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CHAPTERS ON CHURCH MUSIC.

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CHAPTERS

ON

CHURCH MUSIC.

BY

REV. E. B.| DANIEL,

Formerly Organist of the Parish Churches of hit. Mary Bredin and St. Mary
Bredman, Canterbury > and Curate of Tickerihall, Derby.

/

' Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.'

Psalm c. 4.

LONDON :
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATEENOSTEB BOW, E.C.

1894.

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY*

LIBRARY

PROVO, UTAH

'Praise the Lord ; for the Lord is good : sing praises
unto His name ; for it is pleasant.'

Psalm cxxxv. 3.

• The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to
Zion •with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads.'

Isaiah xxxv. 10.

TO THE
VERY REVEREND

ROBERT PAYNE-SMITH, D.D.

DEAN OP CANTERBURY,

^oEhis (Essay
is (by permission) respectfully inscribed

BY HIS

OBLIGED AND GRATEFUL SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

THE present volume is an attempt to treat Church music as
considered not only from an artistic, but also from a
devotional and a practical point of view.

Church music is a large subject, and one upon which
opinions widely differ. If it were always regarded from both
a musical and a devotional point of view, there would pro-
bably be more agreement on the subject. But this is seldom
the case. Many people seem either to hold Church music to
be an important branch of the musical art, and nothing more ;
or to regard it as only a kind of devotional exercise. The
existence of two separate theories of Church music (the one
purely musical, the other purely devotional) would be sufficient
to account for the want of uniformity in the quantity, the
quality, and the kind of music used in our churches — even if
there were no other causes working to divide men on the
subject. Truly there is great variety in our Church music, in
the manner of its performance, and in the use that is made of
the musical art at different churches. At some churches only
the most florid Anglican chants are used ; while at others only
' Gregorians ' are permitted, or the Canticles are sung to
service-music. At some churches hymn- tunes of poor quality
are often used ; at others the music is always high in character.
At some churches the services are rendered musically through-
out by a select company of trained choristers ; at others only
the Canticles and a few hymns are sung by the congregation.
At some churches the singing, choral and congregational, is

viii Preface.

excellent, and the organ accompaniment masterly ; at others
the singing is very bad, and the accompaniment poor and
feeble. Even organ voluntaries differ in character and in per-
formance : some organists playing light, ' popular ' pieces ;
while others make the instrument speak grand and beautiful
music, and never use it but in a devotional, churchlike style.

It is the design of the author to take as comprehensive a
view of the subject as he can within reasonable limits — to
consider what quality, kind, and quantity of music seem fittest
to be used in parish church services ; to offer suggestions on
organs, organists, choirs, and choristers ; to discuss the ques-
tion of the choice and direction of the music ; to point out
where the musical arrangements of churches and the rendering
of the music are sometimes faulty, and suggest how they may
be improved ; and to enter into many other matters of interest
which belong to his subject. Some notes on Metrical Psalmody
and the History of Church Music, and other matters which, it
is hoped, will be found not uninteresting, have been thrown
into an Appendix ; also a paper on Examinations in Literary
Work for Musicians, in which it is sought to show that while
the Universities expect too much of candidates for musical
degrees, the importance of a fair general education for church
organists might, with advantage, be more generally recognised
by the councils of musical colleges. His desire to see the
professional organist's status improved must be the author's
apology for inserting a paper treating of matters which per-
il aps do not belong very directly to the subject of Church
music.

While it has been sought to make the book useful to clergy-
men and young organists, it will, it is hoped, be found to
contain much that will interest non-clerical and non-profes-
sional readers.

The author, while he holds that music is a delightful and
excellent thing, believes that it should be suitable in kind,
and used in moderation in the Church services. He does not
advocate a performance of Divine service by a clergyman and
a number of trained singers. The Cathedral service — which
someone has called ' the most delightful and elevating in the

Preface. ix

world ' — he would use only in those stately buildings for
which it was originally intended, and where only it can be
rendered with proper effect. He ventures to think that the
services at parish churches should be of such a kind as not to
be beyond the understanding of the common people, to the
greater part of whom an elaborate musical service must neces-
sarily be a stumbling-block, and (is there not reason to fear ?)
a hindrance to that intelligent and spiritual worship which
alone can profit a congregation. But while he recommends
simplicity and heartiness in public worship, he does not believe
that Church music should be treated as a thing of little im-
portance and rendered in slovenly fashion. He would have
the music high in character ; it should be led by a good
choir, and supported and beautified by the artistic and devo-
tional accompaniment of a good organ ; and yet, with the
exception of the anthem (which is not congregational music),
it should be such as the people can understand and take part
in. He has formed this opinion after hearing Church music
as it is rendered in many countries and in churches of dif-
ferent communions : the peculiar but impressive music of the
Greek Church, sung by the deep voices of Russians ; the
delightful, artistic music of the Roman Church, performed by
choice singers and a band and chorus ; and the grand congre-
gational singing, with a magnificent organ accompaniment, to
be heard in such perfection in the Lutheran churches of
Germany.

Some of the following chapters are reprinted from the
Musical World and the Musical Standard — to which the
author has been an occasional contributor. But as these
have been revised and partly re-written, and many of the
chapters now appear for the first time, the musical journals
mentioned ought not to be held responsible for all the opinions
expressed in the present volume.

In a book treating of Church music — a subject on which so
many different opinions are held — it can hardly be but that
much will appear that will fail to satisfy all readers. Neither
clergymen nor organists will agree with all that is written.
Many passages in the present volume will not be acceptable

x Preface.

to clergymen who hold extreme views ; while others will not
be received without dissent by organists who are enthusiasti-
cally fond of their delightful art. But the author, while he is
opposed to the practices of the advanced school and the
revival of Medievalism in the Church, would express the
hope that between Churchmen of all schools, although they
work on such different lines, some mutual regard may yet
exist. And if he has said that music is often employed much
too freely in public worship, he can only regret that he is not
so happy as to agree with those organists and clergymen who
believe an elaborate musical service to be the best for use in
parish churches.

Derly, 1894.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

THE MUSIC THA T SEEMS FITTEST FOR USE IN THE
GHURGH SERVICES.

CHAPTER PAflE

I. HYMNS AND HYMN-TUNES .... 3

II. CHORAL AND CONGREGATIONAL SERVICES - - 23

III. CHANTS - - - - - - - 54

IV. GREGORIAN MUSIC- - - - - -57

PART II.

THE ORGANIST AND HIS INSTRUMENT.

I. THE PLACE FOR THE ORGAN (AND CHOIR) — WEST GALLERIES 67
II. THE ORGAN - - - - - 87

III. THE ORGANIST - - - - - - 116

IV. VOLUNTARIES - - - - - - 123

V. THE USE OF THE ORGAN IN THE CHURCH SERVICES - 131

PART III.

THE CHOIR.

I. WOMEN AND BOYS IN CHURCH CHOIRS - - - 145

II. THE CHOIR ------ 157

xii Contents.

PART IV.

THE CHOICE AND DIRECTION OF THE MUSIC.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE CHURCH MUSICAL STAFF - - - - 169

II. THE CLERGY AND CHURCH MUSIC - - - 178

APPENDICES.

A. SOME NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF CHURCH MUSIC — CHIEFLY

FROM BURNEY - - - - - - 187

B. NOTES ON METRICAL PSALMODY — PARTLY FROM BURNEY - 197

C. NOTE ON THE MUSICAL ARRANGEMENTS AT FRENCH ROMAN

CATHOLIC CHURCHES ----- 205
J). EXAMINATIONS IN LITERARY WORK — ARTS TESTS - - 206

INDEX - - 212

*\s

PART I.

THE MUSIC THAT SEEMS FITTEST FOR USE IN
THE CHURCH SERVICES.

1 1 will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding
also : I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding
also.' — 1 Cor. xiv. 15.

CHAPTER I.

HYMNS AND HYMN-TUNES.

OF the many and conflicting opinions upon Church music,
that which makes psalmody of a low type to be the best
for congregational singing is certainly not one of the least
erroneous.

The writer recently attended a service ' for men only/ at
which the hymns and tunes were of the Salvation Army kind,
and of such a childish character that the question suggested
itself, ' This clergyman has invited " men only " to come to his
service ; why, then, does he not treat them as men V Only a
short time before this the writer had heard a clergyman say
that he ' did not care whether the tunes used in his church
were good musical compositions or not, if the people only sang
them ' — words not such as a lover of music would utter, but
worthy of being recorded, as they express the views of a
thoroughly earnest clergyman who, like many others, wishes
to promote hearty congregational singing in his church, and
thinks he can best do so by using music of a low, popular
character. The present writer, while agreeing with these
excellent clergymen that congregational singing ought to be
encouraged, differs from them in one point : he would earnestly
deprecate the use of other than good hymns and tunes in
church ; without urging that only classical compositions should
be used, he would suggest that words and music that do not
come up to a high standard of excellence are unworthy to be
used in Divine service.

We may hope, and humbly believe, that He who gave men
the genius to write beautiful hymns and tunes is graciously

Chapters on Church Music.

pleased to accept these, as — though, indeed, they are poor
enough — they are the best we have to offer. But can it be
honouring Him, as He ought very highly to be honoured,
when we offer anything but our very best in His house ? The
plea put forward for the miserable hymns and tunes which are
sometimes used is, that these productions are well known and
very singable, and therefore very fit for congregational use.
And there is reason to fear that hymn-books containing an
unusually large proportion of such hymns and tunes are
favoured by many earnest clergymen, who wish to place before
their congregations ' something that will make them sing.'
Now, the utmost that can be conceded in favour of these low-
class hymns and tunes is, that they are familiar to people who
attend street services, and very fit for being bawled out by
uncultured persons at * revivals ' and Salvation Army meet-
ings. But surely a low, popular flavour in hymns and tunes
does not recommend them for use in church. Surely nothing
can justify the use of what is low in the worship of the Most
High. On the ground of decency the use of such composi-
tions is to be condemned. But clergymen who use them at
their special services for the poor shut their eyes, and do not,
or will not, see the indecency. The opinion that such hymns
and tunes are especially suited for use by the poor is erro-
neous ; for in these hymns the sense is no easier to grasp than
in hymns of a better class, and the tunes are no easier to sing
than tunes of a higher character. There are many good
devotional hymns that are suitable for the use of the poor,
and there are many good, hearty tunes that are so simple and
melodious that, if not already known, they might speedily be
learned ; and there is no reason why these respectable hymns
and tunes should not be as much enjoyed by the poor as
others of a lower type. If beautiful and artistically written
tunes were unmelodious, that would be a reason for discarding
them and using the distressing, though perhaps more popular,
compound of the ballad and Christy Minstrel styles at special
services for our humbler brethren. But artistically written
tunes are not unmelodious : they are more melodious, more
vocal, than inferior music. The experience of everyone

Hymns and Hymn-tunes.

teaches that tunes may be good music at once and thoroughly
congregational. We have so much good and congregational
music to choose from that (except, perhaps, in the case of
hymns of very peculiar metre) there ought never to be a diffi-
culty in finding a suitable tune for a hymn. So that it cannot
be conceded that the use of low-class tunes is justified by
necessity ; and the theory that such tunes are the most con-
gregational, and consequently the most suitable for special
services, is false. Low-class psalmody unquestionably might
be left in the street without inconveniencing the poor or
robbing them of any spiritual benefit.

Our humbler brethren, when they attend church, do not
require that the psalmody shall be of the poorest kind obtain-
able. They know very well that church service and street
service are conducted very differently. A clergyman, in his
desire to adapt himself to their want of culture, speaks very
plainly, and uses homely language at special services for the
poor ; but he does not find it necessary to talk nonsense or
use the dialect of his hearers. Nor does he copy the ritual of
the ' Ranters ' in his anxiety to have a simple form of service.
He feels that the sermon and the service, though they cannot
be too simple, must nevertheless be high in character. Then
why, it may be asked, does he use a low-class psalmody ? Is
the character of the musical portion of the service a thing of
no moment ? Is it showing reverence, and teaching the people
reverence, to introduce such nauseous tunes, as are often heard
on these occasions, into a ' Holy and beautiful House/ and
mingle them with the prayers of the Church ?

But is it quite certain that the uncultured classes in England
prefer low-class tunes to those of a better kind ? If so, it is
disgraceful. In the German churches the people join in
singing the chorale. They are familiar with these, the highest
and purest form of psalm- tunes, and never hear any low-class
music in their churches. Consequently high- class psalmody is
popular. If our English poor are so much behind the German
in musical taste that they delight in psalmody of the very
lowest kind, ought they to be allowed to remain so ? Ought
our clergymen to cling to the mistaken, but only too pre-

Chapters on Church Music.

valent belief that hymns and tunes of the Moody and Sankey
type are better adapted to the requirements of their humbler
brethren than a purer psalmody ? Ought they not rather —
when it could so easily be done — to improve the taste of the
people by accustoming their congregations to what is sound
and good ?

To the writer it is quite astonishing to find clergymen using
a low-class psalmody in any of the services (whether ordinary
or special) of the Church. How men of culture can ask their
congregations, even if poor and ignorant, to sing a hymn like
that with the refrain ' Let some droppings/ is a mystery. It
is to be hoped that the number of clergymen who like such
hymns and refrains is small ; though the writer heard a clergy-
man say he loved them. It would be sad indeed if clergy-
men generally introduced them, and good, healthy psalmody
were eventually driven out of church to make room for hymns
and tunes of the lowest type. But is it utterly impossible that
such a consummation might be reached, if the use of such
productions were continued much longer ? Perhaps it may
be necessary even for people of culture, if they would retain
the taste for what is noble and elevating, to avoid all contact
with what is low and degrading.

While most musical professors and amateurs will be of
opinion that simple hymns and tunes are the best for use in
church, none will hold the character of the psalmody to be a
matter of indifference.

To pass on to the hymns used in the ordinary services of
the Church. It must be confessed that not a few of the hymns
in our modern collections are unsatisfactory. In many of them
there are too much extravagant sentimentality, too much
subjectivity, and too much of the sensational element. Some-
times the language is too familiar, sometimes it is too high-
flown, sometimes it is even amorous. In one hymn the
amorous element largely figures. Sometimes the language
is absurd. There is a hymn which gravely narrates the
virtues of a deceased matron; but probably no one would
wish to hear it sung in memory of his wife. Some hymns
contain incorrect statements. Is it true that ' We are not

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. 7

divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in
charity ' ?* If so, why does another hymn speak of the
Church as ' By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed ' ?
Sometimes the sense is obscure or difficult to grasp without
much study, or quite beyond the comprehension of congrega-
tions, as in the lines :

' Many a blow and biting sculpture
Polished well those stones elect,
In their places now compacted
By the heavenly Architect,' etc.

Some hymns are dull, and contain neither devotional
warmth nor poetic fire to rouse the soul. Although the
hymns in our bulky modern collections are intended for use
in the Church services by all classes of men, many of them
are not congregational — being not hymns at all, but rather
poems, and fitter to be read at home than sung by a multitude
in church. Many contain words or figures that are too
difficult for the humbler classes to understand. Surely such
words and phrases as ' panoply,' ' guerdon,' ' Trisagion,'
'transcendent,' 'transitory,' 'potentate,' 'constellations,' 're-
fulgent,' 'beatific,' ' ineffably sublime,' 'celestial resplendence,'
are beyond the comprehension of many people, and ought to
be removed from hymn-books. The number of people in a
congregation who know the meaning of 'panoply' must be
very small. If ' the armour of your God ' were substituted
for ' the panoply of God,' in the hymn ' Soldiers of Christ,' the
sense would be simplified, and the verse sing as well as before.
If congregations are to ' sing praises with understanding,'
figurative language should be used with caution, and reference
to things not generally known avoided. Probably few people
see the reference to the ' broken cistern ' in the hymn, ' Begone,
unbelief,' and to the ' golden bells ' of the high-priest's ephod
in the hymn, ' Thou art coming.' It was the opinion of Luther
that the words of hymns should be 'all according to the

* It may have been once, and, let us hope, will be again. But no
one who considers the divisions which have sprung up among us, and the
strange doctrines, will say it is true now. This, however, is not the fault
of the writer of the hymn.

8 Chapters on Church Music.

capacity of the common people, quite simple and vulgar, and
come out in a clear and telling way, and that the meaning
should be given full, plainly, and according to the spirit of
the psalm.' Besides being clear and simple, hymns intended
for use in the services of the Church should be devotional.
Didactic and descriptive poems are not properly hymns. The
best hymns are those of prayer and adoration, and of praise
and thanksgiving — those of praise and thanksgiving being the
best of all for use in public worship.

It is remarkable that mournful and sentimental hymns are
more often used, in many churches, than those written in a
cheerful vein. The inspired psalms are always joyful ; * the
voice of joy and health ' is heard in them all ; the thought of
praise and thanksgiving is always present, and often appears
on the surface. Even those which begin with prayer and
supplication generally end with praise and thanksgiving.
Whilst many modern hymn- writers are full of gloomy senti-
ment, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel overflows with joyful
feeling. In his own words : ' The Lord is my strength and
my shield ; my heart hath trusted in Him, and I am helped ;
therefore my heart dance th for joy, and in my song will I
praise Him.' Even when he is at his lowest, and his sin is
ever before him, he looks forward to the time when God, of
His mercy, will forgive him and strengthen him with His
Holy Spirit; and he, delivered from blood-guiltiness, shall
sing of God's righteousness. ' Thou shalt open my lips, 0
Lord; and my mouth shall shew Thy praise.' To us the
Psalmist again and again addresses exhortations to praise
God in cheerful song. Singing everywhere in the sacred
writers belongs to the expression of joy and gladness, and,
by a figure, even inanimate things are represented as breaking
forth into joy and singing. (See especially the beautiful
passages in Isaiah xxxv. 1, 2, 6, 10 ; xliv. 23 ; li. 3, 11 ; lii. 8, 9 ;
Iv. 12.) At the laying of the earth's foundations • the morning
stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.'
And St. John learned that, when time shall be no more, one
of the occupations of the redeemed shall be singing hymns
of praise. Sacred music in Bible times seems to have been

Hymns and Hymn-tunes.

invariably of the healthy, cheerful kind. ' And David spake
to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the
singers . . . lifting up the voice with joy ' (1 Chron. xv. 16).
Jehoiada restored the worship of God, and caused the burnt
offering to be accompanied ' with rejoicing and with singing,
as it was ordained by David' (2 Chron. xxiii. 18). ' Hezekiah
the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing
praise unto the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph
the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they
bowed their heads and worshipped ' (2 Chron. xxix. 30).
' They sang together by course in praise and giving thanks
unto the Lord ' (Ezra iii. 11). 'For in the days of David and
Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of
praise and thanksgiving unto God ' (Neh. xii. 46). Such,
then, was psalmody in Bible times. Church music was
cheerful and elevating. The only place — so far as the present
writer is aware— in which mention is made of singing mournful
songs (though not in the Temple service) is in 2 Chron. xxxv. 25,
where we learn that lamentations or funeral dirges for Josiah
were chanted in memory of that king. When they are in
distress, God's people hang up their harps. They cannot
sing a song and melody in their heaviness. They cannot
sing the Lord's song in a strange land. By the waters of
Babylon they sit down and weep ; and the songs of Zion are
not heard there. In the New Testament, as in the Old,
singing is the vehicle of joy and gladness, and not of mourn-
fulness and gloom. ' Is there any among you afflicted ? let
him pray. Is any merry ? let him sing psalms.' We are
told of St. Paul and Silas in the prison, that they prayed and
sang praises. It has been remarked that many modern hymns
are full of gloomy sentiment. Even the last sufferings of the
Man of Sorrows are held to be a fit subject for song. Hymns
have been written on the Passion, which are truly dreadful.
The hymn, ' 0, come and mourn,' for example, contains
passages which are so harrowing to the feelings that one
wonders what manner of man he would be who could sing the
hymn through. In the beautiful and justly admired hymn,
' When I survey the wondrous cross,' the details are omitted,

io Chapters on Church Music.

or at least are not put vividly before the singer. It is strange
that many people prefer mournful hymns to those of a more
cheerful kind. The present writer confesses that he cannot
see what useful purpose gloomy hymns can serve. It seems
to him that the hymns used in Divine service ought almost
always to be those of praise and thanksgiving. There is
something stirring in a hymn like ' Lord of the worlds above,'
especially when it is sung to ' Darwell's ' tune— old ' Darwell's,'
without the diluted harmonies put to it by some modern
arrangers. And it is hard to believe that anyone could take
part in singing such a hymn as this, and not be the better
for it.*

A serious fault in some hymns is their great length. It
would be well if clergymen, instead of choosing lengthy hymns,
to be hurried through at an indecent pace, chose shorter
hymns and insisted on their being sung slowly and reverently.
The writer once heard the fine hymn, ' Hail to the Lord's
Anointed,' ruined by an organist and choir who, having
frequently to undertake long hymns, had got the habit of
racing through every hymn. On the occasion referred to the
painful effect was increased by the disposition of the boys to
hurry the pace still more, and the evident struggles of the
organist to keep up with them.

Besides the faults above enumerated, there are others.
Hymns containing mixed metaphors, bad grammar, false
rhymes, and bald versification, are all to be found in our
collections. It seems to be more difficult to write a good
hymn than a poem. While it is neither necessary nor de-
sirable that hymns should be written in a style that would
satisfy poets and literary men, it is not too much to require
that they should be excellent in their way.

The mechanical part of the hymn-writer's work is not

* A writer to the Echo lately gave a story Paxton Hood used to tell :
He went as a supply to some country place, where the senior deacon chose
and gave out the hymns. The worthy brother commenced the service by
giving out the hymn, " My thoughts on awful subjects roll." Paxton
started up, and said, " No, no ! My thoughts don't roll on such subjects
at all. Let us sing ' Come let us join our cheerful songs, with angels
round the throne,'" — thus gently rebuking the lovers of doleful psalmody.'

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. 1 1

always well done, and the result is there are hymns that read
well, but will not sing. For this there are two reasons. In
hymns a line of the poetry is sung to a strain of the music —
generally marked by a double bar. At the end of every
strain (or every second strain) is a point of repose ; and in
constructing the verse it is necessary to bear this in mind,
and contrive that there shall be a stop (if only a comma), at
the end of every line (or every second line). When this rule
is neglected, the hymn, be it ever so excellent, loses somewhat
when sung. But when a line contains a whole clause and a
portion of another, not completed, but carried over to the next
line, that which may be excellent when read, often becomes
absolute nonsense when sung. ' Jesus lives ! no longer now
can thy terrors, Death, appal us,' becomes, 'Jesus lives no
longer now. — Can thy terrors, Death, appal us V — which is so
horrible that one can only wonder that this hymn is ever
used. Other examples of this stultification of the sense occur
in the same hymn and some others. It may be enough to
point out the first line of hymn 106, and the sixth verse of
hymn 17, in Hymns Ancient and Modern. Sometimes the
last note of the strain is shortened when such a difficulty
arises; but this practice (objectionable on musical grounds)
does not entirely destroy the bad effect. Equally ineffectual
are the attempts of organists to remove the difficulty by con-
necting and detaching the strains by means of the legato and
staccato touches. There is another reason why some hymns
read well, but will not sing. In a hymn one tune (the accents
of which are fixed once for all) has to serve for all the verses.
If the accents of the poetry do not fall in the same places in
every verse, they will sometimes clash with the musical
accents, and syllables will be wrongly accented. For example,
' M.ov-tals give thanks and sing,' { H&r-ping on harps of gold,'
' O-ver some foul dark spot,' ' Wel\-ing from out the throne,'
■ Nor to man's heart hath come,' ' Hark the glad sound.'
Hymn 138 in the ' Hymnal Companion,' ' Just as I am,' does
not sing well. If it is sung to a tune of which the first and
third strains are symmetrical, the accents fall in the right
places in the first, third, sixth, and seventh verses only ; if it

12 Chapters on Church Music.

is sung to the tune in the book, there occur in these verses,
' And that thou bidd'st me come,' * Figh-tings and fears,'
' Now to be thine/ ' Here for a season, then above.' Some-
times hymns which would sing well are stultified in the per-
formance by being sung to tunes which do not suit the
rhythm. This, of course, is not the fault of the poet. If the
hymn, ' Blow ye the trumpet, blow,' is sung to ' Dar well's '
tune, there appear in every stanza the ludicrous words, ' The
year of Ju — Billie is come ' (for ' The year of Jubilee is
come '). Substitute Mr. Boss's tune, ' St. Peter's, Manchester,'
for ' Darwell's,' and the hymn sings well.* An obstacle in the
way of an absolutely perfect rendering of hymns is the re-
taining of one and the same tune throughout the hymn while
the sentiment perhaps varies in every stanza. In Mercer's
book there was a hymn in which the tune changed from
major to minor, and back again, to suit the sentiment. Some,
not satisfied with a change of mode, have even proposed to
have a different tune for each stanza, thus creating a new
musical form, which may be called a hymn-anthem. But
these ways of dealing with the subject, while they remove the
difficulty, are neither advisable nor feasible. A book of hymn-
anthems would be huge and expensive, and the changes of
mode and tune would confuse congregations. An absolutely
perfect rendering of the psalmody can never be expected of
congregations, nor is it necessary.

There appears to be a disposition now to discard hymns
of the old school. But old favourites should certainly be
retained when they are respectable. We heard them when
we were young ; they call up old associations ; they have
done good service many a year ; and they deserve every con-
sideration at our hands. It would have been well if the
compilers had retained more of them, and set their faces
against the poor, sentimental modern hymns, with their
jingling rhymes and sublime doggerel, which are found in our
voluminous collections.

* When the so-called fugal tone was used, such ludicrous divisions as
the following sometimes occurred : 'I love to steal — awhile away,' 'And
take thy pil — grim home,' ' And love thee bet — ter than before.'

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. 13

It is remarkable that many of our best hymns are the
composition of Nonconformists of the eighteenth century. It
is pleasing to find these excellent hymns in use in the Church
of England, as it shows that while our Nonconformist brethren
differ from us on certain points, there exists a bond of union
between us. At the same time, compilers should be careful
lest, carried too far by the wish to be ' catholic/ they admit
any hymns that come from a questionable source and con-
tain unsound doctrine.

Metrical psalms, once the delight of congregations, are now
generally discarded, though a few appear in our modern
collections as hymns. More might have been retained with
advantage. It is objected that as a versifier cannot always
make good verse and preserve the exact sense of the original,
the Psalms lost much by being done into metre. And this
is true. But the defect is not peculiar to metrical psalms.
There are hymns which contain quotations from the Bible,
tortured to meet the exigencies of the verse ; and the differ-
ence between the simple and affecting language of Scripture
and the phraseology of our modern rhymesters is very marked.
Metrical Litanies have appeared in our hymn-books, though
it is hard to believe that a Church already possessing a
beautiful and perfect Litany in her Prayer-book could want
them. A singular modern fashion remains to be noticed —
the closing of every hymn with an ' Amen,' whether the sense
requires it or not.

But if our hymns are not always satisfactory, neither are
the tunes. We have retained some of the excellent tunes of
past times, and new tunes of merit are sometimes written;
but many tunes that are not altogether satisfactory appear in
our hymn-books. Of these some are written in imitation of
the Lutheran tunes, the spirit of which, however, they lack.
Others are too mixed in style — the writers tried to combine
too many different qualities in them, and their tunes express
nothing in particular. Far more unsatisfactory, because quite
wanting in the decorous grandeur and beauty that should
distinguish Church music, are tunes written in the new style.
Such tunes are part-song-like in character ; languishing, sen-

14 Chapters on Church Music.

timental, sensuous, and exciting ; whining, and full of maudlin
melancholy and lugubrious wailing; lively and jigging; or
dull and stupid. Difficulty, the frequent introduction of the
chromatic element, ugly or unmeaning melody, feeble or
incorrect harmony, and want of symmetry, are faults all found
in hymn- tunes. There are even tunes which are evidently
the work of composers whose musical education is very im-
perfect ; and from time to time tunes are produced by
' composers ' who can have had no musical education at all —
tunes which are about as excellent as the effusions of a village
poet, to whose ' verses ' they might very appropriately furnish
the music. The writer possesses a collection which contains
a tune in which consecutive fifths and octaves occur, and
B naturals are written for C flats — indeed, the tune is full of
glaring violations of musical grammar.

The practice of adapting melodies and making hymn-tunes
of them is not free from objection both from the artistic
and devotional point of view. It was not unknown to our
ancestors, who adapted tunes from Haydn's symphonies and
1 Creation ' (' With verdure clad,' and ' The heavens are
telling '), Handel's oratorios (' I know that my Redeemer,'
* What tho' I trace,' ' Lord, remember David,' etc.), and even
from profane sources, as minuets, glees, song-tunes (' Drink
to me only with thine eyes,' etc.), Mozart's operas ('Ah,
perdona,' etc.), Gluck's operas (March in ' Alceste,' Chorus of
Priestesses in ' Iphigenie en Tauride'), Weber's ' Freischiitz '
(' Softly sighs '). One favourite tune, which has received an
extraordinary amount of abuse at the hands of musicians, but
is still used in Advent, is said to have been adapted from a
hornpipe, though, if so, it has quite lost its original character.
It is curious to note that while these old adapted tunes are,
happily, no longer used, we have modern adaptations from
Mozart's ■ Twelfth Mass,' Spohr's oratorios, Mendelssohn's
' Songs without Words,' Beethoven's sonatas, and even a tune
strongly reminding the hearer of the ' Vicar of Bray.' It is
generally allowed that tunes from profane sources cannot,
with propriety, be used in church if the sources are known ;
but that when the sources are certainly unknown to the con-

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. 15

gregation, such tunes may be used. The writer once heard
the hymn, ■ From Greenland's icy mountains,' sung to an
excellent tune, which he would never have supposed to be an
adaptation from an Italian nautical ballad. The melodies of
some of our grandest old tunes were adapted from popular
German songs (secular as well as sacred), though such a source
would never be suspected.

In good tunes the bad qualities mentioned in speaking of
inferior tunes are wanting; and there are found solidity,
grandeur, beauty, animation, simplicity, originality, purity of
style, good melody, harmony, modulation, and rhythm. Good
tunes, moreover, are ' vocal.' All the parts are melodious.
Chords of only two or three notes are few, and the harmony is
complete in each chord. Pure four-part vocal harmony is
used, and filling-up notes for the organ are not required.

Good tunes are numerous. Not to speak of the composi-
tions of living and recent writers of excellence, who have pro-
duced bold, hearty, and elegant tunes, there are the grand old
tunes, the work sometimes of the Reformers (Lutheran or
Calvinistic), sometimes of later writers (English or foreign) in
imitation of them; and the flowing, melodious tunes of a
much later period. To the first (or grand) class belong the
German chorale, well-known examples of which are ' Wachet
auf/ ' Ein feste Burg,' ' Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten,'
1 Nun freut euch ' (' Luther's Hymn '), ' 0 Gott, der du mein
Vater bist ' (the old 112th Psalm, by Luther), ' Nun danket
alle Gott ' ; the Genevan (Calvinistic) tunes, examples of which
are the melody of the 124th Psalm (sometimes called ' Basle,'
and perhaps the composition of Goudimel) and the melody of
the ' Old Hundredth ' ; tunes found in the old Scotch psalters,
as ' Dundee,' or ' French,' ' Windsor,' and in Ravenscroft and
other English psalters of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies, as the ' Old 104th ' and * Old 81st ' psalm-tunes, ' St.
David's,' ' St. Michael's,' ' St. Mary's ' ; and some tunes by
later composers, as Croft's ' St. Ann's ' tune and ■ Hanover.'
The Doric tunes, of which 'Martyr's,' * Plaintive " Martyr's "
worthy of the name,' mentioned by Burns in his 'Cotter's
Saturday Night,' and found in the old Scotch psalters, is a

1 6 Chapters on Church Music.

specimen, also belong to this class. Tunes of the first class
are generally in common time, and have one note to each
syllable. The effect of them when sung slowly by a large
congregation is truly sublime. To the second (or melodious)
class of good old tunes belong such tunes as ' Wareham,'
' Wiltshire,' ' Rockingham/ and * Manchester New.' Tunes of
this class are generally in triple time. Some of them are a
little florid, and some have, in a degree, the character of the
grand tune. Melodious tunes cannot be ranked with the
majestic tunes of the first class ; but they will ever have a
charm for the lovers of melody. But there are old tunes which
cannot be placed in either of these classes — the florid tune and
the Gregorian tune.

Florid tunes delight in elaborate melody, with quavers and
dotted crotchets, graces, syncopations, and other embellish-
ments, scale passages, and sequential treatment. In some of
them changes of time are found. There are two kinds of
florid tune : the (so-called) fugal tune, in which some of the
parts rest occasionally ; and the more sedate tune, in which
the melody is florid but the harmony is full throughout. The
fugal tune is sometimes expanded almost into a little anthem.
The fugal, or imitative, style appears in the middle of the
tune, which ends with the repetition of the words of the last
line to a vigorous strain in which all the parts join. For con-
venience, tunes that have piano passages for one, two, or
three voices, or for two voices in thirds or sixths, with a bass
for the organ, in place of the fugal element, may be classed
with the fugal tune. Our compilers have happily discarded
the fugal tune, though they might perhaps have retained
'Arabia,' 'Trinity/ 'Cedar,' 'Spilsby/ 'Justification/ 'Cal-
cutta ' (omitting the middle portion of the tune and the semi-
quavers in the second strain), and a few others. Such tunes
might be useful on particular occasions. Certainly many
florid tunes of the more sedate kind might be used if the
redundant strain, which necessitates the repetition of aline,
were cut out, though the alteration could not be made in
' Milton,' ' Lydia,' and a few others. In many of them the
excision would be unnecessary, e.g., * Sheldon ' or ' New York,'

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. ij

' Mount Ephraim,' * Gainsborough,' * Maidstone ' (J. Scott), the
first four strains of ' Boston,' ' Warwick,' ' Stafford,' ' Stock-
port' or 'New Sabbath,' and 'Stonefield' (Stanley). The
quavers and dotted crotchets in these tunes might generally
be allowed to remain. These tunes are in four-part harmony
throughout ; and the only places where alteration seems to be
required are the third strain in ' Sheldon ' and the penultimate
bar in ' Stockport.' There are, perhaps, a few other places
where some would consider a slight simplification of the
melody to be called for. Such tunes might have been classed
with the melodious tune ; indeed, they are both melodious
and florid. The writer would not wish to be misunderstood to
estimate the florid tune as highly as the melodious tune, or as
the grand tune with one note to each syllable. He simply
contends that the florid tunes are often melodious in a high
degree, and that their cheerful, tuneful notes are preferable to
the poor, whining, sensuous strains now enjoying a certain
kind of popularity. In truth, many of the plainer kind of
florid tunes in which the harmony is full throughout, if taken
at a proper pace and correctly accompanied, are by no means
so objectionable as it is fashionable to pronounce them. Nay,
many of them are so stirring, and many have something so
noble in them, that it must be extreme fastidiousness that
rejects them. They might, indeed, easily be spoiled in per-
formance ; if sung at the great pace approved by the church
choir-boy, and accompanied with a feeble, pianoforte-like
accompaniment, they would be offensive enough. The eminent
London organist, Dr. E. H. Turpin, writes : ' There was at
least one merit in the old tunes and their performers of two
generations or more ago : the tunes were comparatively
sedate, despite their flimsy ornamentations and executive
eccentricities ; such tunes were not intended to be, and indeed
were not, "reeled off" with bouncing, assertive accents, at a
" quick march " pace, in the manner so many more recent
tunes are indecently yelled by the overwhelming troops o
obstreperous choir-boys to be found in most churches in our
time.' (Organ World, June 15, 1889.) Among the composers
of tunes more or less florid are found the names of Thomas

1 8 Chapters on Church Music.

Adams, Stanley, Jeremiah Clark, Dr. Randal, Dr. Arnold,
Dr. Hayes, Dr. Worgan, and Dr. Boyce.

