fondness of the 
 English people for sacred choral works. His 
 first English oratorio, " Esther," he composed as 
 chapel-master of the Duke of Chandos, a noble- 
 man of fabulous wealth who lived in regal mag- 
 nificence in his palace at Cannons, about nine 
 miles from London, where he maintained a choir 
 and orchestra. This oratorio was produced for 
 the first time on August 29, 1720, in the Duke's 
 beautiful private chapel by his own choristers 
 and band reinforced with singers and instru- 
 mentalists from London, the former from St. 
 Paul's Cathedral. The Duke, at whose sugges- 
 tion Handel had undertaken the composition 
 of " Esther," is said to have given him one 
 thousand pounds for the work. 
 
 With " Esther " Handel renounced his M- / 
 legiance to the Italian opera oratorio and clear- 
 ly drew the line between the opera and the 
 oratorio by investing the choruses in the latter 1 
 with supreme importance — the final chorus in 
 *' Esther " is remarkable for its length. Yet 
 this was but a forerunner of his great choral 
 oratorios, in which the utterances of the in- 
 121 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 dividual characters, however eloquent they 
 may be, must yield precedence to the elemen- 
 tal power and dramatic force with which the 
 chorus presents to the inner eye pictures of 
 soul-life and describes actual occurrences. 
 
 Outside the choruses Handel employed the 
 current forms of contemporaneous opera, reci- 
 tatives and arias of different kinds, though he 
 endowed them with a significance beyond that 
 which they had possessed before. But for a 
 choral style such as his there was no prototype. 
 This was of his own creation and developed 
 under his hands when, taking Purcell's works 
 for his starting-point, he composed on his first 
 visit to London sacred choral music such as 
 the Te Deum for the celebration of the Peace 
 of Utrecht (17 13) and the Jubilate, and, during 
 his stay at Cannons, the twelve Chandos an- 
 thems, really sacred cantatas. 
 
 Notwithstanding his success in these forms 
 Handel allowed twelve years to pass before 
 he again occupied himself seriously with them, 
 and then he did so only under the stress of 
 circumstances. 
 
 Handel was at heart a dramatist and remained 
 
 , such a one all his life. His interest was wholly 
 
 / / absorbed by the opera, until, having sacrificed 
 
 ; / a fortune in his operatic ventures and being re- 
 
 I duced to the necessity of recouping his losses 
 
 122 
 
Handel 
 
 in some way, he was compelled to turn to the 
 composition of oratorios. This he looked upon 
 at first as a concession to public taste and a de- 
 parture from dramatic ideals. Ere long, how- 
 ever, he realised that in the direction of the 
 reformation of the oratorio lay his mission and 
 that the fulfilment of this mission did not im- 
 ply self-suppression, for in the oratorio he was 
 enabled to utilise all the forms of the lyric 
 drama of his time and in addition to take ad- 
 vantage of his matchless powers of choral com- 
 position for narrating and depicting dramatic 
 events and enforcing the lessons which they 
 carried with them. 
 
 Handel's interest in the oratorio was revived 
 by a peculiar circumstance. On February 27, 
 1732, Bernhard Gates (1685 ?-i773), master of 
 the Children of the Chapel Royal, who had as- 
 sisted at the first performance of *' Esther " at 
 Cannons, gave at his house a representation in 
 costume and action of two acts of this oratorio 
 before an invited audience in celebration of 
 Handel's forty-seventh birthday. The chorus, 
 consisting principally of the choristers and 
 gentlemen of the Chapel Royal and Westmin- 
 ster Abbey, was placed after the manner of 
 ancient Greek dramatic performances between 
 the stage and the orchestra, which was com- 
 posed of members of "Young's Philharmonic 
 123 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 Society" and the "Academy for Ancient Mu- 
 sic." The success of this production as well as 
 of two semi-public ones given shortly after was 
 so decided that an unscrupulous speculator 
 proceeded to arrange a public performance of 
 " Esther," which he announced to take place 
 on April 20, 1732. Goaded on by this shame- 
 less act of piracy Handel, on April 19th, gave 
 notice of a performance of the same oratorio 
 to take place " By His Majesty's Command " 
 on May 2d, at the King's Theatre in the Hay- 
 market. As, however. Dr. Gibson, then Bishop 
 of London, refused to permit the choristers of 
 the Chapels Royal to sing in costume, even if 
 they held books in their hands, and Handel 
 was dependent on them for giving the work 
 throughout in English, he informed the public 
 in a postscript to the advertisement that there 
 would be no acting on the stage, but that the 
 house would be " fitted up in a decent manner 
 for the audience." So universal was the enthu- 
 siasm which this entertainment aroused tnat 
 Handel was enabled to repeat it five times. 
 
 After having made a similar experience with 
 his pastoral " Acis and Galatea," likewise com- 
 posed at Cannons, Handel could no longer re- 
 main in doubt as to the attitude of the English 
 public toward the choral oratorio, even when 
 produced in appropriate scenic environment 
 124 
 
Handel 
 
 only, without costumes and action. Neverthe- 
 less seven years more elapsed — years heavy 
 with trials and disappointments — before he 
 could persuade himself to devote his energies 
 to the composition and performance of ora- 
 torios rather than to operatic undertakings. 
 
 This he was finally induced to do by the suc- 
 cess attending the series of weekly Lenten ora- 
 torio concerts which he began in 1739. These 
 entertainments, which were increased to twice 
 their original number the year following, came 
 to be looked upon as the most brilliant events 
 of the London musical season on account of 
 the superiority of Handel's compositions as 
 well as on account of the excellence of the per- 
 formances. 
 
 So far as it is possible to determine, the ( 
 chorus on these occasions consisted of almost // 
 eighty and the orchestra of about one hun- 1 
 dred, to which there were added, as required,! 
 the harp, theorbe, clavichord, and organ — 
 most frequently the last two, which at times! 
 were doubled. Handel conducted seated at' 
 the clavichord or organ. 
 
 Although the numbers given indicate a re- 
 lation between the vocal and instrumental 
 forces the reverse of that now in vogue, there 
 could have been no lack of balance. On the 
 one hand the choir consisted of boys and men 
 125 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 who were professional singers and absolutely 
 letter perfect, on the other hand Handel's in- 
 strumentation called for the full power of the 
 orchestra only in the climacteric passages, the 
 different instrumental groups being subdivided 
 into principal (concertante) and supplementary 
 (ripien'i) parts, which he could employ at will. 
 The alto part in the chorus was taken by coun- 
 ter-tenors, the compass and quality of whose 
 voices Handel evidently had in view when 
 he wrote such leads as those beginning the 
 well-known choruses in " The Messiah," " And 
 the Glory of the Lord " and " Behold the Lamb 
 of God," — themes which lose much of their 
 sharpness of outline when sung by female 
 voices. As even at the festivities of the coro- 
 nation of King George IL at Westminster 
 Abbey in 1727 the choir numbered only forty- 
 seven singers, it is evident that Handel's Len- 
 ten performances were conducted on a scale 
 of extraordinary grandeur according to cur- 
 rent estimates. 
 
 Once convinced that success under existing 
 circumstances lay in the direction of the ora- 
 torio, Handel applied himself to composing in 
 this form with the same energy that he had be- 
 fore brought to bear on writing operas. Desir- 
 ous of retaining the prestige of his concerts he 
 laboured incessantly to have novelties on hand 
 
 126 
 
Handel 
 
 and brought out every season at least one new 
 oratorio. 
 
 Of the twenty-six oratorios and works per- 
 formed *' after the manner of oratorios " which 
 Handel composed, seventeen are on Scriptural 
 subjects, and of these again fourteen are purely 
 dramatic in construction, following the lines of 
 Italian drama, while two: "Israel in Egypt'* 
 and " The Messiah," departing from this model, 
 constitute a class of their own. The " Occa- 
 sional Oratorio " occupies an isolated position. 
 Common to all of these is the prominence given 
 to the chorus ; and herein lies, as already stated, 
 the reformatory character of Handel's activity. 
 It was indispensable to the development of 
 choral music that the polyphonic choral forms, 
 which had remained almost exclusively in the 
 possession of the Church, should be introduced 
 into the concert-room, and this Handel accom- 
 plished with his oratorios. For, notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that they are based on Biblical his- 
 tory, they were composed not with the church 
 but with the concert-room in view, however 
 well they may be adapted to church use when 
 contrasted with the productions of more mod- 
 ern composers. 
 
 In preferably selecting his subject-matter 
 from Holy Writ, Handel was undoubtedly 
 guided quite as largely by practical considera- 
 
 127 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 tions as by religious motives. He had learned 
 from experience that the events in sacred his- 
 tory, with which English audiences were thor- 
 oughly familiar, appealed more readily to their 
 understanding and sympathy than those in 
 heathen mythology, with which they were 
 much less conversant. Furthermore, the very 
 character of the choral oratorio invited the 
 choice of subjects which concerned the fates of 
 peoples, of nations, yes, of the whole world ; 
 and such subjects of the most heroic type he 
 found in the history of the Hebrew race and 
 (for " The Messiah ") in the Gospel story. 
 These he treated in his fourteen purely dra- 
 matic oratorios in the conventional Italian 
 manner, always excepting the marvellously 
 expressive, descriptive, and commentative cho- 
 ruses. In " Israel in Egypt " and " The Mes- 
 siah," however, he departed from this rule and 
 created special forms. 
 
 These oratorios too, Handel's greatest and 
 most popular ones, are dramatic in conception 
 notwithstanding their epic form. Although 
 they resemble the liturgical type in that they 
 are built on Scriptural texts only and in that in 
 " Israel in Egypt " the narrator is reinstated, 
 the vividness with which the different scenes 
 are depicted characterises them as being con- 
 cert music pure and simple. 
 
 128 
 
Handel 
 
 It is certainly not unwarranted to assume 
 that Handel in these two instances chose to 
 forego the advantages which he might have de- 
 rived from adopting the scheme of his strictly 
 dramatic oratorios because of pious reverence. 
 Neither the manifestations of the power of Je- 
 hovah, which form the essential subject-matter 
 of " Israel in Egypt," nor the life and mission 
 of Christ, of which "The Messiah" treats, 
 would admit of being cast into dramatic shape 
 unless it were done after the manner of the 
 mysteries and in the spirit of an ecclesiastical 
 function. Handel, whose musical nature was 
 no longer in sympathy with this type, there- 
 fore adopted forms which enabled him to fol- 
 low his own methods without doing violence 
 to his feelings and the feelings of every be- 
 liever. 
 
 " Israel in Egypt " grew out of what now 
 constitutes its second part, '* Moses's Song," 
 which Handel began four days after the com- 
 pletion of the oratorio " Saul." Realising with 
 the practised eye of the dramatist that he could 
 throw " Moses's Song " into relief by the nar- 
 rative of the incidents which led up to it in 
 Bible history, he wrote the series of marvel- 
 lous tone pictures, principally choral, of Israel's 
 bondage, of the Egyptian plagues, and of Israel's 
 deliverance, which for depth of pathos, power 
 129 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 of description and suggestion have never been 
 equalled. This stupendous work Handel put 
 on paper in the incredibly short time of twenty- 
 seven days. The indifference with which its 
 first performance, given on April 4, 1739, was 
 received occasioned him deep pain. 
 
 Even more comprehensive in scope than 
 " Israel in Egypt " though totally different in 
 character is " The Messiah," in which Handel 
 celebrated the Life of the Saviour, and which 
 comprises the announcement of His Coming, 
 the Passion, the Resurrection, and the Salvation 
 of man. These events are not recounted by a 
 narrator or in dramatic dialogue, but presented 
 in an imaginative, contemplative spirit. Yet 
 the leading scenes pulsate with truly dramatic 
 life, though they are depicted with a degree 
 of reserve which is eloquent of the composer's 
 appreciation of the loftiness of the subject. 
 There is nothing of vague mysticism in the 
 music of " The Messiah," nor does it disclose 
 any attempt at exegetical interpretation of the 
 text. It is eminently human, suffused with rev- 
 erence yet permeated with the healthy vigour 
 of a strong, impulsive nature which does not 
 hesitate to give bold, even picturesque utter- 
 ance to its feelings. Any attempt to surround 
 " The Messiah " with the halo of an ecclesiasti- 
 cal function must result, as it only too often 
 130 
 
Handel 
 
 does, in robbing the music of much of its ex- 
 pressiveness and force. 
 
 The general plan of " The Messiah " orig- 
 inated with Handel. In compiling the text he 
 had the assistance of Charles Jennens, a literary 
 amateur and friend of his, who on account of 
 the princely manner in which he lived was sur- 
 named " Soliman the Magnificent." The com- 
 position of " The Messiah " was another of 
 Handel's wonderful achievements, for it occu- 
 pied him only twent3^-four days, from August 
 22 to September 14, 1741. 
 
 The first public performance of **The Mes- 
 siah " took place under the composer's direction 
 at Dublin on April 13, 1742, in the Music Hall, 
 Fishamble Street, for the benefit of three char- 
 ities. A public rehearsal, to which all purchaseirs^, 
 of tickets for the performance proper, " a most 
 Grand, Polite and Crowded Audience," were 
 admitted was held four days before. On ac- 
 count of the widespread interest excited by this 
 event a request was inserted in the newspapers, 
 that " ladies would be pleased to come without 
 hoops and gentlemen without swords." The 
 seating capacity of the hall was thereby in- 
 creased from six hundred to seven hundred 
 persons. The success of the work was extra- 
 ordinary, the consensus of opinion according 
 to Faulkfier's Journal being that '* The Mes- 
 
 131 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 siah " was " allowed by the greatest judges to 
 be the finest composition of Musick that was 
 ever heard." 
 
 Handel agreed to give the charities of Dub- 
 lin the benefit of the first production of this, 
 his newest oratorio in return for the assistance 
 rendered him by " The Charitable Musical So- 
 ciety " at a series of concerts of his own music 
 which he had been invited to conduct by the 
 Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and which had 
 been most liberally patronised. In acknowl- 
 edgment he was enabled to turn over to the so- 
 ciety the sum of four hundred pounds sterling. 
 
 The chorus which Handel had at his dispos- 
 al at this performance numbered about four- 
 teen men and six boys. As to the size of the 
 orchestra no reliable data seem to be obtain- 
 able. Dubourg, an eminent violinist and great 
 admirer of Handel's, was the leader, and the 
 State Band, of which he was master, in all prob- 
 ability furnished the nucleus of the instrumen- 
 talists, who were augmented by an amateur 
 orchestra to which members of the highest 
 nobility belonged. All these forces had been 
 brought to a high state of efficiency by Han- 
 del himself, who was a severe disciplinarian, in 
 the course of the five months preceding the 
 performance. In a letter to Jennens he spoke 
 in enthusiastic terms of both chorus and or- 
 132 
 
Handel 
 
 chestra. The soloists were Signora Avolio, 
 Mrs. Cibber, who afterward became famous for 
 her singing of " He was Despised," Messrs. 
 Church and Ralph Rosingrave — all artists ad- 
 mirably equipped for their several tasks. 
 
 In London " The Messiah " was not heard 
 until March 23, 1743. It was on this occasion 
 that at the words *' For the Lord God omnip- 
 otent reigneth " in the ** Hallelujah " chorus 
 King George II. arose, and with him the entire 
 audience, and remained standing to the end. 
 
 After the year 1750 *'The Messiah" was per- 
 formed at least once annually during Handel's 
 lifetime under his own direction in the chapel 
 of the Foundling Hospital for the benefit of 
 that institution, to which he bequeathed a set 
 of orchestral parts. Handel himself conducted 
 " The Messiah " thirty-four times. At the last 
 performance at which he was announced to 
 appear, on May 3, 1759, and which was given 
 notwithstanding his death, which occurred on 
 April 14th, the orchestra consisted of twelve first 1 
 and second violins, three violas, three 'cellos, 
 two double basses, four oboes, four bassoons, 
 two horns, two trumpets, kettledrums, clavi- 
 chord, and organ, while the chorus numbered 
 five principals (two women and three men), six 
 boys, and twelve adult choristers. This body 
 Handel had considered sufficient for producing 
 133 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 the required effects in a hall capable of seating 
 about a thousand persons. The distribution 
 f of the instruments of the orchestra represents 
 ' the then customary proportions between the 
 strings and the oboes and bassoons, by which 
 they were reinforced in the full passages. 
 These proportions were : one oboe to about 
 three violins, one bassoon to each 'cello, and 
 another to each double bass. The manner in 
 which the reinforcements were to be employed 
 was minutely indicated by Handel in the score 
 and parts. 
 
 Such was the popularity of ** The Messiah," 
 for many years the only oratorio which it was 
 customary to give complete, that it opened 
 a new era in choral culture in England and 
 called into life the Handel cult which has 
 not died out to the present day. The Lenten 
 performances organised by Handel were car- 
 ried on by John Christopher Smith (1712-1795), 
 Handel's former amanuensis, and John Stan- 
 ley (1713-1786), These led up to the great 
 Handel celebration which took place in com- 
 memoration of the centenary of Handel's birth, 
 in Westminster Abbey and the Pantheon from 
 May 26 to June 5, 1784 (a year too early for 
 the centenary festival), and which the historian 
 Burney has so attractively described. On this 
 occasion the chorus, including the principals, 
 134 
 
 r 
 
Handel 
 
 numbered two hundred and seventy-five, di* 
 vided into : sixty sopranos, of whom forty-seven 
 were boys ; forty-eight altos, all men ; eighty- 
 three tenors ; and eighty-four basses. The or- 
 chestra numbered two hundred and fifty. It 
 is noteworthy that notwithstanding such a re- 
 lation between the vocalists and instrumental- 
 ists. Abbe Vogler (1749-18 14), a remarkably 
 versatile musician who contrived to obtain 
 notoriety in England and on the Continent by 
 his eccentricities as well as by his talents, 
 pronounced the chorus too powerful for the 
 orchestra. 
 
 The fitness of Handel's music for perform- 
 ance on a grand scale having been demon- 
 strated, Handel festivals became of common oc- 
 currence. In Germany Johann Adam Hiller 
 (1728-1804), a most active choral and orches- 
 tral conductor, imitated the example set at 
 London by giving " The Messiah," in an Italian 
 translation, in the Cathedral at Berlin in May, 
 1786, with a chorus of one hundred and eigh- 
 teen and an orchestra of one hundred and 
 eighty-six. Hiller did not hesitate to pander 
 to public taste and to the vanity of the prin- 
 cipal soloist by interpolating an Italian aria. 
 He also attempted to modernise Handel's 
 work by rewriting the parts for the wind in- 
 struments and making changes in the letter 
 135 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 of the music. So little reverence was enter- 
 tained at the time for ** The Messiah " in 
 Germany that the advisability of composing 
 new arias for the oratorio was openly dis- 
 cussed. 
 
 It was in the nature of such festivals that 
 efforts should have been made to increase the 
 sonority of the orchestral volume in keeping 
 with that of the constantly growing vocal 
 body; and as this could be most readily ac- 
 complished by the introduction of additional 
 wind and particularly brass instruments, Han- 
 del oratorios were subjected to all sorts of de- 
 plorable indignities for the sake of producing 
 noise merely, — a practice which has unfortu- 
 nately survived to the present day. 
 ^"'^■'^Tnstriking contrast with such innovations are 
 the additional accompaniments which Mozart 
 wrote in 1789 at the request of Baron van 
 Swieten for several of Handel's oratorios, 
 among them " The Messiah," in order to make 
 their performance possible without the help of 
 an organ. The manner in which he did this 
 has met with the unqualified approval and has 
 challenged the admiration of the most critical. 
 Even the purists who would restore the origi- 
 nal, to modern taste, unsatisfactory instrumen- 
 tation cannot deny that Mozart's version has 
 brought *' The Messiah " nearer to the under- 
 
 136 
 
Handel 
 
 standing and sympathies of the people without 
 in any way doing violence to the composer's 
 intentions. Robert Franz, having discovered 
 that the score attributed to Mozart contained 
 much that had come neither from Mozart's nor 
 Handel's pen, in 1884 published an edition of 
 ** The Messiah," critically revised on the basis 
 of the best manuscripts, in which all gaps in in- 
 strumentation are filled out and a number of 
 carefully considered alterations appear. 
 
 The acme of extraordinary performances of 
 Handel's works has been reached at the Han- 
 del Festivals which were begun in 1857 at the 
 Crystal Palace, Sydenham, under the auspices 
 of the London Sacred Harmonic Society, then 
 conducted by Sir Michael Costa (1810-1884), 
 and which have been held triennially with one 
 exception since 1862. On some of these occa- 
 sions over three thousand singers have been 
 assembled and an orchestra of five hundred has 
 been gathered together. The numerical rela- 
 tion between the vocal and instrumental forces 
 has therefore been brought into accord with 
 modern ideas. In the Triennial Festival of 
 the current year, which took place in June, four 
 thousand performers participated. As such 
 undertakings seldom yield artistic results and 
 are necessarily confined to the production of 
 the best known of Handel's oratorios, they add 
 137 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 little to the knowledge of his works, a goodly 
 number of which have undeservedly been per- 
 mitted to become obsolete, notwithstanding 
 the fact that, especially when discriminately 
 pruned, they can be made effective. 
 
 "38 
 
VII 
 
 Other Choral Forms 
 
 OF the attempts made in England to pursue 
 the course marked out for the oratorio by 
 Handel, whose works were there estimated at 
 their true value, none succeeded in attracting 
 more than passing interest. In Germany the 
 Italian operatic oratorio ruled supreme, Bach's 
 influence remaining purely local for many 
 decades. In the meanwhile Gluck (1714-1787) 
 was liberating the drama from the technical 
 mannerisms of tyrannous singers, Haydn (1732- 
 1809) was shaping the symphony, and Mozart 
 (1756-1791) was pouring forth floods of glow- 
 ing, pulsating melody, and enriching the or- 
 chestral pallet. When, therefore, Haydn in 
 1795, at the age of sixty-three, began to com- 
 pose " The Creation," he had at his service 
 vocal and instrumental forms and means of mu- 
 sical expression of which even he could have 
 had but a faint conception at the time of writ- 
 ing his Italian oratorio, " The Return of To- 
 bias," twenty-four years before. 
 139 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 Haydn was persuaded to undertake the com- 
 position of " The Creation " and '* The Sea- 
 sons " by Baron von Swieten,to whom the musi- 
 cal circles of Vienna owed their acquaintance 
 with Handel's " Messiah," and who provided 
 the aged composer with the text-books, which 
 he had translated and adapted — that of " The 
 Creation *' from a poem by Lidley, based on 
 Milton's " Paradise Lost," that of '' The Sea- 
 sons " from a poem by J. Thomson. For the 
 composition of " The Creation " which, it is 
 said, gave Haydn much trouble. Von Swieten 
 and his coterie of musical friends guaranteed 
 Haydn five hundred florins, about two hun- 
 dred dollars. Under their care the first per- 
 formance of the oratorio took place at the 
 Schwarzenberg palace, Vienna, before an in- 
 vited audience on April 29, 1798. In public it 
 was produced for the first time on March 19th 
 of the following year at the National Theatre 
 under the auspices of the same patrons, who 
 defrayed all the expenses and handed over to 
 the composer the entire proceeds, amounting 
 to four thousand florins. 
 
 The poem of " The Creation " is not a dra- 
 matic one, as the personages introduced ap- 
 pear as narrators only. This very fact was to 
 the advantage of Haydn, the trend of whose 
 genius was purely lyric, for it left him un- 
 
 140 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 trammelled to give free rein to his exuberant 
 fancy and create the series of pictures and 
 scenes which for loveliness of sentiment, de- 
 scriptive beauty, and grace have never been 
 excelled. To the orchestral movements and 
 the illustrative accompaniments Haydn de- 
 voted particular care, for this was his own pe- 
 culiar sphere. A striking example of felicitous 
 orchestration is to be found in " Raphael's " 
 (bass) narrative of the sixth day : the creation 
 of animal life, which is so rich in imitative bits 
 of tone painting that it has become known 
 among singers as the " zoological aria." Not- 
 withstanding its picturesqueness and occasional 
 realism Haydn's music always remains poetic 
 and beautiful and is exalted by an all-pervading 
 childlike, joyful, religious enthusiasm. In con- 
 struction the choruses of " The Creation " 
 show the influence of Handel, whose oratorios 
 Haydn had carefully studied and had heard in 
 Vienna and London, though in power and dra- 
 matic spirit they fall short of those of that 
 master of choral effects. 
 
