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diff --git a/21722-8.txt b/21722-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbb40e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/21722-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1745 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of +Hymn-Singing, by Robert Bridges + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing + +Author: Robert Bridges + +Release Date: June 6, 2007 [EBook #21722] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME PRINCIPLES OF HYMN-SINGING *** + + + + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + +A +Practical Discourse on some +Principles of Hymn-Singing +By Robert Bridges +1901 + + +_Price, One Shilling, net_ + + +A +Practical Discourse on some +Principles of Hymn-Singing +By Robert Bridges + +Reprinted from the Journal of +Theological Studies, October, 1899 + +Oxford: B. H. Blackwell, 50 & 51 Broad Street +London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. +1901 + +The Author's thanks are due to the Editors of the Journal of Theological +Studies, and to the Publishers, Messrs. Macmillan, for permission to +reprint. + + +A +PRACTICAL DISCOURSE +ON SOME +PRINCIPLES OF HYMN-SINGING + +What St. Augustin says of the emotion which he felt on hearing the music +in the Portian basilica at Milan in the year 386 has always seemed to me +a good illustration of the relativity of musical expression; I mean how +much more its ethical significance depends on the musical experience of +the hearer, than on any special accomplishment or intrinsic development +of the art. Knowing of what kind that music must have been and how few +resources of expression it can have had,--being rudimental in form, +without suggestion of harmony, and in its performance unskilful, its +probably nasal voice-production unmodified by any accompaniment,--one +marvels at his description, + + 'What tears I shed at Thy hymns and canticles, how acutely was my soul + stirred by the voices and sweet music of Thy Church! As those voices + entered my ears, truth distilled in my heart, and thence divine + affection welled up in a flood, in tears o'erflowing, and happy was I + in those tears[1].' + +St. Augustin appears to have witnessed the beginnings of the great music +of the Western Church. It was the year of his baptism when, he tells us, +singing was introduced at Milan to cheer the Catholics who had shut +themselves up in the basilica with their bishop, to defend him from the +imperial violence: + + 'It was then instituted that psalms and hymns should be sung, after the + manner of the Eastern Churches, lest the folk in the weariness of their + grief should altogether lose heart: and from that day to this the + custom has been retained; many, nay, nearly all Thy flocks, in all + regions of the world, following the example[2].' + +What great emotional power St. Augustin attributed to ecclesiastical +music, and of what importance he thought it, may be seen in the tenth +book of the _Confessions_: he is there examining himself under the heads +of the senses, and after the sense of smell, his chapter on the sense of +hearing is as follows: + + 'The lust of the ears entangled and enslaved me more firmly, but Thou + hast loosened and set me free. But even now I confess that I do yield a + very little to the beauty of those sounds which are animated by Thy + eloquence, when sung with a sweet and practised voice; not, indeed, so + far that I am limed and cannot fly off at pleasure[3]: and yield though + I do, yet these sweet sounds, joined with the divine words which are + their life, cannot be admitted to my heart save to a place of some + dignity, and I hesitate to give them one as lofty as their claim[4]. + + 'For sometimes I seem to myself to be allowing them undue honour, when + I feel that our minds are really moved to a warmer devotion and more + ardent piety by the holy words themselves when they are so sung than + when they are not so sung; and when I recognize that all the various + moods of our spirit have their proper tones in speech and song, by + which they are, through I know not what secret familiarity, excited. + But the mere sensuous delight, to which it is not fitting to resign the + mind to be enervated thereby, often deceives me, whenever (that is) the + delight of the senses does not so accompany the reason as to be + cheerfully in submission thereto, but, having been admitted only for + reason's sake, then even attempts to go before and to lead. Thus I sin + without knowing, but afterwards I know. + + 'Then awhile, from too immoderate caution against this deception, I err + on the side of too great severity; and sometimes go so far as to wish + that all the melody of the sweet chants which are used in the Davidian + psalter were utterly banished from my ears, and from the ears of the + Church; and that way seems to me safer which I remember often to have + heard told of Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, that he would have + the lector of the psalm intone it with but a slight modulation of + voice, so as to be more like one reading than one singing. And yet, + when I remember my tears, which I shed at the hearing of the song of + Thy Church in the first days of my recovered faith, and that now I + still feel the same emotion, and am moved not by the singing but by + what is sung, when it is sung with a liquid voice and in the most + fitting "modulation," then (I say) I acknowledge again the great + utility of the institution. + + 'Thus I fluctuate between the peril of sensuous pleasure and the proof + of wholesomeness, and am more inclined (though I would not offer an + irrevocable judgement) to approve of the use of singing in the Church, + that, by the pleasure of the ear, weaker minds may rise to the emotion + of piety. Yet when it happens to me to be more moved by the music than + by the words that are sung I confess that I have sinned (poenaliter + peccare), and it is then that I would rather not hear the singer[5].' + +What would St. Augustin have said could he have heard Mozart's Requiem, +or been present at some Roman Catholic cathedral where an +eighteenth-century mass was performed, a woman hired from the Opera-House +whooping the _Benedictus_ from the western gallery? + +It is possible that such music would not have had any ethical +significance to him, bad or good. Augustin lived before what we reckon +the very beginnings of modern music, with nothing to entice and delight +his ears in the choir but the simplest ecclesiastical chant and hymn-tune +sung in unison. We are accustomed to an almost over-elaborated art, +which, having won powers of expression in all directions, has so +squandered them that they are of little value: and we may confidently say +that the emotional power of our church music is not so great as that +described by him 1,500 years ago. In fact if we feel at all out of +sympathy with Augustin's words, it is because he seems to over-estimate +the danger of the emotion[6]. + +There is something very strange and surprising in this state of things, +this contrast between the primitive Church with its few simple melodies +that ravished the educated hearer, and our own full-blown institution +with its hymn-book of some 600 tunes, which when it is opened fills the +sensitive worshipper with dismay, so that there are persons who would +rather not go inside a church than subject themselves to the trial. + +What is the matter? What is it that is wrong with our hymnody? Even where +there is not such rooted disgust as I have implied, there is a growing +conviction that some reform is needed in words or music, or both. + +Assuming that the chief blame lies with the music (as, I think, might +easily be proved), I propose to discuss the question of the music of our +hymnody, and I shall proceed on the basis of St. Augustin's principles: I +am sure that they would be endorsed by any pious church-goer who had +considered the subject, and they may be fairly formulated thus, _The +music must express the words or sense: it should not attract too much +attention to itself: it should be dignified: and its reason and use is to +heighten religious emotion._ + +One point calls for distinction: Augustin speaks of his emotion on +_hearing_ the hymns and canticles; he writes as if he had had no more +thought of taking part in the music himself, than we have of joining in +the anthem at a cathedral; and this might lead to a misunderstanding; for +there is no doubt that these hymns were sung by the people: the story is +that the very soldiers who were sent to blockade the basilica, happening +to be themselves catholics, joined their voices in the stanzas which St. +Ambrose had specially composed to disconcert the Arian enemy. + +The ecstasy of listening to music, and the enthusiasm of a crowd who are +all singing or shouting the same hymn or song are emotions of quite +different nature and value. Now, neglecting the rare conditions under +which these emotions may be combined, we shall, as we are speaking of +hymns, be concerned chiefly with the latter kind, for all will agree that +hymns are that part of the Church music in which it is most desirable +that the congregation should join: and I believe that there would be less +difference in practice if it were at all easy to obtain good +congregational singing, or even anything that is worthy of the name. It +seems perhaps a pity that nature should have arranged that where the +people are musical (as Augustin appears to have been) they would rather +listen, and where they are unmusical they would all rather sing. + +Speaking therefore of congregational hymn-singing, and conceding, as I +think we must, that the essential use of such music is to heighten +emotion, then, this emotional quality being the _sine qua non_ (the music +being of no use without it), it follows that it is the primary +consideration. If we are to have music at all, it must be such as will +raise or heighten emotion; and to define this we must ask, _Whose +emotion?