The very opposite to the florid tune, with its exuberant
melody, is the Gregorian tune, which, interesting from the
musical historian's point of view, is unfit for congregational
use, as it possesses no melody at all.*

As in everything else, there have been changes in hymn-
tunes. The influence of Bach, who frequently took the
Lutheran psalm-tunes as the canti fermi on which to con-
struct his beautiful compositions, was considerable. This
great man added passing-notes to many of the chorale, whereby
the ruggedness of the old tunes was lessened, while their
dignity remained unimpaired. The principal melody, always
found in the tenor till not a century and a half ago, now is
always in the treble. Florid counterpoint is no longer used
in hymn-tunes. In 1627 Claude le Jeune harmonized the
Psalms in simple counterpoint. But as early as 1585 Cosyns,
in England, had published sixty tunes in plain counterpoint.
P^alm-tunes in the style of motets are not written now. A
modern hymn-tune little resembles a psalm- tune of the time
of Johann Walther. Harmony in many parts has been dis-
carded by composers and arrangers of hymn- tunes, and that
in four parts is always preferred. In Este's Psalter of 1594
the harmony is in four parts, as it is also in Ravenscroft.
Such alterations simplified psalmody without destroying its
high quality; and as they made it fitter for congregational
use, must indeed be improvements. But some recent altera-
tions are not so warrantable. Modern harmonies have been
added to old tunes by men who do not seem to have grasped

* This statement was not allowed to pass unchallenged by some
admirers of Gregorian music. These gentlemen maintain that Gregorian
or Latin hymn-tunes are melodious. The writer did not intend to say
that such tunes were absolutely devoid Gf melody (even a number of
notes written down at random, without regard to their rhythmical value
or position on the stave, contain some kind of melody, and it might be
possible to sing them to an English hymn). But when the best of the
Gregorian tunes are compared with such tunes as 'Hanover' or 'Wilt-
shire,' their want of melody — as musicians understand the term — and
unfitness for congregational use are at once apparent.

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. 19

the spirit of these dignified old melodies. Dr. Turpin remarks :
1 We note the modernization and chromatic enrichment of har-
mony, and of late there has been, in fit keeping with the
spread of much verbal sentimentality, a tendency to make
hymn- tunes as sugary and part-song-like as possible.' In
some modern collections we find musical editors re-arranging
(and spoiling) old tunes. A fine old tune when modernized
and clothed in weak, inappropriate harmony, loses its char-
acter, as a noble and venerable-looking man would appear very
strange if he were attired in the dress and jewels of a fop.
The Doric tunes especially have suffered, having in almost
every case been altered in order to render them easier to har-
monize. By being translated into modern tonality these
melodies have lost their Doric flavour. But the grand old
tunes have not only been tampered with and set to inappro-
priate harmonies, they are frequently spoiled in performance
by being taken at far too great a pace. Some of the melodious
tunes also have been altered, without always improving them.
The removal of the passing-note in the last bar but one of
1 Rockingham,' for instance, is no improvement.

Many of the grand old tunes, the writer believes, are
generally unknown in England. While our hymn-books are
more than sufficiently voluminous, they contain comparatively
few tunes of the grand class. We have, indeed, borrowed some
of the German chorale, but we should have borrowed many
more. The chorale are the perfection of psalm-tunes, being
at once simple, devotional, and elevated in character. It is
truly humiliating to compare our modern hymn-books with
the collections used in German churches. The W'urtemberg
tune-book contains upwards of two hundred tunes, of which
every one is satisfactory, while most are absolutely perfect
specimens of psalm-tunes. Some of the tunes are sublime in
style, some are beautiful, and in some the sublime and
beautiful styles are mixed. If English compilers had omitted
the many feeble melodies with their sensuous, 'sugary and
part-song-like harmonies ' that appear in their collections, and
given us a few more of the chorale in their place, they would
indeed have done something to improve our psalmody. But

2o Chapters on Church Music.

the popular demand is ever for something new, and they pro-
bably felt themselves compelled to humour the public.

But if tunes of the grand class are not used in our churches
as freely as they might be, those of the melodious class are
less frequently heard than they once were. Many of these
flowing, melodious tunes have been laid aside, and some are
passing away. Among those omitted by compilers may be
mentioned: 'Bristol' (S. Wesley),* ' Bel grave/ 'Salzburg'
(a tune of ten strains), 'Lee' (nine strains), 'St. Olave's,'
1 Aldermary,' ' Doncaster ' or ' Galway,' ' Liverpool,' ' Irish,'
' Battersea,' ' New Chapel,' ' Asylum,' * Desire,' ' Lancaster ' or
' Langshaw,' ' Oswestry,' ' Warrington,' ' Windle,' * Hotham '
(' Jesu, refuge of my soul '), ' Oxford,' ' Richmond,' ' Haweis,'
1 St. Saviour,' ' Widdop,' ■ St. Paul's,' < Bath Chapel,' ' St. Augus-
tine,' 'St. Crux' (Scarisbrick), 'St. Mark,' 'St. Gregory,'
'Brunswick,' 'Lewes' ('Guide us, O Thou great Jehovah').
Few of these tunes need altering. The second strain in
' Battersea ' and the second bar in ' New Chapel ' might be
simplified ; the quavers in ' St. Paul's ' and ' Bath Chapel,'
and those in the second strain of ' Oswestry,' might be omitted,
as also the quavers and syncopations in ' Oxford '; and the
redundant strains in ' Hotham ' might be left out. The little
floridity that remains after these alterations are made is not
objectionable. While the tendency at present is to banish
such smooth, flowing melodies as these from church, they
are retained, the writer believes, by the Nonconformists, at
whose chapels the best congregational singing is always heard.
We are flooded with new-fashioned tunes with pretty, feeble,
catching melodies and ' sugary ' harmonies ; and these, not
because they are better than the old tunes (they are not
worthy to be compared with them), but because they are
written in a style that pleases the public, are becoming
popular. The sea of sentimentality has swept away the

* He was the son of Charles Wesley, the hymn-writer, and father of
the late Dr. Wesley, the famous organist of Gloucester Cathedral. He was
one of the first in England to appreciate Bach's works, and wrote a
number of excellent voluntaries for the organ, which have lately been
adapted to organs of modern compass.

Hymns and Hymn-tunes. 21

cheerful florid tune, and it now threatens the melodious
tune ; it has shaken the foundations of the grand tune, and
perhaps may some day swallow it up altogether.

The present writer, while venturing to advocate the more
frequent use of the old tunes, does not make age the sole test
of excellence ; if it were, then Gregorian melodies would be
the best of all hymn- tunes, and Gauntlett, Wesley, Elvey,
Turle, and other excellent composers of our own time, would
be no composers at all. It would surely be absurd to say that
the old tunes are alwavs good music, and the new tunes always
bad. But it may be safely affirmed that many of the old
favourites that have been, or apparently are about to be, dis-
carded, are vastly better compositions than many of the
recent tunes which have supplanted them. Probably all who
are not content to blindly follow fashion and have no mind
of their own, will concede that all the old tunes that have
been mentioned above, and many more, ought to have been
retained. While heartily advocating the introduction of more
of the grand and stately German tunes, and the revival of
many of the melodious tunes, the writer does not recommend
the hasty, indiscriminating revival of the florid tunes, or of
those tunes of the melodious class in which the florid element
largely appears. He simply pleads for such of the old tunes
as neither violate the laws of musical taste nor offend decorum.
In short, he ventures to protest against the present fashion,
which is to judge too harshly and condemn too summarily
those good old tunes our fathers liked so well.

The excellence of hymn-tunes is sometimes judged by the
measure of popularity that is accorded them — a delusive test
indeed, since some of the poorest tunes, by being often used,
have become or are becoming popular, and the public taste is
not very high. The very qualities in a tune which cause it to
become a favourite with people wanting in perception and
musical feeling are often such as render it unfit for use in
church. That it has achieved a cheap popularity cannot be
held to justify the use of a poor tune. The standard of Church
music should not be lowered to please unmusical people. To
listen to poor music is trying to people of culture ; and if such

22 Chapters on Church Music.

persons are often in the minority, their feelings should be
respected. The use of any other than good music in church
cannot be too strongly condemned. And by good Church
music the present writer understands such as is artistically
written, is suited to the expression of the words, is decorous
and Church-like in character (and therefore in harmony with
the place and purpose of public worship), and is thoroughly
adapted for congregational singing. Such music is devotional,
yet stirring, and, though the composition of artists, is so simple
that it may be enjoyed by the humblest person in the congre-
gation.*

We speak of our ' bright services ' and sing at a great (nay,
often a frantic) pace ; but our psalmody is not cheerful. Nor
will it be until we cast out the weak, ' sugary ' tunes, and use
more of the good old tunes, as they are rightly called, until
we discard our sentimental new acquaintance and return to
our hearty old friends.

* * Church music, to answer fully its purpose, must be the expression
of fervent devotion. It must be subservient to the worship. It must be
intelligible to the congregation collectively. It must be beautiful, and
especially melodious. It must be quite in accordance with the words to
which it is wedded, and must allow a proper accentuation of the words.
It must be original, and not in any way arranged or mutilated.' — Carl
Engel, ' Reflections on Church Music,' p. 106.

CHAPTER II.

CHORAL AND CONGREGATIONAL SERVICES.

ON the subject of Church services there are great differences
of opinion. Some men like a plain service, and hold
that it matters not what the quality of Church music be,
provided that the singing be hearty ; others think the services
should be plain and hearty, but are of opinion that only
sound, good music should be used ; some like what they
call a 'semi-choral service,' while others prefer one 'fully
choral ' ; and some extremely enthusiastic musicians would
have choral services in which congregations should not join
audibly, but worship in silence by listening to the clergy and
choristers as they render the prayers and praises of the
Church. Some clergymen look with a little mistrust on
Church musicians, while those of another school freely admit
a very considerable quantity of music into their churches.
The present writer is not so presumptuous as to suppose that
he can * decide when doctors disagree,' and he has no wish to
dogmatize when discussing a matter about which men may
and will think differently. He, however, ventures to think that,
while all the music used in church should be high in quality,
it should nevertheless be such as the people can understand
and take part in ; that Church services should be simple and
congregational, rather than elaborate and choral ; and that
what we want at present in many churches is not a musical
service, but better preaching and more expressive reading by
the clergy, and better singing and more hearty responding on
the part of the people.*

* The use of a high-class yet simple psalmody has already been
advocated, and it has been attempted to show the fallacy and pernicious.

24 Chapters on Church Music.

It may be well first to notice arguments which those
musical enthusiasts who would allow only officiating ministers,
choristers, and organists to take part audibly in public worship,
bring forward in support of their views, and then to consider
arguments for and against the choral service. The advocates
for a silent congregation observe with regret that the per-
fected artistic efforts of organists and choirs are thrown away
at churches where the congregation sing. They tell us that
at the Temple at Jerusalem the music was rendered by a
band and chorus, and the people took no part therein. From
which they argue that our modern congregations need not —
nay, perhaps, ought not — to join in the singing. But the
Jewish system, with its sacrifices and ceremonies, having
passed away, modern divines are not bound to use the ritual
of the Temple service ; and Christians neither believe it to be
necessary to have choral services at their churches because
they were celebrated at the Temple, nor consider it desirable
that modern Church musicians should work on Jewish lines.
Indeed, it is not a little absurd to consider the Temple music,
and the particular manner in which it was performed, as examples
for our imitation. If we were really required to use the vener-
able Jewish form of worship at our parish churches, we should,
with better reason and more humility, copy that of the synagogue
rather than the statelier services of the Temple. Doubtless,
any more delicate effects the organist may have contemplated
are hardly noticed, or perhaps quite destroyed, when the con-
gregation sing heartily. But this weighs little when compared
with the advantages gained from congregational singing — not
to say with its impressive effects, when good in quality.
Those who oppose congregational singing are doubtless led to
do so by their intense love of music. Themselves powerfully
affected when they hear grand music, and contented to listen
without taking part in it, they forget that the same is not the
case with everyone else. While none will condemn these
lovers of a beautiful art for their cultivated taste, few moderate

ness of that belief according to which psalmody of a low, popular type is
the best for congregational singing (Chapter I.).

Choral and Congregational Services. 25

men probably will agree with their notions of what good
Church music is. With these enthusiasts music is not so
much a handmaid to devotion, to be kept in her proper place
and in due subjection, as an object of worship itself. It is,
at least with some of them, an idol, which they would set up
in the sanctuary, and have all men to worship. Their selfish-
ness is great who would prevent worshippers from taking part
in the service. And as they may hear the choral service at
cathedrals and enjoy grand sacred music at the oratorio
concerts and musical festivals, which are now become so
common, their interference with the services of parish
churches is altogether without excuse. These enthusiasts
quite mistake the purpose of Church music,* and would, if
they had their way, turn churches into something very like
consecrated concert- halls, where the people might hear good
music without charge. ' It is an evil day for a parish,'
remarked an eminent divine, 'when their voices prevail in
the Church council.' The following extract from an American
paper shows what may happen when musical enthusiasts are
allowed to have too much of their own way : ' The musical
programmes in the various [New York] churches [on Easter
Day] were elaborate. In some cases the services were almost
entirely musical, the pulpit only coming in here and there to
fill up the chinks and crannies. The standard English com-
posers are chiefly represented in the programmes [!], our
American writers being far in the minority/ The other day
an English Church paper gave an account of a church open-
ing at which morning prayer was rendered with orchestral
accompaniment (!).

But reasons are brought forward to justify the introduction
of the choral service by people who are not organists, choristers,
and musical enthusiasts. It is maintained that people like it,
that it is heartier and brighter than the plain, congregational
service, that it draws good congregations, and that it is a help
to devotion. Further, monotoning and intoning are said to

* ' The purpose of Church music is to promote the glorification of God
and the edification of man. Church music is, consequently, for all
people.' — Carl Engel, ' Reflections on Church Music'

26 Chapters on Church Music.

be more solemn and Church-like than reading, and a help to
clergymen that are not good readers. It may be conceded
that monotoning and intoning are helpful to clergymen that
are too cold to read with feeling and expression, or whose
voices are too weak to fill a very large church. But in
churches of other than the largest size they cannot often be
required to help the voice. When they are attempted by
clergymen that are not musical (which is sometimes the case),
they are distressing to hear, the monotone rather resembling
a noise compounded of the reading of national school children,
the beating of an organ-pipe when being tuned, and the sound
of distant machinery, than the voice of a minister of the
Gospel offering up prayer. That the prayers of the Church
are more solemn and Church-like when rendered in this
ugly, sing-song style, than when they are read (or, rather,
prayed) with feeling and in the natural voice, is not true.
The writer has heard services that were very solemn and
Church-like, and yet not a note of the ^itasi-recitative called
intoning or monotoning was used. That a choral service will
draw a congregation is a consideration of importance only to
those who cannot draw the people by other means. That it
is brighter and heartier than a plain congregational service
may be disputed. Many years ago the writer heard a bright
and hearty service at a Nonconformist chapel in the North
of England. He does not remember whether there were
responses for the people at this service; but he has not
forgotten the splendid manner in which the congregation
took up and sang some inspiriting hymns. The stirring
psalmody, the fervent prayer, the expressive reading, and

grand preaching of Mr. ■ filled the chapel. This gifted

man drew a congregation without the help of a choral service.
And if he could do it, why should a clergyman of the Church
of England, with a beautiful Liturgy in his hands — a Liturgy
of which many portions are the composition of the wisest and
most pious men of olden time, and many are taken from Holy
Scripture itself; a Liturgy for which candid and intelligent
Dissenters have expressed admiration — why should a clergy-
man, with this admirable book in his hand, require the aid of

Choral and Congregational Services. 27

an excess of music to fill his church and render his services
bright and hearty ! It is probably true that many people
who are fond of singing like choral services, and to take part
in them. It is also true that there are very many musical
people who prefer plain services : the chapels of the Dissenters
have plain services — they have little music (though what they
have is hearty), and yet are well filled. It seems doubtful
whether people who prefer choral services because they like
to sing, can manage their voices and also keep their minds on
the petitions they are singing. May they not sometimes
forget the meaning of the words in attending to the tune ?
Is it not possible that — without being intentionally irreverent
— they may sometimes forget the worship in the singing ?
It would probably be hard to prove that they like choral
services, who go to church solely from the high motive of
joining intelligently and heartily in public worship, and not
to be entertained, to some extent at least, by listening to, or
taking part in, a performance of music. It is claimed for the
choral service that it is a help to devotion. That the chanting
of canticles and Psalms, and the singing of hymns, in which
all can join, is helpful, there can be no doubt. But it is hard
to see how a musical rendering of creeds, litanies, Amens,
Kyries, and the responses generally, can be helpful in this
way. These parts of the service are already perfectly devo-
tional, and need not the help of music. Being already
perfect from the devotional point of view, it seems as if they
could gain only in musical effect when rendered musically.
The use of music in such parts of the service may gratify the
sense of hearing, but it cannot make the petitions uttered
more devotional in effect, or in fact. Elaborate choral music
may be a pleasing thing in itself, but intruding where it is not
required, it may (so far from being a help to devotion) be a
hindrance, and even tend to make men forget the true object
of worship. That choral services delight the sense of hearing
in careless people seems very probable ; but there is no good
reason to suppose that listening to them makes such people
devout. They please rather than edify. Though more agree-
able to the hearers, a vicarious service by a few experts seems

28 Chapters on Church Music.

scarcely more expressive of congregational devotion than that
manner of rendering Divine service which has been called the
' parson and clerk duet.' As for the superior solemnity of
the choral service, it does not exist, except when all the
conditions are favourable. Choral services, to be solemn,
must he heard in cathedrals, where everything is in harmony
with them : the vast size and venerable age of the buildings
— the great number of clergy and choristers — the reverberation
— the ' dim religious light.' In parish churches they almost
always seem out of place. Admitted that the choral service
is delightful and solemn in effect when heard in perfection in
its native home, the cathedral, it may be asked, Is solemnity
wanting in the plain, well - rendered parish church service?
The plain service in which the clergyman reads and the
people respond in the natural voice, and the singing is hearty
and congregational, may not be so grand and imposing as the
cathedral service as heard in some venerable minster, but it
may be as expressive. It may not have as tine an effect, per-
haps, but this will not be a matter of concern to the earnest
worshipper. Though wanting in everything like magnifi-
cence, the simple service of a little country church, to a
devout person, who feels that the Divine Presence is near,
may be as precious as the grandest and most costly service
that human skill and art could contrive. Surely a service
which the people understand and take part in does not yield
in brightness, heartiness, and devotion to another in which
the singing and responding are done by a few persons specially
trained for the purpose.

The powers of music are probably over-estimated by those
who use it so freely in the Church services. Still, they are
undoubtedly great, and if employed with moderation in public
worship may be very helpful. There can be no doubt that
the canticles, psalms, and hymns gain much by being musically
rendered ; and in these portions of the service music seems
highly appropriate. The singing of a Te Deum or a grand
hymn by a congregation is at once impressive and expressive
of devotion, and to<take part therein leads the soul upwards.
A daily paper in a recent article on Church music says that

Choral and Congregational Services. 29

hearing good music ' elevates and purifies the mind, and
attunes it to religious and spiritual contemplation.' All who
know the power of music will concede that there is music
which is capable of producing these effects, though, alas ! they
are probably only transient. One of the most extraordinary
instances of the power of music on record is met with in the
history of Saul, whose dark malady often yielded for a time
to the music of David's harp. But if music could sometimes
refresh Saul, it seems sometimes to have operated injuriously
on the alread}' troubled mind of that unhappy monarch, and
driven him absolutely mad. The history of Saul teaches that
music alone can do little for man ; and they greatly err who
ascribe divine powers to music, and believe it can transform
the heart. If the elevation and purification of the mind, and
the contemplative mood induced by hearing good music were
thorough and lasting, and superior to the effects produced by
taking part, with heart and voice, in the public services of the
sanctuary, we could hardly have too much choral music in
our churches. The whole of the morning and evening services
might properly be made to resemble an oratorio, with choruses
for the choir connected by recitative for the clergyman ; and
the Communion Service might be rendered to the music of
Palestrina and the Roman school, or that of Bach, Mozart,
Haydn, and Beethoven by artists engaged for the purpose.
But however delightful a thing music may be, and however
excellent its effects on hearers, it is inconceivable that listening
to a rendering of the Church service by a few chosen persons
can produce such excellent and spiritual effects, or be so
effectual a means of addressing the Deitjr, as taking one's own
part in the singing and responses. Whatever powers may
justly be ascribed to music, the singing of a large congrega-
tion is more inspiriting and altogether more effective than the
best efforts of a handful of trained singers. There can be no
Church music more effective, and more affecting, than the
singing of the ' Old Hundredth ' psalm in unison by a great
number of people. The great Augustine was greatly moved
by the singing in the church at Milan, which was unisonous
and congregational. He had this music in his mind when

30 Chapters on Church Music.

he said : ' Oh, how much I wept, how exceedingly moved and
affected I was, at the hymns, songs, and harmonious voices of
the Church ! Those voices pierced my ears, Thy truth entered
my soul, and devout affections were raised within me.' As
anything like a musical 'performance of public prayer and
praise is surely absurd and irreverent, a choral rendering of
the Church services must be improper. If clergymen desired
to make use of the help of choice choral music, they might
have special Services of Song or performances of oratorio in
their churches. The only artistic performances permissible
during Divine service, the writer ventures to think, are the
anthem and the organ voluntary; and it would be well if
there were reason to believe that these were always such in
quality and rendering as to excite feelings of devotion in
congregations. But there are some who separate Church
music and devotion, and admire music for its own sake.
These people go to church expressly to hear the music, and
will speak rapturously of music and its effects. But if one
may judge from the conduct of those people at St. Paul's and
the Abbey, who listen attentively to the music, and hurry
away as soon as the anthem is finished, it is possible for
people to hear well-rendered choral services and not derive
much benefit from them.

In considering the arguments of those who advocate the
choral service, the writer has stated some of the objections of
those who oppose it. The chief objection to the choral service
and its use in a ' House of Prayer ' arises from the fact that it
is a musical or artistic performance by a few, of that which
ought to be rendered spiritually by all. And it may be
objected, further, that even from the purely musical point of
view the choral service is a failure — being of necessity often
imperfectly rendered by the choristers, and always spoiled
when the congregation attempt to take part in it. Among
those who object to the choral service from the devotional or
spiritual point of view, are many people who are by no means
wanting in love for music. And these think that the choral
service may be, at least in some degree, a delusion and a snare.
It is painfully clear to them that such a service — whether

Choral and Congregational Services. 31

found in connection with the spectacular element or not, is
but a sensuous worship, and therefore does not come up to the
standard of St. John iv. 24. This objection is a serious one,
and not to be regarded lightly. To many people the monotone
and response-singing are especially offensive ; and certainly
there is no reason to suppose that petitions so offered have
any more force than those said in the natural voice. However
delightful its effect in the psalmody, music seems not to mingle
with the beautiful and devotional prayers of the Church service,
which, highly satisfactory when said, lose very much in devo-
tional effect when sung. In some parts of the Church service
this is very noticeable. The opening of the Litany is espe-
cially solemn. In the first three petitions we address each
Person of the Holy Trinity separately, and in the fourth the
Triune God, and acknowledge ourselves to be miserable sinners
and call for mercy. All this is so solemn, that it is incon-
ceivable that any person should think of singing, or need the
help of music to stir up his devotion at such a moment. Let
an intelligent heathen who was accustomed to the speech of
Englishmen, and had been instructed in the fundamental
tenets of our religion, but had never heard a Church service —
let this man be taken to some of our churches where the
Litany is sung or monotoned. At one church he would see a
number of people sitting together in a particular part of the
building, and these people, after the clergyman had sung
some words to a strain of music, would repeat the same song,
perhaps with the accompaniment of a musical instrument.
At another church the clergyman and those people who sat
apart would not sing, but make a strange noise — something
between humming and bawling — or perhaps the clergyman
would read, and take no part in the humming and bawling.
At another church a few people near the stranger would try
to do as those who sat near the clergyman did, but the mass
would make no sound of any kind. If this heathen were
shown the words of the Litany, his amazement would know no
bounds. He would probably ask if only those people who sat
apart needed the mercy craved for, and why they sang tunes
and spoke in such a strange voice when they addressed their

32 Chapters on Church Music.

God. If told that the supplications gained in effect by being
wedded to music or monotoned, he would reply that such
prayers wanted nothing to give them beauty and solemnity,
and that people should not be anxious about ' effect ' when
they utter such solemn words. He would ask how some of
those people, if they felt that they were indeed miserable
sinners, could ask for mercy in such a tuneful ma&ner, and
others address the Deity in that noisy fashion. The present
writer has noticed that many choristers who monotone raise
their voices at the commencement of the Litany, as if they
knew they had a stiff piece of work before them and were
determined to do it creditably. This noisy rendering of the
first four sentences of the Litany sounds bold and irreverent,
though choirs and congregations who are accustomed to it
probably do not notice it. The writer has entered into this,
because, so far as he is aware, the attention of clergymen has
never been directed to it. The Creed, which is simply a con-
fession of faith, is performed musically, sometimes in harmony,
with shading and marks of expression, and sometimes in
monotone, with hideous discords on the organ. Some people
appear to think that a confession of faith must be incomplete
unless they add bodily movements to the recitation of the
Creed — congregations turning in a particular direction as they
repeat the Creed, and sometimes even prostrating themselves
as they say some clauses.* The solemn petitions at the com-
mencement of the Communion Service, for mercy and grace to
keep God's Commandments, are often sung to tunes — and very
pretty tunes they sometimes are. To the singing is added an
organ accompaniment, so that these tunes have even the
advantage of colouring, and organists sometimes throw in a
few flourishes of their own as well. As the tune is found to
become tedious, if repeated after all the Commandments, it is
changed from time to time. It might have been thought that
congregations would at least be suffered to say the General
Confession after the minister ; but this prayer has been set to

* The writer is not speaking of bowing at the name of the Saviour.
He does not believe, with men of an extreme school, that there is some-
thing Popish in bowing during the recitation of this clause of the Creed.

Choral and Congregational Services. 33

music in harmony, and is rendered so as to seem more like an
anthem than a general confession of their sins by a congrega-
tion. The Lord's Prayer, too, has been ' set,' and those who
use the ' setting,' no doubt believe that they have improved
on the old-fashioned ways of clergymen and congregations
who say the prayer. But even the Amens, which the people
should say at the end of the prayers, are musically performed,
and sometimes with strange prolongations. In order to pro-
duce an effect, some clergymen drop their voices at one part
of the service and raise them at another.* These, and the
like changes in public worship, are thought to render our
services impressive and more beautiful. But, in the opinion
of most people they offend good sense, hinder devotion, and
are so many instances of the abuse of music. And it is not
surprising that serious men dislike the introduction of all this
music, and say, with Augustine, ' Cast out the bondwoman.' It
does not satisfy those who admire the simple, spiritual worship
of the Prayer-book to be told that prolonging the Amen is
an Eastern practice, and that a musical creed has 'a fine
effect.' To them the Creed is simply a confession of faith,
which it is the Christian's duty and privilege to make before
the congregation ; and they do not believe that such a con-
fession made vicariously by a number of choristers, though it
be clothed in the grandest and most expressive music, and
accompanied with a fine organ, can be as truly the confession
of a congregation's faith as another in which men speak for
themselves in a natural, manly way. And they feel assured
that the earnest prayer of men whose thoughts are on their
prayers, and not on musical sounds, must be more effectual
than prayers, Kyries, and responses musically rendered by a
few persons who, if they will sing decently, must give so much
attention to the music that they can hardly think, as much as
they ought, of the spiritual nature of the work they are
engaged in. Even among the lovers of choral services there

* A leading Church paper recently quoted the following from a Dublin
paper : ' In the Dublin use, the priest, in passing from the Exhortation to
the Confession, ascends a full tone, which conveys to a congregation an
intensified earnestness so suitable to a united acknowledgment of sin.' (!)

3

34 Chapters on Church Music.

are probably few who, if they gave the subject a little con-
sideration, would not concede that the singing of prayer and
supplication, with or without instrumental accompaniment, is
a strange and unnatural way of offering up our petitions, or
would deny that the earnest, fervent prayer of two or three
people in a congregation may avail more than the most exqui-
site musical rendering of the Church service by singers em-
ployed for the purpose. That the choral service is uncongre-
gational its heartiest advocates would scarcely deny, for in
most congregations the number of those who can take part in
it must be small. From the purely 'musical point of view
choral services are generally unsatisfactory ; that is, they are
often imperfectly — not to say wretchedly — done.* If response-
singing is unaccompanied, the choir fall in pitch till they get
as low as they well can. The different parts in the harmony
are out of tune with one another if the organ is silent. Even
unaccompanied Amens are seldom sung in tune ; they are
often so false that it is excruciating to hear them. If a soft
organ accompaniment is used, and the choristers do not listen
very attentively to it, the effect is worse than before. Indeed,
the use of the organ, though almost always required to keep
the singers up to pitch and in tune with one another, is not
satisfactory, from whatever point of view the innovation may
be regarded. The effect of the instrument accompanying
response-singing is often most distressing. But as it is im-
possible for all but the most practised choristers to sing the
service without instrumental help, the choral service, when
rendered without the organ, is seldom satisfactory, even from
the lowest, or musical point of view. Not only do choirs
render it badly, but congregations, if they attempt to take part
in it, make it still worse. It is often complained that the
people do not sing well in the hymns. If this is so, how shall
they take part in the choral service (which requires the best
voices and the nicest ears to render it tolerably) and not
spoil it ?

The results of this inquiry are, that the choral service, to be

* In the Times there lately appeared a letter, severely criticising the
' fourth-rate concerts ' clergymen provide for their congregations.

Choral and Congregational Services. 35

a success musically, requires a perfectly- balanced and highly-
trained choir that can sing without the help of an organ ; and
that, if the congregation take part in the performance, they
will certainly spoil it. But as such choirs are seldom found,
and some people will try to join in everything that is sung in
the Church service, the choral service generally is a failure —
at least, musically — and is greatly inferior to a well-rendered
plain service, in which all who will may safely take part. If
the choral service is (as many people believe) the best form of
service for use in cathedrals and churches with choral estab-
lishments, the plain service is certainly the safest and best for
use in parish churches. Viewed from a higher, or a spiritual,
point of sight, the choral service seems unsatisfactory. For
listening to intoning, response-singing, and service-music,
though pleasing, is not devotion. Silence is not praise, and
listening to singing, and thinking how beautiful it is, is not
prayer. Admitting that good choral singing (when it can be
had) is impressive, and may for the moment do the hearer
some good, Christian men and women do not, or should not,
go to church to receive such impressions. Our business there
is ' to render thanks for the great benefits that we have
received at God's hands, to set forth His most worthy praise,
to hear His most holy Word, and to ask those things which
are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.'
It was not the intention of the Fathers of the Reformed
Church of England, when they placed that Exhortation at the
commencement of Morning and Evening Prayer, that a few
men and women, or men and boys, should render the services
musically (and, by so doing, purify and elevate men's minds) ;
but they hoped that as many as were present at Divine
service would accompany the clergyman ' with a pure heart
and humble voice, unto the throne of the heavenly grace/

The rage for ' musical ' services is excessive and increasing.
Not only are the morning and evening services rendered
musically, but even the Communion Service is sometimes
sung — though how any clergyman of the Reformed Church of
England can countenance a musical performance of this ser-
vice passes the comprehension. If the music is introduced to

36 Chapters on Church Music.

give 'effect,' such effect is out of place; if to add to the
solemnity of the service, it is not in the power of music to do
so, though it may largely take from it : if to draw communi-
cants to the Lord's Table, that is not the office of music, and
people so drawn would probably do better to stay away. It
is important to note that at some churches music of Romish
tonality is used in the Communion Service. At others por-
tions of the service are called by names borrowed from the
Mass — by which name, indeed, some clergymen call the Com-
munion Service.* Thus the Communion Service, or ' Mass,'
in some churches presided over by clergymen who are receiv-
ing the revenues, living in the rectories, and filling the pulpits
of the Protestant Church of England, has its Kyrie, Credo,
Gloria in Excelsis, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Benedictus,
besides proper introits, graduals, and antiphons. The Lord's
Prayer at such churches is called a ' Paternoster,' and rendered
musically ; the Amen is a little anthem ; and ' Ave Yerums '
and ' Ave Marias ' are often sung. At some churches Masses
composed for use in Roman Catholic churches are sung at
' High Celebrations.' At such churches are found, in fit
keeping with all this Mass-music, ' altars ' built and arranged
in imitation of those in Roman Catholic churches, sacrificing
priests, dressed to resemble those of the Church of Rome, and
claiming sacerdotal powers, and a multitude of symbols and
ceremonies drawn chiefly from a source which clergymen of
the Church of England once did not think the purest. That
Romanizing clergymen in the Church of England sometimes
succeed in their attempts to copy the Roman Catholic service
appears from the fact that a French Roman Catholic gentle-
man, with whom the writer is acquainted, once chanced to enter
one of their churches at a fashionable watering-place in the
South of England, and did not discover that he was not in a
veritable Roman Catholic church till after the service.

It is sad to notice a deadness in the responding and singing
at some churches, where the services are simple, and such as
the people might take part in if they would, and to hear so

* There lately appeared in a Church paper an advertisement for a
1 Priest to sing High Mass every Sunday in the year.'

Choral and Congregational Services. 37

few voices joining in the spoken portion of the service, which
ought to be said by all. Some people seem to nervously
shrink from taking part in the responding, and some, perhaps,
are careless. An earnest clergyman, finding it impossible to
get his congregation to respond with any heartiness, reasoned
with them from the pulpit, and said he hoped they would at
least say the Creed in an audible voice. He did not effect a
cure. In such a case some would prescribe the choral service
or the monotone. When such a remedy is tried the depress-
ing silence is certainly removed. But, although a great noise
and bawling is heard to emanate from that part of the church
in which the choir sit, the responding in the body of the
church is no better than it was before; the services have
become noisier, but not heartier. It is to be hoped that there
are better means of stimulating congregations than introducing
a choral service, which few people can take part in, and many
are afraid of attempting. Perhaps the clergyman just men-
tioned might have succeeded if he had got the promise of a
number of his congregation to respond heartily, and then
asked them to sit together in little groups in different parts of
the church. And the choir might have been requested to
repeat the responses audibly. The church was rather a
gloomy building, and had a low-pitched roof. At another
church the lukewarm congregation would not sing. The
clergyman tried to compel them to do so. His plan was to
leave every other verse in the hymns to them. He too,
failed ; but he persisted till the thing became so ludicrous
that he was obliged to give it up. In the verses that were left
to the congregation, often only two persons were heard to sing
— a woman in the nave, and the organist in the gallery. In
this case the church was a bright one, but the monotone was
used in the responses, and the hymns were often unsuited
(devotionally and musically) for congregational use. If at the
chapel to which the writer has made allusion there was no
responding (to the best of his recollection), and yet the service
was bright and hearty, how bright and hearty our services
ought to be ! In our churches the people's part — so ad-
mirably contrived for use in public worship — is printed, and

38 Chapters on Church Music.

none who can read can plead inability to respond. A service
in which the clergyman read, or, rather, prayed, the prayers,
and all the people reverently answered in the natural voice —
loudly in the Creeds and softly in the responses — and joined
the choir with heart and voice in singing the Canticles, and
(perhaps) the Psalms and some good, sterling hymns, would be
grand and elevating indeed. Such united prayer and praise,
one may believe, would rise up to heaven like incense. Com-
pared with such a service, a musical performance of the
Church service by the most consummate artists would seem
poor indeed. A supposed objection to plain services remains
to be noticed. It is not uncommon to hear such services
called ' slovenly ' — as if simplicity in worship implied slovenli-
ness. But, it may be asked, are choral services generally so
well rendered that the charge of slovenliness cannot be brought
against them ?

Though it has always been the custom to use the choral
service at cathedrals and collegiate churches, there is no legal
authority for its use in parish churches. In the choice of a
kind of service, unhappily, ' everyone does that which is right
in his own eyes.' But we are not without instructions. Open-
ing the Prayer-book at the Order for Morning Prayer, we find
no mention of anything like singing till we come to the
Venite, which ' shall be said or sung.' (For the meaning of
the terms, reading, saying, and singing, see Procter, ' History
of the Book of Common Prayer,' p. 214, note.) We have the
authority of the rubric for singing the Venite, as also the
Psalms, Canticles, Creed, and (perhaps) the anthem at both
Morning and Evening Service. The Athanasian Creed also
may be sung, and the Litany. Turning to the Communion
Service, we find no mention of singing till we come to the
Creed, which may be sung, as also may the Ter-Sanctus and
the Gloria in Excelsis. We find no mention in the Prayer-
book of intoning — a practice which probably was borrowed at
first from the heathen theatres, where, on account of the vast
size of the buildings, it was necessary to have recourse to all
kinds of expedients to strengthen the speakers' voices. While
intoning and response-singing may be well enough, and even

Choral and Congregational Services. 39

necessary, in cathedrals, they cannot be required in ordinary
churches ; nor are they authorized. The Prayer-book, while
permitting much singing in public worship, does not authorize
a musical rendering of many parts of the service that are now
sung, as the General Confession, the Lord's Prayer, the Amens,
the Kyries, the Offertory Sentences, and the responses
generally. A musical rendering of the Agnus Dei and Bene-
dictus, and of the service generally was directed by the first
Prayer-book of Edward VI., but it is not allowed by the
present Office. There is no rubrical authority for singing a
word of the Communion Service, except the Creed, Ter-
Sanctus, and Gloria in Excelsis. The choir is not mentioned
in the Prayer-book, but the people are supposed to take their
own part in the service, which, indeed, is but reasonable, as
they are met together for common prayer. Whatever may
have been the case at cathedrals and collegiate churches, it
seems to have been far from the desire of the compilers of the
Prayer-book that the services at parish churches should be
rendered chorally. Whatever effects enthusiastic musicians
and some clergymen of the new school may ascribe to a well-
rendered choral service, it cannot be too strongly urged that
it is not the idea of the Prayer-book that the Church service
should be made a kind of musical performance, from listening
to which the people may derive considerable satisfaction and
perhaps get some good. The only music other than congrega-
tional that is authorized in the Prayer-book, is the anthem ;
and it is not certain that even this was intended to be used in
parish churches. The expression, ' in quires and places where
they sing,' seems to point to cathedrals and churches with
musical establishments and choral services. Indeed, the
impossibility of parish churches rendering two anthems
daily shows that this rubric was not intended for observance
therein. The direction, ' Here folio weth the anthem,' there-
fore, is not obligatory on parochial clergy, though it might,
perhaps, be claimed as legalizing the performance of anthems
in churches.