 Even less organically connected than the 
 scenes of " The Creation " are those of " The 
 Seasons," which constitute a series of cantatas 
 rather than an oratorio. They concern them- 
 selves with human happenings and appealed to 
 Haydn's sympathies for folk-life, with which 
 141 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 he was in close touch, and which he was par* 
 ticularly fond of picturing. 
 
 '' The Seasons " too was produced for the 
 first time at the Schwarzenberg palace, on 
 April 24, 1 801. " Astonishment alternated with 
 loudly expressed enthusiasm among the hear- 
 ers " wrote a chronicler of this notable event. 
 
 The strain imposed on the venerable Haydn's 
 vitality by the composition of " The Seasons," 
 which was begun shortly after the completion 
 of "The Creation," proved too great. His 
 strength of body and happiness of mind failed 
 him little by little. He appeared for the last 
 time in public at a performance of " The 
 Creation" given on March 27, 1808, by the 
 " Musical Society of Dilettanti " with an or- 
 chestra of sixty and a chorus of only thirty- 
 two under the direction of Salieri (1750-1825), 
 a celebrated operatic composer and conductor. 
 When the chorus burst forth with the words 
 "And there was light," Haydn profoundly 
 agitated exclaimed, pointing toward Heaven, 
 " It came from thence!" — words which offer 
 the best commentary on the spirit in which he 
 had conceived this master-work. A little more 
 than a year later Haydn expired. 
 
 The influence of Haydn's ** Creation " on the 
 development of choral culture in Germany 
 was as puissant as had been that of Handel's 
 142 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 ** Messiah " in England. Choral societies were 
 organised in cities, towns, and villages for the 
 special purpose of producing the new oratorio, 
 which on account of its easily comprehended 
 beauties and the comparative simplicity of its 
 choruses, was particularly adapted to the lim- 
 ited capabilities of inexperienced singers. The 
 demand created by these associations for sim- 
 ilar works called forth a large number of them. 
 Descriptive and illustrative oratorios appeared 
 in profusion. The output of Haydn's imita- 
 tors, however, was so insignificant in quality 
 that its very existence is now forgotten. 
 • Even before Beethoven (i 770-1827) had en- 
 tirely emancipated himself from the limitations 
 of formalism and had created the marvellously 
 eloquent musical vocabulary with the aid of 
 which he subsequently gave such direct and 
 forceful expression to the most intense human 
 emotions and the most varied moods, he wrote 
 a choral work which is as remarkable for its 
 musical charm as for the boldness with which it 
 defies all religious traditions. This work, *' The 
 Mount of Olives," which is classed sometimes 
 with Passions, sometimes with oratorios, and 
 sometimes with sacred operas, Beethoven com- 
 posed in 1803. Notwithstanding its obvious 
 incongruities, for which the text-book is largely 
 responsible, and the most glaring of which are 
 143 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 a scene and aria assigned to the Saviour, and a 
 duet and trio in which the Saviour is joined by 
 an angel and by an angel and St. Peter respec- 
 tively, it was received with enthusiasm when 
 first produced on April 5, 1803, in the Theater 
 an der Wien, at Vienna, and after its publica- 
 tion in 1 810 was quite generally performed 
 throughout Germany. An unsuccessful at- 
 tempt to rid Beethoven's music of its objec- 
 tionable libretto Avas made in England in 1842 
 by Dr. Hudson of Dublin, who substituted for 
 the original words a text founded on the story 
 of David's sojourn in the wilderness. In this 
 form it is known under the title ** Engedi." 
 
 The romantic movement in music which laid 
 more stress on the clear, definite, and pictu- 
 resque expression in tones of emotions, fancies, 
 and mental concepts than on the creation of 
 works beautiful as to purely musical content 
 and form, was not without influence on the 
 oratorio. Among those who in sympathy with 
 this tendency devoted themselves to the com- 
 position of oratorios Frederic Schneider (1786- 
 1853) and Louis Spohr (1784-1859) attained 
 prominence. The former's oratorio '' The Judg- 
 ment of the World," completed in 1819, created 
 wide-spread but passing interest; the latter's 
 '•The Last Judgment" (Die letzten Dinge), 
 produced for the first time at the Rhenish Festi- 
 144 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 val of 1826, became particularly popular in Eng- 
 land, where it is still in favour. These, not to 
 mention less distinguished contemporaneous 
 oratorio writers, were completely eclipsed by 
 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), who 
 with " St. Paul " and " Elijah " recorded tri- 
 umphs comparable only to those achieved by 
 Handel with " The Messiah " and Haydn with 
 " The Creation." 
 
 The popular success of Mendelssohn's ora- 
 torios was due to the fact that notwithstanding 
 his sincere effort to combine the devotional 
 depth of Bach with the brilliant power of Han- 
 del, the methods of both of whom he had thor- 
 oughly assimilated, he remained true to his 
 own style, which in its suave beauty and calm 
 fervour was within the ready comprehension of 
 his time and in harmony with its emotional and 
 imaginative tendencies. Less profound than 
 Bach and less virile than Handel, he entertained 
 sentiments and formed conceptions of the char- 
 acters to be portrayed, which were in perfect 
 accord with the somewhat sentimental religious 
 life of his day. Possessed of all the resources 
 of musical expression and illustration which 
 had been developed since Haydn, he was en- 
 abled to give utterance to these sentiments 
 and to realise these conceptions in a musical 
 language which appealed directly to his hearers, 
 145 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 but which, as it was always choice, was not 
 harmful to musical taste. 
 
 It admits of little doubt that as a composer 
 Mendelssohn was somewhat overrated during 
 his lifetime. This was largely due to his remark- 
 ably sympathetic personality, his superior gifts 
 of mind and comprehensive education, and to 
 his many-sided public activity ; for he was one 
 of the most refined of the pianists then living, 
 an organist unexcelled in the art of extempo- 
 rising, and a conductor of great technical abil- 
 ity and of irresistible magnetism. Equally cer- 
 tain is it that Mendelssohn is now underrated ; 
 for after all has been said that can be justly 
 brought forward against his best works, and 
 " Elijah " is one of them, the fact remains that 
 they are rich in melody, are constructed with 
 consummate contrapuntal skill and knowledge 
 of choral effects, orchestrated with rare taste, 
 and that in point of form they fall little short of 
 perfection. As Mendelssohn could not but yield 
 to his extraordinary faculty of inventing sen- 
 suously charming melodies, his lyric utterances 
 are often devoid of forcefulness, the absence of 
 which is more keenly felt since the dramatic 
 spirit and dramatic methods have asserted 
 themselves in every class of musical compo- 
 sition. That he was capable, however, of strong 
 characterisation and was a master in adapting 
 
 146 
 
MENDELSSOHN. 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 the polyphonic forms — the ideal forms for ex- 
 tended choral movements — to the expression 
 of intensely emotional states and to the require- 
 ments of dramatic situations, a number of scenes 
 in " Elijah " show, for they are sufficiently dra- 
 matic both in conception and execution to ad- 
 mit of performance on the stage. In point of 
 fluency and effectiveness Mendelssohn's choral 
 style has not been surpassed, if it has been 
 equalled, by any other modern composer. 
 
 Although Mendelssohn conceived the idea of 
 writing an oratorio as a favourite project before 
 he was twenty years of age, he did not venture 
 on such an undertaking until urged by the 
 Cecilia Society of Frankfort-on-the-Main to 
 compose an oratorio with St Paul for its sub- 
 ject. Unable to come to an understanding 
 with Professor Bernhard Marx (1799- 1866), 
 lecturer on music at the Berlin University, in 
 regard to the introduction of the chorale, Men- 
 delssohn compiled the text-book himself from 
 the Bible with the assistance of two friends. 
 With the composition of the music he was oc- 
 cupied at intervals from 1834 to 1836. In the 
 meanwhile the right of producing it for the 
 first time was acquired for the Lower Rhenish 
 Festival of 1836, the Cecilia Society having 
 been compelled to renounce its claim on the 
 work in consequence of the illness of its direc- 
 
 147 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 tor. Accordingly the first performance of "St. 
 Paul" took place on May 22d of that year at 
 Dlisseldorf, under the direction of the compos- 
 er. As an amusing incident of this concert it is 
 related that when one of the ** False Witnesses " 
 failed to take up his cue, Fanny, Mendelssohn's 
 sister, who sang in the chorus, averted disas- 
 trous consequences by humming his part and 
 setting him aright. The oratorio was received 
 with unprecedented enthusiasm ; yet Mendels- 
 sohn having detected shortcomings in design 
 and details subjected it to a thorough revi- 
 sion, cutting out as many as ten numbers. " St. 
 Paul " was seized upon with such eagerness 
 by choral societies that in Germany alone one 
 hundred and fifty performances of it were re- 
 corded within eighteen months of the Diissel- 
 dorf production. 
 
 From the importance which Mendelssohn as- 
 signed to the chorale in " St. Paul " it is evident 
 that he planned this oratorio with Bach's Pas- 
 sions in mind. While such a scheme offered 
 obvious advantages for contriving beautiful 
 musical effects, it was inconsistent for an orato- 
 rio, and encouraged the already wide-spread 
 inclination to confuse the form of the oratorio 
 with that of the Passion or mystery. 
 
 The results of the ten years of study, reflec- 
 tion, and experience following the production 
 148 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 I 
 
 of " St. Paul " are embodied in " Elijah," the 
 work which marks the culmination of Men- 
 delssohn's creative activity. The choice of this 
 subject is said to have been determined by the 
 passage " Behold, the Lord passeth by," which 
 appealed forcibly to Mendelssohn's imagination 
 and subsequently inspired him to a most pict- 
 uresque choral setting. His principal aim in 
 compiling the text was to make it as coherently 
 dramatic as possible. The sequel proved that 
 he was wise in so doing, for, although *' Elijah " 
 like " St. Paul " consists of a series of detached 
 scenes, those of the former oratorio gain force 
 by revolving about one central figure, while 
 those of the latter suffer by being connected 
 inferentially only. In the characterisation of 
 that central figure and in the description of 
 the miraculous occurrences with which it is 
 identified in the narrative, Mendelssohn most 
 eloquently demonstrated his resourcefulness 
 in choral and orchestral composition. 
 
 The first production of " Elijah " took place at 
 the Birmingham Festival of 1846 on the morn- 
 ing of August 26th, at the Town Hall. The 
 orchestra numbered one hundred and twenty- 
 five and the chorus two hundred and seventy- 
 one, the sixty altos of which were men — Men- 
 delssohn called them his ** bearded altos." 
 When Mendelssohn appeared on the stage he 
 149 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 was greeted by the vast audience, which had 
 taken possession of all the available space, with 
 deafening applause, in which the orchestra and 
 chorus joined. Then amid the quiet of anxious 
 expectancy the performance began. The as- 
 tonishment of the hearers when after a few in- 
 troductory chords Staudigl, the great German 
 bass, who sang the titular part, announced the 
 prophecy in the impressive recitative which 
 precedes the overture, can scarcely be imag- 
 ined. For such a bold innovation few were 
 prepared, and its effect must, therefore, have 
 been overpowering. 
 
 According to Mendelssohn's own testimony 
 none other of his works was hailed with such 
 enthusiasm by musicians and the public as 
 " Elijah." Nevertheless he thoroughly revised 
 this oratorio, too, abbreviating, rewriting, and 
 rescoring. The trio for women's voices, " Lift 
 thine eyes," which has become so universally 
 popular, was one of the results of this revision. 
 The original setting of the words was for two 
 voices only. 
 
 Numerous efforts have been made and are 
 constantly making, on the one hand, to apply 
 to the principles observed by Mendelssohn in 
 the oratorio the methods which have revolu- 
 tionised the modern lyric drama, on the other, 
 to evolve new constructive principles on the 
 150 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 basis of these methods. None of these efforts 
 has so far been conspicuously successful, and 
 it remains to be seen whether the fusion of 
 such apparently incompatible elements is pos- 
 sible in the choral oratorio. 
 
 In England, where the exceptional facilities 
 offered by the regularly recurring festivals for 
 the production of large choral works act as a 
 constant stimulus to composers, the contribu- 
 tions to oratorio literature have been most 
 copious. Yet in that country Mendelssohn*s 
 influence has remained particularly powerful 
 and is but thinly veiled by the profuse em- 
 ployment of the modern resources of musical 
 composition. 
 
 In " The Redemption," produced for the 
 first time at the Birmingham Festival of 1882, 
 Charles Francois Gounod (18 18-1893) attempt- 
 ed to create a new type of religious music 
 which he described as " plane music and music 
 painted in fresco." The morbidly mystic char- 
 acter of this work, the plan of which is framed 
 after that of Bach's Passions, is only empha- 
 sised by the composer's analytical exposition 
 of the symbolical nature of the tone structure. 
 
 Directly antipodal to this type in purpose 
 and style are the oratorios or sacred operas of 
 Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), " Paradise Lost," 
 " The Tower of Babel," " Moses," and '' Christ," 
 
 151 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 to the full effect of which imaginary if not real 
 scenic environment is necessary. The two 
 last mentioned are in fact Biblical operas in- 
 tended for representation on a specially con- 
 structed stage. Such a production of " Christ," 
 prepared on a most elaborate scale according 
 to the instructions and under the supervision 
 of Rubinstein, took place at Bremen in 1895, 
 several months after his death, without, how- 
 ever, inviting imitation. 
 
 Remarkable for eclecticism and for the utter 
 unconstraint with which the composer has util- 
 ised different styles and forms of vocal and in- 
 strumental music, sacred and secular, are the 
 oratorios " The Legend of St. Elizabeth " and 
 "Christ," by Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The 
 *' Legend of St. Elizabeth " was composed to 
 celebrate the dedication of. the restored Wart- 
 burg, the scene of the singing contest of the 
 minnesingers in Wagner's " Tannhauser," and 
 Luther's asylum from 1521 to 1522. It was 
 suggested by the frescoes then newly painted 
 on the walls of the Wartburg by Moritz von 
 Schwind, which represent scenes from the life 
 of St. Elizabeth. In attempting to reproduce 
 these scenes Liszt made extensive use of typ- 
 ical phrases, taken in part from a hymn sung in 
 the sixteenth century on the festival of St. Eliz- 
 abeth, which he elaborated with all possible 
 152 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 skill and presented in a kaleidoscopic profusion 
 of orchestral tone colours. In " Christ," like- 
 wise a series of detached scenes, plain chant 
 melodies, Latin Church hymns, and mediaeval 
 spiritual songs in varied settings touch elbows 
 with high-tinted orchestral tone paintings of the 
 most realistic kind. 
 
 Among more recent contributions to the lit- 
 erature of the oratorio may be mentioned " St. 
 Francis" by Edgar Tinel (1854-), in which the 
 diversity of styles is even more crassly accen- 
 tuated than in Liszt's " St. Elizabeth " ; and 
 the unduly heralded Passion-trilogy and ora- 
 torios by Don Lorenzo Perosi (1872-), in which 
 an attempt is made at the combination of medi- 
 aeval and modern methods. 
 
 These are a few of the works in which the 
 efforts to discover new paths in the composition 
 of the choral oratorio in its most comprehen- 
 sive sense are most plainly in evidence. Such 
 efforts have not as yet yielded any far-reaching 
 results, for they have not added anything of 
 grandeur and impressiveness to the polyphon- 
 ic style so well suited to the choral oratorio, or 
 supplanted it with one more forceful or better 
 adapted to the character of that form. Until 
 they shall have accomplished one or the other 
 of these ends they must be characterised as 
 tentative only. 
 
 153 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 As music emancipated itself from the ritualis- 
 tic constraint of the Church, composers were 
 not slow to realise the opportunities offered by 
 the missal text for the construction of elaborate 
 accompanied choral works. 
 
 At the very dividing line between music of 
 and for the Church and music independent 
 of such environment stands Bach's stupendous 
 mass in B minor, in which the composer gave 
 utterance to his conception of the religious sig- 
 nificance of the words without considerations of 
 any kind save those imposed by his own devo- 
 tional feeling and his musical sensibiUties. The 
 result was one of the greatest choral works of 
 all times, and one which, notwithstanding its 
 marvellously intricate construction, appeals 
 directly to the hearer on account of the lofty 
 beauty and the plastic contours of its themes 
 and of the illustrative character of some of its 
 movements. Bach wrote the first two parts of 
 the mass in 1733 for the royal chapel at Dres- 
 den and dedicated them to the Elector of Sax- 
 ony with the request for an honorary title, which 
 he coveted to offset the slights offered him by 
 the authorities of Leipsic, to whom he was sub- 
 ordinate as cantor. The remaining movements 
 he did not complete until five years later. 
 
 Haydn and Mozart in their masses (except- 
 ing the latter's Requiem) made little effort to 
 
 154 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 improve on the operatic style cultivated in the 
 churches of Austria at the time. 
 
 Almost entirely dissociated from any eccle- 
 siastical purport is Beethoven's great mass in 
 D, the only mass which can in any way be com- 
 pared with Bach's. When Beethoven in 1818 
 began the composition of this, his second mass, 
 he had in mind the ceremony which was to sig- 
 nalise the installation of his distinguished pa- 
 tron, the Archduke of Austria, as Archbishop 
 of Olmiitz ; but before he had got well un- 
 der way with it his inspiration was not to be 
 checked. The movements outgrew all practi- 
 cable proportions, and the score, instead of be- 
 ing completed within the two years originally 
 allotted, was not finished until four years had 
 passed. Beethoven devoted himself to this task 
 with all the impetuosity of his volcanic nature. 
 According to Schindler, his friend and biog- 
 rapher, he at times fell into a state of uncon- 
 trollable excitement while at work, pacing the 
 floor, stamping, shouting, and singing like one 
 possessed. 
 
 Beethoven looked at the text of the mass not 
 in the light of its liturgical significance but in 
 that of its poetical suggestiveness. His setting 
 of it is therefore intensely emotional and imag- 
 inative, and in places even picturesquely dra- 
 matic, as witness the much discussed trumpet 
 155 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 fanfares accompanied by drums in the "Agnus 
 Dei/' which serve to throw into relief the prayer 
 for peace by suggesting the tumult of battle. 
 
 This monumental work literally went a-beg- 
 ging. A circular soliciting subscribers for the 
 score addressed to all the European courts 
 brought only seven favourable replies, among 
 which was one offering a royal order in place 
 of the subscription price of fifty ducats (about 
 one hundred and twenty-five dollars) — a propo- 
 sition which Beethoven, who was in need of 
 money, indignantly rejected. He was not even 
 permitted to hear a complete performance of 
 the mass. It was at St. Petersburg in 1824 that 
 such a one was made possible through the 
 efforts of Prince Galitzin. In Vienna only sin- 
 gle movements, with the text translated into 
 German, were given during Beethoven's life- 
 time under the name of " hymns," owing to the 
 interference of the censor. 
 
 Of greater attractiveness than the solemn 
 mass to composers who were under the spell 
 of imaginative and descriptive music, was the 
 mass for the dead, the Requiem, particularly 
 on account of the opportunities for the intro- 
 duction of unusual orchestral effects offered by 
 the sequence " Dies Irae." In this field Fran- 
 gois Joseph Gossec (i 733-1 829) proved a pio- 
 neer. His mass for the dead performed at St. 
 156 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 Roch in 1760 created a sensation, principally 
 on account of the " Tuba mirum," written for 
 two orchestras, one of wind instruments con- 
 cealed outside the church, and one of strings 
 placed within it, which accompanied the former 
 pianissimo and tremolo in the highest registers. 
 This innovation, however, appears innocuous 
 when compared with Berlioz's (i 803-1 869) the- 
 atrical attempt to picture the terrors of the judg- 
 ment day by adding to the full orchestra six- 
 teen drums with ten players and four brass 
 bands stationed in different parts of the church. 
 By the side of such an array of instruments the 
 requirements of Verdi's (181 3-) gorgeously col- 
 oured Requiem are modest indeed. Notwith- 
 standing the absence of any adventitious means 
 Mozart's Requiem excels such works by far in 
 tenderness, pathos, and real force. 
 
 One of the most noble, dignified, and heart- 
 felt choral compositions of recent times is " A 
 German Requiem " by Johannes Brahms (1833- 
 1897), a series of deeply contemplative move- 
 ments on Scriptural selections treating of death, 
 eternity, and the happiness of the life to come, 
 in which all the resources of modern harmony, 
 counterpoint, and orchestration are employed 
 with consummate skill and refined taste. 
 
 Among the excerpts from the Roman ritual 
 which have invited musical treatment in the 
 
 157 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 smaller forms are the sequence, " Stabat Mater," 
 the Ambrosian hymn of praise, " Te Deum," 
 and the song of the Virgin Mary, " Magnificat." 
 Prominent among the settings of these, which 
 are really sacred cantatas, are: the profound 
 one by Bach of the Magnificat ; the virile and 
 brilliant Utrecht and Dettingen Te Deum by 
 Handel, the fantasic Te Deum by Berlioz, 
 composed as a part of a projected ceremony 
 commemorative of Napoleon I. ; and the several 
 settings of the Stabat Mater by Emanuel As- 
 torga(i68i-i736); by Giovanni Pergolesi(i7io- 
 1736); by Rossini (i 792-1 868) — a glaring illus- 
 tration of the misapplication of extraordinary 
 musical gifts — and the individually character- 
 istic Stabat Mater by Antonin Dvolrak (1841-). 
 Although the oratorio is not necessarily lim- 
 ited to the treatment of sacred subjects, as the 
 secular oratorios of Handel and Haydn demon- 
 strate, tradition has assigned to it such a cir- 
 cumscribed sphere and a correspondingly re- 
 served and elevated style. In order to escape 
 such restrictions modern composers have either 
 refrained from classifying their choral works at 
 all or have adopted for them new, more or less 
 accurate, designations, as, for instance, dramat- 
 ic legend, dramatic cantata, dramatic or lyric 
 scenes, choral ballad, and poem, according to 
 the larger or smaller dimensions of the compo- 
 
 158 
 
Other Choral Forms 
 
 sition and its predominatingly dramatic, narra- 
 tive, descriptive or contemplative character. 
 
 As notable examples of such works may be 
 instanced Mendelssohn's charmingly illustra- 
 tive " Walpurgis Night"; Schumann's (1810- 
 1856) melodious " Paradise and the Peri," and 
 meditative ** Scenes from Faust " (particularly 
 the mystic third part) ; Berlioz's demoniac 
 " Faust " ; the picturesque ** Song of Desti- 
 ny " and the forceful " Song of Triumph " by 
 Brahms ; and DvoHk's realistic " The Spec- 
 tre's Bride." In England the output of compo- 
 sitions of this class, stimulated by the needs of 
 the provincial festivals, has been very large. 
 Among those which of recent times have at- 
 tracted unusual attention on account of their 
 signalising departures from the well -beaten 
 path, may be mentioned S. Coleridge Taylor's 
 (1875-) spontaneously melodic, though some- 
 what reiterative scenes from Longfellow's 
 "The Song of Hiawatha" and Edward William 
 Elgar's (1857-) contemplative and intricately 
 constructed settings of portions of Cardinal 
 Newman's "The Dream of Gerontius" (Bir- 
 mingham Festival of 1900). 
 