_ and _What kind of emotion?_ + +Let us take this latter question first, and inquire what emotions it is +usual, proper, or possible to express by congregational singing of hymns. +William Law, in his _Serious Call_, has an interesting, I may say +amusing, chapter on the duty of all to sing, whether they have any turn +or inclination for it or no. All should sing, he says, even though they +dislike doing so; and I think that what he affirms of private devotion +applies with greater force to public worship. It should satisfy the most +ardent advocate of congregational singing, and it goes certainly to the +root of the matter. + + 'It is so right and beneficial to devotion, has so much effect upon our + hearts, that it may be insisted on as a common rule for all persons; + ... for singing is as much the proper use of a psalm as devout + supplication is the proper use of a form of prayer: and a psalm only + read is very much like a prayer that is only looked over.... If you + were to tell a person that has such a song, that he need not sing it, + that it was sufficient to peruse it, he would wonder what you meant, + ... as if you were to tell him that he should only look at his food, to + see whether it was good, but need not eat it.... You will perhaps say + that singing is a particular talent, that belongs only to particular + people, and that you have neither voice nor ear for music. + + 'If you had said that singing is a general talent, and that people + differ in that as they do in all other things, you had said something + much truer. + + 'For how vastly people differ in the talent of thinking, which is not + only common to all men, but seems to be the very essence of human + nature: ... yet no one desires to be excused from thought because he + has not this talent in any fine degree.... + + 'If a person were to forbear praying because he had an odd tone in his + voice, he would have as good an excuse as he that forbears from singing + psalms because he has but little management of his voice.... + + 'These songs make a sense (of) delight in God they awaken holy + devotion: they teach how to ask: they kindle a holy flame.... + + 'Singing is the natural effect of JOY in the heart, ... and it is also + the natural means of raising EMOTIONS OF JOY in the mind: such JOY AND + THANKFULNESS to God as is the highest perfection of a divine and holy + life.' + +Now though I cannot feel the force of all Law's arguments nor easily +bring myself to believe that a person who dislikes singing, and has no +ear for music, will readily find any comfortable assistance to his +private devotion from making efforts to hit off the notes of the scale; +yet I feel that Law's position is in the main sound, and that he has +correctly specified the emotion most proper to that kind of uncultured +singing which he describes: and though congregational psalm-singing +necessarily involves a greater musical capacity than that assumed in +Law's extreme case, and may therefore have a wider field, yet we may +begin by laying down that JOY, PRAISE, and THANKSGIVING give us the first +main head of what is proper to be expressed, and we may extend this head +by adding ADORATION and perhaps the involved emotions of AWE and PEACE +and even the attitude of CONTEMPLATION. + +In such a subject as the classification of emotions as they may be +expressed by music of one kind or another, it is plainly impossible to +make any definite tabulation with which all would agree. The very names +of the emotions will, to different minds, call up different associations +of feeling. If any agreement could be arrived at, it would be at the +expense of distinction; and all that I can expect is to have my +distinctions understood, and in the main agreed with. And as I am most +ready to grant to the reader his right to a different opinion on any +detail, I beg of him the same toleration, and that he will rather try to +follow my meaning than dwell on discrepancies which may be due to a fault +of expression, or to a difference of meaning which he and I may attach to +the same word. + +With this apology in preamble, I will attempt to make some classification +of emotions as they seem to me to be the possible basis for musical +expression in congregational singing. + +We have already one class: I would add a second, to include all the hymns +which exhibit the simple attitude of PRAYER. + +A third class I would put under the head of FAITH. Examples of this class +will no doubt often cross with those of the first class, but they will +specify themselves as CELEBRATIONS of events of various COMMEMORATION, +introducing a distinct form, namely NARRATION, which is a very proper and +effective form for general praise. + +Also this section will include all the hymns of BROTHERHOOD and +FELLOWSHIP, and of SPIRITUAL CONFLICT, with the correlative _invitatory_ +and _exhortatory_ songs, as modified by what will be said later. + +Also, lastly, under this same head of Faith, the DOCTRINAL hymns, and +professions of creed whether sectarian or otherwise, which, if the +definition be taken widely, make a large and popular class, well +exemplified by the German hymns of the Reformation, or by those of our +Wesleyan revival; strong with the united feeling of a small body, +asserting itself in the face of opposition: concerning which we will not +speak further, except to recall the fact that this kind of enthusiasm was +not absent from the causes which first introduced hymns into the Western +Church. + +I believe that this is a pretty full list of all the attitudes of mind +that can be properly expressed by congregational singing; and if we turn +to other emotions which are made the subject of church hymns, we shall, I +think, see that they are all of them liable to suffer damage by being +entrusted to the rough handling of general vociferation. + +Such will be all hymns of DIVINE AFFECTION and YEARNING; all LAMENTS and +CONSOLATIONS; all descriptions of spiritual conditions which imply +personal experience and feeling, as ABASEMENT, HUMILIATION, CONTRITION, +REPENTANCE, RESIGNATION, SELF-DEVOTION, CONVICTION, and SATISFACTION. + +Here I feel that many readers will be inclined to dissent from what I +say, and as I shall not again recur to Law, I should like, in order to +show my meaning, to call up his extreme example of an unmusical person +singing in private devotion. If one pictures such a case as he supposes, +is it not clear, whether one imagines oneself the actor or the unwilling +auditor, that while such an exhibition of joy might perhaps pass, yet a +similar incompetent attempt to express any of the last-named emotions +would be only ridiculous? But between this single worshipper and the +congregation the incompetence seems to me only a question of degree; +while in the far more considerable respect of the sincerity of the +feeling in the hearts of those expressing it, Law's singer has every +advantage; indeed no objection on this score can be raised to him. But +now suppose for a moment that he has _not_ the emotion at heart +corresponding to his attempt at song, and I think the differentiation of +motives for congregational singing will seem justifiable. + +All these last-named emotions,--which I have taken from congregational +hymn-books,--and I suppose there may be more of them,--call for delicacy +of treatment. A Lamentation, for instance, which might seem at first +sight as if it would gain force by volume, will, if it is realistic or +clumsy, become unmanly, almost so as to be ridiculous, and certainly +depressing to the spirit rather than purifying. In fact while many of the +subjects require beautiful expression, they are also more properly used +when offered as inspiring ideals; and to assume them to be of common +attainment or experience is to degrade them from their supreme sanctity. +But in thus ruling them unfit for general singing one must distinguish +large miscellaneous congregations from small united bodies, in which a +more intimate emotion may be natural: and as there is no exact line of +distinction here, so there is no objection to the occasional and partial +intrusion of some of these more intimate subjects into congregational +hymns. + +To this first question then, as to what emotions are fit to be expressed +by congregational music, the answer appears to be that the more general +the singing, the more general and simple should be the emotion and that +the universally fitting themes are those of simple praise, prayer, or +faith: and we might inquire whether one fault of our modern hymn-books +may not be their attempt to supply congregational music to unfitting +themes. + +To the next question, _Whose emotion_ is this congregational music to +excite or heighten? the answer is plain: It is the average man, or one +rather below the average, the uneducated, as St. Augustin says the +weaker, mind and that in England is, at least artistically, a narrow mind +and a vulgar being. And it may of course be alleged that the music in our +hymn-books which is intolerable to the more sensitive minds was not put +there for them, but would justify itself in its supposed fitness for the +lower classes. 