The choral service is no longer found only in its native
home, the cathedral. It has been planted in places where it

4-0 Chapters on Church Music.

will never live. Even in villages music, not content to be a
handmaid, has forgotten her place and presumed to push
public prayer and praise out of the sanctuary. This must
often be due to the efforts of over-enthusiastic musicians. A
clergyman once said, ' Give musicians too much of their own
way, and they will ruin the services.' And though certainly
not true of all musicians and lovers of music, his words will
apply to those enthusiasts who are carried away by their love
of the art till they seem to be in danger of forgetting the
legitimate object of worship altogether. It is not meant by
this to speak slightingly of enthusiasm, which, when con-
trolled by sound judgment and properly directed, so far from
being a bad quality in an artist, is absolutely necessary if
anything really great is to be achieved. It may be safely said
that not one of those monuments of human skill and genius,
known as the Wonders of the Ancient World, would have
been begun and finished without it. It is beautiful to read
of the holy enthusiasm of David and Solomon when they
were engaged, the one in collecting the material for the house
of God, the other in building that glorious Temple. The
grand and perfectly beautiful buildings at Athens must have
been the work of enthusiasts. The sculptures that adorned
the pediment of the Temple of Minerva, and are now known
as the Elgin Marbles, stood at the height of some fifty or
sixty feet above the ground — too far from the observer to be
very narrowly scrutinized even in the clear air of Attica.
Yet, although they were so far removed from close inspection,
they were so exquisitely perfect that a sculptor of modern
times* has said of that famous figure which has better escaped
destruction than the rest,t that it were worth a man's while
to come from Italy to see it. One could readily have under-
stood that an artist would lavish all his skill on works that
were intended to occupy a place where they would be nearly
viewed. But when we find statuary so incomparably beautiful
in design, so exquisite in detail, occupying a situation where
much of its 'perfection must necessarily have been lost, we
must for ever admire the enthusiasm of the artist, who,
* Canova. f The Theseus.

Choral and Congregational Services. 41

working for the Divinity, thought with the pious and wise
Kings of Israel, that he could not work too well.

That latest novelty in Church music, the ' choral cele-
bration,' happily is used at only a few places. Its introduction
is probably more often due to the Komanizers in the Church
than to musical enthusiasts. It is an illegal innovation,
inasmuch as it is not prescribed in the Prayer-book, and it
cannot but be condemned by all musicians and clergymen
who love genuine Church music and desire the maintenance
of Protestant worship. If the Prayer-book were allowed to
decide whether our Church services should be choral or
congregational — and its authority ought to be final with men
who are bound by the Canon to use the orders, rites, and
ceremonies it prescribes * without diminishing or adding any-
thing in the matter or form thereof ' — the choral service
would not be used at our parish churches. Choral services
and choral celebrations would be swept away, and we should
have plain services in which congregations could take part,
and singing in which everyone could join ' with the under-
standing ' and with the heart, ' singing and making melody in
their hearts to the Lord.'

If clergymen were agreed to use no more music than the
Prayer-book permits, there would still not be perfect uniformity
in the quantity of music used in the services at different
churches. There would be more singing at some churches
than at others. There would be differences of opinion as to
the best mode of rendering those parts of the service which
may be ' said or sung.' While all would be for singing the
Canticles and hymns, and, perhaps, the Psalms, some would
also sing the Creeds and the Litany; and some would sing
the Ter-Sanctus and Gloria in Excelsis in the Communion
Service. It is strange to find that in some places the old
Puritan objection to singing the Psalms still exists ; for such
a manner of rendering them appears to be very proper. At
the same time, reading the Psalms is preferable to singing
them badly ; and if the congregation of any church cannot
learn to chant them, the Psalms are much better read. In
the Litany and Creeds singing seems quite out of place, and

42 Chapters on Church Music.

a hindrance rather than a help to devotion. People cannot
sing the Creeds and the Litany without giving some of that
attention to their singing, which should be given entirely to
their devotions. To confess one's faith to a musical tune and
sing one's prayers seems not a little absurd. Musical Litanies
and Creeds always seem very like a musical performance, and
tend to make people forget where they are, and the purpose
for which they are assembled. When imperfectly rendered —
as must generally be the case — they jar on the ear and are in
every way distracting. The Sanctus and the first portion of
the Gloria are hymns of praise, and will bear the addition of
music. But the Communion Service probably would gain
nothing in beauty or solemnity b}' a musical rendering of these
two hymns, unless the music used were very suitable and very
well sung. There would, in most places, be a difficulty in
getting a sufficient attendance of the choir to render the
music well. The presence of non- communicants at the
Communion Service is against all rule. But it would be
monstrous to force the choristers to communicate. It is
surely not a little fault in ' Choral Celebrations ' that they
require for their performance the presence of the choristers,
who must all communicate whether they are duly prepared
or not. It is worthy to be noted that in cathedral ' services '
the only portions of the Communion Service that are set to
music are the Kyrie, the Creed, and the Sanctus. The Gloria,
sometimes used in cathedrals on great festivals, is not found
in the older ' settings.'*

After hearing the Church service rendered in many different
ways, the present writer came to the conclusion that far more
music than is profitable is often used in churches ; and that
a little good and well-rendered congregational music — the
Canticles, two or three good hymns, and, where possible, the
Psalms — is all the music required in parish churches. All
the rest of the service, from the opening sentences to the
benediction and final 'Amen' after the sermon, to be
thoroughly understood by the congregation, and partaken in

* It has been set by some quite modern composers (as Dykes and
Ouscley).

Choral and Congregational Services. 43

spiritually, should, it seems to him, be spoken by the clergy-
man and people in a natural voice. Should any clergyman
who had a really good choir think it desirable to use some
choral music, he might have a plain service, which would be
rendered by all, and anthems which would be sung by the
choir only.*

If clergymen wish to have congregational singing worthy of
the name at their churches — singing that everyone may take
part in — they should use only simple music. Success will be
impossible if music that is too elaborate be used. Unsuitable
for congregational use — because beyond the powers of the
people— are hymn- tunes and chants they cannot sing, and
those musical settings of the Canticles called ' Services.' In
many places it will be found quite impossible for the congrega-
tion to learn to chant the Psalms. The writer ventures to
refer to what he sa}^s on the subject of hymns, hymn-tunes,
and chants in Chapters I. and III. For the Canticles we
should use chants, carefully avoiding those with high reciting-
notes. 'Services,' though admirable for use in cathedrals,
were never intended for congregational singing. Attwood
in F is a magnificent piece of choral music — and beautiful is
the effect of it when rendered by a fine choir in some grand
old cathedral — but nothing could be less congregational,
nothing less suitable for use at a parish church. There are,
however, easy settings which (those who recommend service-
music claim) remove the difficulty about the division of the
Te Deum, and have other merits.^ But while fine service-

* The objection many clergymen have to anthems is truly remarkable.
These gentlemen are even more opposed to choral performances than the
writer : who, while he advocates simplicity in public worship, has never
been able to understand why anthems should be proscribed at churches
where they might be well rendered.

f At many churches the Te Deum is divided, by a change of chant, at
verse 16. But surely it would be better to divide this canticle into three
parts : verses 1-9, 10-19, and 20-29 ; the three divisions respectively
expressing praise, confession of faith, and supplication. The first division
might be sung to a jubilant double chant, the second to another double
chant, and the third to a quiet single chant. Or, perhaps, some would
prefer to use a grand and solemn single chant for the second division.

44 Chapters on Church Music.

music is too difficult for congregational use, really easy settings,
so far as the present writer is acquainted with them, seem to
be only weak compositions, and in every respect inferior
to good tuneful chants. In churches where congregational
singing is desired, it would be safest and best always to use
chants for the Canticles. ' Services ' are approved by com-
posers of music; they afford opportunities to musicians to
show off their skill in composing. But congregations cannot
take part in them. To quote the words of a dignitary of the
Church, they are ' a class of music by which composers get
more credit than the congregations get good.' If we wish to
have good, or even tolerable congregational singing, we must
not choose tunes that exceed the range of ordinary, unculti-
vated voices (for it is chiefly with such that we have to deal).
If we call the bass voice an octave below the contralto, and
the tenor an octave below the treble, and then take the
highest note of the contralto as the upper limit, and the
lowest note of the soprano as the lower limit, we get the
congregational compass. This rather rough and ready calcula-
tion gives a compass of an octave or a ninth, extending from
E flat or D below to E flat or perhaps E natural above.
With tunes that keep within this compass there is no difficulty.
But are those that go beyond it to be discarded ? We need
not trouble ourselves about the low notes, for they are seldom
written, and when sung are not very offensive. But when

The great burst of praise in verses 24, 25, though it comes in the third
division, might be sung to the double chant used for the commencement
of this noble hymn. The divisions might be more clearly marked out by
change of key. If the first of the three chants were in the key of C, the
second might be in F, G, or A flat, and the third in C. Chants in the
minor mode do not seem suitable for the Te Deum. The rendering of
the canticle might be made more effective (yet not uncongregational) if
verses 1-6, 10-15, 18, 24, 25 only were sung by both sides of the choir ;
verses 11-13 perhaps being sung in unison or octaves, the organ playing
in six-part harmony and the tempo being slower during these three verses.
To avoid the difficulty occasioned by the number of the verses being
odd, verses 10 and 11, or 11 and 12, or 12 and 13 are sometimes joined — a
barbarous expedient, to which recourse need not be had if verse 9 is sung
to the second half of the chant.

Choral and Congregational Services. 45

tunes pass the upper limit of the congregational compass, the
case is one of serious difficulty, especially if the pace is slow
and the high notes have not been written with judgment; for
people either sing these notes very loudly — often with a shrill,
piercing scream — or omit them altogether, or drop their voices
an octave (like a rank of pipes that breaks at a certain note)
when they find the tune getting too high for them. Altering
the tunes is out of the question, and transposing them into
lower keys, though it would help the congregation, could not
always be done without inconveniencing the choir ; and then
there is the question of character of key. However, as hymns
are by general consent peculiarly the property of the congre-
gation, their convenience ought to be consulted before that of
the choir. Perhaps the best plan is to transpose tunes that
go too high, and let the whole choir sing the melody with the
congregation, if the parts, after transposition, are found to run
too low. Tunes that go both too high and too low are more
difficult to treat. The tune to the ' Easter Hymn ' ought to
be transposed a tone lower, as is often done, if only to get rid
of the high F sharp, which is a very dreadful note unless it
is drowned with a loud organ accompaniment. But in the
first two verses the organist cannot play a loud organ in the
strain in which the F sharp occurs ; it is only in the last verse
that he can play this strain loudly, and here, indeed, at the
words, ' Now above the sky He's King,' he may even use the
full organ without being accused of want of taste. The tune
might be played a tone lower without inconveniencing the
choir, though the basses would have a low note or two ; but
several low C's would now appear in the melody, and although
the altos and basses in the congregation would be strong on
these notes, the other voices would find them very low. How-
ever, after weighing the arguments for and against, it would
seem desirable to transpose the tune.

There can be no doubt that congregational singing is often
very poor. But is this surprising when it is remembered that
the people receive no instruction? There ought to be a
weekly practice for the congregation, which as many as
possible should attend. The organist would not deem it

46 Chapters on Church Music.

sufficient merely to take the people through the tunes for
the following Sunday, but would give them some instruction
as well. The people should be taught to sing in tune, and
to listen to the organ, and not drag behind. They will
naturally follow the organ in the matter of piano and forte.
They should further be instructed to sing the melody without
making alterations in it. Unisonous singing should be en-
couraged, and improvised harmonies and that modern species
of organum, known as ' singing seconds,' should be vigorously
denounced. In churches where the Psalms are chanted,
pointed psalters should bo provided, and the people should
be shown how to use them. (But it would often be vain to
expect a congregation to learn to chant the Psalms well.)
The people should be taught to think of what they are
singing, and it should be pointed out that loud, careless
singing is not devotional. Those who have unmusical voices
should be requested to sing in a subdued tone of voice, and
those to whom nature has denied both a voice and an ear,
should sing as softly as possible. While it is delightful to
hear a congregation joining in the singing, it is not a little
unpleasant to people who have nerves when they find them-
selves in the near neighbourhood of someone who has a voice
of very disagreeable quality — perhaps a loud, rasping voice —
and will always sing his loudest, though he cannot, or perhaps
will not try to, sing in tune.* The organist should show the
congregation how necessary it is that they should sing ' with
the spirit and with the understanding' (1 Cor, xiv. 15), and
not, as the Homily quaintly expresses it, 4 with the chattering
of birds.' These are ' taught by men to prate they know not
what ; but to sing with understanding is given by God's holy
will to the nature of man.' ' To sing with the spirit and with
the understanding will be the desire of every real Christian.
The grace of God is here, as in every holy duty, the first and
all-essential requisite. To sing with the spirit we need the
power from on high, grace in the heart, and the present exer-

* Unfortunately, it would require more tact than most men possess to
put this to the people and not give offence, and some who have very bad
voices, think themselves excellent singers.

Choral and Congregational Services. 47

cise of that grace by the immediate and direct aid of the Holy
Spirit, communicating and exciting and stirring up holy affec-
tions within (Col. iii. 16 ; Ephes. v. 18, 19). The sweetness of
the music may be rather a hindrance than a help, if it engross
our minds, or turn them away from the thoughts of prayer
and praise. Augustine says, " When the tune has moved me
more than the subject, I feel guilty." '*

Some think that if plain, spoken services and simple music
in which all might take part, were revived, and the choral
service laid aside, this would be equivalent to lowering the
standard of Church music. But this is a misconception.
The change would be rather in the quantity than the quality
of the music, though, doubtless, music which might produce
an exquisite effect when rendered by a well-trained choir only,
would lose much when a great number of uncultivated voices
joined in singing it. But when a congregation join in the
psalmody, an effect of another kind is gained, which choir
singing can never produce. The effect of a great number of
voices singing in unison may not be exquisite, but it is grand.
Good congregational singing lacks the delicate shading which
can be got from a good choir, but has a breadth and volume
which can never be obtained from a handful of singers. Dr.
Burney, writing of the singing he heard at the Lutheran
church at Dresden, says : ' The whole congregation, consisting
of nearly three thousand persons, sing in unison melodies almost
as slow as those used in our parish churches, but the people,
being better musicians here than with us, and accustomed
from their infancy to sing the chief part of the service, were
better in tune, and formed one of the grandest choruses I
have ever heard.' There seems to be no reason why such
singing as this should not be introduced into our churches
and flourish.

It may, perhaps, be objected that if hearty, congregational
services were introduced at churches, and only canticles,
hymns, and Psalms were sung (the rest of the service being
said in the natural, speaking voice), there would be no need
of good organists and carefully trained choristers ; that the
* From the Preface to Bickersteth's 'Christian Psalmody.'

48 Chapters on Church Music.

choir-singing would be both spoiled and unheeded if the con-
gregation sang ; and that organists already have enough to
do for the little salaries they get, without having to instruct
the people in psalmody. But these objections weigh very
little. Skilful and judicious accompanists to lead and support
congregations of singers would be most necessary, and the
help of good choristers to lead the people would be very
valuable. That their efforts would no longer be heard to the
best advantage and listened to with rapt attention by mute
congregations, should not be a source of grief to church
musicians. Organists and choristers have no warrant for
arrogating to themselves the sole right to render the Church
services. Enough for them that they are privileged to lead
the praises of the sanctuary.* The voluntary would afford
organists an opportunity to show their proficiency, and the
zeal of choirs and the time and pains bestowed on them by
the organist need not be thrown away. For choirs might
occasionally sing an anthem, or they might render themselves
very acceptable by giving special Services of Song in church,
or sacred performances on a grander scale. The organist's is
a poorly paid profession : it is, indeed, one of much work and
little pay. But the efforts of a man who exerted himself
in the cause of congregational singing and improved the
psalmody, would, one hopes, be appreciated by the people
and rewarded with an increase of salary.

The writer has already spoken about the unfitness and
un-English character of ' choral celebrations ' of the Holy
Communion, and the attempts made by some clergymen to
render this solemn service uncongregational and as like the
Roman Catholic service of the Mass as they can. He has
shown that the Prayer-book gives no authority for the use
of music in the Communion Service, except in the Creed,
Sanctus, and Gloria in Excelsis. It may be permitted him
now to quote some portions of a letter written to a Church
paper by one who evidently is fond of choral celebrations,
and well acquainted with them. According to this writer,

* Luther, himself a great lover of music, and no mean musician, said,
1 The singing is for the congregation, and not for the choristers/

Choral and Congregational Services. 49

the responses (by which he means the Amens, the Surswni
corda, the ' Paternoster ' after the Communion, and the response
before and after the Gospel) and the intonation to the Credo
and Gloria, should be sung invariably to the plain chant.
This writer loves plain-song. ' It is felt,' he tells us, ' that
there is a failure in Anglican settings when simplicity is
aimed at. Either the music is washy, or is a milk-and-water
melody, which soon tires after a few repetitions.' * The Creed,
which,' he says, * the congregation should certainly try to sing,
because it is their great hymn of faith, is best sung to one of
the plain chant settings, such as that of Merbecke, or one of
those known as the Missa de Angelis, Missa in Dwplicibus,
or Dumont's Mass in the first mode, known as the Missa
Regia, or that in the second mode by the same writer.' ' On
the highest festivals,' he says, 'such as Christmas, Easter,
Whit Sunday, the Dedication of the church, perhaps it is
legitimate to have a modern service.' ' In those churches
where the music is really good, or what I will call classical,
and well sung by a trained choir, the congregation,' he tells
us, ' is not intended to sing, but to assist at the service with
spiritual devotion ; of which churches [one is glad to learn]
there are not many.' It is worthy of notice that the Lord's
Prayer, in the above extracts, is not called by its good old
English name, but by one borrowed from the Latin. It is
rendered musically by the choir, although the rubric says,
' The priest shall say the Lord's Prayer, the people repeating
after him every petition.' The Nicene Creed is called a
hymn, of the nature of which it in no way partakes. While
all will agree with this writer in his estimate of much modern
Church music, few will concede that a plain-song rendering
of the Communion Service is more satisfactory than one in
which the people say the responses in a natural, speaking
voice. The expression of doubt as to the propriety, or law-
fulness, of having modern services on great festivals is curious.
Since the Prayer-book does not authorize Choral Celebrations,
whether to ancient or modern music, on any occasion what-
ever, one wonders whither the lovers of these ' celebrations '
turn for the solution of such difficulties. One has also to

4

50 Chapters on Church Music.

learn what authority there is for saying that 'the congre-
gation is not intended to sing, but to assist at the service
with spiritual devotion/ when the music is good and well
rendered by the choir, since there is not a word to this effect
in the Prayer-book. It is becoming common with the
Komanizers and musical enthusiasts in our communion to
appeal to the first Prayer-book of Edward VI. for authority
for their practices. This book was a first attempt, and im-
perfect. It was hardly published before its deficiencies were
discovered. It was the design of the compilers not to offend
the people by too harsh a transition, and consequently the
Prayer-book of 1549 was • a connecting link between the
Missal and the Prayer-book,' It was decidedly less Protestant
than succeeding Prayer-books, and that is the reason why it
is appealed to by those among us who wish to undo the work
of the Reformation. Such men would doubtless like to sub-
stitute it for the present book. Edward's first Prayer-book
was the rule for clergymen for the three years it was in use,
and the service it prescribes was legal for that time. But
when in 1552 a new Prayer-book appeared, the authority of
the first was ended, and some things which had been
sanctioned by the first book were no longer lawful. Since
1552 other alterations have been made. But clergymen,
having solemnly pledged themselves to an undeviating use of
the present book in the Church services, are concerned with
none of these old Prayer-books.* Edward's first book and
succeeding books, having passed away and become obsolete,
neither are our guides in performing Divine service, nor can
they justify the use of practices that are not prescribed in the
present book. So long as clergymen continue to justify any
departure they may choose to make from the liturgy b}'
showing that they were prescribed in an old Prayer-book —
instead of the whole realm having but one Use, there will be
neither uniformity in the public services of the Church nor

* ' The question of authority . . . can be of little moment to those
who now use our Prayer-book, as successively amended, and as fully
authorized by Parliament and Convocation in 1662' (Procter, ' History
of the Book of Common Prayer,' p. 41).

Choral and Congregational Services. 51

settled doctrine. If clergymen were permitted to mingle
the ritual and rubrics of 1549 with those of the present
Communion Office, they might not only have Choral Celebra-
tions in their churches, but leave out the Commandments,
omit the second clause of the words used in giving the Bread
and Wine,* and make the sign of the Cross during the
consecration of the Elements. If some clergymen do these
and other un-Protestant things, and set up the Mass in their
churches, they certainly have no authority for their pro-
ceedings given them by the Church they profess to serve.
For all such practices there was no authority in the Church
of England after 1552. This is quite certain, though in-
genious quibblers are striving hard to darken the light.

It is not the intention of the writer to say a word against
the Church of Rome. But it is well known that our Reformers
strongly objected to the Roman practice of having Divine
service in an ' unknown tongue.' It has not yet become
customary with the Romanizers in our communion to use
Latin in the services ; but by encouraging intoning, and an
excessive use of music, and introducing other practices which
are not in accordance with the simplicity of the Protestant
religion, clergymen have caused the services, in some churches,
to be almost as unintelligible to our poorer brethren as if they
were rendered in ' a tongue not understanded of the people.'
The fact that a number of people of fashion (chiefly of the
gentler sex) and musical enthusiasts like the choral service,
does not justify us in using a kind of service which the
humbler classes cannot understand. In 1 Cor. xiv., St. Paul
is speaking of public worship. Prayer and praise and
preaching, he tells us, should be in such a language as the
congregation understand ; else how shall they be able to
follow the service ? (verse 16). And then the Apostle gives
the two grand rules : ' Let all things be done unto edifying,'
' Let all things be done decently and in order.' It is perhaps

* Since this was written, the writer has read in the Record : * Proof
has reached us that in at least two English dioceses certain clergy con-
sistently [with their other practices], omit the second part of the words
of administration in the Lord's Supper.'

52 Chapters on Church Music.

not too much to say that in most cases introducing the choral
service, so far from ' edifying ' the poor and unlearned, is
equivalent to driving them from church. It is too much to
expect of a reasonable being that he will attend a church
where he cannot follow the service, much less take part in it.
And yet, examples are not wanting of clergymen who cannot
lay aside their idols, but must introduce the choral service —
to be mangled by men and boys, surpliced to resemble
cathedral choristers — and perhaps a paltry spectacle — a bad
copy of the impressive ceremonial of the Church of Rome — at
small towns and remote country villages for the edification of
agriculturists ! These men may, and doubtless do, draw some
of their parishioners to church by the allurements of a sen-
suous worship, and the novelty of the service renders it
attractive for a time ; but they drive many away. Professing
to abhor schism, they make men schismatics. If some
passages in the Prayer-book are not clearly understood by
many people, even when they are distinctly said, it is not
probable they will become more intelligible when rendered in
sing-song or set to music. And who can wonder if people,
when they have to choose between an incomprehensible form
of Church service and the simpler worship of the Dissenting
chapel, drop off from attendance at church and join the
chapel-folk ? If clergymen call those ' weak brethren ' who
are offended and leave church because of their innovations,
St. Paul has something to say to them in 1 Cor. viii. The
pre-Reformation services — which Romanizers seek to revive —
were complicated, and though possibly felt to be grand and
imposing by those who understood them, could not have been
congregational. But our present Church service, when con-
ducted strictly on Prayer-booh lines* is all beauty and

* How seldom is this the case ! Besides those who prefer the Romish
doctrines and practices to the Anglican, there are men in the Church
whose doctrines and ideas of public worship seem to differ little (if at all)
from those of the Calvinistic Methodists. Between these extreme schools
there are many grades. Since opinions on Church worship are so various,
and many clergymen hold themselves at liberty to make departures from
the Prayer-book, it has come to pass that in many towns there are not

Choral and Congregational Services. 53

solemnity, and yet so simple that it may be followed intel-
ligently by all classes, ' high and low, rich and poor, one with
another.'

Though pleasing to the ear when very well rendered, and
capable, when all the conditions are favourable, to stir the
emotions for the moment, elaborate musical services seem
poor indeed when compared with simple, hearty, and devo-
tional services, which appeal to the spiritual nature of man,
and in which all can take part. Even if they could satisfy
the spiritual wants of pious people of culture, they must
necessarily fail to benefit unlearned people. Enjoyed by the
few, they are as a stumbling-block placed in the way of the
many, and especially of the poor and ignorant, who (it is
important to remember) not only have an equal right with
the educated to take part in public worship at their parish
churches, but need spiritual help as much as their worldly
betters.*

Clergymen who think to make their services beautiful by
having them musically rendered, perhaps mistake ornament
for beauty. It is one thing to ornament the Church service ;
another to make it more beautiful. If ' beauty needs not the
foreign aid of ornament,' surely our beautiful Liturgy needs
not to be adorned with a strange dress. But the Liturgy is
not only perfectly beautiful, and consequently independent of
ornament, but it positively suffers when musically rendered,
the services losing as much in beauty as they gain in orna-
ment. The musical robe may sometimes be an elegant one,
but it always hides the beauty of the thing it adorns.

two churches in which Divine Service is rendered in the same fashion,
and in many places it is difficult to find a church in which the form
prescribed in the Prayer-book is strictly followed.

* ' Nothing should be done in the church in vain ; and this thing ought
chiefly to be laboured for, that the unlearned also might take profit, lest
any part of the body should be dark through ignorance.' — Homily of
Common Prayer and Sacraments.

CHAPTER III.

CHANTS.

rpHE chant does not appear to have degenerated like the
-*- hymn-tune. We have numerous excellent chants, old
and new.

There are five principal kinds of Anglican chants : the
jubilant double chant, which is cheerful, stirring, and suited
to psalms of praise ; the quiet double chant, which is calm,
though more suited, perhaps, to praise than to prayer ; the
single chant major, which, though generally calm, may be
either jubilant or prayerful; the double chant minor, which
is plaintive ; and the single chant minor, which is very
mournful.

The old jubilant chants were often very florid ; and such
chants are either omitted by modern compilers, or their over-
growth is pruned, the quavers and dotted crotchets being
removed, to the great improvement of the chants. In some
cases even the crotchets have been removed, and only the
minims and semibreves suffered to remain. But surely this
is carrying the pruning process too far. The melody of some
chants certainly has been spoiled by the excision of the
passing-notes. The old chants have perhaps gained some-
thing in dignity, but they have certainly lost much in tune-
fulness by being treated in this fashion.

Quiet double chants and single chants major are the most
useful chants we possess ; they suit almost any words, except
those which are very jubilant or very plaintive. Minor chants
are hard to sing in tune, and for this reason should be avoided
as much as possible; quiet single chants major being used

Chants. 55

instead of them, unless in short psalms, when minor chants
may be used.

Although there is a certain monotony in single chants,
some prefer them to double chants, which they would reject
altogether. Those who would use only single chants point
out that some of the psalms will not bear setting to double
chants. But the editors of the * Cathedral Psalter ' were fully
aware of the difficulty, and knew how to meet it. (See their
admirable treatment of the 31st Psalm.)

There are yet other forms of chants : the quadruple chant,
the occasions for using which must be few, and the Gregorian
chant. The latter is lauded by some on the plea of its
superior flexibility and grandeur, and esteemed by others for
its venerable age. Its admirers would persuade us that it is
the only kind of chant fit to be used in church.

Chants should be chosen to suit the words of the canticles
and psalms they are set to. When the sentiment of a psalm
changes, the chant may appropriately be changed for another.
Such changes, if made but seldom and always with meaning,
produce a very happy effect. But they should never be made
without very good reason, as they are confusing to congrega-
tions, who are not prepared for them. In Psalm lxxvii. a change
from a minor to a major chant might be made at verse 11.
In Psalm lxxviii. verses 1-17, 53-56, 66-73 might be sung to a
major, and the rest of the psalm to a minor chant. In
Psalm lxxxix. a major chant might be used for the first thirty-
six verses, and a minor for the remainder.*

* It is not necessary that all the chants to which a psalm is sung be in
the same key, but there should be key-relationship between them. A
chant in the major mode may be followed by one in the key of the
dominant, sub-dominant, or relative minor ; one in the minor mode, by
oue in the key of the relative major, dominant major, sub-dominant
minor, or sub-mediant major (a change from tonic minor to tonic major
is rather hazardous). A chant in the major mode may also be followed
by another of which the tonic is a major third below that of the first.
Thus a chant in the key of C major might be followed by one in G major,
F major, A minor, or A flat major ; and a chant in the key of C minor
might be followed by one in E flat major, G major, F minor, or A flat
major. But a chant in the key of C major following one in the key of

56 Chapters on Church Music.

In pointing the Canticles and Psalms, such absurdities as
the following should be avoided : ' Our four fathers ' (for ' our
forefathers'), ' en-e-mees ' (for 'enemies'), 'equ-ah-tee' (for
'equity'), ' cov-ee-nant ' (for 'covenant'), 'she-eep' (for
' sheep '), ' le-vi-SL-than ' (for ' leviathan '), ' My misdeeds pre-
vail against me ' (Against whom else should they prevail ?),
4 Judah was his sanc-tua-ree ' (for * Judah was his sanctuary ').
Mr. Joule (p. 25 of the preface to his ' Collection of Chants ')
gives the following examples of the stultification of the sense
by incorrect pointing : ' In the courts of the Lord's house,
even in the midst of thee. — 0 Jerusalem, praise the Lord'
(for * In the courts of the Lord's house, even in the midst of
thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord ') ; ' The truth of the
Lord endure th. — For ever praise the Lord ' (for ' The truth of
the Lord end are th for ever. Praise the Lord.') At a certain
church the pointing is such that the accents almost always
fall on the shortest and least important words. The chanting
there reminds the hearer of one of Dickens' amusing American
characters, who laid much stress on all the little words, as
if he thought the big ones were able to take care of them-
selves.

C minor, would probably not be sung in tune. The chants should be so
chosen that the change from the final chord of the first to the initial
chord of the second shall be such as can be made without creating any
wrong progression, or violating the rules of harmony. The second chant
can seldom be well chosen if it has for the first note in the treble the
tonic of the new key. The first chord of the second chant should contain
as many notes as possible (at least one) of those forming the last chord of
the first chant.

CHAPTER IV.

GREGORIAN MUSIC.

ONE of the most remarkable features of Gregorian music is
its tonality, which is quite different from that of modern
music. If anyone play the scales of D, E, F, G, A on a piano-
forte, with the proper sharps and flats, and then repeat them
without using any of the black keys, he will form a fairly
correct idea of the difference between our modern tonality
and the Gregorian.* If they are to sound at all pleasant in
the ears of people accustomed to modern music, it is necessary
to alter the Gregorian melodies by using accidentals. But
sharps and flats were not permitted in the Gregorian system,
and ' Gregorians,' when their tonality is changed by the intro-
duction of them, are genuine ' Gregorians ' no longer.

But the chants have not only been altered ; they are even
performed with a harmonized organ accompaniment, and
sometimes actually sung in harmony — the harmony used being
not that of Hucbald's Organum (which by reason of its great
age would be the most appropriate), but modern harmony,
which in Gregory's time was absolutely unknown. From
these and unavoidable causes, ' Gregorians ' have lost much of
the genuineness, while they have retained not a little of the
solemn ugliness of the old melodies. If Gregory could enter
a modern English Church and hear ' Gregorians ' as there
rendered, he would not recognise his own music.

* The natural diatonic scale, in which all modern music is written, was
not used by the early ecclesiastics. In the Middle Ages it was called il
rnodo lascivo, or ' the wanton key,5 and only street-musicians used it.

5^ Chapters on Church Music.

It is claimed by the admirers of * Gregorians ' that these
melodies are of great antiquity. But antiquity cannot be
claimed for ' Gregorians ' when they are tortured out of shape
and rendered in modern fashion. The genuine chants are
old enough. Some of them are even older than Gregory. St.
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, composed, collected, and arranged
his chants two hundred years before Gregory. St. Augustine
says that Ambrose brought his manner of singing the psalms
and hymns from the East. And some modern writers have
held that not only the Ambrosian system, and antiphony, but
even the tunes themselves were Oriental in source, and pro-
bably the very melodies that had been used in the Temple
service. Others who have studied the Greek music, as de-
scribed by the old theorists, hold that the source of the chants
was Occidental, and believe that the tunes were borrowed
from the pagans. There is nothing improbable in the theory
which gives a pagan source to these melodies. Before the
time of Ambrose (who lived in the latter half of the fourth
century) the Roman Church, in her desire the more easily to
wean the pagans from their superstitions and draw them to
church, had already begun the practice of adopting heathen
customs and mingling them with the Church service. But
whatever may have been their source, genuine Gregorian
melodies are interesting for their antiquity, and to hear a
correct performance of them, with the Latin words to which
they properly belong, would be both curious and instructive.

But their great age is an insufficient reason for preferring
these feeble beginnings of Church music to the tunes of
modern times, and affirming them to be the best music for
use in public worship. If men of culture admire ancient
literature, statuary, and architecture (which are still older
than the music of Gregory, Bishop of Rome), this is not because
the literature, statuary, and architecture are ancient, but
because they are beautiful. But ' Gregorians ' (made when
what we call music was unknown) are not beautiful, though
doubtless they would appear excellent music to Gregory and
his contemporaries, who had heard nothing better. It would
surely be absurd to lay aside English, as it is now spoken, and

Gregorian Music. 59

adopt the venerable language of Caedmon, Alfred, and iElfric
in public worship. Our congregations would be more sur-
prised than edified if they were requested to say, ' So to become
thin rice ' for ' Thy kingdom come.' But the revival of an
unintelligible language for use in the Church services would
hardly be more absurd than the restoration of a disused kind
of music, which congregations could not understand or take
part in. It is astonishing to hear that there are people in the
Church of England who would sing hymns to Gregorian tunes
and discard the Anglican chant, which is founded on a per-
fected musical scale, and set up the crude melodies of Gregory
(which are barely tolerable, even when they are presented in a
modern un- Gregorian form) in place of it. But the enthu-
siastic lovers of the old music can see nothing for the halo
which time has placed about the head of their venerable
saint.*

The Gregorian chant has indeed one point in its favour — it
is not frivolous. It is ponderous. The effect of the Be Pro-
fundis, when thundered out by a number of ecclesiastics, is
said to be almost terrible. The present writer chanced to be
in a church at Paris, and to hear a priest chant a funeral psalm
with the accompaniment of an ophicleide. The effect was truly
mournful.-)- But if Gregorian music is suitable for use at

* A society has been formed for the cultivation of Gregorian music,
and a few dignitaries of the Church and some eminent musicians have
lent their names to it. As these gentlemen may be supposed to be not
ignorant of the tuneful and congregational character of our psalmody, as
compared with Gregory's, we may wonder in what way they believe their
attempts to revive the Gregorian cantus (should they be successful) would
benefit our Church music. It is worthy of notice that one of the patrons
of the society is a Roman Catholic bishop.

j- The Gregorian cantus seems very much in place on such an occasion
as the funeral of Raymond Berenger, in Scott's ' Betrothed.' The loud
and mournful sound of the trumpets, which, uplifting and uniting their
thrilling tones in a wild and melancholy death-note, apprised all that the
obsequies were about to commence ; the twelve black monks, headed by
their abbot, and thundering forth the sublime notes of the Catholic
Miserere mei Domine ; the large cross ; the chosen body of men-at-arms,
walking in procession and trailing their lances ; the body of the valiant
Berenger, wrapped in his own knightly banner and borne upon lances ;

60 Chapters on Church Music.

funerals, its spirit and form are not such as suit our liturgy.
We want simplicity, beauty, tunefulness, and brightness, and
not gloomy solemnity in our Church music.