 With so great a variety of forms to choose 
 from, composers are perfectly free to resort to 
 any methods which may best suit their pur- 
 poses; and as conciseness and directness of 
 
 159 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 expression are at present held to be of more im- 
 portance than beauty of musical content and 
 workmanship, the methods they preferably em- 
 ploy are not such as are peculiar to the highly 
 organised contrapuntal types, the types which 
 have been hitherto considered as most inti- 
 mately in accord with the genius of choral mu- 
 sic. As a consequence the choral style is los- 
 ing much of its individuality and is yielding 
 more and more to the influence of modern in- 
 strumental music — a result which is to be de- 
 plored as long as the harm it brings to refined 
 chorus singing is not offset by advantages of 
 unquestionably artistic significance. 
 
 i6o 
 
VIII 
 
 Amateur Choral Culture in Germany 
 and England 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the interest in 
 chorus singing which such institutions as 
 the choruses of alumni and students created 
 in Germany, it was not until the end of the 
 eighteenth century that circumstances arose 
 favourable to the organisation of choral societies 
 independent of the Church and the school on 
 the one hand and of the opera on the other. 
 Up to the middle of that century musical ac- 
 tivity, productive and reproductive, revolved 
 about one or the other of these two centres. 
 Music was composed either for lending impres- 
 siveness to the devotional exercises of the peo- 
 ple or for adding lustre to the entertainments 
 of royalty and the aristocracy. It was per- 
 formed either by specially trained church choirs 
 or by royal and private chapels. As an art 
 sufficient unto itself, independent of such pur- 
 poses, music was scarcely recognised. Public 
 concerts were of rare occurrence, and it is sig- 
 i6i 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 nificant that the few which took place should 
 have consisted in oratorio performances, with 
 and without scenery and action, and in " ora- 
 torios," as miscellaneous concerts too were uni- 
 versally called, given merely to provide a sub- 
 stitute for operatic representations, which were 
 prohibited during Lent as well as on all great 
 church festivals. To this class belonged the 
 spiritual concerts founded by Anne Danican- 
 Philidor (1681-1728) in 1725 at Paris, the Lent- 
 en oratorio concerts permanently organised by 
 Handel in 1739 ^^ London, and those estab- 
 lished at Vienna in 1772 by the Association of 
 Musical Artists. 
 
 The dearth of public musical entertainments 
 acted as an incentive for amateurs to meet 
 together for the practice of concerted music. 
 Such gatherings, as has been shown, were heart- 
 ily encouraged by the conductors of church 
 choirs, and in some cases led up to the establish- 
 ment of permanent concert institutions. The 
 society of students, for instance, which assem- 
 bled every week at a tavern in Leipsic to sing 
 and play, and the direction of which Bach 
 assumed in 1736, gave the impulse to the forma- 
 tion of the association out of which the " Ge- 
 wandhaus" concerts ultimately grew. 
 
 Such associations — dilettanti associations 
 they were called, and their entertainments, di- 
 162 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in Germany 
 
 lettanti concerts, in contradistinction to the 
 professional concerts — became more and more 
 numerous as singers and instrumentalists in- 
 creased in number and efficiency and as under 
 the influence of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven 
 music became independent of the Church and 
 the stage. For a time social elements entered 
 very largely into their meetings. A supper and 
 dance almost invariably followed the musical 
 programme, which was only too often arranged 
 with a view towards providing opportunity for 
 the display of the attainments of individuals. 
 For these and similar reasons many of the soci- 
 eties were short-lived. With those that sur- 
 vived, however, the musical features became 
 of paramount importance and attained to a cer- 
 tain degree of artistic dignity. In some in- 
 stances most rigid rules looking towards such 
 results were framed. The statutes of a society 
 of dilettanti established at Heilbronn in 1785, 
 for example, prohibited eating, drinking, and 
 smoking at its entertainments, and provided 
 for the exclusion of incorrigible chatterers and 
 for the prevention of interruption or disturb- 
 ance of the performances. 
 
 Similar institutions were organised by the 
 nobility and aristocracy when towards the mid- 
 dle of the eighteenth century many of the royal 
 and princely chapels were dissolved. The titled 
 163 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 classes of Austria and Bohemia especially, ren- 
 dered invaluable services to the cause of mu- 
 sic by promoting worthy performances of the 
 choral master-works. In order to make these 
 possible they not only contributed the neces- 
 sary pecuniary means but gave active assistance 
 as well in the ranks of the orchestra and chorus. 
 Under such circumstances the productions of 
 Handel's oratorios begun by Baron von Swiet- 
 en, for which Mozart wrote his additional ac- 
 companiments, took place at Vienna from 1788 
 to 1790, and those of Haydn's ''Creation" in 
 1799, and of " The Seasons" in 1801. 
 
 The members of the nobility lent the pres- 
 tige of their patronage to such enterprises even 
 when undertaken by the upper middle classes, 
 and occasionally went so far as to participate 
 in them — a proof of devotion to the musical art 
 greater than which they could not give, and 
 an indication of the growth of appreciation of 
 its dignity and of the respect due to its ex- 
 ponents. 
 
 To the dilettanti concerts, which were not 
 supposed to be subject to public criticism, at 
 least in the early stages of the movement, sub- 
 scribers only were admitted, who paid merely 
 a nominal sum for this privilege. As very few 
 concerts were given outside of these — in Vi- 
 enna, for instance, only four during the whole 
 164 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in Germany 
 
 season — there was no lack of patrons. Indeed, 
 it was a cause of constant complaint that even 
 for visitors from other cities it was impossible 
 to obtain admission to such entertainments. 
 
 The dilettanti concerts were incapable of a 
 high degree of development because of the ab- 
 sence of lofty aims and of an artistic standard. 
 Symphonies were played without any rehears- 
 als, and oratorios with the most insufficient 
 preparation. The fact that in the small town 
 of Stettin it was customary to rehearse a pro- 
 gramme three or four times was made the sub- 
 ject of laudatory comment in a public journal 
 of Berlin, coupled with the humiliating con- 
 fession that in the Prussian capital not even a 
 single full rehearsal could be counted upon. 
 Nevertheless these associations served a good 
 purpose. To quote the keen critic Eduard 
 Hanslick — " They did not, as they perhaps 
 hoped, make the whole population musical, but 
 certainly themselves." 
 
 The dilettanti concerts were doomed as soon 
 as professional orchestral associations estab- 
 lished themselves, which elevated instrumental 
 performances to a point beyond the reach of 
 amateurs. These educated the public to de- 
 mand in choral music, too, which was depend- 
 ent on the co-operation of non-professionals, a 
 degree of efficiency to be attained by system- 
 165 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 atic practice only,* and up to the end of the 
 eighteenth century the necessity of systematic 
 practice had not been thought of among ama- 
 teurs. 
 
 So far as the question of the permanent or- 
 ganisation of bodies *\Df amateur singers de- 
 sirous of devdtipg tji^mselves seriously to the 
 study of choral mu^c'Hs •coTicerned, regardless 
 of the irpAediate artistic results ♦achieved, 
 America seems to have the right of claiming 
 priority, as will be shown in the chapter fol- 
 lowing. The first society, however, destined to 
 accomplish the results which revolutionised 
 choral culture by showing that artistic achieve- 
 ments were possible with larger numbers of 
 amateur singers, was the Singakademie of Ber- 
 lin, founded in 1790; and the man who devised 
 the methods by means of which this was ef- 
 fected was Karl Christian Fasch (i 736-1 800). 
 
 This admirably equipped and earnest-mind- 
 ed musician, after having acted in companion- 
 ship with Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) as 
 accompanist to the royal flutist Frederick the 
 Great of Prussia, for almost twenty years, re- 
 moved to Berlin for the purpose of giving vo- 
 cal lessons and devoting himself to the com- 
 position of unaccompanied choral music in the 
 mediaeval style. In 1783 Reichardt (1752-1814), 
 the royal chapel-master, submitted to Fasch for 
 166 
 
FASCH. 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in Germany 
 
 examination the score of a mass in sixteen parts 
 by Orazio Benevoli (1602-1672), a celebrated 
 Italian contrapuntist. Fasch, seized with the 
 desire to outdo the Italian master, set about 
 writing a similar mass under the additional 
 self-imposed restriction of grouping the voices 
 into four independent choruses, and applied 
 himself to the task with such persistence as to 
 bring on a hemorrhage of the lungs. Longing 
 to hear his work he attempted its performance 
 at first with twenty of the royal choristers in 
 Potsdam and then with members of the church 
 choir. The results were so distressing that 
 Fasch was compelled to lay aside his mass un- 
 heard for a time at least. 
 
 In the meanwhile several young women had 
 joined the circle of his pupils, among them the 
 daughter and stepdaughter of the Privy Coun- 
 cillor Milow, who, appreciative of the pleasure 
 and benefit to be derived from the practice of 
 concerted music, persuaded her fellow-students 
 and a few friends to form a little choir, which 
 Fasch was requested to instruct. Fasch be- 
 came deeply interested in this activity, largely 
 because it promised to afford him an opportu- 
 nity to hear his own works. In 1790 the meet- 
 ings assumed the character of regular rehearS" 
 als and were held in the summer-house of the 
 Privy Councillor. They were attended by 
 167 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 from twelve to sixteen persons, members of the 
 leading families of Berlin. Discontinued dur- 
 ing the winter, they were resumed the follow- 
 ing spring, and on May 27, 1791, when the first 
 record of attendance was kept, twenty-seven 
 singers answered to their names. This is the 
 date which is celebrated as that of the founda- 
 tion of the " Singakademie," the name subse- 
 quently adopted for the society. 
 
 Neither Fasch nor any one of the little band 
 which was gathered about him in 1790 had in 
 view the establishment of a permanent associa- 
 tion, least of all did he dream that he was taking 
 the first step in a movement which would create 
 a revolution in choral culture. All were animat- 
 ed by the one object of self-improvement, the one 
 incentive of love for music, the one ambition of 
 doing justice to an undertaken task. Unlike 
 the members of the dilettanti societies, they 
 studied choral works not for the sake of de- 
 riving and affording amusement, but for the pur- 
 pose of broadening their knowledge and refin- 
 ing their taste. Actuated by such motives and 
 guided by a conductor of high ideals, of skill, 
 and practical sense, they could not but accom- 
 plish results which in the course of time at- 
 tracted wide-spread attention — though this was 
 not of their seeking — and enlisted the active in- 
 terest even of professional musicians. To the 
 168 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in Germany 
 
 perpetuation of such a spirit and of such con- 
 ditions it is due that the Singakademie has sur- 
 vived to the present day and has remained a 
 strong factor in the promotion of choral culture. 
 
 In 1793, the membership of the society hav- 
 ing increased to forty-three and outgrown the 
 capacity of the rooms which could be placed at 
 its disposal in private houses, permission to 
 meet in the Royal Academy of Science and 
 Art was obtained. Fasch now suggested a plan 
 of organisation, which was adopted. He ap- 
 pointed a board of three men and three women 
 on whom devolved the administrative duties of 
 the society. Over its musical conduct he re- 
 tained absolute control. To defray the neces- 
 sary current expenses each member contrib- 
 uted twelve groschen, about twenty-five cents, 
 a month. Professional musicians were exempt 
 from the payment of dues, on the ground that 
 they lent their services to the loss of valuable 
 time. Fasch not only officiated as conductor 
 without any remuneration, but composed con- 
 stantly for the choir, and even copied the neces- 
 sary number of parts of the works to be stud- 
 ied. The great mass of manuscripts in his 
 handwriting which are preserved in the library 
 of the society bears testimony to his self-sacri- 
 ficing industry. 
 
 Scarcely less zealous than their director were 
 169 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 the members of the society. In these days 
 when chorus singers labour under the impres- 
 sion that in attending rehearsals they are be- 
 stowing rather than receiving benefits, it seems 
 strange to read that on a stormy and cold night 
 when the meeting-room on account of inade- 
 quate facilities for heating was so chilly as to 
 endanger health, the women of the Singakad- 
 emie, unwilling to cut short the rehearsal, 
 knelt down so as to be able to cover their feet 
 with their cloaks, and in this attitude held out 
 to the end of the study hour. 
 
 Although the original object of the society 
 was to cultivate chorus singing for the benefit 
 of its own active members, it soon became im- 
 possible to resist the demands for occasional 
 public appearances. Accordingly, on April 8, 
 1794, a so-called "auditorium," a public re- 
 hearsal, was arranged, to which only a limited 
 number of hearers were invited, among them 
 being Prince Louis Ferdinand and other mem- 
 bers of the royal court. Once a beginning was 
 made, it became customary to give several 
 entertainments of this kind every season. Not 
 only these but the regular rehearsals, too, were 
 so unique at the time and excited so much in- 
 terest that the permission to attend them was 
 considered an extraordinary privilege. Even 
 Beethoven, while in Berlin on a visit in 1796, 
 170 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in Germany- 
 did not disdain to be present at a rehearsal. 
 So highly was he pleased with the singing of 
 the choir that, to show his appreciation, he sat 
 down at the piano and extemporised on themes 
 from the pieces he had heard — they happened 
 to be of Fasch's composition. 
 
 The first concert of the society to which the 
 general public was admitted on payment of an 
 entrance fee took place on October 8, 1800, in 
 the Garrison Church, under the direction of 
 Zelter (1758-1832), the successor of Fasch, who 
 had died on August 3d previous. The chorus 
 taking part numbered one hundred and fifteen, 
 and the orchestra, consisting of members of the 
 royal chapel, thirty-three. The work performed 
 was Mozart's Requiem, chosen in memory of 
 Fasch. 
 
 Notwithstanding the success of this and oth- 
 er subsequent public performances, the society 
 continued to adhere to its original purpose of 
 self-education. This was again emphatically 
 set forth in the article of the revised constitu- 
 tion of 18 1 7, which stated the object of the so- 
 ciety to be the practice of music for the sake of 
 study, and not with frequent public perform- 
 ances in view. To the absence of the spirit 
 which dictated such a policy, and which ought 
 to be the prevailing one in every chorus, is to 
 be attributed the instability of singing societies, 
 171 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 as they go. It was this same spirit that made 
 it possible for Fasch to institute, and for his 
 successor to continue, the thorough methods 
 of training which earned for the Singakademie 
 well-deserved fame. One of the most efficient 
 of these was the organisation of a preparatory 
 chorus in which less advanced singers could 
 obtain the knowledge and experience requisite 
 to their promotion to the main body. 
 
 The rate at which the Singakademie grew 
 can be judged from the following figures. In 
 1794 the chorus numbered sixty-six ; in 1795, 
 eighty-four. In 1802 the membership reached 
 two hundred ; in 1813, three hundred, in 1827, 
 four hundred, and in 1833, five hundred. Since 
 1880 the membership has hovered about six 
 hundred. 
 
 Of the many proud achievements to which 
 the Singakademie can point, the one which 
 was perhaps of the greatest historical signifi- 
 cance was the rescue from almost total oblivion 
 of Bach's " Passion according to St. Matthew " 
 by its performance in 1829 at the urgent solicita- 
 tion and under the direction of Mendelssohn, 
 then a lad of twenty. 
 
 Notwithstanding the brilliant example set by 
 the Singakademie of Berlin, amateurs were 
 slow to give up the superficial enjoyment af- 
 forded by the concerts of dilettanti for the 
 172 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in Germany 
 
 more serious work required in well-organised 
 societies. Nine years elapsed before another 
 institution similar to the parent one was estab- 
 lished, and up to 1818, twenty-seven years after 
 the foundation of the Singakademie, only ten 
 amateur singing societies were regularly active 
 in Germany. After that time, however, they 
 multiplied with great rapidity. Now there is 
 scarcely a village or town without its chorus. 
 Many of these rarely appear in public. They 
 are conducted for the benefit and in the inter- 
 est of the active members and a small circle of 
 friends only. 
 
 The study at home of the works in rehearsal 
 being rather the rule than the exception, the 
 modern classics have become household pos- 
 sessions in Germany. Nor are the unaccom- 
 panied master works of the mediaeval compos- 
 ers, Italian and German, neglected. Not a few 
 institutions make their practice a specialty. 
 These have admirable models in such profes- 
 sional bodies as the time-honoured choir of the 
 church of St. Thomas at Leipsic, of which 
 Bach was cantor from 1723 to 1750; and the 
 cathedral choir of Berlin, which Avas founded 
 in 1839 ^"d permanently organised as a rival 
 of the Sistine Chapel by command of Freder- 
 ick IV., King of Prussia (1840-1861). Com- 
 posed of about sixty members each, consisting 
 173 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 of boys (for the soprano and alto) carefully se- 
 lected and perfectly trained, and of the most 
 competent men obtainable, and instructed by 
 musicians thoroughly versed in the traditions 
 of mediaeval music, these choirs accomplish 
 results little short of perfect. 
 
 Although numerically imposing, German 
 male choruses have not contributed much tow- 
 ards choral culture in its highest aspect. Their 
 tendency is rather national, patriotic, and so- 
 cial than artistic, their sphere of musical activ- 
 ity circumscribed by their nature. Traceable 
 to the seventeenth century, these semi-social, 
 semi-musical clubs did not become popular 
 until Zelter,in 1808, organised the first " Lieder- 
 tafel " with twenty-four men from the Berlin 
 Singakademie. Stimulated by the wave of 
 patriotism which found such vigorous expres- 
 sion in Theodore Korner's (1791-1813) poems 
 and Carl Maria von Weber's (1786-1826) setting 
 of them, the number of these clubs increased 
 with amazing rapidity. Subsequently com- 
 bined into one grand " Bund," they at intervals 
 unite to give a gigantic festival, '' Sangerfest," 
 " Bundesfest." In a celebration of this char- 
 acter held at Dresden in 1865, no fewer than 
 twenty thousand singers participated. 
 
 While some of the German male choruses 
 have brought part singing to a degree of per- 
 174 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in England 
 
 fection not often attained by mixed choirs, they 
 cannot be considered a factor of importance to 
 the development of choral culture on account 
 of the necessarily limited artistic scope of the 
 music at their disposal. 
 
 In England, the cradle and nursery of the 
 choral oratorio, amateur mixed choruses were 
 slower to be established permanently than in 
 Germany. This is to be accounted for by the 
 fact that church music remained in the exclu- 
 sive charge of professional choirs of boys and 
 men longer in the former than in the latter 
 country. In Germany the music of the Protes- 
 tant ritual, being less rigidly fixed than in Eng- 
 land, admitted of a degree of simplification 
 which brought it within the capability of the 
 congregation entirely unaided, or assisted by 
 such choirs only as could be supplied with the 
 help of the currendani and amateurs. As has 
 been shown, this led to the popularisation of 
 choral practice and to the more or less compact 
 organisation of choirs from which women were 
 not necessarily excluded. In England, on the 
 other hand, the ritual of the Established Church 
 required the co-operation of trained choirs at 
 the ceremonial, which did not admit of the par- 
 ticipation of women. The professional charac- 
 ter of these choirs was furthermore upheld by 
 175 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 the extended activity which they found in the 
 performance of sacred music in churches, the- 
 atres, and even public gardens, particularly 
 during Lent ; for public concerts open to every- 
 one on the payment of an admission fee were 
 instituted in England as early as 1670, long be- 
 fore they were established in Germany. In 
 168 1 the first vocal concert without the usual 
 accessories of ale and tobacco was given in a 
 public concert-room built for the purpose in 
 Villiers Street, London, and a little later the 
 concerts of Thomas Britton (born about 165 1), 
 ** the small coal man," at which coffee was dis- 
 pensed at a penny a dish, were founded. While, 
 then, there were ample opportunities for boys 
 and men to cultivate chorus singing, women 
 were debarred from that privilege by deeply 
 rooted prejudice. That this prejudice should 
 have yielded more easily in the provinces, where 
 trained boys' voices were scarce, than in Lon- 
 don and other large cities, where cathedral 
 choirs were available, is natural. Particularly 
 in the northern and midland counties chorus 
 singing was cultivated by both sexes owing to 
 the superior quality of the voices and the pro- 
 nounced musical talent of the inhabitants. As 
 late as 1832 the Sacred Harmonic Society of 
 London, established in that year, was dependent 
 on the aid of chorus singers from the north of 
 
 176 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in England 
 
 England whom it induced to take up their res- 
 idence in the metropolis by finding employ- 
 ment for them in order to have them at hand 
 for its concerts. 
 
 A strong impulse was given to the diffusion 
 of choral culture in the provinces by the mu- 
 sical festivals, which in the course of time as- 
 sumed dimensions and a degree of artistic im- 
 portance in England as in no other country. 
 Originally these festivals were nothing more 
 than special church services arranged general- 
 ly in the interest of some charity by several 
 cathedral choirs conjointly. Among the ear- 
 liest events of this kind were those fathered 
 by " The Corporation of the Sons of Clergy," 
 which was established in 1655 and incorporated 
 by charter of Charles II., in 1678. They have 
 taken place annually at St. Paul's, London, 
 since 1697, without, however, attaining to mu- 
 sical significance. Of greater importance mu- 
 sically were the celebrations of St. Cecilia's 
 day, for the more artistic conduct of which 
 " The Musical Society " was organised at Lon- 
 don in 1683, and similar associations were 
 formed in the provinces about the same time. 
 Among the poets who wrote odes for such 
 occasions were Dryden and Congreve, and 
 among the composers who furnished musical 
 settings, Purcell and Blow. At the last regu- 
 177 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 lar Cecilian festival, held in London in 1703, 
 the chorus numbered about thirty boys and 
 as many men, and the orchestra about twenty- 
 five. 
 
 Of similar origin but incalculably more influ- 
 ential were the " Festivals of the Three Choirs" 
 of Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, which 
 have lost nothing of their vitality with the 
 lapse of time. These, too, had their incipi- 
 ence in choral services in which the choirs of 
 the three mentioned towns participated and 
 which in 1724 assumed the shape of annual 
 meetings. They took place in each of the cit- 
 ies in rotation and comprised, besides the ser- 
 vices, two evening concerts of secular music 
 and oratorios, which were given with orches- 
 tral accompaniment in the shire hall. To at- 
 tract public interest orchestral reinforcements 
 were brought from London and the services 
 of the vocal celebrities of the day secured, 
 often at such expense that the outlay for the 
 concerts exceeded the receipts. Significant of 
 the excellence of the choirs in the northern 
 counties was the announcement of the appear- 
 ance at the festival of 1772 in Gloucester of the 
 " celebrated chorus singers from Lancashire 
 and the North of England led by Miss Rad- 
 cliffe." 
 
 The influence of these meetings soon became 
 178 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in England 
 
 apparent in that increasing numbers of ama- 
 teurs joined the clubs into which the choristers 
 had organised themselves, for the purpose of 
 studying the works to be performed, and ac- 
 quired the taste for a higher class of music, 
 requisite to the establishment of the amateur 
 singing societies which now contribute a large 
 contingent to the festival forces. In 1836 the 
 festivals of the Three Choirs were extended 
 to four days' duration, and on this plan they 
 have been carried on since. It is a pleasure 
 incidentally to record that at the meeting of 
 1899 at Worcester that admirable work " Hora 
 Novissima," by Professor Horatio W. Parker 
 ( 1 863-) of Yale University, was sung, and in such 
 a manner as to justify the composer, who offi- 
 ciated as conductor, in pronouncing the chorus 
 equal to any he had heard on the Continent. 
 The meetings of the Three Choirs have re- 
 tained their original character in that the ca- 
 thedral choirs of the three cities continue to 
 constitute the nucleus of the chorus. As a 
 consequence a number of boys are to be found 
 among the sopranos and a number of men among 
 the altos. At the festival of the current year 
 twenty-three of the seventy-five sopranos were 
 boys and twelve of the fifty-eight altos men. 
 
 By far the most important of the provin- 
 cial festivals are those held triennially at Bir- 
 179 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 mingham. These were begun in 1768 with a 
 series of performances in St. Philip's Church 
 and in the theatre on King Street for the bene- 
 fit of the General Hospital. The concerts were 
 followed by balls. The programme of the first 
 meeting was made up substantially of works by 
 Handel, " The Messiah " among them, and was 
 given by a chorus of forty boys and men and 
 an orchestra of twenty-five. As a concession 
 to public taste, instrumental solos were intro- 
 duced between the several parts of the oratorios 
 with the exception of " The Messiah," which 
 escaped such a fate. In 1802 the policy of 
 strengthening the chorus by the engagement 
 of singers from London, from the Lichfield and 
 Worcester cathedral choirs, and of sopranos, 
 again from Lancashire, was adopted. It was 
 not until 1855 that a local choral association 
 was permanently established. This done, the 
 forces, now consisting of the Birmingham Ama- 
 teur Association augmented by choristers from 
 London, whence the orchestra, too, was taken, 
 rapidly increased in numbers, so that in 1876 the 
 chorus aggregated three hundred and ninety 
 and the orchestra one hundred and thirty. The 
 co-operation of boy sopranos and men altos was 
 gradually dispensed with. At the festival of the 
 present year the chorus was composed of one 
 hundred and seven sopranos, eighty-one con- 
 180 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in England 
 
 traltos, seventy -six tenors, and eighty -seven 
 basses. Of these all were paid for their services 
 with the exception of twenty-one — a fact which 
 largely accounts for the balance of the parts and 
 the efficiency of the body. The orchestra num- 
 bered one hundred and twenty-one. 
 