'What use,' the pastor would say to one who, on the ground +of tradition advocated the employment of the old plain-song and the +Ambrosian melodies, 'What use to seek to attract such people as those in +my cure with the ancient outlandish and stiff melodies that pleased folk +a thousand years ago, and which I cannot pretend to like myself?' Or if +his friend is a modern musician, who is urging him to have nothing in his +church but what would satisfy the highest artistic sense of the day, his +answer is the same: he will tell you that it would be casting pearls +before swine; and that unless the music is 'tuney' and 'catchy' the +people will not take to it. And we cannot hastily dismiss these practical +objections. The very Ambrosian music which is now so strange to modern +ears was doubtless, when St. Ambrose introduced it, much akin to the +secular music of the day, if it was not directly borrowed from it: and +the history of hymn-music is a history of the adaptations of profane +successes in the art to the uses of the Church. Nor do I see that it can +ever be otherwise, for the highest music demands a supernatural material; +so that it would seem an equal folly for musicians to neglect the unique +opportunity which religion offers them, and for religion to refuse the +best productions of human art. And we must also remember that the art of +the time, whether it be bad or good, has a much more living relation to +the generation which is producing it, and exerts a more powerful +influence upon it, than the art of any time that is past and gone. It is +the same in all aspects of life: it is the book of the day, the hero or +statesman of the hour, the newest hope, the latest flash of scientific +light, which attracts the people. And it must be, on the face of it, true +that any artist who becomes widely popular must have hit off, 'I know not +by what secret familiarity,' the exact fashion or caprice of the current +taste of his own generation. + +And this is so true that it must be admitted that it is not always the +uneducated man only whose taste is hit off. In the obituary notices of +such men as Gladstone and Tennyson the gossip will inform us, rightly or +wrongly, that their 'favourite hymn[7]' was, not one of the great +masterpieces of the world,--which, alas, it is only too likely that in +their long lives they never heard,--but some tune of the day: as if in +the minds of men whose lives appealed strongly to their age there must be +something delicately responsive to the exact ripple of the common taste +and fashion of their generation. + +All this makes a strong case: and it would seem, since our hymn-music is +to stir the emotions of the vulgar, that it must itself be both vulgar +and modern; and that, in the interest of the weaker mind, we must +renounce all ancient tradition and the maxims of art, in order to be in +touch with the music-halls. + +This is impossibly absurd; and unless there is some flaw in our argument, +the fault must lie in the premisses; we have omitted some necessary +qualification. + +The qualification which we neglected is this, that _the music must be +dignified_, and suitable to the meaning; and we should only have wasted +words in ignoring what we knew all along, if we had not, by so doing, +brought this qualification into its vital prominence, and at the same +time exposed the position of those who neglect it, and the real reason of +the mean condition of our church music. + +The use of undignified music for sacred purposes may perhaps be justified +in exceptional cases, which must be left to the judgement of those who +consider all things lawful that they may save some. But if from the +mission service this licence should creep into the special service, and +then invade every act of public worship, it must be met with an edict of +unscrupulous exclusion. Not that it can be truly described as thus having +crept in in our time. It is always creeping, it has flourished in special +habitats for four or five hundred years, and before then there is the +history of Palestrina's great reform of like abuses. If in our time in +England we differ in any respect for the worse, it is rather in the +universal prevalence of a mild form of the degradation, which is perhaps +more degrading than the occasional exceptional abuses of a more flagrant +kind, which cannot hide their scandal but bring their own condemnation. + +There is indeed no extreme from which this abuse has shrunk; perhaps the +worst form of it is the setting of sacred hymns to popular airs, which +are associated in the minds of the singers with secular, or even comic +and amatory words[8]: of which it is impossible to give examples, because +the extreme instances are blasphemies unfit to be quoted; and it is only +these which could convey an adequate idea of the licence[9] The essence +of the practice appears to be the production of a familiar excitement, +with the intention of diverting it into a religious channel. + +But, even in the absence of secular or profane association, +congregational singing, when provoked by undignified music, such as may +be found in plenty in our modern hymn-books, may be maintained without +the presence of religious feeling, out of mere high spirits, or as we +say, 'in fun,' and may easily give rise to mockery. I have witnessed +examples enough in proof of this, but if I gave them it might be thought +that I wished to amuse profane readers[10]. And though such extreme +disasters may be exceptional outbursts, yet they are always but just +beneath the surface, and are the inevitable outcome of the use of +unworthy means. The cause of such a choice of means must be either an +artistic incapacity to distinguish, or a want of faith in the power of +religious emotion when unaided by profane adjuncts. What would St. +Augustin have ruled here, or thought of the confusion of ideas, which, +being satisfied with any expression, mistakes one emotion for another? + +The practical question now arises. We know the need; how is it to be +supplied? We require music which will reach the emotions of uneducated +people, and in which they will delight to join, and in which it shall be +easy to join: and it must be dignified and not secular. If we condemn and +reject the music which the professional church-musicians have supplied +with some popular success to meet the need, what is there to take its +place? Of what music is our hymn-book to be constructed, which shall be +at once dignified, sacred, and popular? + +The answer is very simple: it is this, _Dignified Melody_. Good melody is +never out of fashion; and as it is by all confession the seal of high +musical genius, so it is that form of music which is universally +intelligible and in the best sense popular; and we have a rich legacy of +it. What we want is that our hymn-books should contain a collection of +the best ecclesiastical and sacred hymn-melodies, and _nothing but +these_, instead of having but a modicum of these, for the most part +mauled and illset, among a crowd of contributions of an altogether +inferior kind; the whole collection being often such that if an +ill-natured critic were to assert that the compilers had degraded and +limited the old music in order to set off their own, it would be +difficult to meet him with a logical refutation. + +The shortest and most practical way of treating this subject will be to +give some account of the sources from which the music of such a hymn-book +as I propose would be drawn. I will take these in their chronological +order. First in order of time are the Plain-song melodies. + +I have already stated the ordinary objection to these tunes, that they +are stiff and out of date. Now it may be likely enough that they will +never be so universally popular in our country as the fine melodies +invented on the modern harmonic system, yet the idea that they are not +popular in character, and that modern people will not sing them, is a +mistake; there is plenty of evidence on this point. Nor must we judge +them by the incompetent, and I confess somewhat revolting aspect in which +they were offered to us by the Anglo-gregorianists of thirty years ago, a +presentment which has gone far to ruin their reputation; they are better +understood now, and may be heard here and there sung as they should be. +They are of great artistic merit and beauty; and instead of considering +them _a priori_ as uncongenial on the ground of antiquity, we should +rather be thinking of them that they were invented at a time when unison +singing was cultivated in the highest perfection, so much so that a large +number of these tunes are, on account of their elaborate and advanced +rhythm, not only far above the most intelligent taste of the minds with +which we have to deal, but are also so difficult of execution that there +are few trained choirs in the country that could render them well. To the +simpler tunes, however, these objections do not apply: in fact there are +only two objections that can be urged against them, and both of these +will be found on examination to be advantages. + +The first objection is that they are not in the modern scale. Now as this +objection is only felt by persons who have cramped their musical +intelligence by an insufficient technical education, and cannot believe +that music is music unless they are modulating in and out of some key by +means of a sharp seventh;--and as the nature of the ecclesiastical modes +is too long a subject, and too abstruse for a paper of this sort, even if +I were competent to discuss it;--I shall therefore content myself by +stating that the ecclesiastical modes have, for melodic purposes (which +is all that we are considering), advantages over the modern scale, by +which they are so surpassed in harmonic opportunities. Even such a +thoroughgoing admirer of the modern system as Sir Hubert Parry writes on +this subject, that it 'is now quite obvious that for melodic purposes +such modes as the Doric and Phrygian were infinitely (_sic_) preferable +to the Ionic,' i.e. to our modern major keys[11]. And it will be evident +to every one how much music has of late years sought its charm in modal +forms, under the guise of national character. + +The second objection is their free rhythm. They are not written in barred +time, and cannot without injury be reduced to it. + +As this question affects also other classes of hymns, I will here say all +that I have to say, or have space to say, about the rhythm of hymn-tunes; +confining my remarks