All the efforts of its most enthusiastic admirers — even
though some of them are people of high standing — will not
convince Churchmen that Gregorian music is tuneful and
suitable for use in the public services of the Church. The
task is too great for any authority, however respectable, to
accomplish. As Berlioz says in his ' Treatise on Instrumen-
tation,' ' The authority of a hundred old men, even if they
were each a hundred and twenty years of age, cannot make
ugly that which is beautiful, nor beautiful that which is ugly.'
Though well adapted to the Latin service and Latin words,
Gregorian music does not suit English words ; and as it is, by
reason of its peculiar tonality and rhythm, quite unfit for con-
gregational singing, its use is opposed to the English theory
of worship. Though it has always flourished in its home, the
Roman Catholic Church, it is a plant which will not grow in
a foreign soil.*

An able writer and one certainly not opposed to Gregorian
music, in a learned paper on ' Plain-song ' remarks, ' It has
nothing in common with modern music.' And not only is
this the case, but we do not even know how to render it
properly. ' Under corrupting influences the true interpreta-
tion of a melody may in time be utterly lost. This has been

the gallant knights who walked as mourners and supporters of the corpse ;
the Constable of Chester, alone, and fully armed, following as chief
mourner ; the chosen body of squires, men-at-arms, and pages of noble
descent, who brought up the rear of the procession ; the nakers and
trumpets echoing back, from time to time, the melancholy song of the
monks, by replying in a note as lugubrious as their own — one feels that
all these harmonize perfectly.

* Luther, who disliked Gregorian music, and compared it to the
braying of an ass, said the Roman Catholic Church would never fall as
long as Gregorians were kept up. Writing to Bullinger, in 1549, Hooper
s-ays of Bonner and his followers : ' Et ne pereat papatus, sacrificuli etsi
Latinum idioma abrogare coguntur, tonum eundem ac musicam semper
diligentissime observant, quern hactenus in papatu solebant.' — Procter,
'History of the Book of Common Prayer/ p. 30, note.

Gregorian Music. 61

the case with Plain-song ; and you will therefore perceive
what a field of research lies open before us when we attempt
to restore the original method of rendering it, and have for
guide only such vague indications as I will presently lay
before you.'

The late Dr. Dykes, in a lecture on Church Music, reprinted
in the Organ World of September 1, 1888, after speaking of
the paucity of the pure Gregorian melodies, and the medieval
method of enlarging the number of chants by torturing these
melodies into new forms, said : 'lam not speaking a word in
disparagement of the old Gregorian chants. Their varying
rhythms and quaint cadences I dearly love. To hear them
well and intelligently sung and accompanied is to myself a
great treat. But it is mere blind idolatry which refuses to
see the practical value of the other system of chanting — first,
more legitimate variety than Gregorians ; secondly, they pre-
sent fewer difficulties : (1) less difficulty in pointing ; and
(2) less difficulty in accompanying. (1) Less difficulty in
pointing. — The rhythms and metres of the Gregorian chants
are so different, that a psalm pointed to suit one chant will
not suit another. These changes of rhythm are very pleasing,
but create great practical difficulties ; for you cannot have
your Psalter pointed once for all and then select your chants.
You must have each psalm pointed for its own chant. This
cripples one very much. (2) But the difficulty in accompanying
is also great. The structure of most of the chants is really
inconsistent with such a tonal system as the laws of harmony
demand, and, therefore, how best to clothe them with organ
harmonies is a great problem. Take, for instance, the fourth
tone. Who really knows how to harmonize this ? And to
hear an unskilled organist labour through it, with harmonies
utterly crude and irrational, is no small penance to musical
ears. I have occasionally heard the Gregorian chants very
finely accompanied. But generally the practical difficulties
which attend their successful rendering are so imperfectly
overcome, that the Psalms, which should form one of the
most delightful parts of the service, become a very " pain and
grief." The choir and congregation may bawl out at the top

62 Chapters on Church Music.

of their voices ; still, one too often feels that the music is not
such as the words of the sweet Psalmist merit, or such as is
fit for an offering to God. Now, the Anglican system obviates
both the difficulties I have mentioned .... In connection
with harmony, I must not omit to notice another advantage
which our English chants possess. Being written in modes
which invite harmony, they are naturally susceptible of it.
Now, harmonized music is essentially Christian. It is of an
intrinsically higher order than unisonous, and surely pure
vocal harmony is the most appropriate music for the sanctuary,
and the most perfect and fitting offering to Him from whom
all harmony proceeds. Why the Psalms, which should be
the most delightful part of our ordinary morning and evening
offices, should always be condemned to be sung (sometimes, I
should say, howled) in unison I cannot tell. . . . We are
bound to look for music which will suit congregational worship
— music simple, broad, and susceptible of harmony. It is
because so much of the mediaeval plain-song, with its long
vocal flourishes and wearisome multiplication of notes to one
syllable, is so unsuited for congregational use, that I regret to
see the attempts made to introduce so much of it into our
services, especially into the Communion Office. A single
priest or small choir of men singing in unison, accompanied,
as we often hear them abroad, with an ophicleide, may perform
such music well enough, and not without effect. But to
attempt to force music of this character on a congregation of
English worshippers, is, I am convinced, a great and serious
mistake. I know nothing more wearying, more utterly painful
to musical ears, than to hear some of these modern and most
ill-judged adaptations. I forbear to specify instances. So,
again, there is something fascinating in singing a hymn-tune
with a pretty Latin title, and written in square notes ; and I
freely own that a few of these revived Latin tunes are well
worthy of adoption, susceptible of pure harmony, simple,
vigorous, and pleasing, and that most of them possess an
interest for the antiquarian and musician ; but I must express
my candid opinion with regard to the majority of them,
that to inflict them on a congregation is sheer, downright

Gregorian Music. 63

cruelty. ... To wed hymns to archaic strains, uncouth,
unrhythmical, inharmonious, devoid of all power to move the
people's hearts, is a great error.'

Mendelssohn does not appear to have liked 'Gregorians/
even when heard in their greatest perfection. Speaking of
a performance of the Tenebrce he heard at the Pope's Chapel,
he says : f I cannot help it, but I own it does irritate me to
hear such holy and touching words sung to such dull, drawling
music. They say it is canto fermo, Gregorian, etc. No matter.
If at that period there was neither the feeling nor the capability
to write in a different style, at all events we have now the
power to do so ; and certainly this mechanical monotony is
not to be found in the Scriptural words. They are all truth
and freshness ; and, moreover, expressed in the most simple
and natural manner. Why, then, make them sound like a
mere formula ? And, in truth, such singing as this is little
more ! The word " Pater " with a little flourish, the " meum "
with a little shake, the " ut quid me " — can this be called
sacred music ? There is certainly no false expression in it,
because there is none of any kind. But does not this fact
prove the desecration of the words ? A hundred times during
the ceremony I was driven wild by such things as these ; and
then came people, in a state of ecstasy, saying how splendid
it had all been. This sounded to me like a bad joke, and yet
they were quite in earnest.' (Letters from Italy and Switzer-
land, translated by Lady Wallace.)

The writer is indebted to a friend for the following amusing
story : — A Scotch Presbyterian, on a visit to London, was
taken by his host to hear a service at a church where the
music was Gregorian. After the service, as the friends were
going home, the Scotchman asked * why they sang such
queer tunes at that church.' When he was told that the
tunes were old — very old — very old indeed, and that King
David was supposed to have sung his psalms to them, he
gravely remarked, ' Well, then, I don't wonder that Saul
threw his javelin at him !'

PART II.

THE ORGANIST AND HIS INSTRUMENT.

1 Awake, lute and harp.'— Psalm lvii. 8.

CHAPTER I.

THE PLACE FOR THE ORGAN (AND CHOIR) — WEST GALLERIES.

WHEREAS our church organs and choirs formerly were
placed so that they could be heard to advantage, it is
a matter of common observation that they are very often un-
favourably placed now. Till comparatively lately the west
gallery was thought to be the best situation for them ; at
present it is the fashion to place the singers in the chancel,
and the organ somewhere near them. When no ingenuity
can contrive a place for the instrument, a ' chamber ' is built
for it, and then the ' difficulty about the organ ' is thought to
have been satisfactorily dealt with.

As the organ still occupies its old situation (the west gallery)
in Continental churches, it would be extremely interesting if
we knew how a change, so detrimental to music, has been
brought about in our own churches. It is not wonderful that
an example — no matter how absurd — when it is set in some
places should be followed in others, and at last become ' the
fashion'; but we are often curious to know how a custom
originated, to trace a fashion to its source.

Now, as it is inconceivable that musicians and organ-
builders would choose the worst situations in churches wherein
to erect organs, we must suppose, when we see organs un-
favourably placed, that either the clergymen or the architects
are to blame.

The architect objects to galleries; and side-galleries are,
indeed, no improvement to a church. But without enumerat-
ing the objections that may be brought against side-galleries,
it may be enough to say that west galleries are open to none

68 Chapters on Church Music.

of them. If an architect is afraid lest an organ, because of its
size, shall destroy the proportions of the church, or, by reason
of a want of harmony in colour and design with the edifice,
shall spoil his building, this is surely a reason why he should
prefer, and not object to, its being placed in a west gallery,
where it would not be seen during the service. He can,
indeed, find other situations where the instrument shall not
be seen; but these situations are not so satisfactory from a
musical point of view, and the question is one of musical as
well as architectural importance.*

But it is probable that the clergy, and not the architects, are
to be blamed for the unfavourable position of church organs,
and that the present fashion may be traced to Puseyite (or, as
we call them, ' ritualistic ') influences, and to a growing love
for pomp and spectacle and musical services. This solution
may, or may not, be the correct one, but it is suggested as
extremely probable. It is certain that ritualistic theories and
practices are more favoured than they once were, and sim-
plicity less valued. Ritualism, and the love of pomp and
spectacle, both demand a surpliced chancel choir, which shall
perambulate the church in all the pomp and glory of proces-
sion and recession. But the white robes, the processions, and
the movements of a choir which occupied a west gallery would
not be seen by the congregation. The downright Ritualist
sees in a surpliced chancel choir angels in Paradise.f Under
the mistaken supposition that only a chancel choir can manage
a choral service, the introduction of choral services is generally
followed by the removal of the singers to the chancel. But
such a service might be rendered by a choir in the gallery. If

* If there were a fine window in the west, it need not be hidden by
the organ ; for the instrument might be divided into two portions, with
the window in the middle. An organ which harmonizes with the gallery
forms a handsome object at the end of the church, and, so to speak,
completes the furnishing of the building.

f At a meeting of ritualists in East Anglia not long ago, a clergyman
stated that the choir are ' robed in white to represent the angels ' ; and
in a ritualists' hand-book the choir (chancel) of the church is said to
represent Paradise. So that our surpliced church choristers represent
angels in Paradise !

The Place for the Organ. 69

the choir began their Aniens and responses promptly, and
before the clergyman had quitted the last syllable of his
reading or intoning, there would be no breaks. It is impor-
tant to observe that the change from gallery to chancel has
been made not only at churches where mediaeval opinions
obtain, where the ritual is high and the services are elaborate.
There are chancel choirs at churches where the clergymen are
of the Evangelical school. Indeed the desire for chancel
choirs is pretty general, and the work of demolishing west
galleries is going on in many places. Even at churches where
the services are of the simple kind prescribed in the Prayer-
book, the chancel position has been adopted, though with
what object (if any) it is hard to conjecture. Perhaps the
change may be ascribed to that craze for 'restoring' and
' improving ' which has led us to spoil so much of the church-
building of our forefathers ; or the voices of those may prevail
who, on ecclesiastical grounds, require the removal of the choir
to the chancel ; or perhaps some influential persons desire to
arrange the church after the fashion of a cathedral.* But

* The surpliced choir, the choral service, and the chancel position are
intimately connected, and are parts of one and the same system, the
introduction of one generally leading to the introduction of one or both
of the others. Thus : (1) The introduction of a surpliced choir, that
the effect of the surplices and the genuflections (if any) may be enjoyed,
demands the removal of the choir to the chancel. As at cathedrals
(where the choristers are surpliced and sit in the choir) the services are
choral, our innovators, when they have set up surpliced chancel choirs at
their churches, proceed next to introduce the choral service. (2) The
setting up of the choral service leads (though there is no reason why it
should) to the removal of the choir to the chancel. This is followed by
the substitution of boys for women, and these are surpliced, for decency !
(3) The removal to the chancel, made perhaps with no better motive
than the desire to follow fashion or to adopt an ecclesiastical theory, is
almost always followed by the substitution of boys for women, it being
a highly improper thing, according to mediaeval opinion, for women to
sit in the chancel. The change in the composition of the choir is soon
followed by the introduction of the surplice, and the service probably
begins to be choral.

Whatever may be thought of the choral service and the surpliced
choir, it is sufficient here to lay stress on the fact that the removal of
the choir to the chancel implies the removal of the organ (and the almost

jo Chapters on Church Music.

however we may account for it, the choral service has been
introduced at many churches, and surpliced choirs and pro-
cessions are not uncommon. Even the organist is sometimes
required to wear a surplice. The choirs of these churches no
longer occupy the galleries, but are placed in the chancels,
whither the organs follow them.

Now, if the change of situation were not detrimental to
music — if the organ and the singing were as effective as they
used to be when organs and choirs were placed in the gallery
— musicians would have no reason to complain, and the present
chapter need not have been written. But, unfortunately, it
rarely happens that such is the case.

At a certain grand old parish church the organ and the
choir always occupied the gallery, and the effect of the music
at that church was very fine indeed, till a clergyman with
decidedly ' high ' views came and immediately had the choir
placed in the chancel. It was, as a matter of course, found

certain deterioration of its tone), and the substitution of boys' voices for
those of women, to the injury of the choral singing. But if choirs are
intended to lead God's praises, and organs to lead and beautify the music
of the sanctuary, any changes injuriously affecting them cannot be too
heartily deprecated.

In Roman Catholic churches, the writer is informed, there are some-
times two choirs, of which one, consisting on great festivals of a con-
siderable number of surpliced boys, called in France les en/ants de chcsur,
does not sing, but merely assists the priest, keeping up an almost con-
tinual movement and gesticulation which may have been borrowed
originally from the Greek Xopog. The other, or singing choir, consists
generally of men and women, and occupies the west gallery with the
organ. The authors of the strange innovations in our musical arrange-
ments, if it was their intention to imitate the Roman Catholics, seem to
have taken the wrong choir. The choirs at some of our churches do not
seem to be regarded as musicians, whose sole business it is to sing ; but
other duties are expected of them. This the following extracts, which
might be multiplied greatly, from clerical papers will show : ' The clergy
and choristers robed and unrobed at another church, marching to and
from in procession with cross and banners.' ' The service (the baptism
of a little baby) was chorally rendered by a full choir, and the procession
to the western entrance was headed by a splendid crucifix.' ' A proces-
sion of clergy and choir from the mansion to the church was headed by
incense and candle-bearers, and a crucifix of the blessed sacrament of the
Virgin was also carried.'

The Place for the Organ. 71

necessary to move the organ and place it near the choir (which
now began to be surpliced). The changes made, it was at once
apparent that the instrument, though considerably enlarged,
did not tell as well as before, and that its mellowness was gone
from it. Nor was the singing so effective. Something was
gained in spectacle, and medievalists were pleased to see the
choir in the chancel ; but all must have felt that the music
had lost much of its effectiveness.

At another parish church the new vicar began to arrange for
admitting boys into the choir, and moved the singers from the
west gallery to the chancel. But, for reasons which it is un-
necessary to mention, it was impossible to move the organ ;
and to this day the instrument stands in its old position,
where, though very effective for solo-playing, it is almost worse
than useless for accompanimental purposes. It might have
been thought that the clergyman, when he found that the
organ and the choir were often ' at sixes and sevens/ and knew
there was hardly the remotest chance of his ever being able to
move the organ, would have moved the choir back to the
gallery. But he has never done so. He firmly believes that a
choir ought to sit nowhere but in the chancel, and, rather than
give up the idea, he prefers to have his music badly rendered.
At another parish church, where the service is elaborate, the
choir, of course, occupy the chancel, and the organ is placed
in a chamber near them. But the manner in which the
instrument is dealt with is truly hideous. The organ is closed
on two sides by walls, and on the remaining sides egress of
the sound is prevented by the front pipes and a number of
very low and narrow arches with solid masonry between them.
Inside the ' chamber' it is quite dark, and the 'din,' when the
organ is played, is terrible. The sacrifice of this organ is all
the more to be regretted as it is a very fine instrument.

These examples are not given because such things have
never been heard of before. Unhappily it often happens that
organs are sacrificed because some clergymen lay greater stress
on unessentials than on having good music* It is not meant

* Moving an organ from the gallery is rarely necessary. But if the
west wall of a church were incurably damp, or the church were very low

72 Chapters on Church Music.

that, when we see a choir in the chancel of a church we are to
be sure that ritualistic influences are working at that church.
Doubtless TasLuy clergymen have had their choirs placed in
he chancel and their organs • brought down,' simply because
they wished to follow the fashion. If we knew to what extent
the clergy are influenced by the love of pomp and spectacle,
ritualism, and a sensuous worship, and to what extent by the
desire to follow new ways and be ' in fashion,' when they
choose the chancel as the position for the choir, the knowledge
would be most valuable, because in most cases the plainest
demonstration would not cause clergymen to give up any point
held by their school. An attempt to convince a clergyman,
who insisted on his choir being surpliced and sitting in the
chancel, that his organ would tell much better and gain greatly
in quality of tone if it were taken out of a hole and placed in
a west gallery, would almost certainly fail.

Before proceeding to consider the advantages of the west
gallery as the situation for an organ, it may be well to state
some of the general principles that ought to guide us when
we have to choose a place for a church organ. The choice of a
situation is of great importance, for a small organ, well placed,
may be as effective as a large one badly placed — a fact of some
importance from a pecuniary point of view ; and the effect of a
fine organ in a good situation is much grander, more musical,

in proportion to its area, and the organ consequently were pushed up
close to the roof, these two conditions, either of them a source of mis-
chief, would combine to derange the action and damage the wind-pro-
ducing and distributing portions of the instrument, and throw it out of
tune. It would be desirable to move the organ to another part of the
church. Such cases, however, must be quite exceptional, and the diffi-
culties supposed cannot present themselves at many churches. Seldom
can it be necessary to move an organ, unless to bring it near a chancel
choir ; and all experience shows that the removal of a choir and organ
from the gallery to the chancel is almost always detrimental to the
effectiveness of the church music. It would be better for a musical con-
gregation to throw their money out of the window, than support a scheme
which, while it commended itself to those who thought to improve on
old-fashioned ways, would, if carried out, be regretted by all who were
able to appreciate good music.

The Place for the Organ. 73

and in every respect more satisfactory than the effect of the
same organ if unfavourably situated. Situation affects both
the power of an organ and the quality of its tone.

The organ and the singers should be near one another. If
they are not, the vocal and the organ tones will be heard
separately by those who occupy seats near either, and not be
heard united and blended except by people at a considerable
distance from both. The congregation should not be between
the organ and the choir,* but the choir should be between the
organ and the congregation.

In placing an organ and choir, it is important to secure the
favourable influence of resonance, and to avoid placing them
where their tones will be obstructed or absorbed. (Un-
favourable reflection, in the form of excessive reverberation
and echo, is not likely to be met with at a parish church in a
degree that would be unpleasant to the musicians or detri-
mental to the music.) Resonance is secured by placing the
organ and choir where there is ample free space above and
around them ; by placing the organ on a platform of resonant
wood, which, capable of entering into vibratory movement,
performs in a measure the same office for it that the body of
a violin or the sound-board of a pianoforte performs for the
strings, or a table performs for the tuning-fork placed on it ;
and by allowing ample area for the organ. It is increased by
reflection from roofs and walls and elastic surfaces generally
(especially ceilings and walls lined with boardings of thin,
well-seasoned wood), and by hollow, empty spaces above the
ceiling or below the floor. The response of the string to the
note sung into the piano, of the tuning-fork to another pre-
cisely in unison with it, and of a column of air of a certain
length to the tuning-fork held over it, are examples which
show how 'particular sounds are strengthened by musical
bodies entering into sympathetic vibration with them. But
contrivances for the reinforcement of particular sounds could
not be introduced into churches, though the echeia furnish an

* The absurdity of this arrangement appears, if we imagine a concert-
room with the organ and orchestra at one end, the chorus and solo-singers
at the other, and the audience in the middle.

74 Chapters on Church Music.

ancient example of the use of columns of air for such a pur-
pose. In the Greek theatres, where the plays were declaimed
in a species of recitative, were placed hollow vessels, or vases,
tuned to different notes, and these, entering into sympathetic
vibration, must have helped the performers' voices, though to
what extent we cannot conjecture. In the larger theatres the
echeia were numerous, and placed in three rows at different
elevations (corresponding with the number of genera in the
Greek musical system). There seems to have been a set of
echeia for each genus. Some have thought that this Greek
contrivance might be introduced at churches where the services
are intoned, with the effect of increasing the resonance and
strengthening the clergyman's voice. It is impossible to
question the reasonableness of the suggestion, but difficult to
imagine where such singular auxiliaries could be placed so as
to be effective and yet unseen. It is unnecessary to dwell on
the desirableness of promoting resonance, or the happy effects
this excellent property has on both vocal and instrumental
music. But a degree of resonance that would be favourable
to music might be detrimental to speaking or reading. Whilst
a considerable degree of resonance would be favourable to
singing or intoning, it would be disadvantageous to the clergy-
man, by impairing the distinctness of his speaking- voice. The
choirs of cathedrals are sonorous, and therefore excellent for
the performance of the choral service ; but clergymen preach-
ing therein find it difficult to make themselves distinctly heard.
This suggests the idea that in churches the clergymen and
the musicians should occupy different parts of the building.
However many auxiliaries were employed, it would hardly be
possible to create in a church a degree of resonance that would
be unfavourable to music. If excessive resonance were created,
this would be a good fault, and might easily be cured by the
use of absorbents. Indeed, the presence of the congregation
would be enough to neutralize any excess of resonance.

Although free, unoccupied space about the organ and choir
is good and necessary (because it conduces to resonance), yet
if the vacant space above and behind the musicians were too
great, some of the tone would be absorbed, or wasted. Soft,

The Place for the Organ. 75

non-elastic surfaces (as carpets, hassocks, and people's clothing)
also absorb sound, and render it dead and dull. The neigh-
bourhood of them is therefore detrimental to music. As they
also tend to tone down reverberation and echo, non-elastic
surfaces may, however, help the clergyman by rendering
speaking easier. And this seems to suggest another reason
why the clergymen and the musicians should occupy different
parts of the church.

Arresting the onward progress of the sound-waves, and un-
favourable to the enjoyment of music, are all obstructions
between the musicians and the congregation. An organ and
choir ought to be so placed that there shall be as few obstacles
as possible between them and the congregation. We should
think it a foolish thing to place a screen between the fire and
a person who wished to warm himself, or to cut off the direct
rays of light from the book we were reading by interposing an
opaque object between it and the lamp. And yet an ab-
surdity similar in kind, though not equal to it in degree, is
committed when a church organ is so placed that more than
half the congregation are in the acoustic shadow.

The best situation for a church organ and choir is the west
gallery, but if the choir nnust sit in the chancel, it will be
necessary to find as good a place as we can near it for the
organ. In many churches the east end of the aisle would
then be the best place for it. The organ in this position
would not tell as well as it would in the gallery; but if ample
area were allowed it, and it were built on a platform, if the
aisle were lofty, and everything were favourable to the egress
of its tone, the instrument would tell well. But it seldom
happens that all the favourable conditions just postulated are
granted. Sufficient area and height are not always at the
command of the organ-builder, and perhaps there are obstruc-
tions in the form of troublesome arches or pillars. Conse-
quently organs erected in this situation are often more or less
confined and crowded — much to their detriment — or there is
not sufficient egress for their tone. But if the effectiveness of
organs that occupy a comparatively favourable situation, such
as the end of an aisle, is sometimes impaired, how poor is the

76 Chapters on Church Music.

effect of instruments when placed in the ' dismal holes and
corners ' where we sometimes find them ! Though the builder
put forth his utmost ingenuity, though he try every possible
measure to promote resonance, an organ will not be effective
if its tones have to travel round corners before they reach the
congregation, or force their way through arches filled up with
front pipes, or if it is crowded, or if there are absorbents near
it. The recesses into which the 'king of instruments' is
sometimes packed are like so many great sourdines, which
both keep in the power of the instrument and alter the
quality of its tone. An organ placed in such a position is
smothered.

A correspondent of the Musical Standard, writing on the
subject of that modern abomination, the ' organ chamber/
well said, ' Formerly [when organs stood in galleries] the tone
was allowed to float out; now, the organ is put into the
" organ-cellar," and the tone must be forced out, the result
being that the modern instrument, with its indisputable im-
provements, is not so musical an instrument as many an old
one, if left standing in the place it was built for.' Dr. Pole,
speaking at a meeting of the Musical Association in 1886,
said : ■ My experience with organ- chambers is rather unfor-
tunate. Having in my young days a good deal to do with
organs, I once undertook to superintend the making of an
organ for a new church. It was built by Hill ; it was on a
proper church scale, and was as good an organ as could pos-
sibly be ; but when it went into the church it was put into an
organ-chamber, and the tone was so lost that it was not like
the same instrument.' At the same meeting the late Sir
Frederick Ouseley read a paper, in which he says of organ-
chambers : ' Ordinary parish churches and chapels, in many
cases, are so constructed that the only available place for the
organ is that abomination of modern invention, an organ-
chamber. Organs are obliged to be voiced much louder than
is consistent with pure tone, in order to make themselves
heard at all under such unfavourable conditions ; and not only
so, but the large sixteen-foot pipes are usually so hidden away
behind the instrument that they are scarcely audible in the

The Place for the Organ. jy

church, while the Mixtures seem doubly shrill and strident by
contrast; moreover, the mechanism is often inconveniently
crowded, causing frequent derangement and cypherings, and
the bellows are often injured by damp in so confined a space.
I must, once for all, utter my indignant protest against organ-
chambers.' Such are the opinions of musicians of great
reputation, and the present writer has never heard any
respectable musician express his approval of organ-chambers.
It is discouraging to find writers in Church papers, when they
have to describe a church restoration, speaking of * the
chamber which has been built for the organ ' in terms which
make one think that they approve of such structures.

In order to meet the demands of modern fashion, which
requires that the choir shall occupy the chancel, other plans
for dealing with the organ have been proposed and adopted,
besides placing it in a chamber or at the end of an aisle.
Some would divide organs, and have one portion placed on
each side of the chancel, tubular pneumatic action being used
to connect the sound-producing parts of the organ with the
player, who would sit near or among the choir at a console
(the part of the organ where the keys and stops are), which
might be placed where he could best hear the singers, and
judge the amount of organ-tone he was employing.* Others,
in the case of a very large church, would put the organ into
the transept, or, cathedral fashion, on a choir screen ; others
would build the organ behind and over the Communion
Tablef ; and some would place it in the west gallery, but have
the keys in the chancel, the connection being by electric or
tubular action. And some have even proposed (in imitation
of the arrangements in very large foreign Roman Catholic
churches and cathedrals) to have in large churches two organs
— a large one in the west gallery, which might be used for

* It is of great importance that the organist be placed where he can
hear the choir and congregation well, and judge the amount of power he
is employing, without, however, being exposed to the full force of the
instrument.

f Organs may be * bracketed out ; in any part of the church, and the
keys be on the floor.

yS Chapters on Church Music.

grand effects, Voluntary playing, and accompanying the con-
gregation when they sang hymns ; and a small one in the
chancel, which might be used for accompanying the choir.
They would have both organs played by an organist who
would sit at a console placed in the chancel. The connection
would be either electric or tubular.* Now, even if the chancel
were as good a situation (musically) for the choir as the west
end gallery, all these plans for dealing with the organ are
open to objections from which the gallery position is free.
The divided chancel organ would be costly, and in that situa-
tion the organ would probably be a little wanting in mellow-
ness and musical effect. The transept organ, if the church
were very large, and the organ could be placed so as to be
heard well in the body of the church, might probably be more
satisfactory. The organ on the screen would have plenty of
free space around it, and its tone would be mellow and very
musical. Indeed, for the organ of a very large church, con-
sidered merely as a solo instrument, this situation would be
excellent. But the instrument would be between the choir
and the congregation. And the situation, though the very
best for the organ of a cathedral (where Divine Service is per-
formed in the choir), is not suitable for a parish church organ.
The organ above and behind the Communion Table would be
free from this fault ; but the position will probably not recom-
mend itself to many people. The action required to enable a
west gallery organ to be played by a performer in the chancel
would be very expensive. And although the response of pipe
to key would be practically instantaneous, the transmission of
sound from the gallery to the chancel would take an appre-
ciable interval of time. It would be extremely difficult for
most organists (and quite impossible for some), if they sat so
far from their instruments, either to play a voluntary or to
accompany the singing. Nor would the effect be satisfactory
to the congregation, who would be placed between the organ
and the choir. The proposal to have two organs — one at each

* Electrical engineering has been brought to such perfection, that an
ingenious gentleman has contrived a kind of movable console, which the
performer may place in any part of the church.

The Place for the Organ. 79

end of the church — though suiting the Roman Catholic form
of service, seems most unlikely to be adopted in our churches;
and to control both organs at once would be such a feat as
few men could accomplish. But it will not be necessary to
criticise all the schemes ingenious men and clever architects
have put forth in order to meet the difficulties that almost
always arise when a church choir is removed from the west
gallery. Suffice it to say, that to place an organ so that it
shall tell well and sound mellow, and be effective for Volun-
tary playing, leading the congregation, and accompanying a
chancel choir, and to find a good place for the organist, where
he may hear the organ, choir, and congregation, be in touch
with the choir, and see the clergyman — to do this and not
spoil their building is, and must remain, a puzzling problem
for our architects to solve, even when the funds admit of the
application of electric or tubular actions. And all this diffi-
culty has arisen, vast sums of money have been spent, many
organs have been placed in unfavourable positions, and Church
music has lost much of its effectiveness, simply because some
people believe that a choir should sit nowhere but in the
chancel. If it were desired at any very large church to have
a surpliced chancel choir, which should render the service,
while the congregation took part in singing the hymns, surely
it would be better to have only one organ, in the west gallery,
with an organist in the gallery to play it, and two choirs, one
of women and men's voices in the gallery, the other of sur-
pliced boys and men in the chancel. The chancel choir might
render the response- singing without accompaniment, and the
gallery choir might chant the Psalms, and sing the service-
music (canticles) and the anthem, with the accompaniment of
the organ. If the congregation joined in the hymn-singing,
they might be led by the gallery choir and the organ. The
organ would be in the best situation possible for Voluntary-
playing.* Of all the schemes for dealing with the organ and

* The necessity of having two choirs seems to be the only fault in this
scheme, which, it is believed, is a novel one. When the writer asked an
eminent organist how he would like to have two choirs at his church, he
received the reply : ' One is quite trouble enough.'

80 Chapters on Church Music.

the position of the organist's seat when there must be a sur-
pliced chancel choir, the writer ventures to think this is the
most free from fault. It provides an organ and a choir to
render the chief choral portions of the service, and lead the
congregational singing, and places them in the best situation
possible. It requires no tubular or electric action (thus saving
much money), and places the organist in an excellent position
with regard to his organ and choir. And it admits of a sur-
pliced chancel choir to make the responses after the minister.
It thus provides a surpliced chancel choir, and satisfies the
requirements of modern ritual, and at the same time retains
the west gallery, with its many advantages, for the organ and
singers.

Whatever the ecclesiastical reason for placing the choir in
the chancel may be worth, it is certain that our ancestors
knew very well what they were about when they chose the
west gallery as the place for the organ and the choir. The
old-fashioned plan of placing the organist with his instrument
and choir in the gallery was practical, easy, and satisfactory
from every point of view (except, of course, the ' ritualistic ') ;
and it required no separate consoles and expensive mechanisms.
Let us look at some facts which make greatly in favour of the
gallery position. The gallery might be made of considerable
size, and ample area could be given to the organ. Conse-
quently there need be no crowding of the pipes or mechanism ;
the passage-boards might be made wider than they generally
are ; there would not be the difficulty of getting about the
organ — so great in crowded organs — for the purpose of regu-
lating or repairing ; and the sound-boards might be made of
ample size, a consideration of great importance. The empty
space within the organ would have a good effect on the organ
tone, by increasing resonance. Dr. Hopkins remarks (Rim-
bault and Hopkins, * History and Construction of the Organ,'
p. 290) : * It can never be correctly said that unoccupied
space in an organ within reason is lost room, since, next to
the pipes themselves, which are, of course, necessary to emit
the primary sounds, free air is the most important element in
the production of a resonant quality of tone. It is, indeed,

The Place for the Organ. 8 1

true that English organ-builders have frequently been called
upon to " get in " a great number of stops into an unreasonably
small space, and one cannot help admiring the manner in
which they have frequently grappled with the difficulties
which have beset them ; at the same time, England is in
consequence by no means destitute of organs that are nearly
as crowded, and almost as destitute of resonance, as a broker's
shop. It is a fact always worth the remembrance of those
who would limit an organ-builder too strictly in regard to
space, that one of the secrets of the good effect of many old
instruments is their comparative emptiness. They have not
only pipes to produce tone, but breathing room to improve
it.' But there would not only be unoccupied space within
the organ, but also ample free space around and above it ;
and this also would have a favourable influence on the tone,
which would sound free and mellow, which can never be the
case when an organ is confined and lacks head-room. The
elevated position of the organ would be advantageous, for its
tone would be improved as it descended, the different kinds
of stops and qualities of tone blending into one harmonious
whole. Other advantages would be secured by placing the
organ in the west gallery. ' The full force of the instrument
would pass over, instead of overwhelming those nearest to it,
into the open space before it, whence it would be diffused
throughout the edifice.' Almost every person in the church
would get an uninterrupted ray of sound. The initial impulse
would be in the direction of the congregation, and the gallery
being at the end of the church, the back wall of which would
act as a reflector, the sound would be equally dispersed
throughout the church, spreading ' somewhat after the
manner of the rays of light through the bull's-eye of a
lantern/ which could not be the case if the organ were placed
at the side of the church. The resonant wooden gallery
would have a most beneficial effect on the tone of the organ,
and there would be no absorbents near to damp it.

But if the gallery is the best situation for the organ, the
choir also would be heard to the greatest advantage if placed
therein. If it is necessary that the clergyman occupy a raised

6

82 Chapters on Church Music.

position in order that he may be heard throughout the church,
it is for the same reason necessary to elevate the choir. If
the choir occupied the gallery, the initial impulse would be
directly towards the congregation, and the effect of the
singing would be better than it can be when the singers are
placed in rows at a right angle to the congregation.

Another argument for the gallery is drawn from the fact
that singers placed there would not be seen — a fact worthy
the attention of those who, while preferring female voices to
boys', have adopted mediaeval opinions, or dislike to see
feathers and ribbons in the chancel. There can be only one
objection (to be mentioned presently) to placing the choir
where they are not seen. Everything seems to point to the
desirableness of choosing such a position for the choir and
organist. In the gallery the organist could communicate
with the choir without being perceived, and the singers would
find their places and turn over their leaves unseen. More-
over, the concealed position would be a comfort and a help to
singers who suffered from ' nervousness.' Except when he is
required to wear a surplice, and it is deemed a matter of
paramount importance that people know it, it cannot be
needful for the organist to be exposed to the gaze of the
congregation. In the gallery his movements would not be
seen. For his own comfort and the congregation's, the
organist is better concealed, especially if he has a certain
ludicrous habit. The writer once attended service at a
church where the organist 'rolled' very heavily. This
gentleman was a good player, but a very tall, thin man, with
a large head and very bushy hair and whiskers. As the
organ was at the end of the aisle and he sat at the west side
of it with his back towards the congregation, and no screen
whatever was allowed him, it was impossible not to notice his
oscillations, and think how like he was to a great metronome.*

* It is surely very important to secure such a position for the musicians
that the blowing, the manipulating, pedalling, stop-shifting, and rolling
of the organist, the turning-over of leaves and finding of places, the
signalling and whispering — all of which are more or less distracting to the
worshipper — shall be done out of sight.

The Place for the Organ. 83

It may, perhaps, be objected that if the singers were placed
where they were not seen, some of them might be tempted to
behave with levity ; and that this would not only be highly
improper in itself, but also very annoying to the clergyman,
who would see the misconduct without being able to stop it.
But it may be replied that if the organist and clergyman
together determined to put a stop to such irregularities, they
ought surely to be able to do so.

From his elevated position the organist would hear the
congregation fairly well, and, by means of a glass, see the
clergyman. He would be well in touch with the choir. It
may be pointed out in favour of the gallery, that if a per-
formance of oratorio were given in the church, the vocal and
instrumental forces and the conductor would not be seen by
the congregation. It is also worthy of remark that if the
organ and choir were placed in the gallery, more sittings
would be gained to the church — a matter of great import-
ance sometimes.