 That the attainment of the highest possible 
 measure of musical excellence is the one su- 
 preme object of the Birmingham meetings, and 
 that to this object all other considerations, lo- 
 cal and even national, must yield, was illustrat- 
 ed by the appointment, in 1885, of Hans Rich-- 
 ter (1843), the celebrated Vienna conductor, to 
 the permanent leadership. As a result they 
 deservedly enjoy the reputation of being the 
 most notable choral events of the present time, 
 so that to have a work performed at a Bir- 
 mingham festival or to take a prominent part 
 in such a one is a highly coveted distinction. 
 Pecuniarily, too, the meetings have been attend- 
 ed with remarkable success, having earned for 
 the hospital funds more than half a million of 
 dollars. 
 
 Besides stimulating the regularly recurring 
 festivals, more or less long-lived, the Handel 
 cult in England launched a large number of 
 isolated celebrations during the last decades of 
 the eighteenth century, which led up to the es- 
 tablishment of local choruses. In illustration 
 x8x 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 there may be instanced the first performance of 
 " The Messiah " ever given north of the Trent, 
 which took place at Halifax about 1766. The 
 chorus on this occasion consisted principally 
 of the parishioners of a Rev. Allott of Kirk- 
 heaton, trained by himself. Joah Bates, the 
 conductor of the London Handel Commemo- 
 ration, directed the concert, and the leader 
 (principal violin) of the orchestra was no less 
 celebrated a man than Sir William Herschel, the 
 astronomer. To this initiative can be traced 
 the origin of a number of choral societies in 
 that section of the country. In most cases, 
 however, cathedral choirs formed the nuclei 
 of the festival choruses and the centres about 
 which amateurs clustered until they had be- 
 come sufficiently skilled to rely upon them- 
 selves. Whenever women joined choruses it 
 was to sing the soprano part only. The alto 
 part was invariably given to the counter-ten- 
 ors — a practice with which German musicians, 
 Mendelssohn and Spohr in particular, found 
 serious fault. 
 
 While the participation of women in the sing- 
 ing of accompanied works of the larger forms 
 was making headway in the provinces, in Lon- 
 don choirs of boys and men held undisputed 
 sway. When Dr. Arne (1710-1778), the rival 
 of Handel, and composer of " Rule, Britannia," 
 
 182 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in England 
 
 introduced female voices (probably sopranos 
 only) into his oratorio " Judith " and performed 
 it accordingly in 1773, he was considered a bold 
 innovator. 
 
 Oratorios, excepting " The Messiah/* which 
 was seldom dismembered, were rarely given 
 complete in London until the Caecilian Soci- 
 ety, instituted in 1785, and the Sacred Harmo- 
 nic Society, founded in 1832, began their ora- 
 torio concerts about 1836. The programme of 
 the usual Lenten oratorio performances, so 
 called, were hotchpotchs of sacred and secu- 
 lar pieces. 
 
 The difficulties which the scarcity of trained 
 women's voices occasioned to societies de- 
 voted to choral culture of the higher class in 
 the metropolis, and which were not overcome 
 until the middle of the present century, are 
 illustrated by the fact that the Academy of An- 
 cient Concerts, founded in 17 10, of which Han- 
 del was a supporter, when deprived in 1734 of 
 the help of the children of the Chapel Royal, 
 passed through a whole season without any 
 treble voices — a situation from which escape 
 was possible only through the establishment of 
 a school for the free instruction of boys in 
 singing. Towards remedying such a state of 
 affairs by popularising chorus singing. Dr. 
 John Hullah (18 12-1884) largely contributed 
 183 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 when in 1841 he organised the movement to 
 instruct school-teachers in the system of musi- 
 cal training successfully followed by Wilhelm 
 (1771-1842), director-general of musical instruc- 
 tion in the schools of Paris. Whatever may be 
 thought of this system of " mutual instruction,'* 
 Hullah's efforts were undoubtedly timely and 
 productive of far-reaching results, for within 
 a period of twenty years, twenty-five thousand 
 persons passed through his classes. 
 
 To-day England in point of choral culture is 
 excelled by no other country. It has become 
 pre-eminently a nation of chorus singers. Bod- 
 ies of amateurs can be gathered together in 
 almost any section of the British Empire, which 
 can be trusted with singing on the spur of the 
 moment, often from memory, the favourite ora- 
 torios of Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn. 
 The works of modern composers are on that 
 account not neglected ; and although, as seems 
 right and just, English composers receive the 
 larger share of that encouragement which comes 
 from the knowledge that the fruits of their la- 
 bours will not be consigned unheard to libraries 
 and store-rooms, the best musical products of 
 other countries are not overlooked. 
 
 In the matter of giving choral festivals on a 
 large scale England to-day holds the highest 
 place. In no other country would it be pos- 
 184 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in England 
 
 sible with so little efifort to assemble such 
 masses of choristers capable of singing almost 
 without rehearsals HandeUs better known ora- 
 torios, as take part in the Handel festivals. 
 And while the artistic value of such stupendous 
 performances is not above suspicion, the fact 
 that they are practicable speaks volumes for the 
 faithfulness with which England has guarded 
 the heritage of her adopted son. 
 
 185 
 
IX 
 
 Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 WHEN, in 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers landed 
 at Plymouth Rock, they brought with 
 them a hatred of musical culture which has 
 no parallel in history. The enmity of the 
 early Christians towards pagan art was associ- 
 ated with the desire to give to the Church its 
 own art, one different from that of the pagans, 
 but the enmity of the Pilgrim Fathers was 
 directed against the musical art as such, and 
 against anything and everything that could 
 tend to foster it. That music in New England 
 should have not only recovered from the blows 
 dealt by Puritan intolerance but in its repro- 
 ductive branches, and particularly that of cho- 
 rus singing, should have risen to a certain de- 
 gree of artistic independence as quickly as it 
 did, is little short of marvellous. 
 
 When the eighteen years of the Great Re- 
 bellion in England (from 1642 to 1660), dur- 
 ing which under Puritan fanaticism choruses 
 were banished from the churches, music-books 
 186 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 burned, and organs destroyed, had passed, 
 enough of love and taste for music had survived 
 to make possible the early reinstatement of 
 cathedral service ; and although the character 
 of church music was lowered by the introduc- 
 tion of the operatic style, rapid progress was 
 made in the practice of the vocal and instru- 
 mental art. In New England, where the Puritan 
 power remained supreme, no such reaction 
 could take place ; innate love of culture and of 
 refinement was the only agency which could 
 be counted upon to bring about the reforma- 
 tion necessary to musical development. The 
 presence of this agency soon manifested itself 
 by giving rise to a controversy which was car- 
 ried on for more than a century. 
 
 The question as to whether singing should 
 be allowed at all at divine service was more 
 quickly disposed of than the one as to whether 
 singing in the " new or rulable way " or sing- 
 ing in the " usual way ** should be encouraged. 
 By singing in the usual way was meant the 
 singing of a few well-known tunes only, sup- 
 posedly according to usage (although there 
 was none) and without the adventitious help 
 of notes, or, rather, regardless of any enforced 
 uniformity in melody and rhythm. Singing in 
 the new way involved the singing of the old 
 tunes as set down in musical notation and the 
 187 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 learning of new ones. The latter, it was freely 
 claimed, would inevitably lead to Quakerism, 
 Popery, and to the introduction into divine 
 service of instrumental music, which was held 
 to be the invention of the Evil One. A new 
 tune could be adopted only after grave consid- 
 eration of the matter by the church or even the 
 entire parish. 
 
 According to contemporaneous testimony 
 the consequences of singing in the usual way, 
 as practised as late as the eighteenth century, 
 were appalling. It appears not to have been 
 exceptional for the congregation to sing parts 
 of two or three different tunes to one stanza of 
 a hymn, even to sing different tunes at the same 
 time. So slowly were these medleys sung that 
 it was often necessary to take breath twice on 
 one and the same tone and word-syllable. 
 
 The champions of the new way finally pre- 
 vailed and also succeeded in silencing the ob- 
 jections which were urged against the estab- 
 lishment of the singing schools indispensable 
 to the carrying out of the innovation. Grad- 
 ually, though not without much opposition, it 
 was even agreed upon that those who frequent- 
 ed the schools might sit together, and thus 
 church choirs were formed. The fears of those 
 who anticipated the introduction of instru- 
 ments with the adoption of the new way were 
 
 188 
 
Amateur Choral Culture In America 
 
 now realised. As the duty of giving the pitch 
 could no longer be left to the momentary in- 
 spiration of the minister or deacon, the hymns 
 being set for several parts, it was henceforth 
 intrusted to the leader of the choir, and he, 
 depending on a pitch-pipe — generally a large 
 wooden one, not unlike a mouse-trap in ap- 
 pearance — brought the dreaded instrument 
 into the church, as surreptitiously as possible, 
 however. The pitch-pipe was followed in due 
 time by the bass-viol and other stringed instru- 
 ments and wind instruments. The first organ 
 in Boston, presented to Queen's Chapel in 
 1713, was permitted, after much wrangling, to 
 be set up in 1714. 
 
 With the singing school, which became uni- 
 versal after the second decade of the eigh- 
 teenth century, the psalm-tune teacher, a type 
 unique in the history of music in America, 
 made his appearance. The original psalm-tune 
 teacher was a religious enthusiast who, en- 
 dowed with a voice, generally tenor, of more 
 than ordinary sweetness, with more than av- 
 erage musical intelligence, and with an engag- 
 ing manner, became by natural selection a 
 leader. His principal aim and object was to de- 
 vise and put into execution a practical method 
 of choral instruction, regardless of the rules of 
 musical theory, of the knowledge of which he 
 
 189 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 was, as a rule, entirely innocent. His life was 
 a peripatetic one, for during the winter months 
 he rode from one town of his circuit to the 
 other, satisfied with a small remuneration be- 
 sides board for himself and horse, in providing 
 which the patrons of the school alternated. 
 His repertory was confined to hymn tunes and 
 the current anthems. He was the natural ally 
 of the psalm-tune composer and publisher, both 
 of whom were largely dependent on him for the 
 popularity of their newly issued compilations. 
 
 The first psalm-tune composer who gained 
 fame, and, indeed, the first American composer, 
 speaking euphemistically, was William Billings 
 (1746- 1 800), a native of Boston and a tanner by 
 trade. Impelled by his natural musical tem- 
 perament, he tried his hand at harmonising, 
 then at composing, and in 1770 published his 
 first collection of compositions consisting of 
 psalm tunes, anthems, and canons. Encouraged 
 by the reception of this book, he was inspired 
 to new attempts, and when the Revolutionary 
 War broke out, added to his popularity by his 
 patriotic songs. 
 
 Billings was unquestionably a man of unusu- 
 al musical endowments. He was entirely self- 
 taught, and as his means for acquiring knowl- 
 edge were very limited — good theoretical 
 treatises were rare in America at that time — his 
 
 190 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 attainments were necessarily of the most super- 
 ficial sort. Yet he had what were in his es- 
 timation high ideals. Not satisfied with set- 
 ting his melodies to simple harmonies, he 
 devoted himself to composing in the so-called 
 *'fuguing style," which he had probably ob- 
 served in English choruses, and which in its 
 novelty and liveliness proved very attractive to 
 singers accustomed to plainly harmonised hymn 
 tunes. Unfamiliar with the rules of harmony 
 and counterpoint, and therefore undaunted by 
 the difficulties of this style, Billings wrote on, 
 though the results often suggest the discant 
 of the twelfth or the organum of the eleventh 
 century ; for he had the courage of his con- 
 victions, which he defended cleverly with such 
 aphorisms as " Nature is the best Dictator " 
 and " Art is subservient to Genius." Unfortu- 
 nately, his dicta were widely accepted and fol- 
 lowed, for a time at least, in practice. 
 
 Billings's personality was such as to attract 
 notice on account of its very ugliness. He was 
 somewhat deformed, one of his arms and one of 
 his legs being slightly withered ; he was blind 
 in one eye, possessed of a stentorian voice, and 
 was given to eccentric habits, perhaps inten- 
 tionally. Yet he possessed the faculty of at- 
 tracting and impressing people and the author- 
 ity which makes the leader. 
 
 191 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 In 1774 Billings established at Stoughton, 
 Massachusetts, the " Sacred Singing School " of 
 forty-eight members : twenty *' singers of ten- 
 or," of whom thirteen were women, the rest 
 men ; eighteen " singers of treble," all women ; 
 five ** singers of counter ; " and five " singers of 
 bass," all men. Out of this grew the Stough- 
 ton Musical Society, which was founded on No- 
 vember 7, 1786, and is still in existence. It was 
 probably the first stable association of amateur 
 singers organised in America, and it is a cause 
 for justifiable pride to Americans that it ante- 
 dated the Singakademie of Berlin by five years. 
 This fact is the more significant because the 
 Stoughton Society was not the result of a spo- 
 radic impulse but representative of a strong 
 movement which gained impetus with astonish- 
 ing rapidity, for, according to the record of 
 Charles C. Perkins, historian of the Handel and 
 Haydn Society of Boston, there were founded : 
 in the same year the Boston Independent Mu- 
 sical Society, which gave a concert at King's 
 Chapel in 1788; in 1804 the Franklin; in 1806 
 the Salem; in 1807 the Massachusetts Musical; 
 in 1 81 2 the Lock Hospital; and the Norfolk, 
 date not mentioned. On comparing with this 
 the generally accepted record of German ama- 
 teur vocal societies for the same period, it ap- 
 pears that in 1812 the regularly established ama- 
 
 192 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 tear choruses in America outnumbered those 
 in Germany by at least one, possibly by two. 
 
 While this and other similar comparisons that 
 might be instituted yield results favourable to 
 choral culture in America, such would not be the 
 case were they extended to the quality of the 
 work done. It can be said, without belittling 
 the services rendered to choral music by the 
 early psalm-tune teachers and composers, and 
 without impugning their sincerity of purpose, 
 that what they accomplished was necessarily 
 crude and unfinished, and that the methods and 
 tendencies which they introduced for want of 
 better knowledge, and which have even now not 
 been completely set aside, were shallow and in- 
 artistic. An admirable opportunity to judge of 
 the musical culture of that period was afforded 
 by one hundred members of the Stoughton So- 
 ciety when they performed two programmes 
 made up entirely of hymns and anthems by 
 Billings and other pioneer American compos- 
 ers, at the Chicago Columbian Exposition. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that their systems 
 and products will not bear close inspection, it 
 is remarkable that the early psalm-tune teach- 
 ers and psalm-tune composers accomplished 
 what they did, when it is borne in mind that 
 their point of departure was that of the most 
 vitiated taste, that they laboured in the face of 
 193 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 the bitterest opposition, and, above all, that 
 they were thrown entirely on their own re- 
 sources in the absence of good theoretical trea- 
 tises and musical literature. 
 
 With increasing facilities for intercourse with 
 the Old World, and with growing prosperity, the 
 writings of European musical authorities and 
 the works of Handel and Haydn were more 
 easily obtainable, while educated and experi- 
 enced foreign musicians made their homes in 
 America in numbers, and disseminated matur- 
 er ideas of musical instruction. The effect of 
 these new conditions was illustrated by the es- 
 tablishment, at Boston, in 1815, of the society 
 which rendered incalculable service to the 
 cause of choral culture in America, and which, 
 from its very inception, testified to the loftiness 
 of its aims by adopting the name of ** The 
 Handel and Haydn Society." It became to 
 America what the Singakademie of Berlin was 
 to Europe — the institution which served as a 
 model for amateur choral organisations its na- 
 tive country over. 
 
 The direct impulse for the foundation of this 
 society seems to have been given by a series of 
 musical celebrations in which public enthusi- 
 asm over the treaty of peace signed at Ghent 
 on December 24, 18 14, sought vent at Boston. 
 These culminated in a Peace Jubilee, held the 
 
 194 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 year following on Washington's birthday, in 
 which a chorus of two hundred and fifty and 
 an orchestra of fifty participated, and which at- 
 tracted unusual attention and focussed the dif- 
 fused interest in choral performances. As a 
 result an invitation was issued on March 24, 
 181 5, by a number of music-lovers, to consider 
 " the expediency and practicability of forming 
 a society to consist of a selection from the sev- 
 eral choirs, for cultivating and improving a cor- 
 rect taste in the performance of sacred music, 
 and also to introduce into more general prac- 
 tice the works of Handel, Haydn, and other 
 eminent composers." Accordingly, " The Han- 
 del and Haydn Society," the name which had 
 been decided upon beforehand, was organised 
 on Thursday morning, April 20th, a constitu- 
 tion adopted and signed by thirty-one gentle- 
 men, and a board of government chosen with 
 Thomas S. Webb as president. 
 
 On Christmas-day of the same year the first 
 public concert of the society took place, its pro- 
 gramme consisting of the first part of Haydn's 
 " Creation " and selections from Handel's 
 works. The chorus numbered ninety men and 
 ten women, the orchestra about twelve pieces, 
 assisted by an organ. There were nine hundred 
 and forty-five persons in the audience, and the 
 amount realised from the sale of tickets was 
 195 , 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 five hundred and thirty-three dollars. On 
 Christmas-day, 1818, the society for the first 
 time devoted an entire concert to a single 
 work : ** The Messiah." 
 
 Notwithstanding the encomiums which were 
 lavished on the performances of the Handel and 
 Haydn Society at the time, it is improbable 
 that during the early years of its existence they 
 attained to any degree of artistic excellence. 
 While women were not entirely prevented by 
 prejudice of long standing from singing in the 
 chorus, they participated to a limited extent 
 only, and, above all, hesitated to " lead," as car- 
 rying the soprano was called. At best a few 
 joined the men practised in the use of the fal- 
 setto and the small number of boys sufficiently 
 trained to be serviceable in taking the soprano 
 part. The English custom of giving the alto 
 part to counter-tenors was followed as a matter 
 of course. 
 
 In 1817 the chorus of the society consisted of 
 one hundred and thirty men and boys, who 
 sang all the four parts, and of only twenty 
 women, who assisted the tenors mainly. In the 
 same year the advisability of officially inviting 
 women to lend their help at rehearsals and con- 
 certs was favourably considered, though not 
 without opposition. The result of this step 
 was at first harmful, as the women were as- 
 196 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 signed to the tenor part, which they naturally 
 sang an octave too high, thereby creating the 
 most excruciating harmonic progressions. Yet 
 this method, according to the testimony of Mr. 
 Perkins, held good until Dr. Lowell Mason 
 (i 792-1 872), who accepted the presidency of the 
 society in 1827, insisted on the proper distribu- 
 tion of the voices. 
 
 Until 1847, when the first conductor was elect- 
 ed in the person of Charles E. Horn (1786- 
 1849), ^^ English opera singer and composer, 
 the presidents, with few exceptions amateurs, 
 officiated in that capacity. At the concerts 
 their duty consisted principally in occupying 
 the conductor s stand or box, not unlike a pul- 
 pit, the responsibility of leading being assumed 
 by the principal violinist of the orchestra. 
 
 It is evident that under such circumstances 
 the attainment of artistic results was out of the 
 question. Indeed, it is difficult to understand 
 how oratorios by Handel and Haydn could 
 have been attempted at all. Yet these efforts 
 created on the part of the singers a desire to 
 study, and on the part of the public a desire to 
 hear a high class of choral works, so that when 
 professional musicians educated in European 
 institutions and versed in European methods 
 drifted to America in numbers, they found con- 
 ditions favourable to the exercise of their best 
 
 197 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 powers, and were enabled in a comparatively 
 short time to establish loftier standards. In 
 1852 no less versatile a musician than Carl 
 Bergmann (i 821-1876), afterward conductor of 
 the New York Philharmonic Society, assumed 
 the leadership of the Handel and Haydn 
 Society, and two years later Carl Zerrahn 
 (1826-) was intrusted with its musical desti- 
 nies, which he guided with conspicuous success 
 for forty-one years. To him is due much of 
 the credit of having hastened the promotion of 
 choral culture in America, to which the Handel 
 and Haydn Society of Boston is entitled. 
 
 In New York choral culture proceeded on 
 lines independent of those followed in New 
 England. Under the Dutch regime there was 
 nothing to hope from the Church in the way of 
 musical effort. The Dutch Reformed Church 
 was as firmly opposed to the slightest depart- 
 ure from established usage as were the Puri- 
 tans. Yet of such a bitter controversy as was 
 carried on in New England and of such a type 
 of choral activity as there grew up under it, 
 only faint traces are to be found in New York. 
 Not until the Anglican Church through its 
 authorised representative, Trinity Church, in- 
 corporated in 1693, had become a religious and 
 social power, did interest in chorus singing 
 publicly manifest itself. 
 198 
 
CARL ZERRAHN. 
 
cc c c ,«, 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 Trinity Church was supplied with organists 
 and choristers from England. While these 
 were undoubtedly under the spell of the oper- 
 atic style cultivated in the churches of the par- 
 ent country after the Restoration, they enter- 
 tained much maturer ideas concerning music 
 in general and chorus singing in particular 
 than were current at the time in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Dr. Fr6d6ric Louis Ritter (i 834-1 891), in 
 ** Music in America," makes the statement, 
 without, however, mentioning on what author- 
 ity, that " The Messiah " was performed in 
 Trinity Church with organ accompaniment on 
 January 9, 1770, and repeated on October 3d of 
 the year following, and in April, 1772. While 
 these performances, if they really took place, 
 were in all probability in the nature of special 
 services only and were given by the choristers 
 of Trinity aided by a few amateurs interested 
 in the work, they bear eloquent testimony to the 
 progressive spirit of the choir of Trinity and 
 undoubtedly attracted attention to the orato- 
 rio, which was so influential in furthering the 
 cause of choral culture in England at the time. 
 
 The oldest reliable records of choral societies 
 in New York go back to the third decade of 
 this century only. That such societies existed 
 before that time admits of little doubt, for the 
 
 199 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 records referred to in speaking of public cho- 
 ral performances do not mention them as of 
 unusual occurrence. Like the organisations 
 regarding which definite information is obtain- 
 able, the earlier ones, too, probably had their in- 
 ception in Episcopal Church choirs, which were 
 required by the nature of their duties to be 
 efficient. The Handel and Haydn Society of 
 New York, — its name was evidently suggested 
 by that of the then firmly established Handel 
 and Haydn Society of Boston — which was the 
 result of a movement to give a concert for the 
 purpose of providing funds to rebuild Zion 
 Church, appears not to have survived long. 
 Its place was taken by two organisations : the 
 New York Choral Society and the New York 
 Sacred Music Society, both of which took 
 shape in 1823. The former, to judge by the pro- 
 gramme of its first concert, was at the start the 
 more ambitious and, perhaps for that reason, 
 the more short-lived of the two. This concert 
 took place at St. George's Church, Beekman 
 Street, on April 20, 1824, the choir numbering 
 fifty and the orchestra twenty. Its scheme 
 embraced fourteen numbers, of which ten 
 were by Handel, three of them for chorus. In 
 addition to these the choir sang a motet by 
 Mozart and the ** Hallelujah " from Beetho- 
 ven's '* The Mount of Olives," the latter, which 
 
•^ 
 
 Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 was heard for the first time in America on 
 this occasion, with such effect that the audi- 
 ence demanded its repetition. This programme 
 and the enthusiasm which its performance 
 aroused speak well for the early musical taste 
 of the metropolis. 
 
 The New York Sacred Music Society, which 
 in a short time came to be considered one of 
 the most efficient choral bodies then existing in 
 America, grew out of the choir of Zion Church, 
 which, having been refused an increase of salary 
 as well as permission to give a concert in lieu 
 of it, severed its connection with the church 
 and continued its activity as an independent 
 body. Its first concert took place in the Pres- 
 byterian Church, in Prevost Street, on March 15, 
 1824. In 1827 the society gave a concert with 
 a chorus of sixty and an orchestra of twenty- 
 seven, which was made memorable by the great 
 Malibran's (i 808-1 836) singing of "Angels 
 Ever Bright and Fair," and added materially 
 to the choir's prestige. On November 18, 1831, 
 it entered upon its real mission by giving " The 
 Messiah " as the first of the series of oratorio 
 performances which it carried on successfully 
 until 1849. 
 