generally to the proper dignified rhythms. + +In all modern musical grammars it is stated that there are virtually only +two kinds of time. The time-beat goes either by twos or some multiple of +two, or by threes or some multiple of three, and the accent recurs at +regular intervals of time, and is marked by dividing off the music into +bars of equal length. Nothing is more important for a beginner to learn, +and yet from the point of view of rhythm nothing could be more +inadequate. _Rhythm is infinite._ These regular times are no doubt the +most important fundamental entities of it, and may even lie +undiscoverably at the root of all varieties of rhythm whatsoever, and +further they may be the only possible or permissible rhythms for a modern +composer to use, but yet the absolute dominion which they now enjoy over +all music lies rather in their practical necessity and convenience (since +it is only by attending to them that the elaboration of modern harmonic +music is possible), than in the undesirability (in itself) or unmusical +character of melody which ignores them. In the matter of hymn-melodies an +unbarred rhythm has very decided advantages over a barred rhythm. In the +former the melody has its own way, and dances at liberty with the voice +and sense; in barred time it has its accents squared out beforehand, and +makes steadily for its predetermined beat, plumping down, as one may say, +on the first note of every bar whether it will or no. Sing to any one a +Plain-song melody, _Ad coenam Agni_ for instance, once or twice, and then +Croft's 148th Psalm[12]. Croft will be undeniably fine and impressive, +but he provokes a smile: his tune is like a diagram beside a flower. + +Now in this matter of rhythm our hymn-book compilers, since the +seventeenth century, have done us a vast injury. They have reduced all +hymns to the common times. Their procedure was, I suppose, dictated by +some argument such as this: 'The people must have what they can +understand: they only understand the simple two and three time: _ergo_ we +must reduce all the tunes to these measures.' Or again, 'It will be +easier for them to have all the tunes as much alike as possible: +therefore let us make them all alike, and write them all in equal +minims.' + +Both these ideas are absolutely wrong. A hymn-tune, which they hastily +assume to be the commonest and lowest form of music, actually possesses +liberties coveted by other music[13]. It is a short melody, committed to +memory, and frequently repeated: there is no reason why it should submit +to any of the time-conveniences of orchestral music: there is no reason +why its rhythm should not be completely free; nor is there any _a priori_ +necessity why any one tune should be exactly like another in rhythm. It +will be learned by the ear (most often in childhood), be known and loved +for its own sake, and blended in the heart with the words which interpret +it: and this advantage was instinctively felt by those of our early +church composers who, already understanding something of the value of +barred music, yet deliberately avoided cramping the rhythms of their +hymn-tunes by too great subservience to it[14]. One of the first duties +therefore which we owe to hymn-melodies is the restoration of their free +and original rhythms, keeping them as varied as possible: the Plain-song +melodies must be left unbarred and be taught as free rhythms, and all +other fine tunes which are worth using should be preserved in their +original rhythm; because free rhythm is better, and its variety is good, +and because the attraction of a hymn-melody lies in its individual +character and expression, and not at all in its time-likeness to other +tunes. This last idea has been a chief cause in the degradation of our +hymns. + +I may conclude then that the best of these simpler Plain-song tunes are +very fit for congregational use. They should be offered as pure melody in +free rhythm and sung in unison: their accompaniment must not be entrusted +to a modern grammarian. It is well also to use most of them in their +English form, the _Old Sarum Use_ as it is called; which happily +preserves to us a national tradition, in the opinion of some experts +older and more correct than any known on the continent; and if the +differences in our English version are not due to purity of tradition, +they will have another and almost greater interest, as venerable records +of the genius of our national taste. These Plain-song tunes have probably +a long future before them; since, apart from their merit, they are +indissolubly associated with the most ancient Latin hymns, some of which +are the very best hymns of the Church. + +The next class of tunes[15] is that of the Reformation hymns, English, +French, and German, dating from about 1550 to some way on in the +seventeenth century. The chief English group is known as _Sternhold and +Hopkins' Psalter_, which was mostly of eight-line tunes. This book was +virtually put together in Geneva about 1560, and antiquarians make much +of it. If stripped, however, of its stolen plumes and later additions it +is really an almost worthless affair, the true history of it being as +follows. A French musician named Louis Bourgeois, whom Calvin brought +with him to Geneva in 1541, turned out to be an extraordinary genius in +melody; he remained at Geneva about fifteen years, and in that time +compiled a Psalter of eighty-five tunes, almost all of which are of great +merit, and many of the very highest excellence. The splendour of his +work, which was merely appreciated as useful at the time, was soon +obscured, for immediately on his leaving Geneva, the French Psalter was +completed by inferior hands, whose work, being mixed in with his, lowered +the average of the whole book enormously, and Bourgeois' work was never +distinguished until, quite lately, the period of his office was +investigated and compared with the succeeding editions of his book. Now +the English refugees compiled their 'Sternhold and Hopkins' at Geneva, in +imitation of the French, during the time of Bourgeois' residence, and +took over a number of the French tunes; though they _mauled these most +unmercifully_ to bring them down to the measure of their doggerel psalms, +yet even after this barbarous treatment Bourgeois' spoilt tunes were +still far better than what they made for themselves, and sufficient not +only to float their book into credit, but to kindle the confused +enthusiasm of subsequent English antiquarians, whose blind leadership has +had some half-hearted following. But if these French tunes, and those +which are pieced in imitation of Bourgeois, be extracted from this +English Psalter, then, with one or two exceptions, there will remain +hardly anything of value[16]. + +To leave the English tunes for a moment and continue the subject, we +shall practically exhaust the French branch of this class by saying that +our duty by them is to use a great number of Bourgeois' tunes, _restoring +their original form_. They are masterpieces which have remained popular +on the continent from the first; thoroughly congenial to our national +taste, and the best that can be imagined for solemn congregational +singing of the kind which we might expect in England. The difficulty is +the same that beset the old original psalter-makers, i.e. to find words +to suit their varied measures. But this must be done[17]. These tunes in +dignity, solemnity, pathos, and melodic solidity leave nothing to desire. + +The English eight-line tunes of Sternhold and Hopkins we may then, with +one or two exceptions, dismiss to neglect; but among the four-line +'common' tunes which gradually ousted them, there are about a dozen of +high merit: these being popular still at the present day require no +notice, except to 32 insist that they should be well harmonized in the +manner of their date, and generally have the long initials and finals of +all their lines observed. They are much finer than any one would guess +from their usual dull presentment. Their manner, as loved and praised by +Burns, is excellent, and there is no call to alter it[18]. + +Contemporary with this group there is a legacy of a dozen and more fine +tunes composed by Tallis and Orlando Gibbons, the neglect or treatment of +which is equally disgraceful to all concerned. + +As for the German tunes of the Reformation, attempts to introduce the +German church-chorales into anything like general use in England have +never, so far as I know, been successful, owing, I suppose, to a +difference in the melodic sense of the two nations. But some few of them +are really popular, and more would be if they were properly presented +with suitable words; and it should not be a difficult task to provide +words even more suitable and kind than the original German, which seldom +observes an intelligent, dignified and consistent mood. These chorales +should be sung very slow indeed, and will admit of much accompaniment. +Bach's settings, when not too elaborate or of impossible compass in the +parts, may be well used where the choir is numerically strong. He has +made these chorales peculiarly his own, and, in accepting his +interpretation of them, we are only acquiescing in a universal judgement, +while we make an exception in favour of genius; for as a general rule +(which will of course apply to those chorales which we do not use in +Bach's version), all the music of this Reformation period must be +harmonized strictly in the vocal counterpoint which prevailed at the end +of the sixteenth century; since that is not only its proper musical +interpretation, but it is also the ecclesiastical style _par excellence_, +the field of which may reasonably be extended, but by no means +contracted. It is suitable both for simple and elaborate settings, for +hymns of praise or of the more intimate ideal emotions, and in a resonant +building a choir of six