If, as has been said, a fine organ in the gallery would ' come
out grandly,' and a choir be heard to advantage, the effect of
the singing and accompaniment combined, mellowing and
blending as they descended, could not fail to be extremely
beautiful.

Of the above arguments for the old-fashioned gallery some
are weighty, and some are of less importance. When they
are all taken together, the force of them is very considerable.
And it does not weaken the conclusion arrived at, when one
remembers that the west gallery position is still retained on
the Continent, and has been abandoned in English churches
chiefly because it did not satisfy some exploded ecclesiastical
theories.* A west gallery for a large parish church, in which

* The west gallery approved itself to the good judgment of our
ancestors as emphatically the place for the organ and musicians. In many
of the finest London churches the organ still occupies the old position,
and parish church organs and choirs on the Continent are, almost without
exception, in the gallery. The traveller visiting foreign countries (Protes-
tant or Roman Catholic) seldom sees the organ standing elsewhere than
in the gallery. If the west gallery were not the best situation for the
organ, a musical people like the Germans, we may be quite sure, would

84 Chapters on Church Music.

it was proposed to erect a fine organ, probably should not be
less than 30 feet wide by 25 feet deep. And if there were a
probability of performances of oratorio being given at the
church, it would have to be still deeper.

A gallery 30 feet by 25 feet would be ample for a three-
manual organ of thirty-five sounding-stops (including a pedal
of six stops — four of them being of 16 feet — a Double Open
Diapason on the Great Organ, and a double reed on the Swell)
and a choir of forty voices. The organ would stand 7 feet
6 inches from the front of the gallery. A space 4 feet wide,
from the organ-seat to the front of the gallery, would divide
the choir into two equal parts, which might sing antiphonally.
The floor of the front seat would be 12 feet above the floor of
the church, that of the second seat 6 inches higher, and the
rest of the gallery would be raised another foot. So that the
organ would stand 13 feet 6 inches above the floor of the
church. If the church were 45 feet high from the floor to
the horizontal beams which support the roof, and 60 feet from
the floor to the apex of the roof, the top of the Pedal Open
Diapason would be about 15 feet from the beams and 30 feet
from the apex. Above the top of the swell-box (which would
be made roomy and lofty) there would be 13 feet to the
beams and 28 feet to the apex. The top of the longest pipe
of the Double Open Diapason (which would be carried down in
metal) would be some 6 feet from the beams and 21 feet from
the apex. So that there would be plenty of unoccupied space
above, as well as around the organ.*

not have retained it. But though the organ and choir still keep their
time-honoured position abroad, we find English Churchmen a quarter of
a century ago commencing to bring them down from the gallery. And
this singular departure from the old custom seems to have resulted from
the Puseyite movement. In churches where ' ritualistic ' influence pre-
vails, we invariably find a surpliced chancel choir with an organ placed
near it.

* If the church were only — say 30 feet high to the beams, and 40 feet
to the apex of the roof, and it were desirable to have a Double Open
Diapason on the Great Organ, some of the lowest notes might be of stopped
wood. Perhaps this stop might be carried down in metal as far as the
FFF of 12 feet theoretical length. But the longest pipe would rise 4 or

The Place for the Organ. 85

If the gallery were made 5 feet deeper, another pew (making
three in all on each side of the central passage) might be
added ; and if an oratorio were given, the solo singers might
be placed in it. The second and third pews and a portion of
the space between the third pew and the organ (5 feet) and
chairs placed on each side of the organ (within view of the
conductor) would seat a chorus of about sixty. A band of
some fourteen stringed instruments might occupy the remain-
ing portion of the space on each side of the organ-seat and
part of the central passage. If the conductor stood against
the front of the gallery and were elevated a few inches, and
the floor were arranged like that of an orchestra, he would be
seen by the whole vocal and instrumental force. The floor
of the first pew would be 12 feet above the floor of the church,
that of the second 6 inches higher, and that of the third
6 inches higher again. Half of the space between the back
seat and the organ would be raised 6 inches higher still, while
the remainder of that space and the organ itself would be
raised another foot. The floor on which the organ would
stand would therefore be 14 feet 6 inches above the floor of
the church. As the instrument would stand 12 feet 6 inches
from the front of the gallery, it would be well to raise the
swell, and perhaps the pedal sound-boards, 2 feet.

For a smaller church a gallery of less size would be required.
But whatever its dimensions, the front of the gallery should be
made of thin wood and kept low ; 3 feet 6 inches would be
high enough. All the wood used in the construction of the
gallery should be very dry and well seasoned, and in as long
lengths as can be procured.

In the above scheme the gallery is kept as low as possible,
partly because the intensity of sound is influenced by the
density of the air at the place where the sound is produced
(the lighter the air, the feebler the sound), and the upper

5 feet above the beams, and be only 5 feet from the apex. But probably
the church would not be large enough to require a Double Open ; and the
longest pipes in the organ would then be the CCC and CO of the Pedal
and Great Open Diapasons, the tops of which would be about level with
the beams and 10 feet below the apex of the roof.

86 Chapters on Church Music.

strata of air in a crowded church are much less dense than
the lower, which furnishes a reason why singing (especially
solo singing) from a low platform must be more satisfactory
than it would be if the singer were more elevated. It is also
desirable to secure a sufficient space between the organ and the
roof, and guard the organ from changes of temperature both
inside and outside the church, which, besides causing dis-
arrangements in the mechanism, would throw the instrument
out of tune. Ample height above the organ is also required
for the improvement of its tone.

CHAPTER II.

THE ORGAN.

AN organ should be pleasant to play upon and easy to
control; its pipes should speak promptly and steadily,
and the tone they produce be full, mellow, rich, firm, and
characteristic. Further, the playing of the instrument should
not be accompanied by any noises in the interior of the organ,
though absolute silence is not to be looked for, especially in
very new instruments. In other words, the touch should be
even, true, and prompt, and not heavy, even when two manuals
are coupled together, and the repetition good ; the draw-stops
should work easily, and the manual and pedal-keys, the draw-
stops, and the various movements used in shifting them, should
be so placed as to be well under the control of the player. In
large instruments there should be additional appliances, prompt
in action, to help the player to have full command of the
instrument. The bellows should be large enough to give a
good supply of wind ; the wind-trunks should be roomy, and
the wind-chests capacious. The sound-boards, grooves, and
pallets, should be of ample size, and every pipe should receive
its full and ample share of wind. Every pipe should, when
possible, stand on its own wind. The action (finger, pedal,
and draw-stop) should be of the best workmanship and con-
tain as few centres as possible. Only good wood and metal
should be used for the pipes, which should be voiced by
competent artists.

Such improvements have been made in mechanism by
ingenious organ-builders within the last few years, that by the
application of pneumatics and electricity, and the introduction

88 Chapters on Church Music.

of a number of mechanisms quite unknown a few years ago,
large organs, formerly rather troublesome to manage, can be
played without demanding great physical force, and controlled
without trouble. Pneumatic power is frequently employed in
modern organs. In some cases it has been used to work all
the movements and actions (finger, pedal, draw-stop, couplers,
and combination)* Studs placed near the manual keys to
effect combinations of stops are becoming not uncommon in
church organs.-f- Quite recently a firm has introduced a
valuable system of interchangeable combinational pistons,
which register any combination for any length of time with-
out interfering with the independent use of the stops. Great
attention is paid to the winding of organs. Improvements
have been made in the bellows. In larger organs separate
reservoirs for the wind have been introduced. All the stops
of a manual are not on the same sound-board and blown with
the same pressure of wind, but the stops are blown at different
pressures. The importance of having good metal for the pipes
is more generally recognised by purchasers of organs than it
was some years ago. Indeed the organs now built by our best
firms may be pronounced to be in every respect perfect instru-
ments, the only defects in them being the occasional smallness
of the pedal organs (necessitated either by want of standing-
room for the pipes, or by the costliness of pipes of large size),
and the sometimes unsatisfactory quality of their tone (the
consequence of placing instruments in unfavourable positions).
The number of stops an organ should have depends on the
size of the church, the number of the congregation, the situa-
tion the instrument is to occupy, and the acoustical properties
(which may be favourable or not) of the building. If placed
in a situation where it will be closed in, and its tone stifled, it
will need not only more blowing and voicing stronger, but also
more stops than it would require if it occupied a good position.
The west gallery is suggested (Chapter I.) as the very best

* Pneumatic organs are rapid in speech, and noiseless in action ; but
they are expensive.

t The combinations of large pedal organs are generally managed by
composition pedals.

The Organ. 89

situation for a church organ. The advantage of this position
was well known to our ancestors. In Continental churches
the organ still stands in the gallery, as it does also in many of
the London churches. In concert-halls it occupies a similar
position, standing on an elevated platform at the end of the
building. (The present craze for demolishing organ galleries
and placing choirs and organs in chancels and chambers, it
cannot too earnestly be pointed out, is most unfortunate for
church organs and church music.) If the acoustical proper-
ties of the church were unfavourable, more stops would be
required than need be allowed an organ that is to be placed in
a church more favourable to sound. As some churches have
side-galleries and others have not, it is difficult to decide on
the size of an organ from the number of sittings in the church.
Sir John Stainer, at a meeting of the Musical Association in
1886, gave 'a very rough-and-ready rule by which you can
always find out roughly the cost an organ ought to be by the
number of sittings. It ought to be about £1 a head. If
you have a church holding five hundred people, and spend
£500 on the organ, you will have one large enough for the
purpose.' It should be borne in mind that Sir John Stainer
himself speaks of this rule as a very rough-and-ready one. A
musician knows what size of organ will be required when he
sees and tries the church in which it is intended to erect one.
If unacquainted with the size, proportions, and properties of
the building, he is necessarily unable to say how large the
organ ought to be, in order to fill the church with sound and
yet not be too powerful.

But be the church big or little, and the organ favourably
placed or not, the instrument, whether a large or a small one,
must contain, first of all, some stops of 8 feet tone for the
manual, and 16 feet tone for the pedal organ, to form a
foundation tone, which must predominate. The stops next in
importance for the manual are those of 4 feet tone (sounding
the octave of the key pressed down), and then those of 2 feet
(sounding the double octave). Mutation stops, which sound
the twelfth, nineteenth, etc., of the key pressed down, should
only be introduced when the organ contains a sufficient number

90 Chapters on Church Music.

of 8, 4, and 2 feet stops.* With an organ containing only two
Diapasons, a Principal, and a Fifteenth (this latter being voiced
delicately) on the manual, and a stop of 16 feet tone on the
pedal, the singing of a good number of people might be led,
though it could not be accompanied with effect on an instru-
ment so poor in resources. While so small an organ might be
deemed sufficient for a mission-room, where perhaps a varied,
artistic accompaniment is not called for, it would require the
addition of some more stops if it were intended to be used in
a church. If another row of keys were added, and a Swell
Organ containing four stops with the same names as the four
important stops played by the first row of keys were created,
the organ would be larger and more expensive, but would
contain little more variety than the one-manual organ. It
would suffice for the support of the singing of the choir and
congregation, and produce contrasts of forte and piano, but
no colouring (so necessary in artistic organ playing) could be
got from it. If it were desired that the organist should play
artistically and render his voluntaries effectively, and intro-
duce an agreeable variety of tone-colouring in Voluntary
playing and accompanying the singing, stops of different
qualities of tone would be needed. Changes must be made
in the little two-manual organ, or new stops must be added :
viz., one or two stops of reedy quality, an 8 feet reed, and one
or two stops belonging to the flute group. To give dignity
and breadth of tone a stop of 16 feet tone must be placed on
one of the manuals. A ' Twelfth ' stop should be added to the
Great Organ, and an Open Diapason of 16 feet to the Pedal. f
Should a larger organ be needed, a Mixture and a Trumpet-
stop might be added to the Great Organ, and another reed to

* When this rule is neglected (and it often is), the foundation tone
does not predominate sufficiently, and the full organ is unsatisfactory.

f The small organ might be re-arranged and enlarged to contain the
following stops :

Great Organ: Open Diapason, Stop Diapason, and Dulciana, 8 feet.
Principal and Suabe Flute, 4 feet. Twelfth, 2| feet. Fifteenth, 2 feet.

Swell Organ: Bourdon, 16 feet. Spitzflote, Lieblich Gedackt, and
Viola, 8 feet. Gemshorn, 4 feet. Piccolo, 2 feet. Oboe, 8 feet.

Pedal Organ: Open Diapason and Bourdon, 16 feet — an effective little
organ containing sixteen sounding-stops in all.

The Organ. 91

the Swell ; also a flute of 8 feet tone to the Pedal.* In this
way, the foundation tone and the balance being carefully
maintained, the organ grows till at length it contains some
eleven stops in the Great Organ, eleven in the Swell, and six in
the Pedal, and has also another manual, the Choir Organ,
which, containing some eight stops, may be used either in
accompanying the singing or for solo purposes. Such an
organ, containing three manuals and a pedal, and thirty-six
sounding- stops (all of them being good and useful stops, and
none of them of the kind used for producing silly, unchurch-
like ' effects '), would be powerful enough for a large church,
and sufficiently varied, as to tone-colouring, for all legitimate
organ-playing.

When it has been settled that the organ shall stand in the
west gallery —or, if not in the gallery, in the next best position
in the church — and a specification of the stops the instrument
should contain, in order to be varied and large enough, but
not too powerful for the church, has been drawn up by some
competent person (none so good, probably, as the organist of
the church), it will be necessary to choose a builder to do the
work, f And now the services of the person who prepared the

* In the Pedal Organ stops of 16 feet tone must predominate. Those
of 8 feet are next in importance in that department of the organ.

•f In drawing up the specification, care would be taken that while the
instrument should possess variety, the effect of combinations of stops and
of the full organ should be satisfactory, which it often is not. If the
reeds were too numerous, or blown at too great a pressure, they would
predominate over the flue stops, and drown the pure organ tone, and the
full organ would be ' brassy.' If the instrument contained too many flute
stops, or flute stops of the wrong kind, or harmonic flutes were incautiously
introduced, the tone would be ' hooty.' If there were too many stops of
reedy quality, it would not be round and ' velvety.' Among the flue
stops (of whatever pitch), the diapason work (by which is meant cylin-
drical, open, metal stops of open diapason scale) should predominate. If
it did not, the organ would lack ' body.' The Swell, as well as the Great
Organ, should be perfectly balanced, and quite satisfactory when used
alone ; and it should be borne in mind, in drawing up the specification,
that the two organs, each with its own body and quality of sound, will
be coupled to form a full organ.* The fundamental tone must predomi-

* The Choir Organ is seldom used in forming a full organ. It generally
consists of only a few 8 and 4 feet flue stops of delicate quality, and one

92 Chapters on Church Music.

specification will be very valuable ; for there are builders and
builders, and when there are so many builders to select from,
unprofessional persons will not always choose the best. It is
very desirable that the organ committee should be assisted by
someone who thoroughly understands organs. For some firms,
good enough to rank as second-rate builders, can make good
mechanism, but the tone of their organs is not pleasing. Their
work, from key to pallet, is fairly well done, but the tone (of
the first importance in a musical instrument) is far from good,
being shrill and coarse when it should be bright, full, and
mellow. Their diapasons are not firm, rich, and sonorous, nor
have the different stops sufficient individuality of tone. And
there are builders who can neither make a good action (much
less a fine one) nor voice pipes. If there were ample funds,
the musical adviser of the organ committee, with whom the
obtaining of a fine organ would, it may be presumed, be a
matter of paramount importance, would probably find it his
easiest and best course to send copies of the specification to
the best London firms, and ask them to give estimates for the
work. If it happened that the estimates were too costly for
the committee to entertain, some of those excellent provincial
firms who have produced such good work might next be
applied to. But great caution should be used in accepting
estimates from builders of little or no reputation. Their organs
may cost less than those of the leading builders, but they are

nate. There must be a good number of 8 feet, a smaller number of
4 feet, and a still smaller number of 2 feet flue stops. ' Twelfths' and
mutation ranks of pipes must be comparatively few in number. The
foundation tone must predominate even when the full organ up to the
Mixtures is used — that is, it must not be left to the reeds (as is often the
case) to maintain it when the full organ is used. The pedal organ, if the
instrument is to be of fair size, should contain three 16 feet, and one or
two 8 feet, flue stops, as well as a 16 feet reed. To impart dignity,
' double ' stops (the pipes of which sound the octave below the note pressed
down) should be included in the scheme. A small organ should have a
Bourdon of Lieblich quality on one of the manuals — a larger instrument
will require one of larger scale — and an organ of fairly large size might

or two soft reeds — a Corno di Bassetto, Clarinet, or Cremona, and
perhaps a Cor Anglais or Oboe.

The Organ. 93

not likely to be so good and durable. Cheaply-made organs,
and organs made by men whose great aim is to gain as much
money as possible by their business, soon prove troublesome.
They are continually needing repair, and sometimes even
collapse altogether, after a few years' service. Moreover, the
tone produced by pipes made of poor metal, and badly voiced,
is greatly inferior to the tone of the pipes a first-rate builder
makes for his organs, and an imperfect action is very unsatis-
factory for many reasons. Cheap organs, it has been said, are
not durable ; but a really good and well-built organ, if placed
where it would be free from damp, draught, and sources of
heat, and properly cared for, would serve for many genera-
tions of parishioners, reasonable wear and tear allowed for.
Rather than order a large organ of inferior quality, it is better
to have a smaller one made by a first-rate builder. A few
good stops make better music than a great number of poor
ones ; and it is better, when sufficient funds are not immedi-
ately forthcoming, to leave out the pipes of some of the stops,
or, in other words, to have so many ' blank slides.' The pipes
(always expensive, if made, as they should be, of good metal)
might be put in as soon as the money to purchase them was
raised. If an organ committee will 'have a deal for their
money,' they may perhaps succeed in beating some builder
down in price, and getting a large organ for a comparatively
small price. But they must not be angry with the builder if
the instrument in a few years begins to fail, or breaks down
altogether. They would have a cheap organ, and they must
make the best of their bargain. Dr. Hopkins remarks : ' Will
the organ [if the builder has been prevailed on to lower his
price] when completed, rank as highly as a work of art as it
was originally intended by its designer it should do ? Will it
reflect more than temporary credit on its builder ? A few
years pass, and the organ itself probably solves these problems.
And, as though to reduce its existence to the shortest span,
the crowded organ has perhaps been consigned to a site

have an open metal stop of 16 feet on the Great Organ, as well as a Bourdon
on the Swell. A Pedal Organ of ten stops should contain an Open
Diapason of 32 feet, or at least a Sub-bass of 32 feet tone.

94 Chapters on Church Music.

bounded by cold or damp walls, where the leather-work has
quickly rotted, the brass- work corroded, the iron- work rusted,
the glue soddened, and the accurate adjustment of the several
parts of the wood-work, by swelling, been disturbed. Crooked
or bruised metal pipes, cracked wooden pipes, running sound-
boards, twisted rollers, double frictional resistance opposed to
the fingers at the keys, and numerous other such fatalities,
too frequently indicate what are and must ever be among the
most probable distinctivenesses of the " cheap organ." Nor is
the builder exactly to be held responsible for all this if he
gave timely advice and warning.' (Rimbault and Hopkins,
1 The Organ,' p. 304.) In matters connected with organ-
building, amateurs are liable to be misled by appearances.
They see an imposing array of stop-handles, or read on paper
a long list of stops, or perhaps they note with satisfaction that
the organ contains a very great number of pipes. But these
things are not always an index to the size and quality of an
organ. Of the numerous stops some may be incomplete (with-
out pipes in the bass), and some may be half-stops (being
managed by two knobs instead of only one). Mixture stops
may be divided in order to get a larger number of draw-stops ;
the most important stops, as the diapasons and pedal stops
(which are also the most costly), may be few in number ; and
the organ may contain an excessive number of small and
inexpensive stops. In order to get a great number of pipes, a
great number of chorus stops (the pipes of which are short
and inexpensive) may be introduced, and the organ may
contain sadly too few of the longer and more important pipes.*
Or some of the pipes may be made of inferior metal, or of a
different kind of metal. The long pipes of stops, which should
be of metal throughout, may be of the cheaper material, wood ;
or the basses of stops which should extend throughout a
manual, may be wanting, and borrowed from other stops of
similar quality by grooving or other means. Or whole stops
may be borrowed. These artifices, it may be said, are some-
times so cleverly managed that it is hardly possible to detect

* In which case it will want balance, and the foundation tone will not
predominate.

The Organ. 95

the omission, except by counting the pipes of each stop. All
this shows that, in some cases, the help of a competent person
may be very useful to an organ committee. It will, in the
end, be found the truest economy to employ a first-rate
builder to erect the organ. If his terms seem high, it must
be remembered that he has a high reputation to maintain, and
dare not, even if he wished, turn out work that would bring
him discredit. The organ he will erect will be made of the
best material, will be well finished, will please eveiyone by its
beauty of tone, and will be durable. As the maker of fine
astronomical instruments deserves as much honour as the dis-
coverer who benefits by his skill and inventive power, so the
builder of fine organs is entitled to share our respect with the
accomplished organist who owes so much to his skill.

In ' restoring ' an organ it will generally be desirable to
have new wind-chests and a new action, also new bellows.
Indeed, almost everything, probably, ought to be new — except
the pipes, which, perhaps, might be worth retaining. In
many cases it would be better to sell the old organ, and let
the new organ be, indeed, a new one throughout. Dr. Rim-
bault has preserved a characteristic story of Snetzler. When
the churchwardens of Lynn asked this eminent builder what
their old organ would be worth if repaired, he told them
that ' if they would lay out a hundred pounds upon it,
perhaps it would be worth fifty.' (Rimbault and Hopkins,
'The Organ,' p. 148.)

If a firm of high reputation were employed to build the
organ, confidence might be placed in them ; and, as such a
firm must understand their business better than anyone else,
the less they were interfered with, the better for the organ.
But if the work were placed in the hands of an inferior builder,
the quality of the metal to be used for the pipes, the scale of
some of the principal stops, the kind of wood to be used for
certain parts of the organ, and sundry other particulars, should
be stated in his estimate. It should be agreed that the
bellows shall be double-feeding and double-leathered, and
have silent valves and regulators, and that they shall give a
steady and equal pressure at all stages of inflation, and con-

96 Chapters on Church Music.

tinue to give an ample supply of wind when the full organ is
used ; that the wind-trunks shall be roomy, short, and direct,
and the wind-chests capacious (or, if necessary, that separate
reservoirs shall be made), and that the pipes shall be steadily
winded ; that there shall be no robbing (of wind), but each
pipe shall have an ample supply — the sound-boards being
large, with deep grooves and large pallets and pallet-holes, or
double grooves in the bass of the Great and Swell organs. If,
as is desirable in all but small organs, the reed-stops are to
have a separate sound-board, and be blown by a heavier wind,
this should be stated. It should be agreed, further, that the
sound- boards shall be large, and as many pipes as possible
stand on their own wind, and that long conveyances shall not
be used for the front pipes, but these pipes have a sound-
board of their own. The agreement should state, further,
that the tables, sliders, and bearers of the sound-boards shall
be made of mahogany ; that the touch shall be light, even,
and true, and the repetition satisfactory — relief-pallets of some
kind being used for the Great and Swell organs of instruments
of middling size, and in larger instruments the pneumatic
lever or tubular pneumatic action.* (The manual organs,
whether large or small, if the keys are far from the pipes, and
in every case the Pedal organ, even though it should be of the
smallest, should be built on the tubular pneumatic system :
which insures prompt response when the keys are pressed
down, and silence the instant the hands or feet quit them.)
It should also be agreed that iron rollers shall be used ; that
the action (finger, pedal, and draw-stop) shall be silent ; that
the draw-stops shall work easily, and the couplers be free from
friction ; that the swell-box shall be very roomy, and contain
all the pipes belonging to the Swell organ, and the wood of
which it is made be at least 2 inches thick — or 2J inches
if the organ is a large one ; and that all the wood used in the
construction of the organ shall be well seasoned, the workman-
ship of the first order, and all the action- work carefully

* In a large three- manual organ probably the pneumatic lever would
be applied to the Great and Swell and couplers, and tubular action to the
Pedal Organ.

The Organ. 97

finished in every detail. Whoever may build the organ, it
might be stated in the agreement that the work shall be done
to the satisfaction of some competent judge, who would know-
how to test it.

The organ should, if small, have a neat appearance ; if large,
it should look imposing. There can be no necessity for making
an organ look tawdry, mean, or ugly, or giving it the appear-
ance of a great four-poster bed. If the funds will admit of the
organ having a case above the impost, it should harmonize in
style with the church, and in colour with the rest of the
wood-work. If placed in a west gallery, this harmony with
the surroundings in style and colour would, perhaps, not be
so important, and the case then might be of dark wood.
Whatever the style, the case should not prevent the tone of
the pipes from making its way into the church. Better no
case than one by which the pipes are stifled as in a great box.
The front pipes, instead of being arranged in an unbroken
flat, may be grouped in flats and towers, and their tops may
be concealed by some carved wood-work. They may be plain,
gilt, or diapered. If painted all kinds of tints, which har-
monize neither with one another nor with anything in the
building, their appearance will be more striking than pleasing.
If well gilded, front pipes have a beautiful appearance ; and if
slightly diapered, they look exquisite. A front of plain metal,
if the metal contains a large percentage of tin, has a fine
silvery appearance. Unfortunately, tin is dear, and as metal
of poor quality is cheap, fronts of dull, leaden-looking metal
are more common than fronts of tin or fine spotted metal.
Front pipes are sometimes made of inferior metal, and gilded.
But if gilded pipes of poor metal were as handsome, they could
not produce as good a tone as pipes of fine metal. A front of
well-gilded pipes of fine metal would satisfy both those who
like gilt pipes and those who insist on fine quality of tone ;
but if it were a 16 feet front, it would be so costly that
one would not venture to suggest it. Zinc is often used for
long metal pipes to save expense, and fronts are made of it.
But though large pipes of zinc give a good tone, zinc fronts
have not a beautiful appearance. The gray colour of the

7

98 Chapters on Church Music.

metal is not pleasing to the eye. Perhaps zinc pipes would
look better if they were suitably decorated. The pipes
generally used for fronts are the Double Open Diapason and the
Open Diapason in the Great Organ, and the Violone (metal) and
the Open Diapason (metal) in the Pedal Organ. If a small
organ, with no longer metal pipes than the Open Diapason of
8 feet, must have two fronts, the second might be of wooden
pipes nicely decorated. The west gallery organ needs but one
front, and this should be very handsome.

In suggesting that a first-rate builder should be employed
to construct and erect the organ, the writer stated that a
really good organ, if free from damp, draught, and sources of
heat, and properly cared for, would serve for many generations
of parishioners. By property caring for the instrument is not
meant inconsiderately depriving the organist of a source of
income by refusing to allow him to give lessons, and his
pupils to practise on it, which uses of the instrument can in
no way be injurious to it : though the opinion has begun to
grow in certain quarters that a church organ should not be
used for teaching purposes, and no one should practise
thereon but some few privileged persons. The choice of a
dry place for the organ (and bellows) is most important. If
an organ is put up where there is damp or draught, it will
certainly take cold and wheeze, or become asthmatic and
gasp for breath, or it will grow stiff with rheumatism. It will
not be long before it is unfit for work. The effects of heat
(often felt when an organ is too near a roof, on which the
sun's rays pour in summer) show themselves chiefly in the
deranged mechanism of the instrument.

The pitch of a church organ should not be too high.
Perhaps a pitch of C = 512 vibrations is the best. This pitch,
being about a semitone below concert pitch, suits choirs and
congregations well. It does well for Handel's music and the
music of the eighteenth century generally, also for the com-
positions of the present time. But it would be found too low
for wind-instruments, if such were required to take part in a
performance of oratorio in the church. A pitch of C = 528,
which is only a third of a semitone below concert pitch, and

The Organ. 99

not quite half a semitone above the pitch suggested, would
suit them better. Another pitch to which organs are some-
times tuned is the French normal diapason, which is half-way
between the two mentioned. But the low pitch (C = 512)
seems to be quite the best, inasmuch as it suits the voices
better than a higher pitch would ; and it is surely wiser to
consult the convenience of the congregation and choir, who
are singing weekly, perhaps daily, to the organ, than the
wind instruments, which in few churches are used more than
once or twice a year, and in most churches never. It may be
added, that while a band of stringed instruments is required
for a performance of oratorio, the wind instruments are not so
indispensable when there is a good organ.

Till recently organs were so tuned that some keys were in
such good tune that they ' flowed like oil'; but (the number
of sounds in an octave being much greater than the number
of notes on a keyed instrument) the rest of the keys were
necessarily painfully out of tune. This system of tuning was
called Unequal Temperament. While it was evidently un-
suited to concert-hall organs (which must play in all keys),
many have thought that Unequal Temperament might have
been retained for church organs, which, by a little manage-
ment on the part of the organist, may avoid playing in the
bad keys, except, indeed, in some anthems and organ-pieces,
which while generally in a favourable key, modulate more or
less frequently into keys that on an organ tuned to Unequal
Temperament are out of tune. The late Dr. Wesle}^ long
upheld the old system of tuning and opposed the new, the
(so-called) Equal Temperament, in which every key is slightly
out of tune, and not one chord can be played that is perfectly
in tune. One result of the introduction of the present system
of tuning has been a radical change in the composition of
Mixture stops ; Tierces (ranks of pipes sounding a third above
the double octave) to which the old Sesquialtera owed so
much, being so offensive on an equally tempered organ that
they are always omitted in modern Mixtures. But whatever
may be the merits and faults of the two systems of tuning, it is
useless to discuss them here. The tuner will certainly tune

ioo Chapters on Church Music.

the organ to Equal Temperament, even though the instrument
be required only to accompany the simplest psalmody.

Not only should the organ be of suitable size, but its pipes
should be scaled and voiced to suit the church, and the
situation the instrument is intended to occupy. Some organs
are so unfavourably situated that every means has to be tried
in order to render them powerful enough for the building,
and the organ-tone, instead of being full and mellow, is often
harsh and piercing. But if it is happily resolved to place the
instrument in a favourable situation, there can be no need for
either a monster organ or an overblown one. In a large
church the reeds of the Great and Pedal organs might, to
their improvement, be put on a wind an inch higher than the
flue stops ; and if the organ of a very large church had no
Solo organ, a second 8 feet reed might be placed on the Great
organ and blown at a high pressure.* As a general rule the
Great and Pedal organs should be well blown up, and pipes of
large scale used in these two departments of the organ. The
scaling of the pipes would vary according to the size of the
church. The longest pipe of the Great Organ Open Diapason
for a small church might be only 5 inches in diameter ; but
for a large church the diameter of the same pipe might be
6 or 7 inches. The block of the CCC pipe of the wood Pedal
Open Diapason for a church of medium size might measure
10 x 12 inches, or an inch more each way ; but for a large
church 12 x 14 inches, or even an inch or two more.

It has been said that good metal — that is, metal containing
a good proportion of tin and only a small proportion of lead —
is expensive. An organ with pipes of good metal costs con-
siderably more than one with pipes that are composed chiefly
of lead. But though good metal is costly, it is so much
superior to poor metal as material for organ pipes, that the
extra cost of it should not prevent its being used. Pipes of
good metal produce a much finer quality of tone than can be

* Except in the case of tubas, the pressure for the reeds (even in a
building of the very largest size) should probably never exceed 5 inches.
If the reeds are either too numerous or overblown, the instrument will
sound more like a brass band than an organ.

The Organ. 101

got from poor metal, and securing a fine quality of tone is a
thing of the first importance in organ-building. Though
expensive to purchase, pipes of good metal prove eventually
the cheapest, for they are very durable. They will last a
very long time — even hundreds of years. Another excellent
property of good metal is that pipes made of it are hardly
affected by changes of temperature, which is equivalent to
saying they keep well in tune. ' Spotted metal ' is much
used, and is highly valued as material for pipes. But there
are different qualities of it, from the finest, which contains a
high percentage of tin, to the poorest, which contains much
less of the organ- builder's precious metal. As ' spotted metal '
is a somewhat vague term, it may be well to say that all the
metal pipes of 6 feet length and under (or if there were ample
funds at disposal, all down to 8 feet) should be made of fine
spotted metal, that for the diapasons being of good thickness.
The 8 feet metal flue stops of the Choir Organ (the Gamba
especially) should be of almost pure tin.* To save expense,
the longer metal pipes are often made of zinc, which is cheap,
stands well in tune, and answers very well for 16 feet Pedal
Open Diapasons and Yiolones and the basses of Great Organ
Double Open Diapasons. Some good basses to the manual
Open Diapasons have been made of zinc, when it has been
necessary to study great economy. This metal is also used
sometimes for the tubes of 16 feet reeds.

It is curious that if organs are sometimes played by elec-
tricity or pneumatics, they are often blown by hydraulic
power, steam, or even gas engines. Of hydraulic blowers
Duncan's engine is one of the very best. As gas engines
seem to be coming into favour, they are probably found cheap
and satisfactory. f But whatever kind of engine may be

* If the authorities had not much money to spend on their organ, they
should nevertheless try to have ' spotted metal ' for at least the Great
Organ Open Diapason, the Choir Dulciana and Gamba, and all the reed
stops in the organ.

f Gas engines are used to blow the organs at St. Paul's and West-
minster Abbey. The great organ recently erected at Sydney is blown
by one of ten horse-power.

102 Chapters on Church Music.

adopted, levers should be provided, so that, if the motive-
power were suddenly cut off, the bellows might be blown by
manual power.

Some other particulars may be noted. To bring the
manuals closer together and render the playing easier, the keys
should overhang and be cut away underneath. If the pedal
keys are of good medium size, it matters little what may be
the pattern of the pedal-board.* As that to which he is most
accustomed is to every player the best, it is hard to say which
is the best kind of pedal- board. It is to be regretted that one
scale and pattern are not universally adopted. If the pedal-
board recommended by the College of Organists were intro-
duced everywhere, organists would not find themselves
somewhat at a loss when they have to perform upon strange
instruments.

Sometimes the stop-handles are arranged in such a manner
as to confuse the player, or they are not labelled legibly enough.
A black lettering in plain capitals is the best for the names of
the stops. The number of feet tone should be put below the
names, and mutation stops should be correctly labelled. A
Twelfth should be labelled ' 2f feet ' (not 3 feet), and a pedal
Quint ' 10§ feet ' (not 12 feet). The stop-handles might be of
rosewood polished, and the labels ivory-turned. The use of
different colours for the labels does not help distinctness. If
the manual stops, pedal stops, and couplers were kept together
in groups, and a clear space left between each group, and in
the spaces plates were fastened with the names of the de-
partments the stops belong to, all would be perfectly clear.
In each group the stops should be arranged according to their
pitch — the 16 feet stops at the bottom, and the Mixtures at
the top ; but the reeds should be placed above the Mixtures.
The Great Organ stops should be on the right hand of the
player, and the Swell stops on the left. The stops of the
Pedal Organ should be below the Swell stops, and the couplers
should be at the bottom of all on the left hand. The Choir
Organ stops should be on the right hand, and below the Great

* There is certainly no reason for preferring radiating pedals to the
old-fashioned kind.

The Organ. 103

Organ stops, if the Choir Organ be (as it usually is) the lowest
manual. The Great to Pedal should be placed so near the
' Swell to Great ' that the two knobs may be drawn together .
With the same object, the stop-handle of the Pedal Open
Diapason should be placed near these stop-handles. The three
knobs might be placed so as to form a triangle. This ar-
rangement, always convenient, is especially useful in two-
manual organs. There might be two knobs for the Great to
Pedal, one at the right and the other at the left hand of the
performer, both being so marked, or placed, as to be very dis-
tinguishable. It would be an advantage if the stops drew
obliquely, that is, towards the player.

The composition pedals might be arranged as follows : The
Choir Organ on the extreme right, the Swell on the extreme
left, the Pedal and Great in the middle (the Pedal being to the
left of the Great) * In each group the pedal on the right
might draw the softest combination, and that on the left the
loudest. The words 'Choir,' 'Great,' 'Pedal/ < Swell,' might
be painted very legibly in black letters on a white ground, or
(which is better) in white letters on a black ground, on the
wood-work above each set of composition pedals. If above
each pedal numbers, or some abbreviation indicating the com-
bination effected by the pedal, were painted, it would be
helpful to the player. The Swell pedal and the pedal for
bringing the Great to Pedal coupler on and taking it in,
should be parallel with the pedal keys, and not in the way of
the player when he uses the composition pedals. These two
pedals should be so placed, shaped, or coloured, that they
may be immediately distinguished from the composition pedals.
All the composition pedals should be so placed that when
fixed down they will not be in the organist's way when he
plays on the pedal keys. Instead of composition pedals, or
when it is sought to have more combinations than can be con-
trolled by pedals, pistons or studs controlling the stops by

* The stops of the Pedal Organ are sometimes controlled by the pedals
operating on the Great Organ stops : one pedal drawing at once all the
Great and all the Pedal stops ; another a soft Great and Pedal organ, and
so on.