 Although none of the many choral societies 
 which sprang up from time to time had a long 
 career until the Oratorio Society was organised, 
 201 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 the lovers of choral music in New York were 
 not without opportunities to keep in touch with 
 the older masterpieces of choral composition 
 and to become acquainted with the more im- 
 portant new ones. On the grave of one chorus 
 another was sure to blossom into life. Finally, 
 in 1873, ^c agencies and conditions necessary 
 to the establishment of a choral institution on 
 a permanent basis were present. 
 
 In 1871 Dr. Leopold Damrosch (1832-1885) 
 was called to New York to assume the direc- 
 torship of the Arion, a German Maennerchor 
 the activity of which, like that of most male 
 choruses, was necessarily circumscribed both 
 as to artistic possibilities and as to influence on 
 musical culture at large. Dr. Damrosch's in- 
 quiries in regard to the opportunities of finding 
 a wider and more congenial sphere by founding 
 a society of mixed voices were met with dis- 
 couraging replies until 1873, when, at the initi- 
 ative of a lady who had been a member of a 
 chorus at Cologne conducted by Ferdinand 
 Hiller (1811-1885), a number of music-lovers 
 agreed to make the attempt to interest capable 
 singers in such a project. The use of Trinity 
 Chapel having been secured for the meetings 
 of the choir, the first rehearsal was held, fifteen 
 or twenty persons being present. 
 
 The innumerable obstacles which invariably 
 ao2 
 
• • •••. 
 
 • • ?i.? 
 
 LEOPOLD DAMROSCH. 
 
c c c t 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 confront such an organisation were overcome 
 with the aid of the devotion of the singers and 
 the self-sacrificing efforts of the business admin- 
 istration, which the high aims, the zeal, and the 
 infectious enthusiasm of the conductor, who, 
 as Fasch in Berlin had done, lent his services 
 without any remuneration, did not permit to lag 
 for a moment. The first entertainment, given 
 by the new society on December 3, 1873, with 
 a chorus of between fifty and sixty, forecast the 
 lofty purpose of the organisation and its conduc- 
 tor. The programme was made up principally 
 of choral works by Palestrina, Bach, Handel, 
 Mozart, and Mendelssohn, and its performance 
 called forth many tributes of acknowledgment 
 and enlisted the co-operation of new members. 
 The expectations of arousing public interest in 
 the organisation were modest indeed. Mr. H. 
 E. Krehbiel relates in his admirable monograph 
 " Notes on Choral Music," from which the facts 
 relating to the Oratorio Society are gleaned, 
 that as no public announcement of the second 
 concert had been made, no measures for the 
 sale of tickets of admission at the door had been 
 taken, and that the business management was 
 much surprised when the necessity of such 
 measures was made apparent on the evening 
 of the performance by the crowd's waiting to 
 purchase tickets. A box-office was hastily im- 
 203 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 provised and between twenty and twenty-five 
 dollars added to the society's funds. 
 
 With the third concert, which took place in 
 Stein way Hall, on May 12, 1874, the Oratorio 
 Society, still numbering less than a hundred 
 singers, entered upon the field in which it has 
 since remained conspicuously active, by the suc- 
 cessful production with full orchestral accom- 
 paniment of Handel's " Samson." The chorus 
 gradually grew in numbers and efficiency and 
 placed to its credit performances — not a few of 
 them notable ones — of the classical oratorios and 
 cantatas which make up the standard repertory 
 of such fully equipped choral institutions, as 
 well as of works of the modern school of compo- 
 sition. The fact that the Oratorio Society is 
 still in full vigour, while numerous efforts to 
 found similar organisations in New York have 
 been only temporarily successful, affords elo- 
 quent proof of the earnest spirit which was in- 
 fused from the very beginning into its active 
 members, and of the wisdom with which its ad- 
 ministrative system was framed. 
 
 It was principally under the influence em- 
 anating from the singing schools of New Eng- 
 land and spread abroad by New England sing- 
 ing school teachers and their disciples that 
 choral culture in its rudimentary form found 
 its way into other sections of the country. The 
 204 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 extent to which it was subsequently developed 
 depended on local conditions and upon the 
 capability and seriousness of purpose of those 
 who assumed the duty of directing it. In the 
 course of time, by the process of natural selec- 
 tion, centres were formed about which the mu- 
 sical activity of certain sections revolved. 
 
 In the West, Cincinnati became such a cen- 
 tre. As early as 1800 — Cincinnati was found- 
 ed in 1788 and incorporated as a city in 1814 — 
 it boasted of a singing school, and in a call for 
 subscriptions to " The Western Harmonist," is- 
 sued in 181 5, the existence of singing societies 
 is referred to. A choral society was founded 
 in 18 16, and there is record of a concert given 
 three years later by the Haydn Society, in 
 which choruses from oratorios by Handel and 
 Haydn were sung. From that time on choral 
 activity, though fluctuating, gathered impetus 
 until with the first May Festival, held in 1873, 
 it assumed proportions and accomplished re- 
 sults which deservedly attracted the attention 
 of the whole country. 
 
 The German population of Cincinnati was 
 noted for its efforts to promote the cultivation 
 of the German part-song. It was at Cincin- 
 nati that the first Sangerfest in America was 
 held in 1849, ^"ly ^^ur years after such re- 
 unions had been introduced in Germany at 
 205 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 Wurzburg ; and it was the Sangerfest of 1870, 
 in which two thousand singers took part and 
 for which a special building was erected, that 
 suggested the idea of arranging a similar fes- 
 tival with the aid of the mixed choruses of Cin- 
 cinnati and the adjacent towns. In the spring 
 of 1872 the plan was broached to Theodore 
 Thomas (183 5-), who was at the time making 
 a tour through the West with his orchestra. 
 He entered heartily into the project, insisting, 
 however, on the elimination of the festive feat- 
 ures so indispensable to the Sangerfest scheme. 
 Accordingly, the first Cincinnati Music Festi- 
 val took place from May 6 to May 9, 1873, un- 
 der the direction of Mr. Thomas, thirty-six so- 
 cieties, aggregating one thousand and eighty- 
 three singers, of whom six hundred and forty 
 were residents of Cincinnati, participating. The 
 orchestra numbered one hundred and eight 
 pieces. In the course of subsequent festivals 
 the assistance of outside choral contingents 
 was dispensed with, and in 1880 the local fes- 
 tival chorus, the membership of which has 
 since fluctuated between three and six hun- 
 dred, was organised. 
 
 The record of the Cincinnati Music Festivals 
 
 — they have taken place biennially with one 
 
 exception — is a proud one and a monument 
 
 to the genius and artistic conscientiousness of 
 
 206 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 Mr. Thomas, to the faithfulness of the chorus 
 singers of the city, and to the public spirit of 
 its inhabitants. 
 
 Among" other permanently organised choirs 
 in the West, the influence of which has ex- 
 tended beyond their immediate environments, 
 the Apollo Club of Chicago, founded in 1872 
 as a male chorus and converted four years 
 later into a society of mixed voices by W. L. 
 Tomlins, has assumed a leading position. 
 
 Of long standing are many of the German 
 organisations to be found throughout this 
 country. They devote themselves almost ex- 
 clusively to the study of part-songs for male 
 voices and, being invariably connected with in- 
 stitutions social in character, do not often ap- 
 pear in public. Most of the German mixed 
 choirs, of which there are a number of efficient 
 ones, are governed by the same circumstances. 
 Notwithstanding their exclusiveness, these so- 
 cieties contributed their share towards stimulat- 
 ing the practice of choral music, especially in 
 the West, at a time when chorus singing was in 
 its infancy there. That one or the other of 
 them steadfastly held in view the loftiest aims 
 was illustrated when on March 27th of last year 
 the Bach choir of Bethlehem, Penn., consisting 
 of about one hundred singers, produced com- 
 plete for the first time in America Bach's stu- 
 
 207 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 pendous mass in B minor. This choir repre- 
 sented the result of the musical activity which 
 was begun in that place by the Moravians in the 
 shape of a Collegium Musicum probably more 
 than a century ago. 
 
 Of recent years the singing of part-songs for 
 men's voices has been very generally taken up 
 by Americans and with such earnestness that, 
 so far as technical perfection is concerned, ex- 
 cellent results have been achieved. It is to its 
 mixed choral societies, however, that a com- 
 munity must look for the diffusion of sound 
 musical taste. Although these have steadily 
 increased in number and capability, the benefit 
 to be derived from the opportunities which 
 they offer for participating in the practice and 
 listening to the performance of choral works of 
 a high class is but little appreciated. Good 
 choruses are not numerous because the dignity 
 and educational value of chorus singing are not 
 understood. Few, even of the best organisa- 
 tions, enter upon a new season confident of the 
 public support necessary to their very life. 
 Much less are they in the position to pursue 
 a course in accord with the lofty ideals which 
 they may have in view regardless of popular 
 prejudice. In the whole range of choral litera- 
 ture there is but one work the performance 
 of which, if given about Christmastide, can 
 208 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 be relied upon for liberal patronage. That 
 work is " The Messiah," and its production is 
 looked upon as a religious function. Under 
 such conditions it is impossible to adopt a 
 policy calculated systematically to develop the 
 technical capabilities and powers of compre- 
 hension of the chorus and to educate the taste 
 of the public. 
 
 It was largely the necessity of employing 
 adventitious means to attract the public that 
 called into life the musical festivals, so called, 
 which of recent years have become common in 
 the smaller towns and rely in a great measure 
 on the drawing power of vocal celebrities for 
 their pecuniary success. With all their obvi- 
 ous disadvantages and their inconsistencies as 
 educational institutions, these festivals have 
 the merit at least of making it possible occa- 
 sionally to provide orchestral accompaniment 
 and capable soloists for the performance of the 
 choral works mastered after months of labour — a 
 luxury not ordinarily within reach of societies 
 remote from the musical centres. While the 
 larger number of festivals have been planned 
 with this end in view, some of them, such as 
 those occurring annually at Worcester, Mass., 
 had their origin in conventions organised by the 
 psalm-tune teachers for the improvement of 
 church music. 
 
 209 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 Events of extraordinary magnitude yet of 
 artistic dignity were the musical festivals giv- 
 en in 1 88 1 at New York under the direction of 
 Dr, Leopold Damrosch with a chorus of twelve 
 hundred and an orchestra of two hundred and 
 fifty ; and the one which took place in the same 
 city the year following under the direction of 
 Mr. Theodore Thomas, when the chorus, made 
 up of societies from New York, Boston, Phila- 
 delphia, Worcester, Baltimore, and Reading, 
 numbered three thousand, and the orchestra 
 three hundred and two. 
 
 Almost entirely neglected in this country is 
 the study of unaccompanied choral music for 
 mixed voices and the study of the works of the 
 mediaeval composers in particular. Yet this is 
 the most effective means for the certain attain- 
 ment of the qualities upon which good chorus 
 singing depends, and should be cultivated if 
 for no other purpose than that of raising the 
 standard of choral technics. The prevailing 
 tendency in musical taste is distinctly unfavour- 
 able to the appreciation of choral works in the 
 polyphonic style. These appeal to the heart 
 and to the emotions through the intellect. 
 Their beauty and grandeur lie largely in the 
 consistency and symmetry of their structure, 
 which can be comprehended only by the exer- 
 cise of musical faculties trained to look beyond 
 
 2XO 
 
Amateur Choral Culture in America 
 
 nerve excitation for the content of a compo- 
 sition. Such training is not encouraged by the 
 preponderance of descriptive, picturesque, and 
 dramatic music, which acts more directly upon 
 the senses, although here, too, the employment 
 of analytical capability can prove advantageous 
 only, while to the acquirement of clear judg- 
 ment and sound taste it is indispensable. To 
 form the habit of discriminate listening and to 
 assist in spreading it, are the loftiest privileges 
 and duties of the members of properly con- 
 ducted singing societies. With understanding 
 will develop love for the highest types of choral 
 music, and with love, the support necessary to 
 the existence of choral institutions. 
 
 211 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 CHORUS singing as an independent art 
 reached its culmination in the achieve- 
 ment of the mediaeval professional choirs which 
 devoted themselves to the interpretation of the 
 unaccompanied works of the Palestrina school. 
 These relied for their proper effect on beauty 
 of tone quality, absolute purity of intonation, 
 and faultless vocalisation. As soon as instru- 
 mental music encroached on the domain of vo- 
 cal music, and forcefulness of expression became 
 paramount to considerations of sensuous beau- 
 ty, composers began to show their disregard 
 for the nature of the human voice by assign- 
 ing to it tone progressions foreign to its idio- 
 syncrasies, and by compelling it to adapt itself 
 to the instrumental vernacular. Harsh disso- 
 nances took the place of mellow consonances, 
 for the production of which the human voice is 
 fitted as no other tonal medium, while the in- 
 strumental support, as it helped the voices to 
 execute unmelodic tone successions, made sing- 
 
 212 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 ers less solicitous of the beauty of quality, 
 perfection of intonation, and delicacy of tone 
 modulation which were the fundamental re- 
 quirements of the unaccompanied polyphonic 
 style. 
 
 All this was in line with the growing demand 
 for emotional power and dramatic expression 
 in music. The time for looking upon sensuous 
 beauty as the one indispensable element of 
 music had passed, and with it the time for cul- 
 tivating chorus singing for the sake of its own 
 peculiar tonal charm. The subdivision of the 
 chorus into a large number of independent 
 voice parts for the purpose of having at hand 
 many strands for the intricate polyphonic text- 
 ure and means for the production of a variety 
 of vocal tone colours, fell into disuse, and in its 
 stead the more compact scheme of four parts 
 became the normal one. With greater sonor- 
 ousness in the orchestral accompaniment a cor- 
 responding increase in the vocal tone volume 
 became imperative, and this called for larger 
 numbers of choristers. Under the influence of 
 dramatic music choral forms grew up unsuited 
 to the ritual of the Church, and with these the 
 church singers could concern themselves to a 
 limited extent only. The oratorio in partic- 
 ular began to attract attention as a substitute 
 for the all-absorbing opera. Thus step by step 
 213 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 chorus singing, which for centuries had been 
 intrusted to professional church choristers 
 only, was brought within the scope and sphere 
 of amateur activity, and one of the most effi- 
 cient means for the propagation of musical 
 culture was placed within the reach of the 
 people. 
 
 That chorus singing as an art suffered there- 
 by is undeniable. The refinements which were 
 the common property of mediaeval choristers 
 are all but lost. That they are not dominating 
 factors in the interpretation of modern accom- 
 panied and, to a certain extent, of modern un- 
 accompanied choral music, does not alter this 
 fact. Amateur choral culture, however, is in its 
 infancy as yet, and the time may come when it 
 will arrive at a stage of development which will 
 make it possible to revive the taste for so pure 
 and lofty a style of unaccompanied chorus mu- 
 sic as is that of the mediaeval church composers* 
 In the meanwhile singing societies are fulfilling 
 a high mission in diffusing love for music, not 
 only by providing the public with opportuni- 
 ties for becoming acquainted with such choral 
 literature as they can undertake to perform, but 
 also by creating in their members that sincere 
 affection for a dignified type of music which is 
 borne of the thorough knowledge attainable 
 only by unremitting study. 
 
 ?J4 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 Were the benefits to be derived in every 
 direction from singing in a properly directed 
 chorus fully appreciated, the organisation of ef- 
 ficient amateur societies would be a much easier 
 matter than it is. Instead of such appreciation 
 the idea is prevalent that choral practice is 
 harmful in many ways. The following remarks 
 on this subject by Dr. H. Kretzschmar, until 
 very recently the conductor of one of the most 
 celebrated choirs in Germany, the Riedel So- 
 ciety of Leipsic, and an acknowledged author- 
 ity on choral culture, are to the point : — 
 
 That by such [amateur] societies harm should be wrought 
 to the art of singing, that with them artistically perfect results 
 cannot be achieved, only those can assert that know little 
 about the matter. Everything depends upon the question 
 as to who stands at the head and how the rehearsals are con- 
 ducted. Wherever one piece after the other is disposed of 
 with the aid of piano thumping, singing must soon come to 
 an end. The training, or at least the supervision of the indi- 
 vidual member must form the foundation of choral activity, 
 and the performance and study of accompanied compositions 
 must constitute only half of the work. Constant practice in a 
 cappella singing is indispensable. It is this that trains the ear 
 and teaches vocalisation just as well as, if not better than the 
 study of solos in which half the faults are hidden and half 
 the trouble saved for the less gifted by the piano. . . . 
 A choral society which now and then sings a few movements 
 by Palestrina or a fine madrigal will give a more beautiful 
 performance of a Handel oratorio than one whose sense for 
 tone has not been independently awakened, 
 215 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 The opinion that the gifts and attainments 
 necessary to an efficient chorus singer are of an 
 inferior kind is another fallacy commonly enter- 
 tained, particularly by those who aspire to rec- 
 ognition of their individual talents. Yet it is 
 none the less true that there is the widest scope 
 in chorus singing for the exercise of the highest 
 musical qualities. A member of a choral body, 
 so it be capable of artistic work, must have a 
 good voice, properly trained ; an ear sensitive 
 to the slightest deviation from the true pitch ; 
 keen perceptiveness of rhythm ; a systemati- 
 cally developed faculty for reading music; and 
 an artistic temperament. He must be self-reli- 
 ant, but not self-assertive, patient, eager to learn, 
 filled with love for his task, and appreciative of 
 the benefit to be derived for musical intelli- 
 gence and taste from the concerted practice of j 
 the works of the great choral masters ; for no 
 amount of individual application can give such 
 insight into the deeper meaning of a composi- 
 tion as does the earnest participation in chorus 
 rehearsals in which every phrase of a compli- 
 cated musical structure is repeatedly laid bare 
 before the work is presented in its entirety to 
 the spiritual ear. Part of a grand aggregate 
 though he be, the singer will find in choral ac- 
 tivity ample opportunity not only to make use 
 of all the technical resources which he may have 
 
 2l6 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 acquired by years of study, but to develop them 
 and apply them to a higher purpose than that 
 of mere self-aggrandisement. No more effective 
 means for the correction of vocal vices and ab- 
 errations of taste can be found than the study 
 of dignified choral works under the guidance of 
 a competent and exacting conductor. 
 
 One of the most serious rudimentary short- 
 comings of amateur choruses consists in the 
 lack of balance between the different parts. 
 Due generally to the scarcity of voices of one 
 or another class, most frequently of tenors, its 
 only remedy lies in taking the weakest part as 
 j the basis of adjustment. Were this more stren- 
 1 uously carried out, amateur singing societies 
 ^ would be much smaller but much more capable 
 of attaining good results than they are as a rule. 
 Given a well-balanced body of such singers 
 as have been described, it remains for the 
 conductor to secure beauty of tone quality 
 throughout all gradations of force, purity of 
 intonation, accuracy and elasticity of rhythm, 
 correct phrasing, clear enunciation, truthful 
 expression, and characteristic declamation. 
 
 The antiquity of the office of the chorus con- 
 ductor is indicated by what has been said in a 
 former chapter regarding the Hebrew, Greek, 
 and Roman chorus leaders. In the Christian 
 Church, the principal arena for artistic activity 
 217 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 up to the seventeenth century, the need of a 
 conductor must have become apparent as early 
 as the fourth century, when trained choirs were 
 instituted. It is safe to assume that a fixed sys- 
 tem of leading was introduced as soon as de- 
 tailed instructions for the performance of the 
 music of the ritual were dictated by the ec- 
 clesiastical authorities. These instructions pre- 
 scribed not only the melodies for all the services, 
 but the precise way in which they should be sung 
 and fitted to the ceremonies. In order to accom- 
 modate the different melodic phrases with their 
 dynamic gradations to the movements of the 
 celebrants at the altar, it was necessary to ac- 
 celerate or retard the speed with the utmost 
 nicety, and it is evident that the singers could 
 not make these changes without the ruling 
 hand of a conductor. From the few scattered 
 references to the subject obtainable, it appears 
 that the conductor conveyed his intention to 
 the singer by means of the " s61fa,'* a roll of 
 parchment or paper, or a stick of wood, with 
 which he executed motions suggestive of the 
 constantly changing rhythm and nuances of 
 the chants — that he sketched out the melody, 
 as it were, with gestures before the eyes of the 
 choir — and that this art was considered very 
 difficult of attainment. After the introduction 
 of measured music the method which is known 
 
 2X8 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 to have been in vogue ever since the fifteenth 
 century in the Sistine Chapel, the direct de- 
 scendant of the early Roman singing school, 
 was probably adopted. It consisted in the con- 
 ductor's beating the time with the solfa visibly 
 to the choir and frequently audibly to all within 
 hearing. In so doing he indicated the units of 
 measurement only by the up and down motion, 
 just as the Greek coryphaei had done two 
 thousand years before, Avith whom, however, 
 the up-beat, which now represents the unac- 
 cented unit, represented the accented one. As 
 the music was not divided into measures, this 
 method, which is still in use in the churches of 
 Italy remaining faithful to the mediaeval eccle- 
 siastical style, was sufficiently accurate. 
 
 When in dramatic music the harpsichord 
 was introduced for the accompaniment of the 
 " dry recitative " (the recitative supported by 
 detached chords only), conductors availed them- 
 selves of that instrument on account of its soft 
 but crisp tone, to control their forces, resort- 
 ing when necessary to gestures. This custom 
 found its way into the churches which permit- 
 ted accompanied music. At concerts on an 
 elaborate scale two harpsichords were fre- 
 quently employed, one by the conductor and 
 the other by the accompanist. Nevertheless 
 the s61fa or baton, as it is now called, re- 
 219 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 mained in use, while in France the habit of 
 marking the time by striking the floor with the 
 end of a cane was not uncommon. Samuel 
 Pepys (1633-1703), the entertaining English di- 
 arist, relates that he heard music at the Globe 
 and saw " the simple motion that is there of 
 a woman with a rod in her hand keeping time 
 to the music while it plays ; which is simple 
 methinks ; " and Dr. Burney, who in his enthu- 
 siasm over the Handel Commemoration took 
 occasion to praise everything connected with 
 that event, even the tuning of the orchestra, 
 referred to the absence of a time-beating con- 
 ductor in the following words : 
 
 Foreigners, particularly the French, must be much as- 
 tonished at so numerous a band moving in exact measure 
 without the assistance of a coryphcBus to beat the time either 
 with a roll of paper or a noisy baton or truncheon. Lulli 
 may be said to have beat himself to death by intemperate 
 passion in marking the measure to an ill-disciplined band, 
 for in regulating with his cane the time of a Te Deum in 
 1686, he wounded his foot by accidentally striking on that 
 instead of the floor ; from the contusion a mortification en- 
 sued which cost him his life at the age of fifty-four. This 
 commemoration is the first instance of any band at all nu- 
 merous performing in a similar situation without the assist- 
 ance of a manuductdr. 
 
 Choruses as now constituted and prepared 
 for concerts would scarcely be equal to such 
 an undertaking. Yet how much is to be ac- 
 220 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 complished by faithful study was shown at the 
 performance of Bach's B minor mass at Beth- 
 lehem, already mentioned, which was directed, 
 as in Bach's days, by the organist from the 
 organ-bench. None the less the present meth- 
 od of accustoming the chorus to rely implicitly 
 on the conductor by paying the closest pos- 
 sible heed to his every gesture and signal is 
 unquestionably the one which can be made to 
 yield the best results. 
 
 The view is all too prevalent that the con- 
 ductor of amateur singing societies need not 
 be a musician of such high endowments, com- 
 prehensive knowledge, and thorough technical 
 training as the conductor of a body of profes- 
 sional performers ; yet the influence of the for- 
 mer for good or evil is much more far-reaching 
 than that of the latter. Not only are the teach- 
 ings of the chorus conductor more widely dis- 
 seminated, but they are more unreservedly ap- 
 propriated and more perfectly assimilated be- 
 cause amateurs are more numerous and sus- 
 ceptible and are compelled by the very nature 
 of choral training to submit to these teachings 
 so constantly that they cannot but make them 
 their own. The power of the chorus conduc- 
 tor, therefore, to elevate or debase musical taste 
 is unlimited. As choral music embraces a great 
 diversity of styles and types, it is incumbent on 
 
 221 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 every conductor of singing societies, however 
 brilliant his gifts may be, to devote the most 
 careful and conscientious study to the master 
 works of all periods in order to acquire stand- 
 ards of judgment which are in accord with 
 recognised art canons and well-authenticated 
 traditions. Without such standards it is im- 
 possible to arrive at the correct conception of 
 the choral music of the mediaeval masters and 
 even of Bach and his contemporaries, which is 
 not at all, or very sparingly provided with the 
 clews to interpretation now liberally supplied; 
 nor are such standards unnecessary to the full 
 appreciation of the modern classic and roman- 
 tic composers. 
 