voices can produce complete effects with it. The +broad, sonorous swell of its harmonious intervals floods the air with +peaceful power, very unlike the broken sea of Bach's chromatics, which, +to produce anything like an equal effect of sound, needs to be powerfully +excited. + +It is necessary to insist strongly on one caution, viz. that grammar is +not style, and settings which avoid modernisms are not for that reason a +fair presentation of the old manner. Nothing is less like a fine work of +art than its incompetent imitation. And this practically exhausts, as far +as I am aware, the material which this period provides. + +The next class will be made up of our Restoration hymns, by Jeremy Clark, +Croft, and others who added to the succeeding editions of the metrical +Psalms. If there are not many in this class, yet the few are good; and +Clark must be regarded as the inventor of the modern English hymn-tune, +regarded, that is, as a pure melody in the scale with harmonic +interpretation of instrumental rather than true vocal suggestion. His +tunes are pathetic, melodious, and of truly national and popular +character, the best of them almost unaccountably free from the +indefinable secular taint that such qualities are apt to introduce, and +which the bad following of his example did very quickly introduce in the +hands of less sensitive artists. They are suitable for evening services. + +After this time there followed in England, in the wake of Handel, a +degradation of style which is now completely discredited. Diatonic flow, +with tediously orthodox modulation, overburdened with conventional +graces, describe these innumerable and indistinguishable productions. And +just as the old tunes were related to the motets and madrigals, so are +these to the verse-anthems and glees of their time. These weak ditties, +in the admired manner of Lord Mornington, were typically performed by the +genteel pupils of the local musician, who, gathered round him beneath the +laughing cherubs of the organ case, warbled by abundant candlelight to +their respectful audience with a graceful execution that rivalled the +weekday performances of _Celia's Arbour_ and the _Spotted Snakes_. Good +tunes may be written at any time, for style is independent of fashion; +but there are very few exceptions to the complete and unregretted +disappearance of all the tunes of this date. + +We have then nothing left for us to do but to review the material which +the revival of music in the last fifty years has given us in the way of +hymns. + +This last group divides naturally into two main heads; first the +restoration of old hymns of all kinds, with their plain, severer manner, +in reaction against the abused graces; and secondly the appearance of a +vast quantity of new hymns. + +Concerning the restoration of the old hymns, we cannot be too grateful to +those who pointed the right way, and, according to their knowledge and +the opportunities of the taste of their day, did the best that they +could. But, as our remarks under the heads of Plain-song and Reformation +hymns will show, this knowledge, taste, and opportunity were +insufficient, and all their work requires to be done afresh. + +We are therefore left to the examination of the modern hymns. In place of +this somewhat invidious task, I propose to make a few remarks on the +general question of the introduction of modern harmony into +ecclesiastical music, with reference of course to hymns only. It cannot +escape the attention of any one that the modern church music has for one +chief differentiation the profuse employment of pathetic chords, the +effect of which is often disastrous to the feelings. + +Comparing a modern hymn-tune in this style with some fine setting of an +old tune in the diatonic ecclesiastical manner, one might attribute the +superiority of the old music entirely to its harmonic system; but I think +this would be wrong. + +It is a characteristic of all early art to be _impersonal_[19]. As long +as an art is growing, artists are engaged in rivalry to develop the new +inventions in a scientific manner, and individual personality is not +called out. With the exhaustion of the means in the attainment of +perfection a new stage is reached, in which individual expression is +prominent, and seems to take the place of the scientific impersonal +interest which aimed at nothing but beauty: so that the chief distinction +between early and late art is that the former is impersonal, the latter +personal. + +Turning now to the subject of ecclesiastical music, and comparing thus +Palestrina with Beethoven or Mozart, is it not at once apparent that +Palestrina has this distinct advantage, namely, that he seems not to +interfere at all with, or add anything to, the sacred words? His early +musical art is impersonal, what the musicians call 'pure music'; and if +he is setting the phrases of the Liturgy or Holy Scriptures, we are not +aware of any adjunct; it seems rather as if the sacred words had suddenly +become musical. Not so with Mozart or Beethoven; we may prefer their +music, but it has interfered with the sacred words, it has, in fact, +added a personality. + +It must of course be conceded that this gives a very strong if not +logically an almost unassailable position to those who would confine +sacred music to the ecclesiastical style. But it seems to me ridiculous +to suppose that genius cannot use all good means with reserve and +dignity; and if the modern church music will not stand comparison in +respect of dignity and solemnity with the old, the fault must rather lie +in the manner in which the new means are used, than in the means +themselves; nor would I myself concede that there is no place in church +for music which is tinged with a human personality; I should be rather +inclined to reckon the great musicians among the prophets, and to +sympathize with any one who might prefer the personality of Beethoven (as +revealed in his works) to that of a good many canonized seers. What is +logical is that we should be careful as to what personality we admit, and +see that the modern means are used with reserve. + +Now if we examine our modern hymn-tunes, do we find any sign of that +reserve of means which we should expect of genius, or any style which we +could attribute to the personality of a genius? Let any one in doubt try +the following experiment: copy out some 'favourite tune' in the 'admired +manner' of the present day, and show it to some musician who may happen +not to know it, and ask him if it is not by Brahms; then see how he will +receive any further remarks that you may make to him on the subject of +music. + +These new tunes are in fact, for the most part, the indistinguishable +products of a school given over to certain mannerisms, and might be +produced _ad libitum_, as indeed they are; just as were the tunes of the +Lord Mornington school before described: and though the composers and +compilers of these modern tunes would be the first to deride the exploded +fashion, their own fashion is more foolish, and promises to be as +fugitive[20]. + +I have said very little in this essay on the words of hymns. I will +venture to add one or two judgements here. _First_, that in the +Plain-song period, words and music seem pretty equal and well matched. +_Secondly_, that in the Reformation period, and for some time onwards, +the musicians did far better than the sacred poets, and have left us a +remainder of admirable music, for which it is our duty to find words. +_Thirdly_, that the excuse which some musicians have offered for the +sentimentality of their modern tunes, namely, that the words are so +sentimental, is not without point as a criticism of modern hymn-words, +but is of no value whatever as a defence of their practice. The +interpretative power of music is exceedingly great, and can force almost +any words (as far as their sentiment is concerned) into a good channel. + +And if music be introduced at all into public worship it must be most +jealously and scrupulously guarded. It is a confusion of thought to +suppose that because--as St. Augustin would tell us--it is not a vital +matter to religion whether it employ music or not, therefore it can be of +little consequence what sort of music is used: and the attitude of +indifference towards it, which has seemed to me to be almost a point of +correct ecclesiastical manners, must be the expression of a convinced +despair, which, in the present state of things, need not surprise. Devout +persons are naturally afraid of secular ideals, and shrink from the +notion of art intruding into the sanctuary; and, especially if they have +never learned music, they will share St. Augustin's jealousy of it; and +it is the more difficult to remove their objections, when what they are +innocently suffering in the name of art curdles the artist's blood with +horror, and keeps him away from church. The artist too, to whom we might +look for help, is the _rara avis in terris_, and, in regard to his +sympathy with the clergy, would often be thought by them to deserve the +rest of the hexameter; but it is really to his credit that he is loth to +meddle with church music. Its social vexations, its eye to the market, +its truckling to vulgar taste and ready subservience to a dominant +fashion, which can never (except under the rarest combination of +circumstances) be good;--all this is more than enough to hold him off. +Where then is the appeal? _Quis custodiet_? + +The unwillingness of the clergy[21] to know anything about music might be +got over if the music could be set on a proper basis; and in the present +lack of authority and avowed principles, it would be well if such of our +cathedral precentors and organists as have the matter at heart would +consult and work together with the purpose of instructing pastors and +people by the exhibition of what is good. This is what we might expect of +our religious musical foundations, which are justifying the standing +condemnation of utilitarian economists so long as the stipendiaries are +content indolently to follow the fortuitous traditions of the books that +lie in the choir, supplemented by the penny-a-sheet music of the common +shops. In the Universities, too, it should be impossible for an +undergraduate not to gain acquaintance with good ecclesiastical music, +and this is not ensured by an occasional rare performance of half a dozen +old masterpieces which are preserved in heartless compliment to +antiquity. It is to such bodies that we must first look for help and +guidance to give our church music artistic importance: for let no one +think that the church can put the artistic question on one side. There is +no escape from art; art is only the best that man can do, and his second, +third, fourth or fifth best are only worse efforts in the same direction, +and in proportion as they fall short of the best the more plainly betray +their artificiality. To refuse the best for the sake of something +inferior of the same kind can never be a policy; it is rather an +uncorrected bad habit, that can only be excused by ignorance; and +ignorance on the question of music is every day becoming less excusable; +and the growing interest and intelligence which all classes are now +showing should force on religion a better appreciation of her most potent +ally. Music being the universal expression of the mysterious and +supernatural, the best that man has ever attained to, is capable of +uniting in common devotion minds that are only separated by creeds, and +it comforts our hope with a brighter promise of unity than any logic +offers. And if we consider and ask ourselves what sort of music we should +wish to hear on entering a church, we should surely, in describing our +ideal, say first of all that it must be something different from what is +heard elsewhere; that it should be a sacred music, devoted to its +purpose, a music whose peace should still passion, whose dignity should +strengthen our faith, whose unquestioned beauty should find a home in our +hearts, to cheer us in life and death; a music worthy of the fair temples +in which we meet, and of the holy words of our liturgy; a music whose +expression of the mystery of things unseen never allowed any trifling +motive to ruffle the sanctity of its reserve. What power for good such a +music would have! + +Now such a music our Church has got, and does not use; we are content to +have our hymn-manuals stuffed with the sort of music which, merging the +distinction between sacred and profane, seems designed to make the +worldly man feel at home, rather than to reveal to him something of the +life beyond his knowledge; compositions full of cheap emotional effects +and bad experiments made to be cast aside, the works of the purveyors of +marketable fashion, always pleased with themselves, and always to be +derided by the succeeding generation. + + +Example is better than precept; and my own venture as a compiler of a +hymn-book has made it possible for me to say much that otherwise I should +not have said. In _The Yattendon Hymnal_, printed by Mr. Horace Hart at +the Clarendon Press, Oxford, and to be had of Mr. Frowde, price 20_s._, +will be found a hundred hymns with their music, chosen for a village +choir. The music in this book will show what sort of a hymnal might be +made on my principles, while the notes at the end of the volume will +illustrate almost every point in this essay which requires illustration, +besides many others. As a complement to this essay and for advertisement +of the Hymnal I here give the prefaces of that book, which are as +follows:-- + + +[1]_Confess._ ix. 6. + +[2]_Ibid._ ix. 7. + +[3]This is perhaps rather a quality proper to the sensation. + +[4]'Et vix eis praebeo congruentem [locum].' which might only mean 'I + cannot find the right place for them.' + +[5]_Confess._ x. 13. + +[6]St. Augustin does not allow that a vague emotion can be religious; it + must be directed. Few would agree to this. + +[7]I assume 'favourite hymn' to mean a sung hymn. The interest of the + record must lie in its being of a heightened emotion of the same kind + as that described by St. Augustin in his own case, _What tears I shed_, + &c. + +[8]It was not an uncommon practice on the Continent (say from 1540 to + 1840), to print books of hymns to be sung to the current secular airs; + and the names or first lines of these airs were set above the + hymn-words as the musical direction. M. Douen, in his _Clément Marot et + le Psautier Huguenot_, vol. i, ch. 22, has given an account of some of + these books; and any one who wishes to follow this branch of the + subject may read his chapter. He does not notice the later Italian + _Laude Spirituali_, which might have supplied incredible monsters to + his museum. + +[9]Besides, the main fault of these books, from which we should have to + quote, is the _association_ of the music, and this is really an + accident, the question before us being the _character_ of the music; so + that we should require musical illustration, for though the common + distinction between sacred and secular music is in the main just, yet + the line cannot be drawn at the original intention, or historical + origin of the music: the true differentiation lies in the character of + the music, the associated sentiment being liable to change. If we were + to banish from our hymn-books all the tunes which we know to have a + secular origin, we should have to part with some of the most sacred and + solemn compositions; and where would the purist obtain any assurance + that the tunes which he retained had a better title? In the sixteenth + century, when so many fine hymn-melodies were written, a musician was + working in the approved manner if he adapted a secular melody, or at + least borrowed a well-known opening phrase: and since the melodies of + that time were composed mainly in conjunct movement, such initial + similarities were unavoidable; for one may safely say that it very soon + became impossible, under such restrictions, to invent a good opening + phrase which had not been used before. The secular airs, too, of that + time were often as fit for sacred as profane use; and if I had to find + a worthy melody for a good new hymn, I should seek more hopefully among + them than in the sacred music of our own century. + +[10]I may give the following experience without offence. When I was an + undergraduate there was a song from a comic opera by Offenbach so much + in favour as to be _de rigueur_ at festive meetings. Now there was at + the same time a counterpart of this song popular at evensong in the + churches: it was sung to 'Hark, hark, my soul.' I believe it is called + _L'encens des fleurs_. They seemed to me both equally nauseating: it + was certainly an accident that determined which should be sung at + worship and which at wine. + +[11]_The Art of Music_, by C Hubert H. Parry. London, 1893, 1st edit. p. + 48. + +[12]And give Croft the advantage of his original rhythm, not the + mis-statement in _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, No. 414. + +[13]It would be very damaging to my desire to convince, if I should seem + to deny that the mistaken practice of these hymn-book compilers was + based on the solid ground of secular common-sense. If anything is true + of rhythm it is this, that the common mind likes common rhythms, such + as the march or waltz, whereas elaboration of rhythm appeals to a + trained mind or artistic faculty. I should say that the popularity of + common rhythms is due to the shortness of human life, and that if men + were to live to be 300 years old they would weary of the sort of music + which Robert Browning describes so well-- + + 'There 's no keeping one's haunches still, + There 's no such pleasure in life.' + + But hymn-melodies must not be put on that level. It is desirable to + have in church something different from what goes on outside, and (as I + say in the text) a hymn-tune need not appeal to the lowest + understanding on first hearing. The simple free rhythms, too, are + perfectly natural; they were free-born. + +[14]I need only instance Orlando Gibbons' tune called 'Angels.' The + original is a most ingenious combination of rhythms; and its masterly + beauty could not be guessed from the inane form into which it is + degraded in _Hymns Ancient and Modern_, No. 8. + +[15]I omit, for want of space, mention of the late Plain-song melodies + (which would give a good many excellent tunes); and, for want of + knowledge, the Italian tunes. + +[16]Comparing the English with the French Genevan Psalter, I do not think + my judgement is too severe on our own. It had a few fine tunes original + to it; best of all the cxxxvii (degraded in _Hymns Ancient and + Modern_). This is of such exceptional beauty that I believe it must + have been written by Bourgeois for Whittingham. Next perhaps is lxxvii + (called 81st in _H. A. M._), the original of which, in Day, 1566, is a + fine tune, degraded already in Este, 1592, which version _H. A. M._ + follows: it is said to have come from Geneva. Besides these, xxv and + xliv, which are the only other tunes from this source in _H. A. M._, + are very favourable examples, and I do not think that they will rescue + the book. Nor can I believe that these old English D.C.M. tunes were + ever much used. They are too much alike for many of them to have been + committed to memory, while all the editions which I happen to have seen + are full of misprints, and the four-line tunes which drove them out + were early in the field, and increased rapidly. + +[17]When one turns the pages of that most depressing of all books ever + compiled by the groaning creature, Julian's hymn-dictionary, and sees + the thousands of carefully tabulated English hymns, by far the greater + number