104 Chapters on Church Music.

pneumatics are sometimes used. When the ventil system is
applied, the ventils (which cut off the wind from, or admit it
to, certain stops) are often managed by pedals. The system
of interchangeable combinational pistons has already been
mentioned.

The writer cannot quit this subject without expressing his
wonder that good, nay, even fine instruments, should so often
be in the hands of incompetent players. Not only are good
two-manual organs frequently operated on by people (male or
female) who, while they may perhaps be able to play the
piano, or even to manage a harmonium, have had little prac-
tice in organ -playing, and perhaps less instruction ; but fine
three-manual organs are sometimes placed in the hands of
ignorant and unskilful people, who are quite unequal to
managing them. To those who know that the difficulties of
organ-playing are great, and mastered only after years of
practice, and that the beauty, variety, and grandeur of a fine
organ can be exhibited only by a well- instructed player who
possesses taste and experience, it is plain that ignorant and
inexperienced organists cannot do justice to an organ, and
that a fine instrument, if placed in their hands, must be ' com-
pletely thrown away.' It is surely absurd for a congregation
to go to the expense of erecting a fine organ and then appoint
a person who knows little or nothing of organs and organ -
playing to play it. A fine organ, in the hands of a master,
can not only perform beautiful and devotional voluntaries, but
its different qualities of tone, when artistically varied and
combined, give to the instrument the power to enhance the
beauty of the music it accompanies. But to purchase a fine
organ, with its various contrasts of power and tone-colour,
and then appoint a self-taught experimenter, whose ideas are
of the crudest, and who has not even mastered the first prin-
ciples of organ-playing (which is an art to be learned only
with good instruction and after years of study and practice) is
like buying an expensive box of paints for a child to colour
with, or spending a thousand pounds on a telescope for a
beginner in astronomy to discover new worlds with. Novices
can neither manage organs nor mix the stops, and money

The Organ. 105

spent in providing fine instruments for them to play upon (or
rather it should be said, to practise on) is so much money
wasted. It passes the comprehension that clergymen and
congregations should know the importance of having fine
organs in their churches, and yet desire no better playing
than female music-teachers, shopmen, clerks, and the like can
supply.* An organ of small size and poor quality, one thinks,
might satisfy the musical requirements of people who are
satisfied with the feeble, experimental performance of ignorant
and incompetent organists.

The following are specifications of organs suitable for
churches of different sizes. The cost of building them would
depend upon the workmanship and the quality of the material
used in their construction, the quality of the metal used for
the pipes, and (to some extent) the reputation of the builder.
The organs are supposed to be erected, not in organ- chambers,
but in favourable situations, and to be blown at a suitable and
not over-great pressure. Fancy stops (Vox Angelicas, Voix
Celestes, Vox Humanas, and the like) and Tremulants are not
included in the specifications. They might be added, if
desired, to the Swell or Choir of any of the organs. They
would not be acted upon by any of the composition pedals.
In every case the compass of the manuals is supposed to be
from CC to g in alt. (56 notes), and that of the Pedal Organ
CCC to f (30 notes).

I. — A Two-manual Organ for a Church of the very

SMALLEST SIZE.

Choir Organ.

Ft. tone. Pipes.

1. Rohrflote (wood bass), wood and metal,

CCtoG 8 56

2. Dulciana, metal, CC to G . . .8 56

3. Viol da Gamba (grooved into No. 2), metal,

tenor C to G . . . .8 44

4. Suabe Flute, wood, CC to G . . .4 56

212

* And such * organists ' are appointed when (may we not fear ?) com-
petent men are unemployed, and almost starving.

io6

Chapters, on Church Music.

Swell Organ.

1. Open Diapason (five lowest notes closed wood),

wood and metal, CC to G.

2. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

3. Gemshorn, metal, CC to G

4. Oboe, metal, CC to G .

Pedal Organ.
1. Bourdon, wood, CCC to F

Couplers.
1. Swell to Choir. 2. Choir to Pedal. 3. Swell to Pedal.

Ft. tone.

Pipes.

>

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 4

56

. 8

56

224

. 16

30

Number of stops in Choir Organ

Swell „
Pedal „

5)

Number of sounding stops
,, couplers

Total number of stops

Number of pipes in Choir Organ

Swell
Pedal

5>

5J

5J

Total number of pipes

9
3

12

212

224

30

466

If height were wanting, all the bottom octave of the Open
Diapason might be of wood stopped.

II. — A Two-manual Organ for a small Church.

Great Organ.

Ft. tone. Pipes.

1. Bourdon, wood, CC to G . . .16 56

2. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G . .8 56

3. Stopped Diapason (metal treble), wood and

metal, CC to G . . . . 8 56

4. Viola (wood bass), wood and metal, CC to G . 8 56

The Organ.

107

Ft. tone. Pipes.

5. Principal, metal, CC to G . . .4 56

6. Suabe Flute, wood, CC to G . . .4 56

7. Mixture (II. Ranks— 12, 15), metal, CC to G . 2| 112

8. Clarionet, metal, tenor C to G . . .8 44

Swell Organ.

1. Spitzflote, metal, CC to G

2. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

3. Gemshorn, metal, CC to G

4. Piccolo, wood, CC to G .

5. Oboe, metal, CC to G .

Pedal Organ.

1. Open Diapason, wood, CCC to F

2. Bourdon, wood, CCC to F

3. Bass Flute, wood, CCC to F .

Couplers.

1. Swell to Great. 2. Great to Pedal

Number of stops in Great Organ

Swell „
Pedal „

>>

Number of sounding-stops
„ couplers

Total number of stops

Number of pipes in Great Organ

Swell „
Pedal „

Total number of pipes

One of the Great Organ composition pedals m

if

8
8
4
2

8

16
16

8

492

56
56

56
56
56

280

30
30
30

90

3. Swell to Pedal.

8
5
3

ight draw and
reduce to Nos. 3 and 8. * Clar/ might be painted over it.

16
3

19

492

280

90

862

io8

Chapters on Church Music.

Another, with ' Choir ' painted over it, might draw and reduce
to Nos. 3, 4, and 6, which combination would form a substitute
for a Choir Organ.

One of the composition pedals to the Swell might draw and
reduce to Nos. 2 and 5, and be labelled ' Oboe.'

III. — A Two-manual Organ for a Church of medium

SIZE.

Great Organ.

Ft. tone. Pipes.

1. Bourdon, wood, CC to G

2. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

3. Stopped Diapason (metal treble), wood and

metal, CC to G . .

4. Dulciana (grooved into No. 3), metal, tenor

C to G

5. Principal, metal, CC to G

6. Wald Flute, wood, CC to G

7. Twelfth, metal, CC to G

8. Fifteenth, metal, CC to G

9. Full Mixture (III. Ranks), metal, CC to G

10. Trumpet, metal, CC to G

11. Clarionet, metal, tenor C to G

Swell Organ.

1. Lieblich Bourdon, wood, CC to G

2. Spitzflote, metal, CC to G

3. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

4. Keraulophon (grooved into No. 3), metal,

tenor C to G

5. Gemshorn, metal, CC to G

6. Piccolo, wood, CC to G

7. Oboe, metal, CC to G .

8. Cornopean, metal, CC to G

9. Clarion, metal, CC to G

16

8

8

56
56

56

8

44

4

56

4

56

Z3

56

2

56

various

168

8

56

8

44

704

16

56

8

56

8

56

8

44

4

56

2

56

8

56

8

56

4

56

492

The Organ.

109

Pedal Organ.

1. Open Diapason, wood, CCC to F

2. Bourdon, wood, CCC to F

3. Bass Flute, wood, CCC to F .

4. Trombone, wood, CCC to F

1. Swell to Great.

Couplers.

2. Great to Pedal.
4. Swell Octave.

Ft. tone. Pipes.
. 16 30

.16 30

. 8 30

. 16 30

120

3. Swell to Pedal.

A composition pedal (marked ' Clar.') should draw and
reduce to the Great Stopped Diapason and Clarionet. Another
(marked ' Choir '), Nos. 3, 4, 6. The pedal that draws the
Full Great should also draw the Full Pedal.

One of the Swell composition pedals (marked ' Oboe ') should
draw and reduce to Nos. 3 and 7.

Number of pipes in Great Organ

Swell ,,
Pedal ,,

i>

Total number of pipes

Number of stops in Great Organ

Swell ,,
Pedal ,,

)5

Number of sounding-stops
,, couplers

Total number of stops

704
492
120

1,316

11

9
4

24
4

28

For the above a three-manual organ with 29 sounding-stops
and 6 couplers (in all 35 stops) might be substituted. In
this case the Great, Swell, and Pedal Organs might have the
same stops as the above (with the exception of the Clarionet
in the Great Organ, which would not be needed). Two
additional couplers would be required, viz., Swell to Choir

no

Chapters on Church Music.

and Choir to Pedal. The third manual (the Choir Organ)
might contain the following stops :

Ft. tone. Pipes.

1. Salicional, metal, CC to G

2. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

3. Flauto Traverso, metal, tenor C to G

4. Rohrflote, metal, CC to G

5. Salicet, metal, CC to G

6. Clarionet (in a separate swell-box), metal,

tenor C to G

8
8
8
4
4

8

56
56
44
56
56

44

312

IV. — A Three-manual Organ for a large Church.

Great Organ.

1. Double Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

2. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

3. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

4. Stopped Diapason (metal treble), wood and

metal, CC to G

5. Viola (wood bass), wood and metal, CC to G

6. Principal, metal, CC to G

7. Harmonic Flute (wood bass), wood and metal

CCtoG .

8. Twelfth, metal, CC to G

9. Fifteenth, metal, CC to G

10. Mixture (III. Ranks), metal, CC to G

11. Posaune, metal, CC to G

Swell Organ,

1. Lieblich Bourdon, wood, CC to G

2. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

Ft. tone.
16
8

8

8
8
4

4

Z3

2

various

8

Pipes.
56
56
56

3. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

4. Salicional, metal, CC to G

5. Principal, metal, CC to G

6. Wald Flute, wood, CC to G .

16
8
8
8
4
4

56
56
56

56
56
56
168
56

728

56
56
56
56
56
56

The Organ.

1 1 1

7. Flautina, metal, CC to G

8. Mixture* (III. Banks), metal, CC to G

9. Oboe, metal, CC to G .

10. Horn, metal, CC to G .

11. Clarion, metal, CC to G

Ft. tone. Pipes.
2 56

various 168
8 56

8 56

4 56

Choir Organ.

1. Lieblich Gedackt, wood. CC to G

2. Spitzflote, metal, CC to G

3. Dulciana, metal, CC to G

4. Viol da Gamba (grooved into No. 3), metal,

tenor C to G

5. Gemshorn, metal, CC to G

6. Rohrflote, metal, CC to G

7. Piccolo, metal, CC to G

8. Corno di bassetto (in a swell-box), metal,

CC to G .

Pedal Organ.

1. Open Diapason, wood, CCC to F

2. Bourdon, wood, CCC to F

3. Violone, metal, CCC to F

4. Principal, wood, CCC to F

5. Bass Flute, wood, CCC to F

6. Trombone, metal, CCC to F

Couplers.

728

8

56

8

56

8

56

8

44

4

56

4

oQ

2

56

8

56

436

16

30

16

30

16

30

8

30

8

30

16

30

1. Swell to Great.

2. Swell to Choir.

3. Swell Octave.

4. Great to Pedal.

5. Swell to Pedal.

6. Choir to Pedal.

180

* A Mixture in the Swell now appears for the first time in these specifi-
cations. It is often placed too early on this manual — sometimes in very
small swells where there is not a 2 feet stop — and is then destructive of
all balance.

I 12

Chapters on Church Music.

One of the Great Organ composition pedals (marked ' Full ')
might draw all the Great and Pedal stops. There might be
a pedal (marked ' Ob.') to draw the Swell Oboe and Stop
Diapason, and reduce to them ; and one (marked ' Reed ') to
draw and reduce to Nos. 1 and 8 of the Choir Organ ; also two
pedals to the Pedal Organ — one, to draw and reduce to Nos. 2
and 3 (marked ' P ') ; the other, to draw Nos. 1 to 5 (marked
'16 and 8 feet').

Number of stops in Great Organ . . 11

„ „ Swell

» •

11

Choir

>» •

8

„ „ Pedal

>> •

6

Number of sounding-stops

36

,, couplers

6

42

Number of pipes in Great Organ .

. 728

„ „ Swell

» •

. 728

Choir

» •

. 436

Pedal

» •

. 180

2,072

In the above scheme a 32 feet stop (either an Open
Diapason or a Sub-bass) might be added to the Pedal Organ.

V. — A Three-manual Organ for a Church of the

LARGEST SIZE (OR A CATHEDRAL).

Great Organ.

1. Double Open Diapason, metal, CC to G.

2. Bourdon, wood, CC to G

3. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

4. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

5. Stopped Diapason, wood, CC to G.

6. Gamba, metal, CC to G

7. Claribel Flute, wood, CC to G

8. Principal, metal, CC to G

Ft. tone.

Pipes.

. 16

56

. 16

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 4

56

The Organ.

"3

Ft. tone. Pipes.

4
4

92-

2

various

8
4

56
56
56
56
168

56

56

1,176

9. Harmonic Flute, metal, CC to G

10. Gemshorn, metal, CC to G

11. Twelfth, metal, CC to G

12. Fifteenth, metal, CC to G

13. Fall Mixture (III. Ranks), metal, CC to G

14. Sharp Mixture (IV. Ranks), metal, CC to G . various 224

15. Posaune (on a heavy wind), metal, CC to G .

16. Clarion (on a heavy wind), metal, CC to G .

Swell Organ.

1. Bourdon (metal treble), wood and metal,

CCtoG .

2. Open Diapason, metal, CC to G

3. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

4. Keraulophon, metal, CC to G

5. Principal, metal, CC to G

6. Wald Flute, wood, CC to G .

7. Twelfth, metal, CC to G

8. Fifteenth, metal, CC to G

9. Mixture (III. Ranks), metal, CC to G

10. Contrafagotto, metal, CC to G

11. Oboe, metal, CC to G .

12. Horn, metal, CC to G .

13. Clarion, metal, CC to G

Choir Organ.

1. Lieblich Bourdon, wood, CC to G

2. Spitzflote, metal, CC to G

3. Lieblich Gedackt, wood, CC to G

4. Dulciana, metal, CC to G

5. Viol da Gamba (grooved into No. 4), metal

tenor C to G

6. Clarabella, wood, tenor C to G

7. Gemshorn, metal, CC to G

8. Flauto Tra verso (wood bass), wood and metal

CCtoG .

9. Flautina, metal, CC to G

8

. 16

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 4

56

. 4

56

2^
z3

56

. 2

56

. various

168

. 16

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 4

56

840

. 16

56

. 8

56

. 8

56

. 8
l

56

h

. 8

44

. 8

44

. 4

56

. 4

56

. 2

56

1 14

Chapters on Church Music.

32

30

16

30

16

30

16

30

16

30

8

30

8

30

4

30

16

30

8

30

300

Ft. tone. Pipes.

10. Corno di bassetto, metal, CC to G .8 56

11. Orchestral Oboe, metal, fiddle G to G .8 37

(Nos. 10 and 11 in a separate swell-box.)

573

Pedal Organ.

1. Open Diapason,* metal, CCC to F

2. Open Diapason, wood, CCC to F

3. Open Diapason, metal, CCC to F

4. Bourdon, wood, CCC to F

5. Yiolone, wood, CCC to F

6. Principal, metal, CCC to F

7. Bass Flute, wood, CCC to F

8. Fifteenth, metal, CCC to F

9. Ophicleide (on a heavy wind), metal, CCC to F
10. Trumpet (on a heavy wind), metal, CCC to F

Couplers, etc.

1. Swell to Great. 4. Great to Pedal.

2. Swell to Choir. 5. Swell to Pedal.

3. Swell Octave. 6. Choir to Pedal.

7, 8, 9, three ventils controlling the Pedal Organ, and
worked by stop-handles, as follows :

No. 1 (labelled ' Wind to M. P. Ped.'), to admit wind to the
wood Open and the Bass Flute.

No. 2 (labelled ' Wind to F. Ped.'), to admit wind to the
Open Diapason (32 feet), the metal Open (16 feet), the Prin-
cipal, and the Fifteenth, and draw No. 1 Ventil, but not take
it in when it is itself pushed in.

No. 3 (labelled ' Wind to Full Pedal '), to admit wind to the
reeds, and draw No. 2 Ventil, but not take it in when it is
itself pushed in.

No. 1 Ventil, when pushed in, to take in No. 2, and No. 2,
when pushed in, to take in No. 3 with it.

When No. 1 Ventil is pushed in, the wind is cut off from
all the pedal stops except the Bourdon and Violone, which are

* If there were not room for this stop, a Sub-bass of 32 feet tone might
be substituted for it.

The Organ.

"5

on a sound-board without a ventil ; and when No. 3 is drawn,
the wind is admitted to all the pedal stops.

Or, instead of ventils, the Interchangeable Piston system
mentioned on p. 88 might be applied. It is applicable to
tubular pneumatics, on which system pedal organs are usually
constructed.

The composition pedal which draws the full Great Organ
should draw the ' Wind to Full Pedal.'

Number of stops in Great

Organ .

16

Swell

» •

13

Choir

» •

11

„ „ Pedal

)}

10

Number of sounding-stops

50

„ couplers, etc.

9

Total number of stops .

59

Pipes in Great Organ

. 1,176

„ „ Swell

. 840

„ „ Choir „

. 573

„ „ Pedal

. 300

Total number of pipes

1

. 2,889

If a Double Trumpet of 16 feet, another Open Diapason
(8 feet), a Quint of 5 J feet, an ' Octave ' of 4 feet, a Harmonic
Piccolo of 2 feet, another rank of Mixture, and a Tromba on a
high pressure were added to the Great Organ, and a Sub-bass
of 32 feet to the Pedal, and the scaling and voicing of the
pipes, and the different pressures throughout the organ were
proportioned to the size of the room or edifice, the above
instrument would be powerful and varied enough for use in a
building of the very largest size. Or, instead of the Tromba
in the Great Organ, a Tuba might be placed in a Solo Organ,
which might also contain the Corno di Basse tto (from the Choir
Organ, to be replaced there by a Clarionet), two Flutes (of 8 and
4 feet), a stop of string tone, and an Open Diapason. Two new
couplers would be required : Solo to Great, and Solo to Pedal.

CHAPTER III.

THE ORGANIST.

THE writer having frequently had occasion to speak of the
importance of securing the services of a good organist
for a church, and to remark on the foolishness of appointing
ill-qualified musicians, when better might be had, now ventures
to suggest what qualifications an organist should possess. For
obvious reasons he would have preferred not to write on the
subject, but it did not seem possible, in a book treating of
Church music, to omit a chapter on the Organist.

It goes without saying, that the organist of a parish church
whose duty it is to perform upon a fine organ and lead the
praises of the sanctuary, ought to be a good player and sound
Church musician. But it may, perhaps, not be out of place to
consider what such a person should know, and in what he
should be efficient, in order to perform his duties effectively.

An organist should be a good player, and in order to be
this, he must (1) have a good technique. He must be a skilful
manipulator and pedipwlator, and have a good grasp and
command of the instrument. But good playing does not con-
sist (as many seem to think) in the power, acquired by long
practice, to play difficult music at a great speed. Merely
mechanical dexterity in organ playing, though very useful to
its possessor, is scarcely more worthy of admiration than are
the extremely clever manipulative and pedipulative feats of
those performers who throw knives and dance among eggs at
a fair. It may seem a clever thing for a man who has fifty-six
pieces of ivory and thirty pieces of wood before him, to nimbly
travel over them at a great speed with hands and feet, and
never touch a wrong one. And players who can do this, and

The Organist. 117

nothing more, have often been applauded. But the test of
musicianship is not the faultless mechanical rendering of a
fast piece of music, but rather the tasteful and expressive per-
formance of a slow movement. There are organists who can
play Bach's G minor fugue mechanically at the proper pace,
but would fail (because they want musical feeling) if they
were asked to render an expressive andante, lar ghetto, or
adagio. A man may be a ' brilliant ' player, and yet have ' no
music in his soul.' Such an organist astonishes the vulgar
by the rapidity of his execution, but there his power ceases.
He cannot afford genuine delight to people of culture, for he
neither comprehends the meaning of any good music he may
attempt, nor possesses ' soul ' enough to render it with expres-
sion. He is not in sympathy with the music, and his rendering
is either tame and unmeaning, or distorted and egregiously
incorrect. A true organist, on the other hand, not only plays
a slow movement with correct taste and deep feeling, but his
rendering of a rapid fugue is very different from that of the
mere manipulator. The playing of both the manuals and the
pedals is phrased, and the fugue is treated logically (so to
speak) by an artistic use of the different manuals and stops.
The player, understanding the general character, the compo-
sition, and the development of the fugue, introduces meaning
and expression into even so unpoetical a composition as a
fugue, which in his hands is not so many pages of entangled
harmonies and unintelligible notes running like * confusion
worse confounded,' but, to the connoisseur, an intellectual
treat of the highest order. As a painter must know how to
mix his colours, so an organist must (2) know how to mix his
stops, to do which he requires a cultivated taste and a fine
ear. An organist, to deserve the name of a good player,
must (3) understand something of harmony, counterpoint, and
composition ; and (4) must render his voluntaries, not as a
machine would, but with perception and taste — not straining
after 'effect,' but seeking to express the thought of the com-
poser and the inner meaning of the music* It is most

* The individuality of the player will show itself. Two excellent
recitalist3 would not give precisely the same rendering of a piece.

1 1 8 Chapters on Church Music.

desirable (5) that he be possessed not only of musical soul and
cultivated taste, but also of intelligence and devotional feeling,
in order that his accompaniments may beautify, and not spoil,
the psalmody. To accompany sacred music, the player must
understand with the head the sense of the words, and feel
with the heart the beauty and sublimity of the canticles,
psalms, hymns, and anthems he accompanies. It is a pity
that even good musicians sometimes show by their playing
that they either do not grasp the sense of the words, or are
incapable of feeling the beauty of the thought they express.
They handle the organ well, and play with much artistic
taste ; but wanting intelligence or devotional feeling, they
either fail to throw their lights and shadows where the sense
of the words requires them, or else throw them where they
ought not to be, and so stultify the sense. In the verse, ( Ye
who have sold for nought,' of the hymn ' Blow ye the trumpet,
blow,' the sense is perfectly clear. It might be thought that
every organist would see that while the first two lines should
be played softly, there should be an increase of organ power
in the third and fourth. But the writer has heard this verse
played softly throughout, whereby the point was quite lost.
Perhaps the organist was one of that school who hold that
such words as ' holy,' ' love,' ' peace,' should always be played
softly, regardless of the connection in which they occur ; or
perhaps he was unable to grasp the sense ; or perhaps he had
regard only for the music and thought the expression of the
words a matter of no moment ; or perhaps he did not think
at all.* An organist to properly perform his duties as an

* It is in their accompaniments that organists are generally weakest.
Some, feeble players and possessing neither musical taste nor devotional
feeling, are contented to play the notes as written, as well as they can.
They always play the first and last verses loudly, and their registering is
altogether unmeaning. Others have a good grasp of the organ, but, for
want of taste and judgment, they merely display themselves and their
organs. Others are good organ-players, and vary the stops artistically,
and play with musical expression. Yet, from a devotional point of view,
their performance is unsatisfactory ; for they miss the point in some
places, and destroy the sense in others. Some play correctly, and use
the organ artistically, and observe the marks of expression their hymn-

The Organist. 119

executant, should be able (6) to extemporize a soft opening
voluntary, and (7) to transpose at least a chant or a psalm-
tune at sight. To be able to handle the organ well, to know
how to mix the stops, to possess sufficient musical knowledge
and perception to comprehend the music of the great masters,
and taste to interpret it worthily, to accompany with intelli-
gence and devotional feeling, to be able to extemporize a slow
movement, to have facility in transposing, — these qualities
should be absolutely required of every parish church organist,
considered only as a player.

But as most organists have other duties to perform besides
playing the organ, yet more qualifications are required of
them. To be properly equipped, organists must possess taste
and judgment that they may choose tunes to suit the words ;*
must know their work as choir-masters, teachers, trainers, and
conductors ; should be able to tune the reed-stops, and know
enough of the construction of organs to be able to put right
any slight disarrangements ; must be acquainted with at least
two of the C cleffs (the alto and tenor) ; must know the ele-
ments of harmony, counterpoint, and form (in sacred music) ;f
and must be acquainted with the proper method (so far as it
is known to us) of rendering anthems of the old school.

In the above the writer has briefly stated what qualifica-
tions as to executive power and Church musicianship should
be demanded of organists. But a Church organist may be
duly qualified musically, and yet not be perfectly fit for his

books contain ; and yet even their performance is greatly inferior to that
of some organists one has heard, who seem to pour their whole soul into
the organ, and make the instrument not merely beautify the music, but
chant and sing in a truly devotional manner. It seems that an organist,
however skilful and careful a player he may be, cannot do full justice to
the psalmody, if he wants genius (that Promethean fire) and the fervour
of a religious soul.

* There are organists to whom clergymen dare not entrust the choosing
of the tunes.

f They need not, however, be 'composers.' A great musician, speaking
of the vanity and ambition of our numerous would-be composers, said :
' To judge from the tons of mere exercise work published annually, every
church and chapel organist must be a born "composer"!'

120 Chapters on Church Music.

post. An organist who holds a church appointment should
take a proper view of the dignity of his office, and this without
over-rating his own importance. (While the office is a high,
even a sacred one, the man, in his own estimation, should
count as nothing.) He should be punctual in his attendance,
and reverent in his behaviour in church ; and he should not
be vain, or frivolous, or too self-willed. His conduct will
influence that of the choir, who will copy him if he be punctual
and reverent, but will find a ready excuse for any departures
they may make from punctuality and reverence, if he be
wanting in these qualities. Vanity and frivolity, and want of
reverent feeling, will lead him to seek approbation when he
should be thinking of the worship of God, and to choose a
popular, but unsuitable, style of music for his voluntaries.* If
he be too self-willed, he will not long work in harmony with
the incumbent. It is also desirable that he be a patient man,
for his temper will often be tried ; and he should possess tact,
for he will probably have to deal with some very ' touchy '
people, who are more ready to take offence than to bear cor-
rection, and he must know how to administer praise without
ministering to vanity and creating envy.-(-

Most people who read this (probably very imperfect) enu-
meration of the musical and other qualifications that are
required of Church organists, will think that enough is asked
of the members of a poorly paid profession. But there are
some who require that organists shall be men of first-rate
education.^ As it is attempted to treat the question of educa-

* An earnest clergyman, and one whose powers as a preacher are very
great, told the writer that he was greatly troubled by the want of rever-
ence shown by his organist, who could not (or would not) see the impro-
priety of concluding Divine service with a frivolous tune on the organ.

f It may be worth saying, that to be quite fit for his post and happy
in it, an organist should hold the same views as the clergyman and con-
gregation of the church to which he is appointed. A Dissenter would not
be quite in his right place if he were engaged to play the Church services.
And there could be little sympathy between an old-fashioned Churchman
and a young organist of the new school who liked Gregorians and choral
celebrations.

J The writer ia informed that clergymen are beginning to prefer
organists who have taken a B.A. degree.

The Organist. 121

tion in the Appendix, it may be sufficient here to notice the
absurdity of appointing to vacant organistships well-educated
men, who, however, are perhaps only very inferior musicians,
in preference to men who have not had ' a good education,' but
are able and experienced organists. Music being a language
with a grammar of its own, and an art governed by its own
laws, seems to have little in common with the subjects read
during an University course. To perform effectively upon an
organ, understand and interpret musical compositions, choose
music for the Church service, and train a choir, a man cer-
tainly does not need a knowledge of Classics and Mathe-
matics.

Hoping thereby to secure the services of men of pious con-
versation, clergymen sometimes impose one or both of two
tests on candidates for vacant organistships. It is not un-
common to see in a newspaper an advertisement for an
organist who must be a communicant ; and sometimes it is
stated that candidates should be ' total abstainers.' The
writer was staying at the house of a clergyman who had adver-
tised for an organist, but had not imposed these tests on
candidates. Every post brought letters from applicants, of
whom some stated that they were communicants, and others
that they were ' total abstainers,' while others said they were

both. The excellent Mr. T thought no better of the

applicants for giving this gratuitous information. He could
not understand how total abstinence could be a recommenda-
tion in an organist, and he did not like candidates who were
so ready to proclaim that they were communicants.* He
required, indeed, of his organists that they should be sober
men ; and, while he would not in the smallest degree force
them, hoped that they were, or would become, communi-
cants.

* The use that advertisers for organistships and places as domestic
servants make of the fact of their being communicants often seems
suspicious, and sometimes truly impious. It apparently does not occur
to unsuspecting clergymen, that by imposing the communicant test they
may sometimes tempt people, who are very anxious to obtain a situation,
to commit an act of impiety of a horrible and peculiarly dangerous kind.
But the subject is a painful one.

122 Chapters on Church Music.

Years ago it was the delight of the writer, as often as he
could, to attend the service at St. Sepulchre's Church, where
the late George Cooper was organist. (This was before the
rage for choral services, surpliced choirs, and pulling down
west galleries had seized on us.) All who have heard t}iat
great organist will remember that he handled the organ in an
artistic and truly devotional style in his voluntaries and
accompaniments. We have in the following remarks of the
late Sir John Goss* an insight into George Cooper's mind,
and the principles that guided him : ' He always places the
worship of God first, then the composer's views or intentions,
his choir next, then his organ, and himself last/t This
admirable musician not only had complete mastery over his
organ, and played it with taste ; but he rendered the music
with expression, and his intelligence and devotional feeling
enabled him to accompany the psalmody in a truly delightful
and elevating manner. While few organists could attain to
such perfection as musicians, all might, with benefit to the
Church service, try to cultivate the same spirit of piety which
led this excellent organist to 'place himself last.'

* Reproduced by a writer who knew Goss and Cooper, in a letter to the
Musical Standard of June 14, 1890.

•J* Many of our modern organists exactly reverse this order, and place
themselves first, and the worship last.

L

CHAPTER IV.

VOLUNTARIES.

OVERS of the organ cannot have failed to notice with
concern the remarkable falling-off in voluntaries. The
object of this paper is to hold up the mirror, and call the
attention of our younger organists to the irreverent style of
voluntary-playing adopted by some of them, and the unsuit-
ableness of such music in the services of the Sanctuary.

It seems to the writer that a want of artistic and devotional
feeling, combined, in some instances, with vanity (which
prompts the desire to show off a skilful manipulation to an
admiring congregation and gain public applause), must be at
the root of this change. This much, at least, is certain, that
a person wanting in devotional feeling is as much unfitted to
officiate at a church organ as a dull, heavy person, devoid of
rhythmical feeling, and having no appreciation for the light
and pretty in music, would be out of place if he figured as
pianist at a dancing-party. And, as to the silly promptings
of vanity, these, if yielded to, will destroy the usefulness of the
church organist, who, as a servant of the Church, appointed
to lead the praises of the Almighty, should be influenced by
no selfish feelings, but simply by the desire to do his duty
well.

The church is a ' house of prayer,' and not a field for the
performances of an egotist. An Old Testament prophet says,
• The Lord is in His holy Temple'; and our Lord says, ' Where
two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of them.' Remembering these plain words of Scrip-
ture, a moment's consideration will show how irreverent and

124 Chapters on Church Music.

horrible a thing it must be, for an organist of a church to turn
to his own use the assembling of the people in the Lord's
House, and seek, by brilliant displays of ' finger/ and adopting
a light, ' popular ' style of voluntary, to get public applause —
in other words, to seek his own glorification rather than the
glory of Him from Whom music and all other good gifts come ;
to lay his offering on the altar of self ; and — worse than the
Unprofitable Servant in the parable — to appropriate the
Talent entrusted to his charge, and use it for his own pur-
poses.

From the artist's point of view, anything like pandering to
an uneducated, popular taste is to be deprecated. Forkel says
of Bach : ' He never worked for the crowd, but always had in
his mind an ideal perfection, without any view to approbation.
He sang only for himself and the Muses.' And Dr. Crotch,
in his Lectures, says : ' A lasting reputation is seldom acquired
quickly. It is by a slower process — by the prevailing com-
mendation of a few real judges — that true worth is finally dis-
covered and rewarded.' At the same time, however, an
organist, being no more than human, is, and must be, often
sorely tempted to forget these canons and ' play to suit the
people ' and win a speedy reputation as a musician.

In speaking of the taste of the people as uneducated, the
writer makes no mistake. The public like to be pleased, and
care very little about Art, of the great principles of which they
are profoundly ignorant. The sublime they consider a ' bore.'
They find nothing admirable in a Doric column, a cartoon of
Raffaele, or a majestic composition of Bach. Indeed, one may
say without hesitation, that if a great master of the organ were
to play the most sublime composition of Bach, and the name
of the player and the composition were unknown to the con-
gregation, not half-a-dozen persons would stay to listen to
him. But if next Sunday a young organist of the new school
were to play a light ' showy ' piece, full of ' effects ' — the more
exaggerated the better, to be sure ! — introducing ' fancy stops '
and tremendous contrasts of tone and colour, and making a
great display of manipulation and pedipulation — all of which
go for so much with the multitude — many would stay and

Voluntaries. 125

listen to the ' pretty music' This shows not only an unculti-
vated taste on the part of the public, but also a profound
ignorance of the real art of organ-playing and the difficulties
thereof.* The connoisseur of the organ despises the weak,
sentimental style and ' pretty ' effects, and hates exaggeration
and the never-ending use of ' fancy stops '; and, far from con-
sidering rapid mechanical playing the Ultima Thule of musical
navigators, insists on correct phrasing, and many other good
qualities. But he gives the chiefest place to a refined taste
and expression. And properly so. A skilful manipulation
may be got by long practice ; but feeling, which makes the
musician as well as the poet, when it is found at all, is inborn,
and cannot be acquired. Feeling, which is the very soul of
music, is as much nobler than mere mechanical skill as the
human soul is more precious than the body. A barrel-organ
plays with the utmost correctness ; it attacks and executes
the most difficult passages with absolute precision ; it is truly
a wonderful mechanical player ; nay, it is even provided with
stops : but, for all this, the connoisseur does not like it, for to
him there can be no music where expression is wanting.

Of introductory voluntaries little need be said, except that
they are intended to ' edify,' and not to amuse, and tickle the
ears of the congregation, who are about to join in the most
serious of all business — the Service of the Church. As people
when they are in church ought to lay aside all worldly
thoughts as improper for the occasion, so the organist should
for the time forget all secular strains, and choose some quiet
calm movement for his voluntary. A soft, slow piece for the
organ, which requires no showy registering, but may be played
on the Swell Diapasons and the 8 feet flue-stops of the Choir
Organ, or a slow extempore movement — not unmeaning, but
artistically constructed as to form, and contrapuntal in style —
makes a better introductory voluntary than Rossini's ' Cujus

* Sir Joshua Reynolds says : ' It is the lowest style of art, whether of
painting, poetry, or music, that may be said, in the vulgar sense, to be
naturally pleasing. The higher efforts of these arts, we know by ex-
perience, do not affect minds wholly uncultivated. A refined taste is the
consequence of education and habit/

126 Chapters on Church Music.

Animam ' (which is not organ music at all), and does not
distract the devout worshippers, who are tuning their hearts
and minds ' to great Jehovah's praise.'

The use of the concluding voluntary, someone says, is to
cover the noise and shuffling made by the people as they leave
church.* But surely this is putting to an ignoble use an
artist and the ' king of instruments/ whose powers are so
beautifully referred to by the poet in his great Ode :

1 But, oh ! what art can teach,
What human voice can reach
The sacred organ's praise ?
Notes inspiring holy love,
Notes that wing their heavenly ways
To mend the choirs above.5

It seems to the writer that the use of the concluding volun-
tary is not so much to ' play the people out,' as to furnish a
worthy and appropriate termination to a service in which
music is often employed. Nay, an organist may use his
' divine art ' to accentuate, as it were, the leading thought of
the sermon by choosing a suitable voluntary. Thus, a sermon
in which the Everlasting Kingdom of our Saviour is dwelt
on, may most appropriately, and with excellent effect, be
followed by the ' Hallelujah ' chorus on the organ. Or the
voluntary may be chosen to suit the Sunday, the season, the
lessons, or even some striking passage in the Psalms, as some
clergymen choose the texts for their sermons. For example,
on Septuagesima Sunday, ' The heavens are telling/ if not
sung as an anthem, would be a suitable voluntary •* ' Lift up

* The little attention paid to their concluding voluntaries has led some
organists to ' play the people out,' and then perform one or two pieces
for the benefit of those who love organ music, At some London churches
the organists give a short recital after the evening service. Many will
remember the beautiful performances of the late George Cooper at St.
Sepulchre's, when the organ (then the largest in London) stood in the
gallery.

t This favourite piece might be played as a concluding voluntary on
a fine moonlight night. Care should be taken that the voluntary really
be appropriate. It is amusingly related of an organist, that he played
'Achieved is the glorious work' at a wedding, and of a vocalist, that he
sang ' Be thou faithful unto death ' on a similar occasion.