 In respect of the technique of training sing- 
 ers the chorus leader must be well equipped. 
 He must possess keen musical faculties, thor- 
 oughly developed; exhaustive theoretical and 
 practical knowledge of conducting; intimate 
 familiarity with the nature and the manage- 
 ment of the human voice, and with the effects 
 peculiar to chorus singing and to the combina- 
 tion of voices and instruments, not to speak of 
 the subtler personal gifts and accomplishments 
 requisite to the government and instruction of 
 singers in whom loving interest in their work 
 must be awakened and sustained. 
 
 Among the many perplexing questions which 
 
 222 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 the conductor of choral societies is called upon 
 to solve is that of the interrelation of the cho- 
 rus and the orchestra. In works of the modern 
 school, in which the orchestra is used not only 
 to reinforce the chorus but as an independent 
 means of illustration and expression, frequently 
 in protracted instrumental movements, a body 
 of not less than sixty instrumentalists — the num- 
 ber necessary to the full symphony orchestra 
 so its constituent elements be well balanced — 
 is required. It remains for the conductor to 
 adjust the tone volume of such an orchestra to 
 that of his chorus, and in so doing he must be 
 guided by his appreciation of the character of 
 the work to be performed, and by his concep- 
 tion of the nature of its several movements, 
 each of which may demand a different treat- 
 ment. The increase in the size of choirs since 
 choral performances have been taken in hand 
 by amateurs has not been accompanied with a 
 corresponding increase in tone volume. The 
 \ numerical relation between the orchestral and 
 \ choral forces which was observed when cho- 
 ruses were made up of professionals, has been 
 reversed not so much on account of the greater 
 sonority of modern instrumentation as on ac- 
 count of the decline in the effectiveness of cho- 
 rus singing, unavoidable under the conditions 
 which as yet govern amateur activity. In il- 
 223 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 lustration of the comparative effect produced 
 by a body of selected, perfectly trained, and 
 one of ordinary, indifferently trained voices, 
 it may be stated that at the coronation of Na- 
 poleon I. in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, 
 Paris, the singing of the thirty-two choristers 
 of the Papal chapel created a more profound 
 impression than that of a chorus of hundreds 
 of voices accompanied by eighty harps, which 
 had been gathered together for the occasion. 
 
 In the opinion of Berlioz modern orchestra- 
 tion does not necessitate a radical readjustment 
 of the numerical relation between singers and 
 players considered normal at the time of Bach 
 and Handel, provided the former be as capa- 
 ble individually and collectively as the latter. 
 Berlioz, whose judgment in such matters can 
 be unreservedly accepted, held that to a hall of 
 the size of that of the Conservatoire, which con- 
 tains, in round numbers, one thousand seats, an 
 orchestra of one hundred and nineteen and a 
 chorus of one hundred and twenty-six would be 
 perfectly adapted, and that for a musical festi- 
 val in an acoustically well-constructed building, 
 four hundred and sixty-seven instrumentalists 
 and three hundred and sixty chorus singers, in- 
 cluding forty boy sopranos, would be required, 
 an additional chorus of boys* voices to be at 
 hand when needed. The quality of the chorus 
 234 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 singers he had in mind he defined by adding 
 that great difficulty would be experienced in 
 collecting in Paris such a number of voices of 
 any excellence. Berlioz's Te Deum was pro- 
 duced in the church of St. Eustache in 1855 on 
 about the scale indicated by these figures, nine 
 hundred executants participating. The model 
 concerts given at the Paris Conservatoire en- 
 listed during the past year the co-operation of 
 an orchestra of eighty-six and a chorus of only 
 seventy-four, divided into nineteen sopranos, 
 eighteen contraltos, eighteen tenors, and nine- 
 teen basses. On the other hand, at the con- 
 certs of the Philharmonic Chorus of Berlin, one 
 of the most efficient amateur organisations on 
 the Continent, the orchestra during the past 
 season numbered about seventy and the cho- 
 rus four hundred and three : one hundred and 
 sixty-two sopranos, one hundred and thirty-one 
 contraltos, forty-eight tenors, and sixty-two 
 basses ; while at the Cincinnati Music Festival 
 of 1898 an orchestra of one hundred and nine 
 was associated with a chorus of four hundred 
 and thirty-nine (not including a choir of one 
 hundred and twenty-six boys required for the 
 closing number of Berlioz's " Damnation of 
 Faust"), divided into one hundred and forty- 
 six sopranos, one hundred and thirty-two con- 
 traltos, fifty-seven tenors, and one hundred and 
 225 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 four basses. These figures show how remark- 
 able are the numerical discrepancies to which 
 amateur culture has given rise and the difficul- 
 ties which the conductor of non-professional 
 choruses is called upon to meet in order to 
 bring about artistic results. 
 
 The solution of the problem of placing the 
 choir and orchestra in such a way as to enable 
 each body to develop its full power, and both 
 bodies in conjunction to produce a homogene- 
 ous tone quality, involves the careful consid- 
 f eration of the acoustic properties of the halls 
 ' available, most of which, especially in this coun- 
 try, are constructed with the requirements of 
 •\ dramatic representations in view and are there- 
 i fore ill adapted to concert performances. Un- 
 ' der such circumstances the conductor will re- 
 sort to the devices which his knowledge and 
 experience may suggest. Under normal con- 
 ditions the seating plan usually adopted for the 
 chorus consists in placing the singers in con- 
 verging straight, or in semi-circular rows, each 
 row being sufficiently elevated above the one 
 immediately in advance to permit of its being 
 in unobstructed view of the conductor and the 
 audience. The sopranos are generally seated 
 at the left of the conductor, with the tenors be- 
 hind them and the altos at the right, with the 
 basses in the rear. Modifications of this plan 
 
 226 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 may be advisable in order to make compensa- 
 tion for the weakness of a particular part. For 
 the purpose of assuring a more perfect amalga- 
 mation of the different voice parts Rubinstein 
 advocated the subdivision of the chorus into 
 two sections, each one complete in itself, to be 
 placed respectively at the right and at the left 
 of the conductor, whether the composition to 
 be performed require a double chorus or not. 
 He even urged a similar disposition of the 
 strings of the orchestra. In works in which 
 the orchestral accompaniment serves principal- 
 ly to support the chorus the seating plan offers 
 little difficulty. When, however, as is the case in 
 most modern compositions, all the tone colours 
 attainable by the most advanced methods of in- 
 strumentation are to be brought out independ- 
 ently of the vocal part as well as in connection 
 with it, the question as to how the integrity of 
 the instrumental body is to be preserved with- 
 out sacrificing that of the vocal one is not so 
 easily determined. When the chorus is small, 
 and so well trained as to give out a refined and 
 perfectly homogeneous tone body, it can be ad- 
 vantageously stationed in front of the orchestra, 
 the seating plan of which remains undisturbed. 
 This is the course adopted at the Paris Con- 
 servatoire, the sopranos and altos being placed 
 at the left and the tenors and basses at the right 
 227 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 of the conductor. For obvious reasons this 
 plan is not practicable when the vocalists out- 
 number the instrumentalists four or five to one. 
 Under such circumstances it is customary to 
 place the orchestra in front of and into the semi- 
 circle formed by the chorus, or to extend it into 
 the chorus ranks in the shape of a triangle with 
 its apex towards the conductor. The latter 
 scheme, which is observed at the concerts of the 
 Berlin Philharmonic Chorus, is illustrated by 
 the following diagram, kindly furnished by the 
 conductor of that society, Prof. Siegfried Ochs: 
 
 \ - 1 - 1 • / 
 
 . \F^ • - / . 
 
 \ « 1 - / ' 
 
 
 r^' 
 
 O \ G \ 
 
 
 W ' 
 
 A — Conductor. 
 B — Soloists. 
 C — Sopranos. 
 D~Altos. 
 E— Tenors. 
 F — Basses. 
 G— First Violins. 
 
 H — Second Violins. 
 
 I — ^Violas. 
 
 K— 'Cellos. 
 
 L — Double Basses. 
 
 M— Flutes. 
 
 N— Oboes. 
 
 O— Clarinets. 
 
 228 
 
 P — Bassoons. 
 Q— Horns. 
 R — Trumpets. 
 S — Trombones. 
 T— Kettle-drums. 
 
The Chorus and the Chorus Conductor 
 
 Unique was the system on which Verdi ar- 
 ranged his forces when he directed a perform- 
 ance of his Requiem at Vienna. He placed all 
 the executants in a complete circle round about 
 him, and, it is said, to the evident advantage of 
 musical effect. 
 
 In what way the influences emanating from 
 the modern lyric drama, which are making 
 themselves felt in every sphere of musical com- 
 position, will ultimately affect the forms of cho- 
 ral music, the methods of choral writing, and, 
 in consequence, chorus singing itself, it is im- 
 possible to forecast. That the scope of choral 
 technics should be extended in various direc- 
 tions and new difficulties be presented to sing- 
 ers is inevitable. In the meantime choral cult- 
 ure, which is now almost exclusively in charge 
 of amateurs, has not yet outgrown the require- 
 ments of existing choral literature, nor has musi- 
 cal understanding risen above its appreciation. 
 There are untold treasures of chorus music, ac- 
 companied and unaccompanied, of which sing- 
 ing societies are as ignorant as the public. It 
 cannot be too often repeated that to study and 
 listen to the performance of polyphonic works 
 of the highest type afford the surest and quick- 
 est means of developing musical intelligence. 
 Inability to realise the dignity and loftiness of 
 229 
 
Choirs and Choral Music 
 
 such works is a proof of narrowness and want 
 of discrimination, not an evidence of advanced 
 taste. To be so steeped in admiration for glow- 
 ing tone colour as to be incapable of enjoying 
 the beauty of structural perfection is an indica- 
 tion of unsound taste. He who has learned to 
 understand Bach and Handel will comprehend 
 Wagner much more fully than he whose hori- 
 zon is limited by Wagner and his followers. 
 Those communities which have supported and 
 continue to support choral societies guided by 
 high purposes are in the possession of the most 
 efficient agencies for the dissemination of gen- 
 uine and intelligent love for music. No plea 
 for the encouragement and promotion of choral 
 culture can be strong enough. 
 
 230 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abellimenti^ 66 
 
 Academy for Ancient Music, 
 London, 124 
 
 Academy of Ancient Concerts, 
 London, 183 
 
 Academy of Science, Royal, 
 Berlin, 169 
 
 A Capella, 215 
 
 Accompanied movements for 
 solo voices in the English an- 
 them, 77 
 
 Accompaniment, instrumental, 4, 
 17 ; sung by early Christians, 
 22 ; in monastery of St. Gall, 
 35 ; in abbey of Reichenau, 35 ; 
 in English church music, 77 ; in 
 German church music, 85 ; in 
 the mysteries, 94 ; in the Pas- 
 sions, 98 et seq. 
 
 " Acis and Galatea," Handel's, 
 124 
 
 Acute voices, 56 
 
 Adjuvantes, the, 87 
 
 "Agnus Dei " of Beethoven's 
 mass in D, 156 
 
 Albert of Munich, chapel of, 
 
 57 
 Allegories, the, 115, 117 
 Allegri, Miserere by, 65 
 AUeluja, 31 
 Allott, Rev., 182 
 Alto, male, 55, 149, 179, 180 
 
 Altus, 45, 56 
 
 Alumni, choruses and orchestras 
 of the, 85 et seq.; their quali- 
 fications, 85 ; choruses of, in 
 smaller towns, 88 et seq.; their 
 influence, 91 ; their decline, 
 91 ; their technical training, 
 87 ; their influence on choral 
 culture in Germany, 87 
 
 Amateur Association, the Bir- 
 mingham, 180 et seq. 
 
 Amateur choral culture in Eng- 
 land at the present time, 184 
 
 Amateur choral societies, 91 ; 
 their origin, 166 et seq. ; 175 et 
 seq.; the pioneer in America, 
 186 et seq.; compared with 
 those in Germany, 192 ; their 
 standard, 193 et seq.; in the 
 West, 205 ; in Cincinnati, 205 
 et seq.; their educational value, 
 208 et seq.; difficulties they en- 
 counter, 209; their influence on 
 chorus singing, 214; possibili- 
 ties of, 214 ; difficulty of organ- 
 izing, 215 ; their proper train- 
 ing, 215 ; German in America, 
 207; in Germany, 173 et seq.; 
 in England, 175 et seq. 
 
 Amateur and professional choirs, 
 their relative effectiveness, 223 
 et seq. 
 
 231 
 
Index 
 
 Amateur musical entertainments, 
 
 162 et seq. 
 Amateur orchestral societies, 91 
 Ambrose, St,, 26 et seq. 
 "And the Glory of the Lord," 
 
 from " The Messiah," 126 
 "Angels ever bright and fair," 
 
 201 
 Anglican Church, ritual of the, 
 
 75 
 
 Anthem, the, 70 et seq. ; full 
 (choral), 70; accompanied 
 (verse), 71, 77; canticles in the 
 form of the, 69 
 
 Anthems, Billings's, 193; Chan- 
 dos, Handel's, 122 
 
 Antiphonary, Gregorian, so 
 called, 28 et seq.; of St 
 Gall, 32 
 
 Antiphones, 22, 34 
 
 Antiphony, in Hebrew music, 5, 
 9 ; in Greek tragedy, 13 ; in 
 Christian Church, 23, 24, 27; 
 in Julian chapel, 65 
 
 Apollo, II ; Hymn to, 16 
 
 Apollo Club of Chicago, 307 
 
 Archilochus, 16 
 
 Aria, accompanied, the, 99; 
 "Zoological," in *' The Cre- 
 ation," 141 
 
 Arians, 24 
 
 Arias, Handel's, 123 
 
 Arion, 11 ; the, of New York, 
 202 
 
 Arioso, accompanied, the, 99, 
 100 
 
 Aristocracy, Austrian and Bo- 
 hemian, its participation in 
 concerts, 163 et seq. 
 
 Arne, Dr. , 182 et seq. 
 
 Artificiality in composition, reac- 
 tion against, 59 
 
 Ascension mystery, Bach's, 102 
 
 Association of Musical Artists, 
 the, of Vienna, 162 
 
 Assyrian theories, 3 
 
 Astorga, 158 
 
 "Auditorium," first, of the Berlin 
 Singakademie, 170 
 
 Augustine, St. , 27, 67 
 
 Austria, titled classes of, 164 
 
 Avignon, new papal choir at, 63 
 
 Avolio, Sign., 133 
 
 Bach, 79, 86, 87, 88, 100, loi, 
 139, 154, 162, 230 ; his require- 
 ments in improvisation, 51 ; 
 Philipp Emanuel, 166; choir, 
 the, of Bethlehem, Pa., 207 et 
 seq. 
 
 Bacchus, the mysteries of, 92 
 
 Baif, 60 
 
 "Ballate," 59 
 
 Bass lute, the, 118 
 
 Bassus, 56 
 
 Bates, 182 
 
 Baton, the, 219, 390 
 
 Beethoven, 143, 155, 163 ; in Ber- 
 lin, 170 
 
 "Behold the Lamb of God," 
 from "The Messiah," 126 
 
 Bells, 35 
 
 Benedict, Pope, the papal chapel 
 under, 63 
 
 Benedictis, Jacobus de, 35 
 
 Benevoli, 167 
 
 Bergmann, Carl, 198 
 
 Berlin, the currendi in, 83 ; Phil- 
 harmonic chorus of, 225 ; Sing- 
 akademie of, its history, 166 ; 
 
 232 
 
Index 
 
 etseq.; its purpose, 168 et seq.; 
 its plan of organization, 169 ; 
 its first public rehearsal, 170 ; 
 its first public concert, 171 ; its 
 growth, 172 ; its achievements, 
 172, 192 
 
 Berlioz, 157, 158, 159 
 
 Berry, Gerald de, 68 
 
 Bethlehem, Penn. , 221 
 
 Billings, 190 et seq. 
 
 Birmingham Amateur Associa- 
 tion, the, xSo // seq. 
 
 Blow, 76, 177 
 
 Bohemia, folk-music of, 79 ; the 
 titled classes of, 164 
 
 Bontempi, 119 
 
 Boston, choral culture in, 194 ; In- 
 dependent Musical Society of, 
 the, 192 ; Handel and Haydn 
 Society of, the, 194 et seq. 
 
 Boy altos in German choirs, 174 ; 
 choristers excluded from papal 
 chapel, 64 ; in English chapels 
 royal, 73 et seq.; in cathedral 
 choirs, 73 et seq.; their skill 
 in acting, 73 et seq.; after the 
 Restoration, 75 etseq.; as com- 
 posers, 76 
 
 Boys' voices, 46, 54, 56, 173 ; in 
 Hebrew choruses, 6 ; in the 
 Julian chapel, 64 ; in Handel's 
 choruses, 125; in English choirs, 
 i7Sf 176 ; in German choirs, 
 173; at the Festivals of the 
 Three Choirs, 179; at the 
 Birmingham Festivals, 180 
 
 Brahms, 157, 159 
 
 Bremen, 152 
 
 Britton, 176 
 
 Brockes, xox 
 
 Brotherhoods of SL Cecilia, 89 
 
 " Bundesfest," 174 
 
 Bumey, Dr. , 220 ; on the curren- 
 
 di, 84 
 Byrd, 71 
 
 "Cacce,"S9 
 
 Caecilian Society of London, 183 
 
 Caesar, 18 
 
 Cambridge, University of, con- 
 fers musical degrees, 67 
 
 Cannons, 121, 123, 124 
 
 Canon, origin of term, 53 
 
 Cantata, the sacred, 77, ixi ; the 
 dramatic, X58 
 
 Cantatas, Carissimi's, xix ; 
 Bach's, XII 
 
 Canticles, in the form of anthems, 
 69 ; sung by the currendi, 84 
 
 Canticum vulgare^ 78 
 
 Cantor ey of Torgau, the, its his- 
 tory and character, 89 et seq. 
 
 Cantoreyen^ the, 89 
 
 Cantors, 88, 89 
 
 Cantus, 56 
 
 Cantusfirmus, 45 
 
 Cantus planus, 29 
 
 Cantus supra librum, 51 
 
 Carissimi, xii, 118, X19 
 
 Catch, the, 72, 75 
 
 Cathedral choir, of Berlin, 173 et 
 seq.; of St Thomas's, Leipsic, 
 
 173 
 
 Cathedral choirs, in England, 55; 
 restoration of, 75 et seq.; the 
 nucleus of festival choruses, 
 X82 
 
 Cathedral music in England, re- 
 instatement of, 187 
 
 Cavaliere, Emilio del, 1x7 
 
 233 
 
Index 
 
 Cecilia, St., 89 
 
 Cecilia Society of Frankfort-on- 
 the-Main, 147 
 
 Change of voice among the cur- 
 rendani, 86 
 
 Chant, Gregorian, the, 29; plain, 
 29; embellishments in, 29; ho- 
 mophone, 33, 54; in England, 
 77; in the mysteries, 96; in the 
 Passion, 97; different readings 
 of, 97; authoritative version of, 
 97; the basis of the mass, 52 ; 
 the harmonized single and 
 double, 77 
 
 Chants, Hebrew, 9, 10; among 
 the Christians, 23 
 
 Chapel, of the Duke of Chandos, 
 121; Papal, the, at Paris, 224; 
 vide Sistine Chapel 
 
 Chapel Royal, organized by 
 Pepin, 46 
 
 Chapels Royal, under David and 
 Solomon, 7; under Nero, 18 et 
 seq. ; English, 72 et seq. ; under 
 Edward IV. , 72 et seq. ; under 
 Edward VI., 75; their singing, 
 75; after the Restoration, 76; 
 choristers of, 123, 124; children 
 of the, 183 
 
 Characteristic expression in 
 choruses, 98, 99; in Mendels- 
 sohn's "Elijah," 149; Chari- 
 table Musical Society of Dub- 
 lin, 132 
 
 Charles II., his influence on 
 church music, 71, 75 ; secular 
 music under, 72; church music 
 under, 75 et seq. 
 
 Charles IX. , a tenor singer, 60 
 
 Chicago, Apollo Club of, 207 
 
 Choir, Bach's, 108; Handel's, 
 132 et seq. 
 
 Choirs, early trained, 24 ; monop- 
 olize church music, 25; artistic 
 work of, 33; character of, 38, 
 56 et seq.; of men, 23; of wom- 
 en, 23, 24 ; of discanters, 46 ; 
 select, 54; trained, 81; vide also 
 chapels, cathedral choirs, cur- 
 rendi, choral societies et pas- 
 sim 
 
 Choragi, 14 et seq. 
 
 Choragic monuments, 15 
 
 Choral ballad, 158 
 
 Choral concerts, of the Musical 
 Society of Dilettanti, 142; Phili- 
 dor's, 162; Handel's, 123 et seq., 
 162 et seq. ; of the Association 
 of Musical Artists, 162 ; of the 
 Berlin Singakademie, 171 ; in 
 England, 162, 175 et seq.; in 
 America, 192 et seq.; in New 
 England, 192 et seq.; at the 
 Chicago Columbian Exposi- 
 tion, 193; in Boston, 194 etseq.; 
 in Cincinnati, 205 et seq.; in 
 New York, 199 et seq.; in Beth- 
 lehem, Penn. , 221 
 
 Choral culture, its influence on 
 musical taste, 230 
 
 Choral forms, pure, developed 
 by the church composers, 20; 
 new, 158 et seq. ; vide also the 
 Anthem, the Passion, the Ora- 
 torio, etc. 
 
 Choral literature, the existing, 
 230 
 
 Choral music, unaccompanied, 
 neglected, 210; its diverse types 
 and styles, 221 et seq. 
 
 234 
 
Index 
 
 Choral oratorio, the, 121 et seg. 
 
 Choral performances, early, 60 
 
 Choral Society, the first, organ- 
 ized at Prague, 79 ; the New 
 York, 200 
 
 Choral songs, Greek, 22 
 
 Choral style, the, of Palestrina, 
 61 et seg.; of the early Passion 
 composers, 97 et seg.; of Bach, 
 106 ; of the early oratorio com- 
 posers, 118 ; of Carissimi, 119 ; 
 of Handel, 120 ; of Haydn, 141 ; 
 of Mendelssohn, 146 ; of to- 
 day, 160 
 
 Chorale, the Protestant, 80; the, 
 in the Passion, ggetseg., loi, 
 102 ; in Bach's Passions, 104 ; 
 in Mendelssohn's St. Paul, 147 ; 
 in the cantata, m 
 
 Chorales, first collection of Ger- 
 man, 81; characteristic features 
 of, 81 
 
 Chords, 38 
 
 Chorister schools, 32, 35, 37 et 
 seg.; 46, 57 et seg., 63, 72 et 
 seg.; 78 et seg.; 81 et seg. 
 