of them not only pitiable as efforts of human intelligence, but + absolutely worthless as vocal material for melodic treatment, one + wishes that all this effort had been directed to supply a real want. E. + g. the two Wesleys between them wrote thirteen octavo volumes, of some + 400 pages each, full of closely printed hymns. One must wish that + Charles Wesley at least (who showed in a few instances how well he + could do) had, instead of reeling off all this stuff, concentrated his + efforts to produce only what should be worthy of his talents and useful + to posterity. + +[18]If old tunes are modernized out of a fine rhythm, a curious result + would be likely to come about; viz. that modern tunes might be written + in the old rhythm for the sake of novelty, while the old were being + sung in the more modern way for the sake of uniformity. + +[19]This fact is of course generally recognized. The explanation in the + text is one which was elaborately illustrated by the Slade Professor at + Oxford, in his last course of lectures on painting. + +[20]There is one point which I cannot pass over. It has become the + practice in modern books to put marks of musical expression to the + words, directing the congregation when to sing loud or soft. This + implies a habit of congregational performance the description of which + would make a companion picture to the organ gallery of 1830. It seems + to me a practice of inconceivable degradation: one asks in trembling if + it is to be extended to the Psalms. It is just as if the congregation + were school-children singing to please a musical inspector, and he a + stupid one. + +[21]It must be due to unwillingness that comparatively so few of our + clergy can take their part in the service when it is musical. Village + schoolmasters tell me that two hours a week is sufficient in a few + months to bring all the children up to a standard of time and tune and + reading at sight that would suffice a minor canon. + + +PREFACE TO THE +YATTENDON HYMNAL + +Among the old melodies which it is the chief object of this book to + restore to use, some will be found which will be quite new to the + public, while others will be familiar though in a somewhat different + form; and since the sources whence all the tunes are taken are well + known, and have been already largely drawn upon by the compilers of + Psalters and Hymnals, any melody which is new in this book may be + considered as having been hitherto overlooked or rejected, while in the + alternative case it is to be understood that the original cast of the + melody has at some former time been altered (frequently to suit the + English common metre to which it was not at first conformable), and is + now restored. + +The plain-song tunes, of which an account is given in the preface to the +notes, and the few other old tunes which do not fall into either of the +two above-mentioned classes, were included for the sake of their +settings. + +With respect to the vocal settings in four parts it may be said that, in +the numerous cases in which such settings were not added by the composer +of the melody, the editors have done their best to supply the want in a +suitable manner, and with some attempt towards the particular qualities +of workmanship upon which much of the beauty of the old vocal +counterpoint depends; and this latter aim has also governed the +composition of the six tunes not derived from old sources which have been +included in the work. + +This book is offered in no antiquarian spirit. The greater number of +these old tunes are, without question, of an excellence which sets them +above either the enhancement or the ruin of Time, and at present when so +much attention is given to music it is to be desired that such +masterpieces should not be hidden away from the public, or only put forth +in a corrupt and degraded form. The excellence of a nation in music can +have no other basis than the education and practice of the people; and +the quality of the music which is most universally sung must largely +determine the public taste for good or ill. + +Since such information as might be looked for in an introduction is given +in the notes at the end of the volume, there is nothing to add here but a +list of the sources and composers in order of date, which should in the +eyes of musicians go far to justify this attempt. + + +SYNOPSIS OF THE MUSIC IN ORDER OF DATE + +PLAIN-SONG MELODIES, + Sarum use, nine, Nos. 29. 30. 31. 32. 47. 48. 49. 75. 86. + Ambrosian, two, Nos. 91. 100. + Later plain-song, two, Nos. 44. 45. +HEINRICH ISAAC, 1490, one tune, Nos. 82 & 83. +From the Strasbourg Psalter, before 1540, two, Nos. 37. 72. +German of same date, one, No. 16. +LOUIS BOURGEOIS, 1550, thirteen, Nos. 3. 19. 20. 27. 58. 64. 67. 70. 74. + 77. 79 & 80. 88. 99 & see 66 & 84. +CHRISTOPHER TYE, 1550, one, No. 15. +From Crespin's Psalters, circ. 1560, three, Nos. 41. 84. 89. +THOMAS TALLIS, 1560, seven, Nos. 2. 14. 54 & 55. 59. 68. 78. 98. +From the French Genevan Psalter, after 1560, one, No. 92. +A setting by CLAUDE GOUDIMEL, 1565, No. 88. +English, 16th cent, four, Nos. 39. 53. 66. 87. +Two settings by GEO. KIRBY, 1592, Nos. 39. 53. +A setting by J. Farmer, 1592, No. 87. +A setting by Rd. ALLISON, 1599, No. 84. +Italian, 16th cent., one, No. 1. +HANS LEONHARD HASSLER, 1600, one, No. 62. +THOS. CAMPION, 1613, one, No. 36. +ORLANDO GIBBONS, 1623, eight, Nos. 23. 24. 25. 28. 35. 38. 56. 94. +HENRY LAWES, 1638, one, No. 73. +JOHANN CRUEGER, 1640, four, Nos. 41. 57. 93. 97. +English & Scotch, 1600-1650, seven, Nos. 10. 40. 50. 51. 60. 63. 71. +German, 17th cent, two, Nos. 69. 90. +JEREMY CLARK, 1700, nine, Nos. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 21. 61. 81. 95. +WILLIAM CROFT, 1710, four, Nos. 34. 43. 52. 76. +English, 18th cent., four, Nos. 12. 26. 33. 65. +J.S.BACH, eight settings, mostly of earlier melodies, Nos. 13. 57. 62. + 80. 83. 85. 90. 97. +Seven new tunes by H. E. W., Nos. 4. 11. 17. 18. 22. 46. 96. + + +NOTE + +'The seven tunes by Tallis are all transcripts of his original four-part +compositions. Only two of these tunes are in the common books; one of +them "The Ordinal" is always reset, the other "Canon," which is usually +sung to Bp. Ken's evening hymn, is completely altered, the canon being +put in a different position and the harmony changed. This tune is I +believe correctly edited for the first time in the Y. H. and it is now +thus sung at Wells Cathedral. + +'Of the eight tunes by Orlando Gibbons, two only (and these altered both +in rhythm and harmony) appear in the common books. All Gibbons' tunes are +given in the Y. H. with his own bass, the inner parts being supplied. + +'There is a complete list of the music in the word-book of the Yattendon +Hymnal, which is published by Mr. Blackwell of Broad Street, Oxford, and +may be bought for 1_s._ 6_d._' + + +THE +PREFACE TO THE NOTES + +The origin of this book was my attempt, when precentor of a village +choir, to provide better settings of the hymns than those in use. + +When I gave up my office, I printed the first twenty-five hymns for the +convenience of the choir, and also for the sake of the tunes by Jeremy +Clark, which I had been at some pains to restore, and for the +preservation of the tunes composed on our behalf by Professor Wooldridge. + +My choice of music had so far been limited to tunes, for which suitable +words were to be found in _Hymns Ancient & Modern_; but by the time that +these first tunes were printed, I determined to continue the book free of +this restriction, and, from whatever source, to provide words for tunes +which I had hitherto been unable to use. I then became aware of a real +cause for the absence of most of these tunes from the common hymnals: +_there were no words of any kind to which they could be sung_. Having +already translated some of the old Latin hymns for their proper melodies, +I was thence led on to the more difficult task of supplying the greater +need of these other tunes; the result being that over forty of these +hundred hymns have english words newly written by myself. Almost all of +these new hymns are in some sense translations, for even where an +original hymn could not be followed in its entirety, as an old Latin hymn +generally may be, there was usually a foundation to begin upon, and I +never failed to find the music conditioning, dictating, or inspiring the +remainder. I did not willingly engage in this, nor until I had searched +word-books of all kinds; a fruitless labour, unless for the hope begotten +thereof that my practice in versifying and my love for music may together +have created something of at least relative value. + +The unusual method which I was constrained to follow, that is of writing +words to suit existing music, has its advantages. In some cases, as will +be seen in the notes to the hymns, the musician, out of despair or even +contempt for the doggrel offered to him, has composed a fine tune quite +independent of the words to which it was dedicated[22], and such tunes +have been silent ever since they were composed: while even when a melody +has been actually inspired by a particular hymn, the attention of the +composer to the first stanza has not infrequently set up a hirmos, or at +least a musical scheme of feeling, which, not having been in the mind of +the writer of the words, is not carried out in his other stanzas[23]: +indeed, as every one must have observed, the words of hymns have too +often been written with insufficient attention to the conditions which a +repetition of any music to every stanza must impose. To get rid of such +discrepancies between words and music is advantageous to both, and +although this treatment cannot of course be applied to english +hymns,--which it is not allowable to alter, except in cases of glaring +unfitness or absurdity, such as would if uncorrected cause the neglect of +a good hymn[24],--yet, where the