Voluntaries. 1 27

your heads ' would suit Ascension Day (and the morning
Psalms for the fifth day of the month) ; and after evening
service on Easter Day, ' The horse and his rider ' chorus
might be played, or, still better, ' Worthy is the Lamb' and
the ' Amen ' chorus. On the other hand, an organist may
almost destroy the effect of a sermon by playing an inappro-
priate voluntary. What more dreadful than to hear the
familiar and joyous strains :

. ' See the conquering hero comes,

Sound the trumpets, beat the drums,'

coming from the organ, when one has just been listening to a
funeral sermon on the death of some estimable person : what
more excruciating, and repulsive to our best feelings, than to
hear an organ strike up a dance-tune, a roaring march, or a
frivolous offertoire, when we are moved by the eloquence of
some earnest preacher! And yet even such indecencies as
these are committed.

In a famous place of worship in London the writer once
heard — with amazement — a noisy, popular march played as a
concluding voluntary. Shortly afterwards he was at the
Crystal Palace, and heard the same march on the organ there.
The feeling that prompted such a display in the sacred
building was detestable, as was also the effect of the music
within those hallowed walls ; but the Palace player showed
his correct judgment by choosing a popular, secular piece
with which to please his audience, and there the effect of the
march was excellent, the music being suited to the building,
the audience, and the occasion — a display of fireworks. The
writer once spent some time at a large town, and visited some
of the churches. At one church an appealing sermon was
hardly ended and the benediction pronounced, when the
organist commenced a gavotte, to which the congregation
danced slowly out of church. At another church an earnest
sermon by a venerable preacher was followed by a quick
march, the martial strains jarring strangely on the ear. At
other churches books full of marches, French music, and
offertoires, lay on the organ-stools — stuff easy enough to play,

128 Chapters on Church Music.

but a sad substitute for the voluntaries of Kink, Hesse, and
other genuine organ music.

Having dealt with the light and popular voluntary, and
said something of the peculiar unfitness of such playing in
church, it will be refreshing to turn over the leaf and give one
or two examples of the highest and purest style of organ-
playing, which may be taken as worthy models of the grand
and devotional concluding voluntary. Let our first example
be an extemporaneous Prelude and Fugue by a great musi-
cian,* one of whose magnificent performances — if, indeed,
that can be called a ' performance/ when the listener forgets
the performer, and the delighted mind feeds on the music,
as the glorious sound-waves come rolling on one after another
— the writer was privileged to hear.f For our second example
of grand and legitimate organ-playing we will go to Germany,
where the organists of the more important churches often
extemporize in a truly learned and masterly style. The
writer will not soon forget the performance of one of them,
who extemporized in the true organ style — the style of Bach.
(The reader will find this kind of playing described in Forkel's
1 Life of Bach,' chapter iv.) This was the art the venerable
Reinken thought was lost, till he heard Bach play. Although
few could hope even to approach these two great masters of the
art, whose performances have been chosen as models of con-
cluding voluntaries, much less to attain to such perfection,
yet that is no reason why anyone should wilfully forget the
true style of organ-playing, and, wandering from the road
that leads to Parnassus, set out for the musical Antipodes.]:

* The late Sir Frederick Ouseley. This amiable gentleman, when the
writer thanked him for his kindness in playing, said he 'could play better
thirty years ago.' It cannot be out of place here to record a remark
which shows the greatness of a truly estimable Church musician.

f Cecil in his ' Remains ' tells us that he was overwhelmed by Handel's
music, yet he never in his life heard it, but he could think of something
else at the same time. ' But,' he says, ' there is a kind of music that will
not allow this. Dr. Worgan has so touched the organ at St. John's that
I have been turning backward and forward over the Prayer-book for the
first lesson in Isaiah, and wondered that I could not find Isaiah there !'

| As there appears to be, in some quarters, a growing distaste for ex-
tempore voluntaries, it may be well to say that this kind of playing has

Voluntaries. 129

Pandering to an uneducated public taste by playing light,
popular music, is the more inexcusable, as some of the great
masters have left us a rich legacy of music composed expressly
for the organ, and their other works furnish hundreds of
pieces which, with very little ' adapting,' would make excel-
lent voluntaries. As some of this classical music is easy, even
learners may play good music for their voluntaries. (It
would, indeed, be undesirable that they should force on con-
gregations their crude rendering of Bach's music.)

If the question were put, Which would be the more appro-
priate conclusion to Divine service — a grand organ fugue or
chorus by one of the great masters, or a trumpery dance-
tune, march, or frivolous offertoire ? everyone would say the
former. And yet there are not a few young organists who
in actual practice choose the latter, to the scandal of their
profession, the disgust of all intelligent people, the distraction
of the devout, and the grief and annoyance of their clergymen,
who are naturally hurt when their evangelical efforts are
capped by an unseemly display by some conceited or ambitious
manipulator.

Our good ancestors, in composing and playing, carefully dis-
tinguished the different styles, and kept in view the genius of
the instruments on which their thoughts were to be produced.
Forkel says of Bach and his eldest son, William Friedmann :
' Both were elegant performers on the clavichord ; but when
they came to the organ, no trace of the harpsichord player
was to be perceived. Melody, harmony, motion, etc., all was
different — that is, all was adapted to the nature of the
instrument and its destination. When I heard William
Friedmann on the harpsichord, all was delicate, elegant, and
agreeable. When I heard him on the organ, I was seized with

at least two great advantages — it may be either jubilant or plaintive (to
suit the season or the sermon), or neutral in character, and it may easily
be brought to an end. At churches where the in-going voluntaries are
not extempore, it often happens that either the piece has to be mutilated,
or spun out by a coda of the organist's improvising, or perhaps a portion
of it repeated ; or the clergyman has to remain seated till the ceasing of
the organ announces to him that he may begin the service.

9

1 30 Chapters on Church Music.

reverential awe. There all was pretty ; here all was grand
and solemn. The same was the case with John Sebastian,
but both in a much higher degree of perfection. The organ
compositions of this extraordinary man are full of the expres-
sion of devotion, solemnity, and dignity; but his unpre-
meditated voluntaries on the organ, where nothing was lost
in writing down, are said to have been still more devout,
solemn, dignified, and sublime.'

An irreverent voluntary is the offspring of ignorance and
vanity, and perhaps, ambition, and is a certain sign of a want
of true artistic and devotional feeling, which is the chiefest
qualification of a Church musician. * I foresee,' said Hannibal
sadly, ' the fall of Carthage.' And when the writer considers
the immense influence that Church organists have in forming
the public taste, and then thinks of the frivolous strains he
has so often heard in church, he is put in mind of that
exclamation. Will the true art of organ-playing in the
course of a few more generations become a thing of the past,
only to be read of in books ?

The writer's object in this paper is to call attention to a
matter of great importance, whether it be regarded from an
artistic or a devotional point of view. And at the risk of
being thought tedious, he has endeavoured to be clear. More
might have been said on our subject ; but we may now con-
clude with the beautiful words of Hufeland — words which,
though addressed to members of a very different profession,
might profitably be studied by many Church organists :
' Thine is a high and holy office ; see that thou exercise it
purely ; not for thine own advancement, not for thine own
honour, but for the glory of God and the good of thy neigh-
bour. Hereafter thou wilt have to give an account of it.'

CHAPTER V.

THE USE OF THE ORGAN IN THE CHURCH SERVICES.

UNTIL lately it would have been thought strange if anyone,
writing seriously about Church music, had spoken
slightingly of the church organ. But some time ago the
writer of an article in a leading paper called the organ a
1 necessary evil, but still an evil,' and advised every clergyman
who had not already an organ in his church, to pause before
he got one. This writer believes that the bad choral singing
heard in so many churches, is to be attributed not only to
want of proper training, but also to an undue love for, and an
excessive use of, the instrument in the Church services.
While he is a lover of vocal harmony and anxious for the
improvement of church choir singing, he appears to have
only a poor opinion of the church organ. While admitting
that organs may be useful to accompany elaborate music, he
believes that ' choirs which never sing anything beyond a
fairly simple anthem or service would do well to sing without
organ altogether; in other words, that an organ accompani-
ment spoils good harmonized singing.' There need be no
difficulty, he says, in starting the hymns and chants * if the
organ were entirely banished,' for the matter might be ar-
ranged somehow. ' The sounding of the key-note on a pitch-
pipe might seem at first strange to a congregation unused to
it, but not half so strange as the noise of an organ would be
to a congregation accustomed only to unaccompanied singing.'
Every musician will understand this writer's love for un-
accompanied choral harmony. All who have heard ' Almighty
and Everlasting,' and similar anthems sung by a good cathedral

132 Chapters on Church Music.

choir, will readily concede that such compositions are better
without the accompaniment of an organ, especially as instru-
ments are now tuned. In the beautiful compositions of the
old contrapuntists for the Pope's chapel, the organ would be
still more objectionable. But choruses alia Palestrina are
the most difficult of all choral music, and they are not often
heard in our churches. Before our choirs can sing the coro
a capella they must attain to perfection, and judging from the
present rate of progress, this may perhaps happen about the
year 3000. At present they would fail in a ' fairly simple
anthem or service/ if they were unsupported by the organ.
Besides, in anthems and services there is often an organ part
which is not a doubling of the voices, but an independent
accompaniment, and to omit this would be to ruin the com-
position.* One of the easiest and best known anthems is
Clarke's ' I will lift up mine eyes ;' but if this were sung
without the organ the effect of a considerable portion would
be absurd. If our choirs were able to render the Church
music without the help of an organ, their performance would
be extremely pleasing to listen to; but people would soon
become weary of unaccompanied choir-singing, and wish to
hear the organ again. Besides, there could be no congrega-
tional singing, worthy of the name, without the organ. The
choir alone could not lead and support the congregation, for
it would not be heard sufficiently. To do this an organ is
required, and the instrument does it admirably. It binds
together the harmonious voices of the choir and the (often)
inharmonious voices of the congregation, into one mass, and
covers innumerable faults which would certainly spoil all the
best efforts of a choir that sang without accompaniment. The
tendency of congregations is to drag and sing flat, and the
choir alone would not be able to keep them from falling and

* In some anthems the accompaniment is almost, if not quite, as im-
portant as the voice parts. In Wesley's great anthem, * The Wilderness,'
there is, in places, so much work for the instrument, that the organ part
is written on three staves. True, such compositions are not 'fairly
simple ' music, but the number of easy anthems and services which could
not be performed without an organ accompaniment is great.

The Use of the Organ in the Church Services. 133

dragging most lamentably, if even they were able to keep up
the pace and pitch themselves. It would be necessary pretty
often to have recourse to the ' pitch-pipe.' The above has been
written only because the article to which reference is made
appeared in a very high -class paper indeed, which is read by
the clergy and other influential people.

A church organ is used to lead, support, and bind together
the voices of the choir and congregation, and cover over the
faults in the congregational singing, which, without the help
of an instrument, either could not exist at all or would be
very offensive. But the instrument is further useful. By
supplying a musical colouring and light and shade varied to
suit the sense of the words, it causes the Psalms and hymns
and anthems to strike the heart with greater force. With its
different qualities of stops, it can, in the hands of a master,
produce beautiful effects ; and it has the power to vary the
harmonies and produce beautiful contrasts. It also announces
the tunes that are about to be sung, and its persuasive tones
invite the people to join in the psalmody. Formerly a short
organ-piece, or middle voluntary, was played ; and this practice,
though perhaps it was not quite liturgical, was certainly very
agreeable to musical people. In some churches a voluntary
is played during the collection, or short pieces are played
between the offertory sentences. Even before the service
commences, the soft strains of the organ are heard as the
skilful musician preludes. A grand and devotional piece of
organ-music — perhaps extemporaneous, perhaps the composi-
tion of some great writer for the organ — closes the service ; or
a number from some oratorio, chosen because the words either
suit the leading thought of the preacher, or make reference to
some event in sacred history, or some great truth that has
been put before the congregation in the service for the day,
affords sincere, and (may it not be said?) holy pleasure to
people who have just completed their religious duties. Since
the organ can do, and in good hands often does, all this, it
must be a great power for good in a church. If in bad hands
it proves a source of mischief, this makes nothing against the
usefulness of the organ itself. The gentleman who wrote to a

134 Chapters on Church Music.

paper to say he ' wished half the organs in England were
burnt up,' could never have heard the organ well played.

But our proper subject is ' The use of the organ in the
Church services.' The organ, considered as an accompanying
instrument, can produce the most marvellous effects for good
or for evil. It can bring out the sense of the words, or stultify
it — it can raise devotion to the highest pitch, or destroy it by
causing music that should ' lift the soul to heaven ' to become
frivolous and unmeaning.

If a congregation take part in the singing — and unquestion-
ably congregations ought to be encouraged to do so — the
organist's chief business is to lead and support them. This
being so, he cannot play with as much expression as he would
if he only had to accompany a choir or chorus of trained
singers. He can introduce light and shade and variety of
colouring only to a limited extent. Delicate accompaniments
are not heard at all. While the accompaniment must not be
obtrusive, it must be loud enough to support the congrega-
tion. Sudden changes, when the sense demands them, are
artistic, but not always very safe. A change from / to pp
frightens the congregation, who stop at once, as if afraid to
hear their own voices, and a change from p to ff is a signal
for congregations (and sometimes choristers) to scream. For
all this, considerable light and shade may be introduced, espe-
cially if the choir be strong. A monotonous organ accom-
paniment can never be required. There are contrasts and
climaxes that must be powerfully marked. It can never be
necessary to play with the swell reeds drawn from the beginning
of the service to the end, or to accompanj^ the hymns on the
full Swell with an octave coupler drawn — though the writer
has heard this done. The continual use of the reeds is pleasing
only to .^those who prefer noise to expression, and think the
' trumpet's loud clangour ' the most pleasing of all musical
sounds — though these players perhaps find a precedent for
their noisy registering in the compositions of some modern
musicians. (The proper use of the full Swell, with the cres-
cendo, especially if the Pedal Diapasons are used at the same
time, produces one of the finest effects obtainable on a musical

The Use of the Organ in the Church Services. 135

instrument. It is therefore to be regretted that the abuse of
these means by some organists — especially the swell pedal, too
often used in unmeaning ' see-sawing ' — should have led others
somewhat to neglect the magnificent effects to be obtained by
a judicious use of the full Swell.) In anthems, which are
rendered by the choir only, the organ may be quite artistically
varied ; the organist's talents may fully display themselves,
and full justice maybe done to the music. The accompanying
of choral music (strictly so-called) is different from, and easier
than, congregational music. In accompanying congregational
singing, it is always necessary to put on more organ- power
than would be used in accompanying a choir only ; for in a
church where all sing, the choir and the organ are heard well
only by those near them — and this is especially the case when
the organ and choir are on the ground-floor. A feeble accom-
paniment deadens the spirit of the people, but a free use of
organ-power makes them sing. In a fairly large church where
the people take part in the singing, the amount of organ-tone
should seldom, if ever, be reduced below two Diapasons and
the Principal on the Great Organ (with Swell coupled), the
Diapasons (with the Double), Principal, and Hautboy on the
Swell. Two 8 feet flue-stops and the Principal on the Choir
would be the softest combination advisable ; indeed, it would
generally be well to couple the Swell Diapasons and Principal
to the Choir. When a louder and fuller accompaniment was
needed, another 8 feet reed and a 2 feet stop might be added
to the Swell, and the Double Diapason and a Flute of 4 feet to
the Great Organ. (The use of the Doubles — even the Bourdon
in the Swell — has sometimes been objected to by purists, as
these stops double everything, and the effect, they say, is
very bad, especially in polyphonic music. But the Doubles
give great dignity and effect, and when combined with a good
number of 8 and 4 feet stops, they are generally admissible.)
In an organ with only two manuals the softest combination
advisable would be the Stopped Diapason and Flute on the
Great Organ with two Diapasons and Principal on the Swell
coupled. The bright 4 feet metal flue-stop, called in England
the ' Principal/ well deserves its honourable name, for it is

136 Chapters on Church Music.

invaluable in accompanying the singing. A combination of
two Diapasons and Principal is more effective than a combina-
tion of many stops of 8 feet tone would be.

But the organ does more than lead the congregational
singing. By making the psalmody more soul-stirring than it
would be if sung without accompaniment, it moves the con-
gregation to join in the services, and stimulates the lukewarm
to earnestness and devotion. In order that it may do this, the
organist must be an earnest and devout man, for a man cannot
impart to others what he does not possess himself. The organ
assists in expressing the sense of the words sung, and thus the
organist is in some sense an interpreter of the sacred writings.
It is therefore very necessary that he understand the sense of
the Psalms and hymns he has to accompany. Some hymns
express so little, and express that little so poorly, that it is
hard to grasp the sense of them, and difficult to treat them
musically. But the Psalms are full of sublimity and beauty,
and lend themselves admirably to musical treatment. The
beauty and sublimity of the inspired language is apparent at
a first reading, but the sense is not always immediately appa-
rent. Often it is not to be grasped without study. It would
doubtless be good for organists to procure and read some book
explanatory of the Psalms. If they did so, they would know
which passages to emphasize and place in high light, and the
sense would not so often be stultified by improper accompani-
ment. An organist who does not understand with the head,
and feel with the heart, the meaning of the Psalms, is no more
fit to accompany them than a clergyman, ignorant of the sense,
and unable to feel the beauty of the language, would be fit to
read the Book of Isaiah in church. Such an organist might
be a fine player, and have a good organ to perform upon, but
his playing would often be painful to listen to, while a less
gifted executant might touch the heart by an intelligent and
devotional rendering of the inspired words. It must be con-
fessed that the organ, though capable of so much, is often
used in a feeble and inexpressive way, even when the sense is
perfectly plain. The Easter anthem, ' Christ our Passover,'
for example, with its antithetical clauses, admits of, and

The Use of the Organ in the Church Services. 137

requires, a vigorous organ accompaniment. But how often the
organ fails to do as much as it might ! While some organists
are full of fire, others seem to be cold and dull, and nothing
better than mechanical players. In the hands of some men
the writer has heard, the organ gives no uncertain sound ;
such organists are sometimes said to make the organ ' speak.'
But some organists use the organ only feebly, or their accom-
paniment is stereotyped. The first and last verses of the
hymns are always played loudly — some words, as 'holy,'
' peace,' c love,' are always played softly, without regard to the
context — or the stops are changed and the organ-power
increased or diminished unmeaningly, even in the middle of a
verse where change is uncalled for. It has become the fashion
to play the words * Holy, holy, holy,' in the Te Deum softly —
though they occur in a hymn of praise, and the rest of the
verse certainly requires a loud accompaniment. In the hymn
sung everywhere on Trinity Sunday, the same treatment is
adopted — though surely it is wrong, except in the third verse
In the other verses it seems quite a mistake to sing and play
these words softly. In the last verse especially a loud ac-
companiment seems to be required. Artistic and devotional
feeling requires the expressing of thoughts rather than single
words. Playing softly, when the thought of penitence is before
us, the tones of the organ increase as we hope for forgiveness ;
and when we sing of salvation and of Him who accomplished
it for us, the great burst of praise from the congregation is
accompanied by a corresponding increase of organ-power.
When we contemplate the sufferings of the Eedeemer we sing
softly ; but when we gratefully remember, and praise Him for
those sufferings, we raise our voices. The true purport of the
words must be grasped by the organist who would play with
expression. By a proper use of the organ great (and legitimate)
effects may be produced. The very silence of the instrument
sometimes produces a beautiful effect — as in the verse 'Frail
c hildren of dust,' in the hymn * 0 worship the King ' — though
it is somewhat hazardous. It must surely be an honourable
calling, this of organist, to lead the psalmody and be instru-
mental in infusing warmth and devotional feeling into a con-

138 Chapters on Church Music.

gregation of hundreds of fellow-worshippers. But an organist,
to infuse the warmth, must be something more than a clever
and tasteful player, he must understand the sense of the
words he accompanies, and play with intelligence and feeling.
An organist, in accompanying, does not always play the
notes in four-part harmony as written, and with both hands
on the same manual, but sometimes treats the organ
orchestrally or harmonically. In the orchestral and har-
monical styles a good organist may produce beautiful effects ;
but a player who has not a very correct taste and great skill
in managing his organ, and is not a good harmonist, had
better not attempt them. Want of taste accounts for the
silly * tootling ' sometimes heard. Want of decision, or slow-
ness in changing the stops and getting from one manual to
another, is indicated by a slowness on the part of the organ,
and a looseness which is painful to listen to. False harmonies
are distressing.

In the orchestral style stops are used as solo stops, either
to play the melody of the tune, or to play little characteristic
phrases and hold notes in imitation of the wood-wind in the
orchestra. On even a small two-manual organ a great variety
of colouring is possible — clarionet, hautboy, flute, gamba (or
another string-stop), cornopean, horn, or trumpet on Swell —
these singly or mixed, playing sometimes at normal pitch,
sometimes an octave above or below, produce pleasing effects.
But the orchestral style must not be too freely used ; as,
though effective when introduced occasionally, it soon palls
on the ear, and even becomes annoying and distracting. The
writer once heard an organist, a gentleman of considerable
manipulative power, who introduced it continually, changing
his colouring at almost every verse of the Psalms, regardless
of the sense of the words. Sometimes he played the melody
on a flute at 2 feet pitch, then on a reed at 16 feet ; then he
inverted an inner part and played it on a string-stop of 4 feet ;
then he added a few notes of his own improvising on the
clarionet, and so on. The Great Organ he used only in the
Glorias. This performance proved that the player had good
command of his instrument. But the skill exhibited was

The Use of the Organ in the Church Services. 139

merely mechanical. The sound was unmeaning ; the con-
tinually changing colouring was as painful to the ear, as a
street in which all the houses were painted a different colour
would be painful to the eye. Presumably the player intro-
duced his elaborate accompaniments in order to 'show off'
his organ.* But it is certain that organs were never put into
churches to turn people's attention from the duties of prayer
and praise. Thoughtful men are offended at such unnecessary
display, and people are not wanting, who say of such fanciful
players, that they are as anxious to exhibit their own powers
as those of the organs they perform upon. When the
orchestral style is employed, it should not be for less than at
least one whole phrase, and patchiness should be avoided. It
is not uncommon for beginners to single out two or three
notes, and bring them into prominence by treating them
orchestrally. The writer heard in a cathedral (where the
organ was in the hands of a pupil of the organist) the
Magnificat finished in a very singular fashion. When the
authentic cadence, with which the composition ended, was
reached, it occurred to the organist, who up to this time had
been playing quietly, to add an embellishment of his own.
Singling out the leading note, he executed a long-spun shake
on it on one of the top notes of a flute stop. The effect was
very striking indeed. Dr. Johnson used to say, if a man could
remember any particular colour a woman was wearing when
he met her, it was a proof she was not dressed with taste, the
colour must have been striking, and not in harmony with the
rest, or it would not have been particularly remarked. If the
analogy holds good, the writer concludes that his remem-
bering this flute performance proves it to have been in bad
taste. The orchestral style is not used in accompanying the
grand old tunes ; it would be as improper there as the orna-
mental style would be out of place in a Doric column. The
clarionet and flute would sound strange in the * Old
Hundredth ' psalm tune. The temptation to use this style

* The writer lias even heard the flute, clarionet, and cornopean stops
used in accompanying the Litany. And at this church they had, as they
believed, 'improved the services'!

140 Chapters on Church Music.

is doubtless great, but it is a question to what extent it may
be safely indulged. This much may be said : the orchestral
style is not necessary to an expressive rendering of Church
music, and therefore may be omitted altogether. A solid style
of playing is never objectionable. If improperly or too freely
used, the orchestral style is distracting and irritating, and
sometimes positively a hindrance to devotion. Unmeaning
tootling on flute and clarionet stops, and the intolerable
squeaking of the piccolo or flageolet stop, with all uncalled-
for displays of the organist's finger or fancy, are in the worst
possible taste.

If pleasing and ornamental effects are got by treating the
organ orchestrally, the effects obtained from the organ when
treated harmonically are grand and elevating. On the organ
harmony in many parts is possible. An organist does not
always play in four-part harmony; he obtains an agreeable
variety by sometimes adding a new part or parts, and playing
in five or six parts. Sometimes he varies the bass, some-
times he plays an independent accompaniment — as there are
choruses which have an independent accompaniment for a
portion of the orchestra ; or he requests the choir to sing a
verse in unison, and plays entirely new harmonies. These
last two variations should be introduced but seldom, and only
when the choir is strong and the tune well known by the
congregation. They should not be used for less than a whole
verse. The harmonic treatment enhances the beauty and
dignity of the psalmody without disturbing the congregation,
and as it is more church-like than the orchestral style, it
may be used more freely.

There is also an imitative use of the organ, confined chiefly
to imitating instruments of music and hinting at natural
phenomena. Though much light has been thrown on the
subject by the researches of scholars and the discoveries of
travellers, there is, and always must be, some doubt about
the construction and timbre of the ancient instruments.
They may, however, be divided into * stringed instruments,'
plucked with the finger or the plectrum (of which the ' harp '
was the type), the wood-wind (of which the ' pipe ' was the

The Use of the Organ in the Church Services. 141

chief), the ' horn ' or ' cornet ' family (corresponding to our
brass instruments), and instruments of percussion. These
last it is beyond our power to imitate. The ' lute and harp '
may be approximately imitated by playing chords in arpeggio
on a stopped flute, but it would hardly be possible to intro-
duce such an imitation in accompanying the psalmody. The
* pipe ' may be imitated with sufficient closeness on a flute-
stop, and the ' shawm ' by a characteristic passage in the
middle of the key-board, on the corno di bassetto, clarionet, or
hautboy stop. The ' sound of the trumpet ' may be marked
by a few trumpet-notes on the Swell reeds or the trumpet in
the Great Organ. But these imitations should be rare, and
managed so as to avoid vulgarity. The trumpet-call in
' Luther's Hymn ' was absurd and irreverent. Attempts to
depict natural phenomena too often border on the ludicrous,
and consequently should be sparingly used. It is indeed
possible to hint at fire and the blowing of the wind, by using
the full swell, playing an octave higher, or with an octave
coupler drawn ; and thunder may be hinted at by holding
some of the lowest notes of the pedal diapasons for a moment.
Such an imitation might be introduced at the words, 'The
earth was moved and shook withal,' in the 77th Psalm.

In playing over the tunes before the congregation com-
mence to sing them, there is scope for artistic treatment. A
tune needs not always to be played through with both hands
on the same manual. The treble may be played on a solo
stop, the inner parts with the left hand on some soft 8 feet
stop, and the bass on soft 16 and 8 feet stops. When the
four parts are played very smoothly — which is not always the
case — the effect is very agreeable. The grand old tunes of
four lines are best * given out ' by playing with both hands on
the diapasons of the Great Organ. When these old tunes
have more than four lines a pleasing variety may be admitted,
without taking from the dignity of the music. In many
German chorale the first two lines are repeated. In giving
out such tunes, if these lines are played on the diapasons of
the Great Organ and repeated on the diapasons of another
manual, the effect is very beautiful. In the well-known tune,

142 Chapters on Church Music.

' Nun danket alle Gott,' the third, fourth, and seventh lines
might be played on the Swell or Choir diapasons, and the
rest of the tune on the diapasons of the Great Organ. The
objectionable practice obtains in some places, of playing over
only a line or two of the hymn tunes, as if the organists did
not think the tunes worth finishing, or did not wish to detain
the congregation longer than they could help.

These remarks do not exhaust the subject, but probably
enough has been said to show that an organ, in proper hands,
is of great value in the Church services. If improperly
managed, the organ is no help to devotion; indeed, in bad
hands it is often a hindrance, if not positively a nuisance.
But when it beautifies the music without asserting itself too
much, and draws the people to join in an expressive and
devotional rendering of the psalmody, this noble instrument
can hardly be esteemed too highly.

The above, it is scarcely needful to say, has been written
for the consideration of inexperienced organists only. But
hearing good organists play is better than reading anything
that could be written on the subject of organ-playing. The
art of accompanying the services is best learned by hearing
the best organists and comparing their styles.

PART III.

TEE CEOIR.

1 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there.5 —
Psalm lxxxvii. 7.

CHAPTER I.

WOMEN AND BOYS IN CHURCH CHOIRS.

AMONG the many and various changes affecting Church
music that have been made during the last quarter of a
centur}% the substitution of boys' voices in choirs for those of
women is not one of the least important. Once hardly to be
seen anywhere in church choirs, boys now are found in very
many places ; not only in large towns, but also in small towns
and villages, they are often to be seen occupying the choir-
seats formerly occupied by women. The fancy that the
soprano parts in our Church music ought to be rendered
by boys, and not by women, has spread throughout the length
and breadth of the land, seizing on place after place almost
like an epidemic.

The causes that have favoured its spread are : certain
objections which it has become fashionable to make to the
employment of women in choirs, and the desire for surpliced
choirs, of which women cannot be members. Sometimes boys
have been introduced into choirs at the suggestion of influential
members of the congregation, who have heard the service at
some cathedral, and, pleased with the singing of the boys,
have thought that they ought to have boy singers at their own
churches at home, forgetting that the singing of their boys
will be very different from that of the cathedral boys whose
performance pleased them so much. People also have assisted
to spread the fancy by claiming for boys that they sing better
than women.

Those who consider the singing of boys, speaking generally,
to be greatly inferior to that of women, and believe that it

10

146 Chapters on Church Music.

cannot, by any training, be rendered more than tolerable, and
yet think that women ought not to sing in choirs, maintain
that women do not look well in the chancel, and that the
tone-quality of the female voice renders it unsuitable for use
in church. They object that women occasionally behave with
levity in church, often do not attend well, and often are hard
to manage ; and that it is generally difficult to maintain har-
mony when there are women in a choir. And some believe
that women are prohibited in the Bible from singing in church
choirs.

Those who contend for the great musical capabilities of boys
and their superiority to women, point to the singing in cathe-
drals, which they declare is ' most magnificent.' Doubtless at
many cathedrals and collegiate churches which have choir-
schools attached to them, and at some very important parish
churches, the boys sometimes sing excellently. But this,
while it shows that boys may be effective singers when all the
conditions are extremely favourable, does not prove them to
be better singers than trained women. And the perfected
singing of boys is not (cannot be) heard at most parish
churches. The cathedral authorities are able to get good
voices and keep up the succession, and the boys are trained
and taught the elements of music by specialists, who under-
stand their work, and can give ample time to it. The bovs
sing twice daily, and are always receiving instruction. They
know that it is to their interest to make progress in music ;
and as they receive a free education and enjoy other advan-
tages, they can be made to behave themselves. But all this is
very different at the great majority of churches in country
towns, where, as the conditions are less favourable, the singing
is less satisfactory. Still less in villages does one expect to
hear good singing by boys. And yet even in little villages
chorister boys have made their appearance — the advocates for
them apparently believing that boys with good voices are
plentiful everywhere, and that capable trainers, who under-
stand voice production and can teach singing, are to be found
in every town and village in England. Strange delusion ! In
truth, boys with good voices are very scarce, and trainers with

Women and Boys in Church Choirs. 147

sufficient skill and patience to make boys of the ordinary type
sing* even tolerably, are still rarer. Moreover, boys need daily
practice. But it would be hardly possible to get them to
come to practice every day, or to persuade their parents to
send them, unless they were well paid, and it were very much
to their worldly advantage to do so. But if good material
were obtainable, and the boys were practised daily, and it were
possible to secure the services of an able trainer, and such a
person succeeded in developing their voices and teaching
them their rudiments, no one could be sure that the boys
would sing carefully, and their performance be tasteful and
expressive.

Those who, while preferring the singing of women to that
of boys, dislike to see women in the chancel (which they hold
to be the proper place for the choir) are probably a numerous
class. They think that the presence of the female element in
the chancel is a violation of ecclesiastical propriety. Mo doubt
the appearance in the chancel of a number of very gaily
dressed women is objectionable ; and attempts have been made
to meet the difficulty (for it is a difficulty) by some who,
knowing the superiority of women singers, have determined to
retain them. Attempts have been made, and successfully in
some places, to get ail the women to wear dresses and bonnets
of some plain colour. However, the presence of modest and
quietly dressed women in the chancel does not seem objection-
able.* If the choir occupied a west gallery — and there is no
reason why it should not — it would not matter how the women
were dressed.

The objection to women singers on the ground that the
quality of the female voice renders it less fit for use in the
Church services than boys' voices, is surely mere prejudice.
The opinion that female voices impart a sensuous colouring to
the music is too absurd to need refuting. Women's voices are
indeed different as to tone-quality from boys', being less cold

* The writer is informed that at Roman Catholic churches the women,
when the choir is in the chancel, are concealed by curtains or a screen of
some kind. Those who, for any reason, dislike to see women singers in
the chancel might copy this arrangement.

148 Chapters on Church Music.

and penetrating, bat fuller and more melodious. The writer
recently heard a lady amateur say that she could listen with
delight to the singing of a great soprano in oratorio, but would
not like to hear her sing in church, because the female voice
in church does not harmonize with the surroundings. And
there are some who, while they hold that female voices ought
not to be admitted into church choirs, kindly permit women
to sing on festival occasions. With every desire to be candid,
it is difficult to consider such opinions as these. It is surely a
strange fancy that ' I know that my Redeemer ' must not be
sung in church unless a boy sings it — that while a singer of
the first rank may, with propriety, sing this sublime air at the
Albert Hall, she may not sing it in church, because her voice,
by reason of its tone-quality, is not in harmony with the sur-
roundings. And it is equally hard to believe that there is
something so unchurchlike and profane in the quality of the
female voice, that the choral singing of women, which delights
us at musical festivals, so far from having a beautiful effect in
church, sounds so much out of place in the sacred building
that it must be banished therefrom at any cost.

The objection to women singers on the ground of levity,
irregular attendance, and the difficulty of managing them and
maintaining harmony among them is indeed a serious objec-
tion. Levity during Divine Service is an abomination that
must be stopped, though sometimes it requires great tact to
stop it. Probably most, if not all, women could attend well if
they would. The writer knew a young woman, an excellent
singer, who for seven years never missed a practice or a service
when she was well and at home. But there is sometimes
difficulty in getting careless or conceited women to attend
well, though if an organist has influence he may do much to
persuade. It generally happens in voluntary choirs where
women are employed that some of them are hard to manage.
The best singers, alas ! are often conceited and impatient of
correction. Easily offended themselves, they often sorely try
the temper of the organist; and their jealousies and quar-
rel lings —

Tantaene animis coelestibus irae .' —

Women and Boys in Church Choirs. 149

sometimes become a source of great trouble to him. Indeed,
to control a voluntary choir, if there are many conceited or
un amiable women in it, and to maintain harmony — nay, even
to prevent a total disruption — requires very great tact and
patience ; and it has sometimes even been necessary to dis-
miss the more obstreperous females, if indeed their fancied
wrongs have not already prompted them to leave of their own
accord. These difficulties, however, hardly exist in choirs
where the females are well-bred women, or some of the best
singers are paid.

It is surprising to find people arguing from the Bible that
women ought not to sing in church choirs. For women seem
to have been employed in the Temple choir (see 1 Chron.
xxv. 5, 6, and Ezra ii. 65, where ' two hundred singing men
and singing women ' are included among those who returned
with Zerubbabel). And the singing of women does not seem
to be forbidden in either the Old or the New Testament. The
words of St. Paul, in 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35, are strangely quoted
by the advocates for boy singers, for they contain no injunction
against women's singing. It is their speaking in church that
is forbidden (see 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12, where they are forbidden to
teach). Many passages in the Old Testament prove that the
beauty of the female voice was recognised by the Jews ; and
there is no reason to suppose that women were prohibited
from taking part in the musical portion of their services, or
of those of the early Christian Church. We learn from Philo
that choirs of men and women sang in the religious services
of the Therapeutse — a sect of Jewish enthusiasts of the first
century after Christ. And Burney gives quotations from
Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius, which show that women
sang in the early Christian assemblies.