 Chorus, the, in Hebrew music, 4 
 etseg,; in the Greek drama, 
 net seg.; its organization and 
 training, 14 et seg. ; in the 
 Passion, 97 et seg, ; in the sa- 
 cred drama, 118, in Handel's 
 oratorios, 121 et seg.; subdivi- 
 sion of, 45, 56, 213 ; the Cin- 
 cinnati Music Festival, 206 
 
 Chorus and orchestra, Bach's, 
 107 et seg. ; their interrelation 
 109, 125 et seg.; 135, 224 etseg.; 
 Handel's, 125, 132 et seg.; 
 at the London Handel Com- 
 
 memoration, 134 ; at a Berlin 
 "Messiah" performance, 135; 
 at a performance of Haydn's 
 "Creation," 142; of Mendels- 
 sohn's "Elijah, ' 149; of Mo- 
 zart's Requiem, 171 ; at a 
 Cecilian Festival in London, 
 at English Festivals, 137, 180 
 et seg. ; at the first concert of 
 the Boston Handel and Haydn 
 Society, 196 ; at the first con- 
 cert of the New York Choral 
 Society, 200 ; at a concert of 
 the New York Sacred Music 
 Society, 201 ; at the Cincinnati 
 Festivals, 206, 225 ; at New 
 York Festivals, 210 ; at the 
 Paris Conservatoire, 225 ; at 
 the Berlin Philharmonic choral 
 concerts, 225 
 
 Chorus conducting, methods of, 
 among the Hebrews, Greeks, 
 and Romans, 217 ; among the 
 early Christians, 218 et seg. ; 
 at the harpsichord, 219 ; Dr. 
 Bumey on, 220; at the organ, 
 221 
 
 Chorus conductor, the, 6, 13 ; his- 
 tory of, 217 et seg. ; qualities 
 and attainments necessary to, 
 221 et seg. ; influence of, 221 ; 
 questions confronting, 222 et 
 seg. 
 
 Chorus musicus^ 87 et seg. 
 
 Chorus singers in London, 176; 
 in the North of England, 177 ; 
 their quality as defined by 
 Berlioz, 224 ; talent and attain- 
 ments necessary to, 216 et seq. 
 
 Chorus singing, of the mediaeval 
 
 235 
 
Index 
 
 choirs, ai2; influence of in- 
 strumental music on, 2x9 et 
 seq. ; influence of the dramatic 
 tendency on, 213 ; taken up by- 
 amateurs, 212 et seq.; in Eng- 
 land, 68, 175 et seq. ; in Ger- 
 many, 162 et seq. ; in America, 
 x86 et seq. ; as an independent 
 art, 161 ; requisites of, 217 ; ben- 
 efits to be derived from, 217 ; 
 without a time-beater, 220 
 
 "Christ," Rubinstein's, 151 et 
 seq.; its production at Bremen, 
 152 ; Liszt's, 153 
 
 Choruses of Literati, the, 79 
 
 Christian choral music, 20; in- 
 fluenced by pagan music, 22; 
 popular, 24 
 
 Christian Church, the, opposed 
 to instrumental music, 20, 22 ; 
 monopolizes musical art, 20, 25; 
 in Egypt, 23 ; retards musical 
 progress, 26 
 
 " Christian Church, The," in the 
 Passion, 100 
 
 Christian mysteries, the early, 
 93 et seq. 
 
 Christmas mystery, Bach's, 102 
 
 Christmas story, representations 
 of, 96 
 
 Chromatic melodies, forbidden 
 by the church, 24 
 
 Chrysostom, St, 24 
 
 Church choirs, professional, as 
 artistic institutions, 56; their 
 decline in efficiency, 82 ; in 
 Italy and South Germany, 55 ; 
 in New England, 188 et seq. ; 
 Episcopal, in New York, 200 
 etseq. 
 
 Church composers, mediaeval, 
 the, their command of choral 
 writing, 20; trained in chor- 
 isters' schools, 50 et seq. 
 
 Church festivals, in Germany, 
 78 ; celebration of, 96, 113 
 
 Church, Mr., 133 
 
 Cibber, Mrs., 133 
 
 Cincinnati, choral culture in, 
 205 ; Music Festivals, 206, 225 ; 
 Saengerfest in, 205 et seq. 
 
 Clavicembalo, 118 
 
 Clavichord, the, 108, 125 
 
 Clefs, vocal, 56 
 
 Clement of Alexandria, 24 
 
 " Club Anthem," the, 76 
 
 Collegia musica, their origin 
 and history, 88 et seq. 
 
 Collegium Musicum, 208 
 
 Columbian exposition, at Chi- 
 cago, 193 
 
 Composition, musical, its dawn, 
 
 49 
 Concertantey instrumental groups, 
 
 126 
 Concerts, in Vienna, 164 ; pub- 
 lic, in England, 176; Lenten, 
 
 Handel's, 125, 134 
 Conducting, Bach's method of, 
 
 108 ; Handel's method of, 125 
 Conductors, early, of the Boston 
 
 Handel and Haydn Society, 
 
 197 
 Congregational singing, 23, 25, 
 
 95 ; in Germany, 80 et seq. 
 Congregatione dell' Oratorio ^ 117 
 Congreve, 177 
 
 Conservatoire, Paris, 224, 227 
 Contrapuntal riddles, 52; their 
 
 object and nature, 5a 
 
 236 
 
Index 
 
 Contrapuntal types, the, in 
 choral music, x6o 
 
 Contrapunto a mente^ 51 
 
 Convivium musicum, 90 
 
 Cooke, Captain, 76 
 
 Copts, the, 23 
 
 Comets, in place of boy sopra- 
 nos, 76 ; in orchestra, 77 
 
 Corporation of the Sons of 
 Clergy, the, 177 
 
 Coryphaeus, the, 13, 219, 220 
 
 Costa, Sir Michael, 137 
 
 Counterpoint, practised by the 
 Greeks, 17; riddles in, 29; in 
 England, 69; as an art, 50; 
 compared with discant, 50; 
 mental and written, 51 ; in Ger- 
 many, 79 ; applied to German 
 folk melodies and spiritual 
 songs, 80 ; golden era of vocal, 
 62 
 
 Counter-tenors, 55 ; in Handel's 
 choruses, 125 ; in England, 149, 
 182 ; in the Boston Handel and 
 Haydn Society, 196 
 
 •• Creation, The," Haydn's, 139, 
 140 ei seg. ; orchestral accom- 
 paniments in, 140 et seq. ; first 
 performance of, 140 ; its in- 
 fluence on choral culture in 
 Germany, 142 et seq.y 164, 
 195 
 
 Crystal Palace, Handel Festivals 
 at, 137 
 
 Currendani, the, 82 et seq. ; 
 Bach one of the, 87 ; choruses 
 of, 9X ; their influence and de- 
 cline, 91 
 
 Currendi, the, their origin and 
 history, 83 et seq. 
 
 Curwen, Rev. , 43 
 Cymbals, 35 
 
 " Damnation of Faust," Ber- 
 lioz's, 225 
 
 Damrosch, Dr. Leopold, 202 et 
 seq.^ 210 
 
 " Daughter of Zion,"in the Pas- 
 sion, 100 
 
 David, music under, 5 et seq. ; 
 choirs and orchestra under, 6 
 et seq. 
 
 Deacons of the Passion, 97, 
 119 
 
 Declamatory style, the, 117, 119 ; 
 in the Passions, 99 
 
 •' Dies Irae," sequence, 35, 156 
 
 Dilettanti associations, 162 et 
 seq. ; concerts, their standard, 
 165 ; their influence, 165 
 
 Dionysus, 11 ; Festivals of, 13 ; 
 the mysteries of, 92 
 
 Dirges, Greek, xi 
 
 Discant, 44 et seq. ; confined to 
 men, 45 ; in four parts, 46 ; de- 
 velopment of, 47; leads to 
 musical composition, 49 ; com- 
 pared with counterpoint, 50; 
 in Germany, 79 
 
 Discanters, 46 
 
 Diskant^ 45 
 
 Do, 43 
 
 Drama, Greek, the, source and 
 history ofi wet seq.; chorus in, 
 xa et seq. ; religious character 
 of^ X3 etseq. ; decadence of, X7 ; 
 attempted revival of, X17 ; imi- 
 tated by Christian hymnog- 
 raphers, 93 
 
 237 
 
Index 
 
 Drama, modern lyric, the, its 
 
 Eisenach, Luther at, 80 
 
 influence on the oratorio, 150 
 
 Elgar, E. W., 159 
 
 et seg. 
 
 "Elijah," Mendelssohn's, 147; 
 
 Drama, religious, the, 117 
 
 history of, 149 ; first perform- 
 
 Dramatic cantata, the, 158 
 
 ance of, 149 et seg.; revision of. 
 
 Dramatic construction of early 
 
 150 ; dramatic scenes in, 147 
 
 Christian hymns, 93 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, 68, 71, 75 
 
 Dramatic legend, the. 158 
 
 Embellishments, in Hebrew mu- 
 
 Dramatic methods, Italian, ap- 
 
 sic, 10 ; in early Christian mu- 
 
 plied to the Passion, 98 et seg. 
 
 sic, 23, 28 ; traceable to neumes. 
 
 Dramatic scene, the, 158 
 
 30 
 
 Dramatic style, the, opposed to 
 
 " Engedi," Beethoven's, 144 
 
 polyphony, 62 
 
 Enghsh cathedral service, music 
 
 Dramatization of gospel stories, 
 
 of, 69 
 
 9^ 
 
 English church style, decadence 
 
 *' Dream of Gerontius, The," 159 
 
 of, 71 
 
 Dresden, opera chorus at, 86, 174 
 
 English hymnody, nucleus of, 70 
 
 Dryden, 178 
 
 English national school of music, 
 
 Dublin, Handel's " Messiah " in, 
 
 69 
 
 131 et seg. 
 
 English school of church music. 
 
 Dubourg, 132 
 
 the new, 76 et seg. 
 
 Duke of Chandos, the, 121 
 
 English singers, early, 67 
 
 Dunstable, 69 
 
 Ephraem of Edessa, 24 
 
 Dusseldorf, 148 
 
 Established Church in England, 
 
 Dutch Reformed Church, the, 
 
 its ritual, 175 
 
 in New York, 198 
 
 Este, at Milan, 60 
 
 DvoMk, 158, 159 
 
 *• Esther," Handel's, 121 ; in cos- 
 
 
 tume and action, 123, 124 ; with 
 
 Easter mystery, Bach's, 102 
 
 scenery only, 124 
 
 Easter story, representations of, 
 
 Eudoxia,Empressof Arcadius, 24 
 
 96, 114 
 
 Eugene IV., Pope, pontifical 
 
 Eastern (Greek) Church, 22, 25 
 
 chapel under, 63 
 
 Edward IV., chapel royal under, 
 
 Europe, influence of peoples of 
 
 72 
 
 northern and middle, 33, 35 
 
 Edward VI., chapel royal under. 
 
 Evangelist, the, in the Passion, 
 
 75 
 
 97. loi 
 
 Egyptian mysteries, the, 92 
 
 Extemporization, 36,37; devel- 
 
 Egyptian theories, 3 
 
 opment of, 46 ; practised side 
 
 '* Ein feste Burg," its melody 
 
 by side with written counter- 
 
 not by Luther, 80 
 
 point, 51 et seg. 
 
 338 
 
Index 
 
 Fa, 40, 42 
 
 Fa-burden, the (fauxbourdon), 
 in England, 68 
 
 Fa-la, the, 59 
 
 Falsetto, singing in, introduced, 
 55, 76, 109 ; among the Ger- 
 man choristers, 86 
 
 Farsae, 115 
 
 Fasch, 166 et seq. , 203. 
 
 '^ Faust," Berlioz's, 159 
 
 Festivals, Birmingham, 149, 151, 
 159, 179 ei seq.; their history, 
 180 ; chorus and orchestra at, 
 x^etseq.; their standard, 181; 
 choral, in England, 184 et seq.; 
 in America, 209; provincial 
 musical, in England, xj'jetseq.; 
 Cecilian, 177 et seq.; Handel, 
 136, 137. 185 ; of the Three 
 Choirs, 178 et seq.; their his- 
 tory, 178, 179; their influence, 
 178 et seq.; Rhenish, 144, 147 ; 
 music, of Cincinnati, their his- 
 tory, 205 et seq.; their record, 
 206 ; in New York, 210 ; in 
 Worcester, 209 
 
 Fes turn Asinorum^ 113 
 
 Figurate music, 85, 88 
 
 Figured Bass, in Bach's works, 
 no 
 
 Finck, 79 
 
 Fixed Do system, 39 
 
 Flemish choristers, 56, 57 
 
 Flemish composers, 56 
 
 Fleureties, in discant, 44 
 
 Florence, the opera in, 117 
 
 Flutes, 35, 118 
 
 Folk melodies, in discant, 47 ; in 
 Germany, 78, 80 ; in the mira- 
 cle plays, 114 
 
 Folk song, the, the source of 
 
 rhythmic design, 49 
 Folk songs, as the basis of the 
 
 mass, 52 
 Foundling Hospital of London, 
 
 133 
 
 Fourths and Fifths, series of, 36 
 
 France, home of discant, 44 ; 
 choral culture in, 46 ; singing 
 schools in, 46 
 
 Franco of Cologne, 48 
 
 Frankfort-on-the-Oder, universi- 
 ty of, 88 
 
 Franklin Society, the, 192 
 
 Franz, no, 137 
 
 Frederick the Great, 166 
 
 Frederick the Wise, 81, 89 
 
 Frederick IV. of Prussia, 173 
 
 •• Frottole," 59 
 
 Fugue for four parts out of one, 
 S3 et seq. 
 
 " Fuguing style,'" the, 191 
 
 Fulda, chorister school of, 78 
 
 Galitzin, Prince, 156 
 
 Gallic singers, 34 
 
 Gamut, Greek vocal, 41 ; of 
 
 Guido, 41 et seq. 
 Gates, 123 
 Geneva, popular tunes among 
 
 Protestants at, 70 
 George II., coronation of, 126, 
 
 133 
 
 German church music after the 
 Reformation, 78 et seq. 
 
 German polyphonic church com- 
 posers, il et seq. 
 
 Gesius, 98 
 
 Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leip- 
 sic, its origin, 88 
 
 239 
 
Index 
 
 Gewandhaus concerts, the, 163 
 
 Halifax, 182 
 
 Gibbons, 71 
 
 Hallelujah, 23 
 
 Gibson, Dr., 124 
 
 •' Hallelujah," from *' The Mes- 
 
 Glee, the, 7a, 75 
 
 siah," 133 
 
 Glee clubs, in England, 55 
 
 Handel, 77, loi, 120 et seq., 158, 
 
 Gloucester, 178 
 
 162. 183, 230 ; a dramatist, 122 
 
 Glover, Miss, 43 
 
 etseq.; compelled to turn to 
 
 Gluck, 139 
 
 the oratorio, 122 et seq.; re- 
 
 " Good Samaritan, The," 115 
 
 nounces operatic undertak- 
 
 Gossec, 156 et seq. 
 
 ings, 125 ; composes oratorios 
 
 Gounod, 151 
 
 in rapid succession, 126 et 
 
 Grave voices, 56 
 
 seq.; his influence on Haydn, 
 
 Greek choral music, 3 ; compared 
 
 141 
 
 with Hebrew choral music, 10 ; 
 
 Handel Commemoration at Lon- 
 
 character and system of, 11 ; 
 
 don, the, 134 et seq. ; 182, 220 
 
 forms of, II ; among the peo- 
 
 Handel cult, the, in England, 
 
 ple, IS et seq.; rhythm and 
 
 134, 182 et seq. 
 
 melody of, 16 et seq. ; unison- 
 
 Handel and Haydn Society, The, 
 
 ous and accompanied, 17 ; de- 
 
 of Boston, its history, 194; 
 
 cadence of, 17 ; influence on 
 
 its first concert, 195 
 
 Christian choral music, 18 ; in 
 
 Handel and Haydn Society,The, 
 
 Rome, 18 
 
 of New York, 200 
 
 Greek mysteries, the, 92 
 
 Hanslick, 165 
 
 Gregorian chant, modern nota- 
 
 Harmonic design. 120 
 
 tion of, 48 
 
 Harmony, invention of, 35 etseq.; 
 
 Gregorian chants, 47 ; rhythm of 
 
 early conception of, 38; sen- 
 
 governed by prosody, 48 
 
 suous beauty of, 59 
 
 Gregorian song, introduction into 
 
 Harp, 125 
 
 England, 67 
 
 Haydn, 139 et seq., 154, 158, 163 ; 
 
 Gregory the Great, 28 et seq. 
 
 his last public appearance, 142 ; 
 
 Gregory II., 28 
 
 member of St. Stephen's choir, 
 
 Gregory III., 28 
 
 55 
 
 Gregory XI., his return to Rome, 
 
 Haydn Society, The, of Cincin- 
 
 63 
 
 nati, 205 
 
 Gregory XIII. , 117 
 
 Haydn's imitators, 143 
 
 Gregory of Nazianzen, 93 et seq. 
 
 Hebrew choral music, origin and 
 
 Gruppetti, 32 
 
 history, 3 et seq. ; factors em- 
 
 Guidiccioni, Laura, 117 
 
 ployed in, 4 et seq. ; antipho- 
 
 Guido of Arezzo, 39 et seq. ; his 
 
 nal, 5 ; nature and character 
 
 system of teaching, 40 et seq. 
 
 of, 5 et seq.; decline of, 8; 
 
 240 
 
Index 
 
 preserved by oral tradition, 9 ; 
 influence of, on Christian mu- 
 sic, 9, 22 et seq. ; system of, 9 et 
 seq.; in modem synagogues 10; 
 compared with Greek choral 
 music, lo et seq. 
 
 Heilbronn, 163 
 
 Henry VIII., secular music 
 under, 71; chapel royal under, 
 75 
 
 Heptachord, 42 et seq. 
 
 Herefoxd, 178 
 
 Herschel, Sir William, 182 
 
 " He was Despised," from " The 
 Messiah," 133 
 
 Hexachord, 42 
 
 Hiller, Ferdinand, 202 
 
 Hffler, J. A., 135 
 
 Hisioricus, 119 
 
 Holidays in Protestant Germany, 
 95 
 
 Holy Trinity, typified in triple 
 metre, 48 
 
 "HoraNovissima," Parker's, 179 
 
 Horn, Charles E., 197 
 
 Hucbald, 38 
 
 Hudson, Dr. , 144 
 
 Hullah, Dr. , 183 et seq. 
 
 Humphrey, 76 
 
 Hunold, 100 
 
 Hymn tunes, early collections 
 for four voices, 70 
 
 Hymns, English, 69; Gre- 
 gorian, 29, 34; Hebrew, 9; 
 Greek, 11, 22 ; early Christian, 
 23 et seq. ; Greek, translated 
 into Latin, 27; Latin, trans- 
 lated into German, 78, 80 ; of 
 the early Christian Church, 93 ; 
 of Romanus, 94 
 
 Iambic Metre, in Latin hymns, 
 27 
 
 Iambics, 16 
 
 Idiosyncrasies, influence of na- 
 tional, 33 et seq., 35 
 
 Imperial chapel at Vienna, 65 et 
 seq. 
 
 Improvisation, 51 ; Mozart's skill 
 in, 51 ; Mendelssohn's skill in, 
 51 ; Bach's requirements in, 51 
 
 Indian mysteries, the, 92 
 
 "Inspruck ich muss dich lassen," 
 
 79 
 
 Instrumental music, in the pos- 
 session of the people, 20 ; sanc- 
 tioned by the Church in Eng- 
 land, France, and Germany, 
 35; encroaching on vocal 
 music, 63 ; modern, its effect 
 on choral writing and chorus 
 singing, 160; in the churches 
 of New England, 188 et seq. 
 
 Instrumentation, Bach's, 109 ; 
 Handel's, 126 ; Haydn's, 141 
 
 Intermexxi, in the Greek drama, 
 
 13 
 
 Interrelation of chorus and or- 
 chestra, 109, 125 et seq. ; 135, 
 137, 223 et seq. ; Berlioz's es- 
 timate of, 224 et seq. ; in Bach's 
 and Handel's days, 224 ; at the 
 present time, 225 
 
 Intervals, measurement of, 17 
 
 Isaak, 79 
 
 "Israel in Egypt,'' Handel's, 127, 
 X28 ; epic form of, X29 ; dra- 
 matic conception of, 129 et 
 seq. ; history of, 129 et seq. 
 
 Italian oratorios. Handel's, 121 
 
 Italian vocal methods, 120 
 
 241 
 
Index 
 
 JENNENS, 131, 132 
 
 Lidley, 140 
 
 John XIX., Pope, 42 
 
 " Liedertafel," 174 
 
 Josephus, 7 et seq. 
 
 "Lift thine eyes," from "Eli- 
 
 Jubilate, Handel's, 122 
 
 jah," 150 
 
 " Judgment of the World, The," 
 
 Liszt, 151 
 
 Schneider's, 144 
 
 Liturgical forms, their dramatic 
 
 *• Judith," Dr. Arne's, 183 
 
 possibilities, 95 
 
 Julian chapel, 64 ; singing of, ac- 
 
 Liturgical mysteries, the, 95 
 
 companied by instruments, 65 
 
 Liturgy, Latin, 31 
 
 Julius II., Pope, 64 
 
 Lock Hospital Society, the, 192 
 
 
 Louis Ferdinand, Prince, 170 
 
 Keiser, 100 
 
 LuUi, 220 
 
 Komer, 174 
 
 Lflneburg, 87 
 
 Krehbiel, H. E., 203 
 
 Luther, 69, 80, 8i et seq., 89, 98 
 
 Kretzschmar, Dr. H., 215 
 
 Lyre, Greek, the, 22 ; double, 
 
 Kythara, 22 
 
 the, 118 
 
 
 Lyric forms, the, in the Passions, 
 
 La, 40 
 
 99 
 
 Lamentations, Greek, 11 
 
 Lyric scene, the, 158 
 
 Lancashire, chorus singers from. 
 
 Lysicrates, choragic monument 
 
 176 
 
 of, 15 
 
 Laodicea, council of, 25 
 
 
 Lasso, Orlando di, choir of, 
 
 Madrigal, the, in England, 71 
 
 57 ft seq. 
 
 et seq. 
 
 '* Last Judgment, The," Spohr's, 
 
 Madrigals, 59 ; singing of, 60 
 
 144 
 
 Magdeburg, Luther at, 80 
 
 Last Supper, the celebration of, 
 
 Magnificat, Bach's, 158 
 
 23 
 
 Mattrises, 46 
 
 Latin, in church music of Ger- 
 
 Male altos, 55, 149 ; at the Festi- 
 
 many, 78 
 
 vals of the Three Choirs, 179 ; 
 
 Latin schools, choirs in the, 85 
 
 at the Birmingham Festivals, 
 
 Laudi spirituali, 116 
 
 180 
 
 Laudisti, 116 
 
 Male choruses, in Germany, 174 
 
 Leading melody of hymns in the 
 
 et seq.; American, 208 
 
 highest part, 81 
 
 Malibran, 201 
 
 " Legend of St. Elizabeth, The," 
 
 Mansfeld, Luther at, 80 
 
 Liszt's, 152 et seq. 
 
 Manuductor, the, 13, 220 
 
 Leo X. , chapel of, 60 
 
 Marbeck, his Book of Common 
 
 Leopold, Emperor, his choir, 66 
 
 Prayer, 69 
 
 Levites, 6, 8 
 
 Marx, Professor, 147 
 
 242 
 
Index 
 
 Mason, Dr. Lowell, 197 
 
 Mass, the, 154 et seq. 
 
 Masses, Bach's, in B minor, 154, 
 Tiorjetseq.; Haydn's and Mo- 
 zart's, x^^etseq.; Beethoven's, 
 in D, 15s et seq. 
 
 Massachusetts Musical Society, 
 the, 192 
 
 Measured music, 48 et seq.; met- 
 rical system of, 53 
 
 Mediaeval composers, 29 
 
 Medici, at Florence, 60 
 
 Medius, 45 
 
 Melodic style, the, in the sacred 
 drama, 117 
 
 Melodic turns, conventional, 45 
 et seq. 
 
 Melodrama, Greek, 12 
 
 Melody, independence of, dem- 
 onstrated, 34 
 
 Members of singing societies, 
 associate, 89 
 
 Men's voices, in Hebrew chor- 
 uses, 4, 7; in Greek choruses, 
 13 ; in the early Christian 
 Church, 45 ; in select choirs, 
 54 ; vide falsetto singing, coun- 
 ter-tenors, and male altos 
 
 Mendelssohn, 98, 182, 145 et seq.; 
 compared with Bach and 
 Handel, 145 ; his style, 145 ; 
 his mastery of choral forms, 
 146 et seq. ; overrated, 146 ; 
 underrated, 146 ; his skill in 
 improvisation, 51 ; his influence 
 in England, 151 
 
 Mendelssohn, Fanny, 148 
 
 " Messiah, The," Handel's, 127, 
 128, 140, 180, 182, 196, 201, 209 ; 
 epic form of, 129 ; dramatic 
 
 conception of, 129 et seq. ; 
 analysis of, 130; history of, 
 131 ; first performance of, 131 
 et seq. ; in London, 133 ; per- 
 formances of, during Handel's 
 lifetime, 133; popularity of, 
 134 ; at Berlin, 135 et seq. ; at- 
 tempts to modernize, 135 et 
 seq. ; in Boston, 196 ; in New 
 York, 199 ; attractive power of, 
 208 et seq. 
 