hymn has to be translated from a foreign +language, some reconstruction is generally inevitable, and it can follow +no better aim than that of the mutual enforcement of words and music. And +the words owe a courtesy to the music; for if a balance be struck between +the words and music of hymns, it will be found to be heavily in favour of +the musicians, whose fine work has been unscrupulously altered and +reduced to dullness by english compilers, with the object of conforming +it in rhythm to words that are unworthy of any music whatever. The chief +offenders here are the protestant reformers, whose metrical psalms, which +the melodies were tortured to fit, exhibit greater futility than one +would look for even in men who could thus wantonly spoil fine music[25]. + +The form and size of the book were determined by the type, chosen because +it was the only one that I could find of any beauty; and I wished that my +book should in this respect give an example, and be worthy both of the +music and its sacred use[26]. Moreover a book from which two or three +singers can read is more convenient in the choir than a multiplicity of +small books; and the music being in full score, its intention cannot be +mistaken: for it must be understood that most of these tunes are set in +the manner proper for voices, but unsuitable for the piano or other keyed +instrument; and the book is intended to encourage unaccompanied singing. +A choir that cannot sing unaccompanied cannot sing at all; and this is +not an uncommon condition in our churches, where choirs with varying +success accompany the organ. A proper manner of sustained singing, and +the true artistic pleasure that should govern it, will never be obtained +until these conditions are reversed. + +There is one novelty which I am responsible for introducing, namely the +four-part vocal settings of certain early plain-song melodies. The later +plain-song tunes, such as No. 44, are, I suppose[27], as fit for this +treatment as any other tunes of the same date; but in the case of the +earlier melodies, which were composed before the invention of any +complete system of harmony, it is generally agreed that they should be +sung in unison, in fact the more elaborate of them cannot be sung +otherwise. To give four-part settings of any of these early tunes calls +therefore for an explanation, which I will give as briefly as possible. + +When these tunes are sung, they are usually accompanied, and this implies +a harmonic treatment. Now the best harmonic treatment which they can have +is the Palestrinal, because that was the earliest complete system, and +therefore the nearest to their time, and also because we may rely on the +truth of its interpretation of the modes for the reason that Palestrina +had never heard any music that was not modal. A modern musician, if he +attempts to go back beyond Palestrina, must draw on his imagination, and +while his aim must be to produce something artistically and technically +less perfect than Palestrina's system, his work, when it is done, will +carry neither authority nor conviction. + +If then we take Palestrina's harmonic interpretation of the modes, it +seems to me that there can be no objection to giving vocal parts to the +simpler hymns. If it is preferred to sing them in unison, the modal +settings will be a guide to the accompanist. But it is my opinion that +such settings as I offer will really please, and they may possibly do +something to bring these tunes, which have a unique, unmatchable beauty, +into favour with choirs that dislike the effort and waste of unison +singing. These settings offer no difficulty of execution all; _that is +necessary is that the under voices should know the melody_: and though +this is not generally thought requisite in a modern hymn, it is asking +nothing extra of a choir that would sing the plain-song tunes; for even +if they are sung in unison, they must first be known by heart (otherwise +their rhythmical freedom, which defies notation, and is indispensable to +their beauty, cannot be approached), and when once a choir has got thus +far, the under parts, being phrased with the melody, will easily follow +it. An explanation of the notation of these settings is given in the note +to Hymn 29. Congregational singing of hymns is much to be desired; but, +though difficult to obtain, it is not permissible to provoke it by +undignified music. Its only sound musical basis is good melody: good +melodies should therefore be offered to the people, such as it has been +the object of this book to bring together; and they should have as much +freedom and variety of rhythm as possible. If some of the good melodies +are, owing to their wide compass or other difficulty, unfit for +congregational singing, this is an advantage; because neither are all +hymn-words equally suitable. Most of the words in this book are suitable +for congregational singing; some are not. A hymn-book which is intended +entirely for congregational use must be faulty in one of two ways; either +it will offer for congregational singing hymns whose sacred and intimate +character is profaned by such a treatment, or it will have to omit some +of the most beautiful hymns in the language: but congregations differ +much, not only with regard to the music in which they are capable of +joining, but also as to the sort of words which best express their +religious emotion. + + +In the following notes the left-hand side of the page is given to the +words, the right to the music of each hymn: in the latter column will be +found full information as to the text of the music, the source whence it +is derived, &c., together with a careful account of every departure that +has been made from the originals. It is hoped that this will not only be +of general interest, but that it may inspire confidence in the text of +the book, and ensure the reception which its authority demands. For the +text of the music, and all the statements in the notes, I am responsible; +excepting those portions of the notes which are therein assigned to their +proper authorities, and in these I am responsible for the correctness of +the quotations and references, in which I have done my best to secure +accuracy. I owe much to the kindness of Mr. W. Barclay Squire at the +British Museum; I have also to thank Mr. Godfrey Arkwright for the loan +of some rare books, and Dr. Chas. Wood of Cambridge for two settings and +occasional reading of music proofs; in which latter task I gratefully +record the help of Mr. J. S. Liddle and Dr. Percy Buck. To Mr. Miles +Birket Foster I owe the three trios by Jeremy Clark, and to the Revs. W. +H. Frere and G. H. Palmer the text of the plain-song melodies, and the +information concerning them which is given in the following notes: it is +due to the generosity with which they put their learning and judgement at +my disposal that I am able to offer these tunes with the same confidence +as the rest of the book. Professor Wooldridge, having co-operated with me +throughout, has allowed his name to appear on the title page. + + +[22]No. 28 is a good example of this. See also No. 98. + +[23]No. 57 is a good example. The line _Du bist mein, und ich bin dein_, + corresponds in stanza 2 with _Wenn die Welt in Trümmer fallt_, and in + stanza 4 with _Elend, Noth, Kreuz, Schmach und Tod_. Again in No. 77 + the opening phrase, _Mon Dieu, mon Dieu_, of the twenty-second psalm + needs music which conditions the other stanzas severely. Again the weak + apologetic latter half of the German hymn _Herzliebster Jesu_, No. 42, + is irreconcilably out of the key with the pathetic grief of the + beginning. Cases in which caesuras and grammatical breaks are + inconsistent are numberless. + +[24]See note to Hymn 90. Other english hymns altered for practical + purposes in this book are Nos. 19, 35, 51, last verse of 52, 66, 94, + and 96. + +[25]I give illustrations of these words in notes to Hymns 27, 54, 58, 63, + 68, 84, and 98. + +[26]The cheapness is not the direct cause of the ugliness of our common + hymn-books, nor is their ugliness the cause of their cheapness. If many + copies of a book are sold, they can be sold cheaply; if only a few, + then the initial expense, which is much the same whether the book be + beautiful or ugly, must be shared between those few buyers and the + author. But thus it comes about indirectly for cheapness to be the + cause of meanness and ugliness, because in a larger market there is + greater indifference to artistic excellence of all kinds, and from + habit a preference for what is inferior. In a large edition this book + could be sold as cheaply as another. + +[27]I state here once for all that in musical matters I offer my opinion + with becoming humility. + + + +ADVERTISEMENT + + +THE YATTENDON HYMNAL. + +Edited by Robert Bridges and Professor H. Ellis Wooldridge. Containing + 100 hymns and 4 voice-parts. Printed at the Oxford University Press, + 1899. May be obtained of Henry Frowde, Oxford Warehouse, Amen Corner, + London, E.C., or through any bookseller. Price, 4to boards, 1. A few + copies of the Folio, price 4, are still to be had. + + +THE WORD-BOOK OF THE +YATTENDON HYMNAL, + +Which contains a full list of the music, and is called, + +_THE SMALL HYMN-BOOK,_ + +may be had of B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, or through any +bookseller. Price 1_s._ 6_d._ + + +Oxford: Horace Hart, Printer to the University + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Practical Discourse on Some +Principles of Hymn-Singing, by Robert Bridges + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME PRINCIPLES OF HYMN-SINGING *** + +***** This file should be named 21722-8.txt or 21722-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/7/2/21722/ + +Produced by Stephen Hutcheson (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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