 Metre, duple and triple in the 
 twelfth century, 48 ; intricacies 
 of, 53 
 
 Metrical construction of German 
 chorales, 81 
 
 Mi, 40, 42 
 
 Michael Angelo, 64 
 
 Milow, 167 
 
 Miracle plays, the, 78, 114 ; their 
 deterioration, 115 et seq. 
 
 Modern music, source of, 20 
 
 Modes, Greek, 27 ; authentic, 
 27 ; plagal, 28 ; ecclesiastical, 
 42, 62 
 
 Monastic schools, 32 ; in Eng- 
 land, 67 ; in Germany, 83 ; 
 dramatic performances in, 114 
 
 Moralities, the, 96, 115 
 
 Moravians, the, 208 
 
 Mos palatinuSy 59 
 
 Moses, Song of Moses and Mir- 
 iam, 4 et seq. 
 
 *' Moses's Song," Handel's, 129 
 
 " Moses," Rubinstein's, 151 
 
 Motet, the, 52 
 
 Motets, hymn texts treated in 
 the form of, 70 ; Bach's, no 
 et seq. 
 
 Motetus^ 45 
 
 243 
 
Index 
 
 " Mount of Olives, The," Bee- 
 thoven's, 143 et seq. ; its incon- 
 gruities, 143 et seq. ; its first 
 performance, 142 ; under the 
 name Engedi, 144 ; ' ' Hallelu- 
 jah " from, 200 et seq. 
 
 Movable Do system, 39 ; in use 
 in America, 43 
 
 Mozart, 37, 65, 139, 154, 163 ; his 
 additional accompaniments to 
 some of Handel's works, 136 ; 
 his skill in improvisation, 51 
 
 Musica ficta, 65 
 
 Musica mensurata, 48 
 
 Musica plana, 48 
 
 Musical Society of Dilettanit, 
 The, of Vienna, 142 
 
 Musical Society of London, The, 
 177 
 
 Musici, 58 
 
 Musicians, foreign, in America, 
 197 
 
 Mutation, rules of, 42 
 
 Mysteries, Bach's, 102 ; popular, 
 113 ; liturgical, 116 
 
 Mystery, the, 92 et seq. ; its pro- 
 totypes, 92 ; mediaeval, the, and 
 the Passion, 102 
 
 Napoleon I. , coronation of, 224 
 Narrator, the, 119; in Handel's 
 
 •' Israel in Egypt," 128 
 Neri, 116 et seq. 
 Nero, jS et seq. 
 Netherland choristers and chapel 
 
 masters, 57 
 Netherlands, development of 
 
 contrapuntal technics in the, 
 
 SO 
 
 Neumes, 29 et seq., 33 ; on stave, 
 39 ; changed into notes, 48 
 
 New Church, the, at Leipsic, 
 performances in, 88 
 
 New paths in oratorio composi- 
 tion, 153 
 
 Newman, Cardinal, 159 
 
 Nobility, its participation in con- 
 certs, 163 
 
 Nomes, Greek, 22 
 
 Norfolk Society, the, 192 
 
 Notation, indefiniteness of early, 
 20; Greek system disappears, 
 26 ; by means of letters, 28 et 
 seq.; by means of neumes, 29 ; 
 example of, 31 ; modern sys- 
 tem of, 30 ; of Gregorian music, 
 30 ; of measured music, 48 ; 
 its object, 49 ; its intricacy, 49, 
 51 et seq.; the basis of modem, 
 49 ; Hucbald's systems of, 38 
 et seq.; discovery of principle 
 of modern, 39 
 
 Notes, chorale, 48 
 
 "Notes on Choral Music," 
 Krehbiel's, 203 
 
 Notker Balbulus, 34, 78 
 
 "Occasional Oratorio," Han- 
 del's, 127 
 
 Ochs, Siegfried, Professor, 228 
 
 Ode, choral, the, 77 
 
 Ohrdruf, 87 
 
 Olympic games, 93 
 
 Opera, the, its source, 96 ; and 
 oratorio, 118 et seq., 121 
 
 Opera oratorio, 121 ; the ItaKan 
 in Germany, 139 
 
 Opera singers, Italian, 56 
 
 Operas, Handel's, 120 */ seq. 
 
 244 
 
Index 
 
 Operatic music, French, its in- 
 fluence on English church 
 music, 77 
 
 Operatic style, the Italian, its in- 
 fluence on choral music, 91 
 
 Oratorio, the, 78, 113 et seq., 213; 
 its source, 93, 96 ; the term, 
 116 
 
 Oratorio concerts, Lenten, Han- 
 del's, 125 et seq. 
 
 Oratorio performances, Lenten, 
 183 ; in Boston, 196 ; in New 
 York, 20I 
 
 Oratorio Society, The New York, 
 its history, 201 et seq. ; its 
 first concert, 203 ; its first ora- 
 torio performance, 204 
 
 Oratorios, Handel's, composed 
 for the concert-room, 127 ; 
 choice of subject-matter for, 
 127 et seq. ; dramatic, 128 ; 
 works to be performed after 
 the manner of oratorios, 127 ; 
 in Vienna, 164 
 
 Oratorios, dismembered, 183 ; 
 descriptive and illustrative in 
 Germany, 143 
 
 •• Oratorios," miscellaneous con- 
 certs, 162 
 
 Orchestra, Handel's, 125, 132, 
 133 et seq. 
 
 Orchestral accompaniment, 118; 
 in the Passion, 99 et seq. 
 
 Orchestration, Bach's, 109 et 
 seq. ; Handel's, 126 ; Haydn's, 
 141 
 
 Organ, the, 35, 36, 100, 125 ; in 
 Bach's vocal works, 109 ; in 
 Bach's Passions, 106 ; the first, 
 in Boston, 189 
 
 Organizers, 36, 38, 44 
 
 " Organum," the, discovery of, 
 36 ; manner of singing, 36 et 
 seq. ; types of, 37 ; develop- 
 ment of, 38 ; formulation of 
 laws of, 38 ; first treatise on, 
 38 ; character of, 38 
 
 Ornaments, in discant, 44 
 
 Orthodox, the, 24 
 
 Oseander, Dr. Lucas, 81 
 
 Osiris, the mysteries of, 92 
 
 Oxford High School, chair of 
 music in, 67 
 
 P^ANS, Greek, 11 
 
 Pagan celebrations imitated by 
 Christians, 95 
 
 Palestrina, 7, 57, 65, 117, 60 et 
 seq. ; his style, 61 et seq. ; 
 proper performance of his 
 music, 65 et seq. ; chromatic 
 signs in his music, 65 
 
 Palestrina and Bach, 112 
 
 Pantheon, at Rome, 21 
 
 Papal chapel, history of, 63 et 
 seq. 
 
 *' Paradise and the Peri," Schu- 
 mann's, 159 
 
 " Paradise Lost," Milton's, 140; 
 Rubinstein's, 151 
 
 Parker, Horatio W., 179 
 
 Passion, the, 92 ; of Gregory of 
 Nazianzen, 93 et seq. ; of 
 Bach, 95 ; celebration of, by the 
 Sistine Chapel, 96 et seq. ; in 
 Germany, 98 ; treated as an 
 opera, 100 ; Bach's conception 
 of, 102; and the oratorio, 100, 
 104 
 
 Passion, chorale, the, 98, 100, X03 
 
 345 
 
Index 
 
 Passion, motet, the, 98 
 
 Polyphonic choral music, its in- 
 
 Passion, oratorio, the, 100 
 
 fluence, 210, 230 
 
 Passion plays, in England, 114 ; 
 
 Polyphonic style, the, 119 et 
 
 in France, 114 ; in Oberam- 
 
 seq. ; in the oratorio, 153 
 
 mergau, 114 et seq. 
 
 Pontifical chapel, 63 ; vide also 
 
 Passion story, the, 114 
 
 papal chapel and Sistine 
 
 •* Passion Story of the Bleeding 
 
 Chapel 
 
 and Dying Christ," Hunold's, 
 
 Poor scholars, 82, 86 
 
 zoo 
 
 Popular songs, singing of, 60 
 
 Passion trilogy, Perosi's, 153 
 
 Popular mysteries, the, 96 
 
 Passions, Schutz's, 98; Walther's, 
 
 Porta Angelica, 33 
 
 98 ; Sebastiani's, 99 et seq. ; 
 
 " Positive, " the, 100 
 
 Reiser's, 100 ; Handel's, loi ; 
 
 Potsdam, royal choristers at. 
 
 Bach's, loi et seq. 
 
 167 
 
 Peace Jubilee at Boston, 194 et 
 
 Precentors, Hebrew, 6; Chris- 
 
 seq. 
 
 tian, 23 
 
 Pedicularius^ 13 
 
 " Prodigal Son, The," 115 
 
 Pepys, 220 
 
 Professional choirs in England, 
 
 Pergolesi, 158 
 
 175 et seq. 
 
 Perkins, 192, 197 
 
 Proses, 34 
 
 Perosi, Don Lorenzo, 64 et seq.^ 
 
 Protestant Church in Germany, 
 
 153 
 
 its ritual, 175 
 
 Pevemage, Andreas, 60 
 
 Psalm tune composers, the, 190 
 
 Philharmonic Society of New 
 
 Psalm tune teachers, the, 189 et 
 
 York, 198 
 
 seq.; their accomplishments, 
 
 Philidor, Danican, 162 
 
 193 
 
 Philip IV., 46 
 
 Psalms, metrical transcriptions 
 
 Philo, 22 
 
 of, 69 ; chanted in English, 69 
 
 Pictures, living, with the gospel 
 
 Psaltery, 6, 35 
 
 narrative, 95 
 
 Purcell, Henry, 76, 77, 122, 177 
 
 Pilgrim Fathers, their hatred of 
 
 Puritans, the, in New England, 
 
 musical culture, 186 et seq. 
 
 187 
 
 Pitch-pipe, the, 189 
 
 
 Plain song melodies adapted to 
 
 English words, 69 
 *• Pneumae," 23, 28 
 
 QUADRUPLUM* 45 
 
 Queen's Chapel in Boston, 189 
 
 Poem, choral, the, 158 
 
 
 Polyphonic choral forms intro- 
 
 Radcliffe, Miss, 178 
 
 duced into the concert-room 
 
 "Raphael," aria of, in "The 
 
 by Handel, 127 
 
 Creation," 141 
 
 246 
 
Index 
 
 Ratisbon, chorister school of, 78 
 
 Ripieni^ instrumental groups. 
 
 Ravenscroft, his volume of 
 
 126 
 
 hymns, 70 ; their character, 70 
 
 Ritter, Dr. Frederic Louis, 199 
 
 Re, 40, 42 
 
 Roman choristers in England, 67 
 
 Recitative, the, in the Passion, 
 
 Roman mysteries, the, 92 
 
 100 ; unaccompanied, 108 ; 
 
 Roman pantomimes, 93 
 
 Handel's, 122 
 
 Romantic movement, the, its in- 
 
 Rectores chori, 89 
 
 fluence on the oratorio, 144 
 
 •' Redemption, The," Gounod's, 
 
 Romanus, 94 
 
 151 
 
 Rome, the oratorio in, 117 
 
 Reformation, the, in England, 69; 
 
 Rosingrave, Mr., 133 
 
 influence of, on German music, 
 
 Rossini, 158 
 
 80 
 
 Round, the, 72 
 
 Reforms, musical and liturgical, 
 
 Roundheads, their war on music, 
 
 not due to Gregory, 28 
 
 75 
 
 Reichardt, 166 
 
 Rubinstein, 151 et seq., 227 
 
 Reichenau, Abbey, band of, 35 
 
 Rue, Pierre de la, 53 
 
 Reinstrumentation of Handel's 
 
 "Rule, Britannia," 183 
 
 works, 135 et seq. 
 
 Rupf, 80 
 
 Renaissance, its influence on 
 
 
 music, 76 
 
 Sackbut, the, 77 
 
 •• Representation of the Soul and 
 
 Sacred Harmonic Society of Lon- 
 
 the Body," Cavaliere's, 117 
 
 don, the, 137, 176 et seq. , 183 
 
 et seq. 
 
 Sacred Music Society, the New 
 
 Requiem, the, 156 
 
 York, 200, 201 
 
 Requiems, Mozart's, 154, 171; 
 
 Sacred operas, the, of Rubin- 
 
 Brahms's, 157; Verdi's, 157; 
 
 stein, 151 et seq. 
 
 Berlioz's, 157 
 
 Sacred Singing School, the, at 
 
 Restoration, the, hymns after, 70; 
 
 Stoughton, Mass., 192 
 
 cathedral chorus after, 75 
 
 "Sacrifice of Abraham, The," 
 
 " Return of Tobias, The," Hay- 
 
 "5 
 
 dn's, 139 
 
 Salamonis, Elias, sSetseq. 
 
 Rhythm, 120 ; of early Christian 
 
 Salem Society, the, 192 
 
 hymns, 27 ; of chorales, 8i 
 
 Salieri, 142 
 
 Rhythmic design, not introduced 
 
 "Samson," Handel's, 204 
 
 by measured music, 49; due 
 
 " Sangerfest," 174; in Cincin- 
 
 to the folksong, 49 
 
 nati, 205 
 
 Richter, Hans, 181 
 
 San Girolamo, oratorio of the 
 
 Riedel Society of Leipsic, the. 
 
 monastery, 116 
 
 ai5 
 
 *' Saul," Handel's, 129 
 
 247 
 
Index 
 
 Scale, the vocal, extended, 55 
 
 Sequences, the, origin of, 23, 
 
 Scarlatti, 119 et seq. 
 
 33 et seq. ; influence of, 34 ; 
 
 Scenic representations of gospel 
 
 now recognized, 34 
 
 stories, 96, 113 
 
 "Seven Last Words of Christ, 
 
 Scenery in Handel's oratorio 
 
 The," Schutz's, 98 
 
 performances, 124 et seq. 
 
 Sforza, at Mantua, 60 
 
 "Scenes from Faust," Schu- 
 
 •Sty 43 
 
 mann's, 159 
 
 Singing in the churches of New 
 
 Schindler, 155 
 
 England, 187 ; the " usual 
 
 Schneider, Frederic, 144 
 
 way'' of, 187; the ''new or 
 
 ScholtB cantorum, 32 ; curriculum 
 
 rulable way " of, 187 et seq. 
 
 of, 32 et seq. 
 
 Singing schools, Levitic,4 ; early 
 
 ScholcR palatinct, 59 
 
 Christian, 25 ; development of, 
 
 School of the Holy Cross at Dres- 
 
 26 ; influence of, 27 ; reorgan- 
 
 den, 86 
 
 ized, 28, 38 ; in New England, 
 
 Schools, monastic, 32, 67, 83, X14 
 
 188 
 
 Schutz, 98 
 
 Singing societies, amateur, 25, 
 
 Schumann, 159 
 
 91 ; in Germany, 161-173 ; in 
 
 Schwind, Moritz von, 152 
 
 England, 175-185; in Amer- 
 
 Scipio Damianus, 83 
 
 ica, 186-211 
 
 Scriptural text, the, in the Pas- 
 
 Sistine Chapel, the, origin of, 25 ; 
 
 sions, 99, 102 
 
 permanently established, 28 ; 
 
 Seating plan of the chorus, 226 
 
 the court of last resort, 31 ; 
 
 etseq.; Rubinstein's, 226 
 
 practically disbanded, 6^ ; 
 
 Seating plan of the chorus and 
 
 added to Vatican, 64; sing- 
 
 orchestra, 226 et seq.; of the 
 
 ing of, 65 
 
 Paris Conservatoire, 227 et 
 
 Sixtus IV., Pope, 64 
 
 seq.: of the Berlin Philhar- 
 
 Sixtus v.. Pope, 97 
 
 monic chorus, 228 ; Verdi's, 
 
 Smith, J. C, 134 
 
 228 
 
 Society of Chorus Singers, the. 
 
 Sebastiani, 99 et seq. 
 
 79 
 
 Secular music, 25, 59, 60, 71, 72, 
 
 Society of Students, the, at Leip- 
 
 75. 90. 158 et seq^ 
 
 sic, 162 
 
 Secularization of the Passion, 
 
 Society of Dilettanti, the, at 
 
 loi ; of church music, 28 
 
 Heilbronn, 163 
 
 '♦ Seasons, The," Haydn's, 140 ; 
 
 Societies for the propagation of 
 
 first performance of, 142 etseq. , 
 
 church music, 82, 192 et seq. 
 
 164 
 
 Sol, 40, 42 
 
 Seminaries, choruses at the, 79, 
 
 Sdlfa. the, 218 
 
 97 
 
 Soliloquies, the, 100, 103 
 
 248 
 
Index 
 
 Solmization, 41 ; origin of, based 
 
 ♦• St Paul," Mendelssohn's, his- 
 
 on ancient Greek system, 41, 
 
 tory of, 147 et seq. ; first per- 
 
 42 ; different methods of, 43 
 
 formance of; 148; popularity 
 
 Solomon, the Song of, 7 ; Tem- 
 
 of, 148 ; Revision of; 148 
 
 ple service under, 7 et seq. 
 
 St. Peter's in Rome, choir of; 
 
 Solos in Bach's Passions, 109 
 
 64 
 
 Songs, Greek hymeneal, 11; 
 
 St. Petersbourg, 156 
 
 spiritual, 79, 80 
 
 St. Thomas's Church in Leipsic, 
 
 Soprano, etymology of, 45 
 
 88 ; choir of; 173 et seq. 
 
 Sopranos, artificial male, 55 et 
 
 Stabat Mater, sequence, 34 et 
 
 seq. ; boy, 56 ; artificial, in 
 
 seq. 
 
 papal chapel, 64 ; Spanish, 55 ; 
 
 Stabat Maters, 158 ; Astorga's, 
 
 falsetto, 86 
 
 158 ; Pergolesi's, 158 ; Ros- 
 
 " Song of Hiawatha, The," Tay- 
 
 sini's, 158 ; Dvorak's. 158 
 
 lor's. 159 
 
 Stanley, 134 
 
 Spaces of stave, the, utilized. 
 
 Staudigl, 151 
 
 39 
 
 Stave, invention of, 30, 39 ; per- 
 
 Spanish singers, 55; in papal 
 
 fection of, 39 ; masses and 
 
 chapel, 64 
 
 motets written on one, 53 
 
 •♦Spiritual Comedy of the Soul, 
 
 Stettin, 165 
 
 The," lis 
 
 Stoughton Musical Socicty,The, 
 
 Spiritual songs, in Bohemia, 79 ; 
 
 192, 193 
 
 in Germany, 80 
 
 Stringed instruments, suggest 
 
 Spitta, 86, 92 
 
 organum, 35 
 
 Spohr, 144, 182 
 
 ♦♦ Sufferings of Christ," the Pas- 
 
 ♦•St Francis," Tinel's, 153 
 
 sion play, 114 
 
 St. Gall, antiphonary of, 32; 
 
 Swieten, Baron von, 136, 140, 
 
 choir of, 34, 35 
 
 164 
 
 St George's Church of New 
 
 Syllabic systems of reading mu- 
 
 York, 200 
 
 sic, 40 et seq. 
 
 St John Passion, Bach's, 103 
 
 Sylvester, Pope, 25 
 
 St Luke Passion, Bach's, 103 
 
 
 St Mark Passion, Bach's, 103 
 
 Tallis, 71 
 
 St Matthew Passion, Bach's, 103, 
 
 " Tannhauser," Wagner's, 152 
 
 105 ; history of, 106 et seq. ; its 
 
 Taubert, Otto, 90 
 
 first performance, 107 et seq.^ 
 
 Taylor, S. Coleridge, 159 
 
 in 
 
 Te Deum, the, 158 
 
 St Mark's in Venice, 75 
 
 Te Deums, Handel's Utrecht 
 
 St. Paul's Cathedral in London, 
 
 and Dettingen, ij?, 158 ; Ber- 
 
 choristers of, 121 
 
 lioz's, 158 
 
 249 
 
Index 
 
 Telemann, 88 
 
 Tenor, in discant, 45, 56 
 
 Tenor part, assigned to woman, 
 196 et seq. 
 
 Tetrachord, the, 41 
 
 Theodosius, Emperor, closes Pa- 
 gan schools, 26 
 
 Theorbe, the, 100, 125 
 
 Theorists, early, 38 
 
 Therapeutae, 9, 22 
 
 Thespis, 12 
 
 Thomas, Theodore, 206, aio 
 
 Thomas of Celano, 35 
 
 Thomson, J. , 140 
 
 Tinel, 153 
 
 Tonality, modern, 120 
 
 Tone effects peculiar to the Sis- 
 tine Chapel, 66 
 
 Tonic Sol-Fa system, 39, 43 ; ob- 
 jected to in England, 43 
 
 "Tower of Babel, The," Rubin- 
 stein's, 151 
 
 Traditions, musical, in the early 
 Church, 31 ; violations pun- 
 ished, 33 
 
 Treatises on the organum, 38 ; 
 on measured music, 48 ; musi- 
 cal, in America, 190, 194 
 
 Treble, 45 
 
 Triangle, 35 
 
 Trillo caprino, 33 
 
 Trinity Chapel, New York, 202 
 
 Trinity Church, New York, 198 
 et seq. 
 
 Triplum, 45 
 
 Troubadours, the, 115 
 
 " Tuba mirum " in Gossec's 
 mass, 156 
 
 Tunes, new church, their intro- 
 duction, 187 et seq. 
 
 Turbce, the, in the Passion, 97 ; 
 choral settings of, 97 ; charac- 
 teristic expression in, 98 
 
 Turner, 76 
 
 Turner, Thomas, plaint of, 74 
 
 Unaccompanied choral music, 
 
 its study, 173, 215 
 Universities, choruses established 
 
 in, 79, 87 
 University for church music, 
 
 pontifical chapel, 63 
 Ut, 40, 42 
 " Ut queant laxis,'' hymn, 40 
 
 Vbrdi, 157, 228 
 
 Viols, 77 
 
 Vishnu, the mysteries of, 92 
 
 Vittoria, 97; his choral settings 
 of the turbae, not dramatic, 
 97 et seq. 
 
 Vocalization, development of, 47 
 
 Vogler, Abbe, 135 
 
 Voices, classified by mediaeval 
 composers, 56 ; modern classi- 
 fication of, 56 
 
 Wagner, 230 
 
 Walther^ 89, 98 ; composer of 
 " Ein feste Burg," 80; cantor 
 at Torgau, 81 
 
 •*Walpurgis Night," Mendels- 
 sohn's, 159 
 
 Wartburg, the, 152 
 
 Webb, Thomas S., 195 
 
 Weber, 86, 174 
 
 Western (Latin) Church, 22,23,25 
 
 "Western Harmonist, The," of 
 Cincinnati, 205 
 
 Westminster Abbey, choristers 
 of, 123 
 
 250 
 
Index 
 
 Wilhelm, 183 
 
 Women as chorus conductors, 
 
 Willaert, 75 
 
 220 
 
 Willichus, Jodocus, 88 
 
 Worcester, 178, 179 
 
 Wittenberg, 81 
 
 Wurzburg, 206 
 
 Women's voices in Hebrew 
 
 Wycliffe, 69 
 
 choruses, 5, 7 ; in early Chris- 
 
 
 tian churches, 23, 24 ; in Ger- 
 
 Young's Philharmonic Society, 
 
 man choirs, 175 ; in English 
 
 123 
 
 choirs, 175, 176, 182, 183 ; 
 
 
 scarcity of, 183; in early Ameri- 
 
 Zeltbr, 98, 171, 174 
 
 can choirs, 192; in the Boston 
 
 Zerrahn, Carl, 198 
 
 Handel and Haydn Society, 
 
 Zion Church, New York, 200, 
 
 196 etseq. 
 
 201 
 
 251 
 
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