Something has already been said of surpliced chancel choirs
in Chapter I., Part II. To musicians it is not a matter of
concern whether the singers wear surplices or not; and the
surplice question is only mentioned here because a surpliced
choir implies the substitution of boy singers for women. Sur-
pliced choirs have been introduced at their churches by
clergymen of very different schools. Ritualists gratify them-

150 Chapters on Church Music.

selves and amuse their congregations with a brave show of
surpliced, but (it must be confessed) often most unmusical
choristers, robed in white to represent the Angelic choir, and
skilled in all the arts of procession, recession, genuflexion, and
prostration. And some Evangelicals, on the plea of ' decency,'
have introduced the surplice ; and (the real significance of the
act never being suspected) clergymen who profess to abhor
ritualism have taught their surpliced chancel choirs the east-
ward position.* Probably surpliced choirs have been intro-
duced into many churches for no better reason than that
congregations wished to be in the fashion, and did not care to
be beaten by their neighbours who possessed one. They have
probably been introduced at some places, because it was
thought a surpliced choir might be a means of drawing people
to church. If the singing of boys is greatly inferior to that of
women, and women cannot be surpliced, then a surpliced choir
is poorer (musically) than one in which women sing ; and the
advocates for surpliced choirs, since they set a greater value
on surplices than on good singing, think Church music a
matter of only second-rate importance. But the friends of
music, finding they can have only one of two things, choose
music, which they believe to be a greater ornament to the
Church service and a more powerful incentive to devotion
than surpliced choirs and processions of choristers. They do
not believe surpliced choirs to be necessary to the reverent
performance of Divine service. They are not anxious to

* These clergymen are very indignant when it is pointed out to them
that they are copying the Ritualists. But if not for the sake of pomp
and spectacle, or downright ritualism, why, it may be asked, do they
depart from the old simple ways ? Surely few of them would maintain
that the music gains by the change — that the effect of a surpliced chancel
choir and an organ crowded into a corner is better than that of a mixed
choir and an organ in a roomy west gallery. The plea of ' decency ' will
weigh little with most thinkers, who will probably be of opinion that an
imperfect rendering of the music by surpliced choristers is more indecent
than the presence in the chancel of singers who wear only their ordinary
garments. It is curious to learn that at some churches, at home and
abroad, an attempt is made to combine music and 'decency' by retaining
women and surplicing them.

Women and Boys in Church Choirs. 151

follow fashion, when, to do so, they must sacrifice their music.
They believe that if a surpliced choir often proves an attrac-
tion for a time, good music proves a far more permanent
attraction. And, certainly, people do attend well at churches
where the singing is good, and, perhaps, occasional anthems
are given by good choirs.*

The modern and mediaeval objections to women singers on
the ground of ecclesiastical propriety are so light that they do
not weigh a feather's weight, and it would be impossible (the
writer believes) to prove that the use of female voices is
forbidden in Holy Scripture. The objection that women
cannot be robed in surplices weighs only with those who have
adopted mediaeval opinions, or who like the appearance of
surpliced choirs so well that they will have them at any cost.
The only real objections to the employing of women in choirs
— and the objections obtain only in voluntary choirs, or when
the women have been too hastily admitted — are the difficulty
of managing some of them (the unamiable and conceited) and
maintaining harmony among them, the difficulty of dealing
with such as behave with levity, and the difficulty of getting
some of them to attend regularly.

But, even if women were not greatly superior to boys as
singers, the objections just mentioned ought not to be fatal to
the employing of them. For if some women are difficult to
manage, most boys are very troublesome. There is not much
trouble in getting boys to attend practice, but it is excessively
difficult to get and keep their attention. Their carelessness
and thoughtlessness cause them to be very troublesome. If
some women occasionally behave with levity during service,
what shall be said of the behaviour of boys, which is seldom
reverent, and sometimes truly disgraceful ? Their restlessness
and love of fun (prompting them sometimes to such diversions
as pulling each other's surplices in church, and passing cotton-
reels along a string) and their inclination to stare about and
laugh and talk, make them, in the opinion of those who like
decency and propriety, no desirable addition to a church choir.

* Assuming that the prayers are reverently read, and the sermons
good and of reasonable length.

152 Chapters on Church Music.

But * boys will be boys/ As to disciplining them, few, except
their schoolmasters, can do that. A man may be a splendid
musician and an excellent teacher, and yet be unable to
manage boys. He may not have enough firmness ; perhaps
he may suffer from some personal defect ; or his appearance
may be too mild, and his manner too gentle. And boys are
not slow to find out when they may take advantage. There
are, doubtless, men who can rule them by firmness and a kind
manner, but it may safely be said that the ordinary choirboy
is ruled by fear, not love. But an organist, besides being firm,
must be possessed of an extraordinary amount of patience.
Let him lose his temper, and his influence is gone ; and though
he have the voice of Stentor, to roar at the boys, a hundred
eyes, like Argus, to watch them, and a hundred hands, like
Briareus, to chastise them, he shall not recover it.

But boys are not only troublesome, they are untrustworthy.
An organist may leave practice, hoping that all will go well on
Sunday, and on Sunday some careless boy, or boys, may spoil
all. Boys may know their work well enough to get through
the service, and yet may make most dreadful mistakes. How
often organists find the time and labour spent on the boys to
have been wasted ; how often their efforts are frustrated by
the careless boys ; and how frequently any artistic (and legi-
timate) effects they wished to introduce are spoiled by the
thoughtless fellows ! When women are employed, the or-
ganist's instructions are properly carried out, and clergymen
and organists need not be afraid lest there be a catastrophe
any moment.

That boys, if left to themselves, ar, not to be trusted — that
their singing is unsatisfactory if unsupported by female voices
- — was soon discovered. People who had been accustomed to
listen with pleasure to the careful and expressive singing of
women, could not but be aware that it was greatly superior to
the loose and unmusical performance of boys. And in many
churches women are retained to ' help the boys.' There can
be no objection to combining a few good and well-trained
boys' voices with a good number of female voices in a choir ;
but it would be safest to forbid the boys to sing in anything

Women and Boys in Church Choirs. 153

requiring a careful and expressive rendering. Unless they
were very good, they ought to join only in full passages — as at
the great burst, ' Thou art the King of Glory.' Their voices
might be used as an organist treats a powerful reed-stop —
which he does not use continually, but draws only when its
tone and quality render its use desirable. In many places a
few boys might be found who would be worth the trouble of
.training; and, being few, they would not be bad to manage.
It is quite unnecessary to add any boys to a choir, but as
some of them might eventually be useful as tenors and basses,
the time spent on instructing a few boys would perhaps not
be quite thrown away.

But if a very few boys, to sing only sometimes, might be
added to the sopranos without spoiling a choir, the result is
very different when — as is almost always the case — the boys
are numerous and sing throughout the service. The harsh
and piercing voices of the usually half-taught boys are heard
through and above the more melodious voices of the women,
blending as little with them as a ' screamy,' bad reed-stop
blends with good diapasons. In many churches the boys are
such careless, worthless musicians, that by their screaming,*
dragging, hurrying, disregard of piano and forte, want of
accord in starting, but, when once set off, tearing along like
locomotive engines, false intonation, slurring, and bad pro-
nunciation, they utterly spoil the performance of the women.
In short, as boys generally are not to be depended on when
alone, so, if at all numerous, they form no very valuable addi-
tion to a choir possessing female sopranos.

Boys, to be even tolerable, require a vast amount of labour
and much valuable time (often ill spared) to be spent on
them ; and just as they are beginning to be useful, we lose
them. In consequence of boys' voices breaking, it is necessary
always to have a number of little boys in reserve. So that

* Few boys being able to sing high notes without straining their voices,
it follows that at almost all churches where boy singers are employed
many anthems, hymn-tunes, and chants are either never sung, or, if
attempted, are rendered with false intonation and piercing screams that
make musical people wish to close their ears.

154 Chapters on Church Music.

there are two sets of boys to be looked after. What with the
continual practising and drilling they require, and their
carelessness, making it uncertain whether they will get through
the services decently, or make some dreadful mistake any
moment, boys are a source of endless trouble and anxiety to
organists and clergymen and all who have to do with them.

Whatever may be thought of the singing of boys, when
heard at their best, as they are in cathedrals and churches
that possess costly musical establishments, the performance
of boys is, as a rule, very far from satisfactory — nay, often it
is most painful to listen to. Doubtless good and well-trained
voices are heard sometimes even in country towns and village
choirs ; but such cases are quite exceptional.*

In the Preface to his Collection of Chants, Mr. Joule much
doubts the ' expediency of depriving churches of the most
lovely portion of the human register,' and points out that
' the old adage about the impossibility of placing old heads
on young shoulders holds true in music as well as in other
matters.' Mr. Joule reminds us that at the commencement
of the seventeenth century, ' in consequence of the necessarily
unsatisfactory performance of boys and falsetti, and the
prejudice against the employment of women/ a new kind of
soprano began to be used in the Pope's Chapel. Notions of
ecclesiastical propriety forbade the employment of women;
but, rather than employ boys in that celebrated choir, they
had recourse to the most extraordinary means of obtaining
sopranos. Pietro della Valle, the celebrated traveller (of
whom Burney says : ' he had studied music under the best
masters from seven years old, and seems to have been a
perfect judge of the subject. His information and remarks
are written with the spirit of an auditor, and discover a
thorough knowledge of the subject'), wrote, in 1640, 'an in-

* The writer tried the boys' voices of a country parish church choir,
and found that of the twelve boys six were worse than useless, three were
very poor, two were barely tolerable, and one was fairly good. And with
such material the worthy vicar of a town, locally noted for its good sing-
ing, had replaced the excellent female sopranos who led the psalmody so
well!

Women and Boys in Church Choirs. 155

teres ting, clear, and admirable account of the state of music
in Italy, but particularly at Home, during the beginning of
the seventeenth century/ Pietro della Valle says — and pro-
bably every unprejudiced judge and sincere lover of music
nowadays will be of the good old writer's opinion — ' The best
resource then ' [before the employment of the new order of
soprani] ' was a boy with a good voice ; but boys, the instant
they begin to know their business, lose their voices, and it is
allowed, even while they remain in their greatest perfection,
that their performance, on account of their youth and in-
experience, must inevitably be devoid of taste, judgment, and
grace ; indeed, it is generally so mechanical and unfeeling,
that I hardly ever heard a boy sing without receiving more
pain than pleasure/

The following are the principal facts to be borne in mind
in connection with our subject. Some women singers (the
unamiable and conceited) are often troublesome, and require
great tact to manage ; a number of boys together are always
very troublesome. Women are reliable ; boys, because they
are boys, are seldom to be depended on. Women may be
trusted even with florid music (as anthems) ; boys sometimes
fail in the simplest psalmody. With women for his sup-
porters, an organist need know no fear ; boys may go wrong
any moment, and they are therefore a source of anxiety to
clergymen and organists. Women with good voices are, in
most places, easily procurable and need no great amount of
teaching ; boys with good voices are scarce and require
endless labour to teach, and competent trainers are wanting.
Women repay instruction, and generally sing excellently —
often exquisitely ; much valuable time and labour are often
thrown away in teaching boys, and they seldom sing tolerably
— often vilely.*

Though it is at present the fashion to remove women
singers from choirs and substitute boys for them, choirs have
not been improved, or the cause of Church music advanced,

* The wortblessness of boys is generally very perceptible in their
response-singing. In the Litany especially, where music, if employed at
all, should be perfectly rendered, their false intonation is very marked.

156 Chapters on Church Music.

by the change. Those who have introduced the boy element
into their choirs, can perhaps hardly be expected to confess
that they have made a mistake. And many people, even if
they notice the falling- off in Church music, regard it with
little concern. But there are others who observe the de-
generacy of Church choir singing, and know the cause of it ;
and these look forward to the day — and it will surely come —
when the present fashion will give place to a better one, and
women's voices (the most perfect and beautiful of all musical
material) once more help to lead the praises of God in the
sanctuary.

CHAPTER II.

THE CHOIR.

THERE are so many inexpensive treatises in existence
which are written to teach the arts of voice-production,
singing, and choir-training, that it will not be needful to say
much on any of these subjects. But some remarks on
Church choirs and choristers may perhaps not be deemed
superfluous.

At a church where only the Canticles were sung and simple
psalmody used, the school children in the gallery might lead
the singing, in the absence of a regular choir. The importance
of a knowledge of music is beginning to be recognised, and
as grants are given to National schools that pass scholars in
sight -singing, instruction is given in most places in the
Tonic sol-fa, or even in the staff notation, which is far better.
It seems as if we shall eventually have, in many towns and
villages, a number of young musicians, who might, in some
cases, do good service. Even now the children, if led by
their teachers and supported by the organ, are able sometimes
to sing simple Church music in a manner that would satisfy
all but very critical persons. But if it were intended to have
anything more than very simple music, a regular choir of
men and women would be necessary, the chanting of the
Psalms being beyond the powers of the children.

It is always desirable that there be some proportion
between the parts of the harmony. If anthems and services
are sung, or the service is choral, the voices cannot be too well
balanced. Indeed, without a well-balanced choir of good
and highly-trained voices, choral services and elaborate music

158 Chapters on Church Music.

should never be attempted.* If good choral singing is
desired, only people who are musical and have good voices
should belong to the choir. Bad material is worse than use-
less. The efforts of a whole choir may be spoiled by one bad
voice or untuneful singer. Such tares should be weeded out
(it is strange that they should ever appear there ; but the
fact that unfit people are sometimes enrolled as choristers
shows that no one should be admitted into a choir without
the sanction of the organist). If really high-class singing is
wanted, one or two singers of each part (four or eight in all)
should be paid. This would be expensive ; but well-rendered
elaborate music is a luxury which people must be prepared to
pay for. At parish churches in country towns the services of
one professional soprano should, if possible, be secured, even
if the Church service were not very elaborate. Such a singer
would be simply invaluable. There are such differences in
voices that it is impossible to say how many singers of each
part a choir should have in order to be well balanced. But
the parts will be well proportioned, numerically at least, if
there are as many tenors as altos, while the basses are more
numerous and the trebles the most numerous of all. If the
treble is sung by boys or girls, a great number of them will
be required. The only voices hard to get are altos, a sufficient
number of which, of good quality, are seldom easily pro-
curable. Although Mendelssohn is said to have ' hated your
bearded altos,' the male alto is very valuable when good. He
is intolerable, however, when bad. Female altos, or more
properly, contraltos, often hoot, or are so soft as to be use-
less. Some authorities object — though, perhaps, without good
reason — to employing both male and female altos in the same

* Even easy anthems should not be attempted unless they can be well
rendered. For example, Goss's '0 taste and see' has been undertaken
by many an inferior choir, though it really requires a well-taught choir,
and musical voices, if justice is to be done to it. How often, and how
miserably, has this delightful anthem been spoiled ! If the members of
the average surpliced choir must show their powers, let them be satisfied
with some such composition as Jackson's ' Te Deum,' and not attempt a
piece of good music, though it may seem easy.

The Choir. 150,

choir. But whether this part be sung by altos or contraltos,
or both, the voices should be chosen with a view to their
blending with each other and with the other parts.

Since one quarrelsome person can do much to disturb the
harmony of a choir, caution ought to be employed in admit-
ting new members. It should also be ascertained that intending
new members are people who would behave reverently during
Divine service, and conduct themselves properly at practice.
It is curious to note that in some places attention is beginning
to be paid to the behaviour of singers out of church, and that
a kind of cap with a badge has lately been introduced some-
where for the boys to wear. As for the conduct of the
choristers out of church, it should be the business of the
clergyman to see to that. Surely the reformers of choirs
would not expect the organist to keep an eye on the singers,
and see the boys wore their caps. But the behaviour of the
choir at practices held in church and during Divine service is
a serious matter, and one that it is the organist's duty to look
to. While a sanctimonious manner is never desirable, the
singers should be taught, by precept and example, that
laughter and frivolous conduct at practice are improper, and
that careless behaviour during service is highly indecent. If
there are boys in the choir, it may supply matter for study to
those who advocate them, how they may be kept quiet at
practice and made to behave themselves during service. The
writer will not soon forget going a little early to a practice at
a fine parish church with the vicar, and the noise they heard
as they drew near the sacred building, nor the look and
remark of the vicar (' Boys, don't you know where you are ?')
when that gentleman opened the door and caught his
favourites shouting and jumping about.

While all agree that singers should be ' respectable,' many
differ as to the precise amount of ' respectability ' required.
While some would allow any decent, well-conducted person to
sing, others would reject people who follow certain callings.
Some think a choir should consist chiefly of the teachers at
the parish schools, and some would have a select choir of
ladies and gentlemen. A choir of ladies and gentlemen is

160 Chapters on Church Music.

certainly pleasant and harmonious ; and educated people pro-
nounce English correctly. But whether such choirs generally
sing as well, or attend as well, as choirs composed of persons
belonging to a humbler grade, may be doubted. If a choir
consisting chiefly of school-teachers with good voices could
be formed, regular attendances might be expected, except in
the holidays, which come precisely when a full attendance of
singers is most needed.* As to the objections some have to
asking people of certain callings to join a choir, the writer
would not be inclined to admit any ' lewd fellows of the baser
sort,' but he would not refuse the help of a singer who was
well qualified, merely on the ground of his or her trade or
calling.-)- At the same time, women that are excessively fond
of finery should not be admitted into a choir which occupies
the chancel. If the choir sit in a gallery, it matters not how
the women are dressed.

Most people hold that singers should be people who lead
regular lives, and though this opinion, like every other, may
be ridiculed, it seems a very sound one. Men who frequent
beer-houses, and women who lead frivolous lives, do not seem

* Though many of the teachers in our National and Infant schools know
something of the rudiments of music, there is no reason to suppose that
they generally possess good voices and are musically gifted. Indeed, if
pupil teachers at the commencement of their career had good and tuneful
voices, the loud calling during school hours would surely tend to spoil
them. Besides, it certainly seems cruel to compel the hard-worked
teachers to sing in the church choir, and a choir formed entirely or chiefly
of pressed teachers would not render the Church music as well as another
composed of singers who had good and fresh voices and gave their services
willingly. But the cases in which the teachers are compelled to sing in
the church choir are probably few, though the writer has heard of one
clergyman who ' expects ' all the teachers at the parish schools to join the
choir — whether they can sing or not.

f The chief qualifications to be expected of intending choristers are a
good voice and a good ear, a love of music, rhythmical perception, a fairly
educated taste and pronunciation, and (when they can be had) some know-
ledge of singing, and ability to sing at sight from the staff notation. A
good voice and an ' ear for music ' are absolutely essential. An organist
can give instruction in music and train the voice, but he cannot give
musical perception and good vocal organs.

The Choir. 161

to be suitable material to make church choirs of. The neces-
sity of using care in admitting fresh singers into choirs is
insisted on in a Charge delivered in the Chapter House at
Lichfield by the late Bishop • * There is a danger,' said his
lordship, ' against which we cannot too carefully guard as well
in our parish churches as in our cathedral choirs — I mean the
danger of enlisting the services of accomplished singers, or of
beautiful voices, where they are associated with careless if not
vicious lives. Surely our first care and our chief concern
should ever be to make choice of those whose purity and piety
mark them as fitted to lead the praises of the Church of God ;
and rather to be satisfied with less perfect voices than to bear
the reproach of immoral lives.'

But some clergymen do not deem it sufficient that the
singers shall be well-conducted, religious people. They appear
to think that choristers should be persons who lead quite
saintly lives ; and in order to exclude all who do not come up
to their standard, apply that most dangerous of modern inven-
tions the ' communicant test.' Of the many extreme views on
Church music that are at present floating about, that which
insists on choristers having attained to an especial degree of
holiness is surely not the least absurd. Some excellent men
(clergymen and laymen) there are, who carry their theories so
far, that they will not go to hear oratorios performed because
(say they) it grieves them to hear sacred music sung by un-
converted people. They believe that many people in the
chorus must be unconverted. While their scruples are in-
telligible enough, it may be answered that these objectors
trouble themselves unnecessarily. Every person in the chorus
may be converted. How can a stranger be sure that such is
not the case ; and why should he speculate upon the matter ?
It is probable enough that the evil are mingled with the good
in an oratorio chorus, as they are everywhere else; and it must
be confessed that a performance of the * Hallelujah ' and
' Worthy is the Lamb ' by a large band and chorus, of which
every member is converted, is not very likely to be often heard
on earth. But surely we ought not to omit even those two
peculiarly solemn numbers, when the ■ Messiah ' is given,

11

1 62 Chapters on Church Music.

because an earthly, and not a heavenly choir must sing them.
To the writer it seems strange that anyone can listen to a
worthy rendering of these sublime choruses, and be so little
moved that he can estimate the number of converted and
unconverted people he has before him.*

If it is desirable that choristers should be men and women
' whose purity and piety mark them as fitted to lead the
praises of the Church of God,' how much care should be taken
in selecting singers to render solos — how necessary it is that
they should be men and women of pious conversation. How-
ever exquisitely they may sing, it is painful to listen to a
rendering of sacred solos by men and women that we know to
be wanting in principle, or perhaps utterly careless about
religion. To all thoughtful people it must be intolerable to
hear such words as, ' Thy rebuke hath broken his heart,'
' Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow,'
or ' Who may abide the day of His coming V sung in the
sanctuary by a base, unprincipled man; or to listen to an
irreligious woman rendering ' 0 rest in the Lord/ or ' But the
Lord is mindful of his own.' The writer was assured by one
of the choristers that, at a church in the North of England,
there was once a tenor singer who delighted the congregation
with his rendering of solos, and especially of the anthem,
* Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way,' and that it
was this man's practice to read novels during the sermon !
That such men (and women) should sing solos in church and
find people to speak rapturously of their performance, is no
encouraging sign for people who wish well to choirs and
choristers.

Two mistakes are often made : choirs attempt music that is
too hard for them ; or, being already small, are divided in
order that they may sing antiphonally. It is not edifying to
a congregation to hear a choir struggling through difficult
music. It is better they should take an easy piece and do it
well, than attempt one that is beyond their strength and spoil

* Of most people, happily, it may be said that such strains

' Dissolve them into ecstasies,
And bring all Heaven before their eyes.'

The Choir. 163

it. A small choir is too weak to sing with effect if divided.
The ambitious desire of choirs to undertake music that is too
difficult for them, and to sing antiphonally, when they are not
numerous enough, should not be yielded to.

The chanting and the psalmody should not be taken at a
racing speed, nor should they be dragged or drawled. The
sense of the words often determines the pace of the sing-
ing." The stately old psalm-tunes should be taken at a slow
pace, a pause being made at the end of each strain.

As the singing of the choir as a whole cannot be good unless
each part be well rendered, in learning new tunes or practising
old ones, the altos, tenors, and basses should be taken
separately, and then together. If these parts can sing cor-
rectly without the trebles, it is a proof that they know their
work. The whole choir should be able to sing the tunes with-
out the help of the organ, and learn every piece so well that
they may attack all the music boldly, and sing without fear or
hesitation. If boys are admitted into the choir, they will need
to be frequently practised separately in psalmody and the
rudiments of music.

The singers should be taught, little by little, the rudiments
of music. If once fairly started, they will make progress, and
in due time gain the power of reading at sight. Sight-read-
ing, always useful, is nearly indispensable when choirs have to
render anthems, or, indeed, any music more elaborate than
simple psalmody. If the fine old cathedral anthems are to be
given, the altos and tenors should learn their respective
C clefs. The singers should be taught to pay attention to
intonation, pronunciation^ breathing, phrasing, expression,

* In chanting, punctuation and accentuation must be attended to, and
the bad habits of hurrying over and imperfectly articulating words or
syllables, and laying undue stress on the accented syllable in the recita-
tion, must be corrected. To chant well, the choristers should read well.
Good readers will make better chanters than people who cannot read with
expression.

f To be corrected are such provincialisms as the change of oi into i
(' rejice' for 'rejoice'), the changes, met with in Cumberland and West-
morland, of 0 into aw, and a into a sound something like aa in ' Aaron '
('hawly' for ' holy,' 'daa' for 'day'), the Leicestershire changes of i

164 Chapters on Church Music.

and the other requisites of good singing, and especially to
avoid those two very opposite vices, over-straining the voice
and humming. As the church does not seem the proper place
for teaching the rudiments of music, the instruction in these
subjects might be given in the schoolroom or at the organist's
house.

It is not uncommon to meet with people who say they dis-
like solos in church. But it is hard to see why solos should
be deemed unsuitable, if anthem-singing of any kind is per-
mitted. Solo-singing, indeed, sometimes causes a bad feeling
in choirs, and there are many who think it tends rather to
minister to the vanity of the singers than to excite the devo-
tional feeling of the hearers. Certainly, caution should be
exercised in admitting anthems with solos. But it would be
absurd to lay down a law prohibiting all solos. If there were
in a choir ladies of culture and soul enough to render such
airs as ' O thou that tellest,' ' He was despised,' ' I know that
my Redeemer,' there seems no reason why they should not
occasionally sing such solos as these. At the same time, ii
solos were at all secular in style, or the singers were wanting
in devotional feeling, they would be better omitted. What has
been said about lady solo singers applies equally to tenors and
basses. There are some sacred airs for the tenor voice which
are truly expressive of devotion, and these might be sung
sometimes, if the singer were a fit and proper person to render

into oi, and ee into i (' aroise, shoine ' for * arise, shine,' ' ship ' for ' sheep '),
etc. But mispronunciation often arises from carelessness (' wrychusnuss '
for ' righteousness,' ' hands ' for • hand '). The most intolerable, however,
as also the most common, mispronunciation is that which results from
affectation. In some places the choristers have two pronunciations : the
rough or natural one, in which they speak, and a refined or affected one,
which they use when they sing. The same Cumberland choristers, who
in conversation call 'holy' * hawly,' often pronounce this word 'howly'
when they sing it. * Know ' when said is 'gnaw'; when sung, 'now.'
'Awake' and 'to-day' in conversation are 'awaak'and ' to-daa ' ; while
in singing they become ' aweighk ' and ' to-deigh.' Similarly ' mine' and
'might' in some parts of the country are said as ' moin ' and 'moight,'
but sung as ' meighn ' and ' meight,' etc. These mispronunciations are
sometimes very distressing, e.g. : ' Sow that the san shall not barn thee
beigh deigh, neither the mewn beigh neigh t.'

The Choir. 165

them. But if it happened that there was no one in the choir
who could undertake them, but that obnoxious mass of conceit
and vanity, the petted and pampered Tenor who occasionally
is found in choirs, it would be better to omit them. It may,
perhaps, be worth saying, that if solo-singing in church is a
little in disfavour in England, it seems to be appreciated in
America. A newspaper recently stated that in one of the
large towns a woman was receiving £1,500* a year for singing
in a church, and this when clergymen were walking about the
streets unemployed !

Singers are generally supposed to be difficult people to deal
with. Some people, indeed, seem to consider a voluntary
choir as a magazine of combustibles, ready to blow up at a
moment's warning. There is probably in some choirs a
quantity of inflammable matter, which, in the case of a volun-
tary choir, burns fiercely if once ignited. In the case of paid
choirs, there are means of checking the fire, which may, how-
ever, smoulder a long time. Among the causes of unpleasant-
ness in choirs may be mentioned the vanity and insolence of
pet singers, the interference of people who will meddle, solo-
singing, contentions for precedence, and quarrels about seats,
the strange propensity some people have to consider them-
selves slighted, and the mischief caused by persons who are
not content with merely singing, but think they ought to
direct. But unpleasantness may sometimes be traced to very
trivial causes. Perhaps the organist has asked a singer to
change his seat, or something he has said has been misunder-
stood ; or perhaps a stranger has been asked to sing at a choir
concert. Lately a choir ' struck ' because the clergyman re-
fused to allow the women to wear surplices. But it holds true
of choristers as of other people, that the well-bred are pleasant
to work with, but the rest often haughty and easily offended.
The writer believes that unpleasantness might often be avoided,
if singers would only tell their grievances to the organist as
they arose, and not brood over them. It is on every account
desirable that this officer should have influence with the choir.
This he can only acquire by maintaining his position among

* Surely dollars, and not pounds sterling, must be meant !

1 66 Chapters on Church Music.

them. Choirs do not respect a weak government, nor do they
cheerfully follow the instructions of an organist who has not
the regard and support of the vicar.

Sometimes choirs will threaten to leave if they cannot have
something they ask for. If the request is reasonable, it should
be granted ; if not, the clergyman should not yield. While
everyone is obliged to the singers for their valuable help, and
recognises the self-denial they must exercise to attend re-
gularly, it is not possible always to comply with their wishes.
Threats would seldom be carried out, if clergymen gave the
singers to know that those who left should not return.
Choristers are proud of their position — and with reason — and
they would not, for an imaginary grievance, leave a choir if
they knew they could not return to it. Some perhaps might
leave, but certainly many would remain. But if a whole
choir ' struck,' the clergyman should be firm (the writer
ventures to think) and direct the organist to set about forming
another choir. For several Sundays the music would neces-
sarily be very simple. The first Sunday it might perhaps be
limited to the singing of a few well-known hymns ; but, by
the following Sunday, it would be possible to chant the Can-
ticles. Chanting the Psalms would come later. An energetic
organist, if supported by the clergyman and his friends, would
fill the empty benches with good singers in less time than
might be supposed. The writer has entered into this subject,
because he believes that singers who threaten to leave for an
imaginary grievance should not be pressed to stay.

PART IV.

THE CHOICE AND DIRECTION OF THE MUSIC.

1 He instructed about the song, because he was skilful.'

1 Chron. xv. 22.

CHAPTER I.

THE CHURCH MUSICAL STAFF.

A PROVINCIAL newspaper, in an account of the opening
of an organ, stated that the Church service commenced
with a ' procession of the choir, headed by the sub-precentor.'
At this church, it appears, the music is managed by a number
of officers : there are an organist, a choirmaster, a precentor,
and a sub-precentor. The authorities have only to increase
the number by appointing a sub-organist and a sub-choir-
master and their church will have probably the largest staff
of musical officers in the world. In most places the manage-
ment of the music is placed in the hands of one musician, the

organist ; but at the little town of they employ a numerous

staff of Church musicians, probably because the lady-organist
is considered to be unable to train the choir, and unfit to
choose the music. But this church is not the only one at
which precentors and choirmasters are found, and the tendency
at present is to create more and more of such officers. Even
at churches where the organists are good Church musicians,
curates or ' precentors ' sometimes choose the music, and
separate ' choirmasters ' instruct the choirs.

When an organist is unfit to select the music and unable to
train the choir, the help of a precentor and choirmaster is
doubtless needed. It is discouraging that there should be
such organists, but the appointment of unqualified persons to
organistships is sometimes unavoidable. There are places
where the organist's salary is poor, and pupils are not to be
had. And as the clergymen cannot expect artists to take
such appointments, they must be satisfied to have their organs

ijo Chapters on Church Music.

played by inferior musicians.* But poor organists (with pre-
centors and choirmasters to select the music and direct the
choir) are sometimes appointed to positions where there is
' teaching/ and the salaries of the organist and choirmaster, if
combined, would make a sum large enough to enable the
authorities to engage a good organist. Sometimes organists
have been appointed because ' the salary would be useful to
them,' or the authorities wished to reward persons who have
worked in the parish. The feeling that prompts the gift is
kind ; but when a clergyman appoints an organist that he
knows to be unqualified, he does his congregation a wrong ;
and it is absurd to appoint such a person when the services of
a better might be had. Further, it is unjust to those who
live by practising music, to appoint an amateur to a situation,
where the salary and teaching would support a professional
musician. To judge from advertisements that appear from
time to time, and from statistics that have lately been pub-
lished, there is no lack of amateur organists, who combine
organ-playing with less musical pursuits. There are merchant-
organists, lawyer-organists, schoolmaster-organists, Scripture-
reader-organists, clerk-organists, gardener-organists, traveller-
organists (other than they of the Orgues de Barbarie), shop-
men-organists, grocer-organists. All these, and many more,
claim to be organists,

' And have their claims allowed.'f

* In remote country places, where an organist of skill and knowledge
cannot be had, the parish schoolmaster would seem quite the best person
to discharge the duties of choirmaster. He is always highly respectable,
often possesses some little knowledge of music, and is almost necessarily
a good disciplinarian.

f The writer some time since attended service at two parish churches
where the organists were clerks. "While they possessed mechanical skill
enough to carry them through the services (which were not elaborate),
want of intelligence and of artistic and devotional feeling was very ap-
parent in both these so-called ' organists.' The voluntaries, evidently
chosen for their ' popular ' character, were Choruses of Angels, Marches
of Torches and of Trumpets, and other unchurchlike compositions. But
such as they were, the clerks played them much better than the accom-
paniments, which were poor indeed. At one church the player scarcely

The Church Musical Staff. 171

Among the better class of amateurs there are doubtless some
good musicians, whose love of music prompts them to cultivate
the organ. But however well qualified these gentlemen may
be, they ought to be satisfied with practising and deputizing.
There are exceptions ; but, as a rule, no amateur should
accept an appointment, if by so doing he prevents a profes-
sional organist from making a livelihood. Of the other class
of amateurs it is unpleasant to speak, since they are often
quite incompetent, and anxious only to pocket the salaries
their musical betters ought to have. A great musician,

ever varied his stops, but accompanied in a tasteless, inexpressive manner.
At the other, the 'organist' did vary his stops, but only to introduce
paltry flourishes on the Flute and Clarionet stops. Prompted by some
curiosity, the writer inquired if the last-mentioned player always added
those additional accompaniments, and learned that this nimble-fingered
youth not only constantly indulged his propensities for ' tootling,' but
after any unusual display would turn round with a satisfied and conceited
smile, and look at the choir as if he thought he had done a very clever
thing. But it is probable that neither of these organists ever had a good
organ-lesson in his life. Both of them played in a bouncing, thumping,
staccato style, not knowing (how should they ?) that good organ-playing
requires the use of the legato style, in which the notes are smoothly
bound together. But, it may be objected, some young and inexperienced
professional organists are not better musicians than many amateurs, and
possess no more taste. No doubt there are professors who know little
of the theory and practice of music, and one is compelled to admit that
some young professionals show a great want of judgment in the choice
oc their voluntaries. The writer has even heard one of them play for
his concluding voluntary a piece in which the loud and rapid performance
of the chromatic scale was the most remarkable feature. Indeed, the
incompetent or the ignorant professional has little reason to sneer at the
accomplished amateur. But while amateurs who have enjoyed the ad-
vantage of sound instruction sometimes excel as instrumentalists, the
number of good amateur organists probably is only small. It is perhaps
worth adding that amateurs generally have neither the same chances of
improving themselves nor the same incentives to exertion as professionals,
who see more of musicians and musical work, and are condemned without
mercy if the organ-playing and choir-singing at the churches where they
officiate is not satisfactory. It may in this place be said that the good
work done by the College of Organists — an examining body comprising
such eminent men as Dr. Turpin and his worthy coadjutors — must tend
to develop the musical skill and knowledge of professional organists.

172 Chapters on Church Music.

speaking of the appointment of such persons to posts that
ought to be filled by professional men, said : ' These men
sell treacle six days in the week, and on the seventh day
wash their hands and place them on the keys of an organ ;
and, of course, when the keys are pressed down, the pipes
must speak.' So long as such appointments continue to be
made, it will be necessary that special officers be engaged to
direct Church music. But when choirs possess good organists,
the help of precentors and choirmasters is not needed.

All, however, are not of this opinion. The Rev. Dr. Trout-
beck says three officers — the precentor, the choirmaster, the
organist — constitute a theoretically perfect staff, though ' two
officers are generally sufficient for the complete performance
of the necessary duties. They may be either : 1, precentor
and choirmaster : 2, organist ; or 1, precentor ; 2, organist
and choirmaster. The former of these two combinations will
be found useful where the organist is inexperienced or un-
skilful, and one of the clergy of the parish, or a qualified
layman, can take the position of precentor and choirmaster.
The latter of the two combinations generally works the best,
one of the parochial clergy acting as precentor, with the
powers and duties already described, the organist being the
teacher, conducting all the practices, and acting as chief
authority in purely musical matters.' Of the precentor Dr.
Troutbeck says : ' The selection of the music, and the disci-
plinary control of the choir, should be in his hands, even if he
is not possessed of sufficient technical knowledge of music to
be the referee on purely musical points. In most parishes
one of the parochial clergy executes what remains of the pre-
centor's office. The power of admitting to the choir and of
dismissing from it, is sometimes exercised by the precentor.
Admission and dismissal, however, are matters in which the
incumbent of the parish should have the chief voice.' And
of the choirmaster : ' The choirmaster, when there is one,
ought to be in fact the teacher, and the conductor of all the
practices ; while the organist should be strictly the accom-
panist, his services being generally given at full practices only.'
In this system there is always a precentor to select the music,

The Church Musical Staff. 173

and sometimes a choirmaster to direct the choir. The organist
never selects the music. The precentor is the chief luminary
of the system, and the organist a satellite revolving round the
greater planet. And if there be a separate choirmaster, the
organist will virtually be governed by that officer also. So
that the organist is an officer of only second or third rate im-
portance. Now, all this would be well enough, if organists
were always inexperienced or unskilful. But when an organist
is a good musician, surely it is absurd to make him an officer
of inferior importance. Certainly he is, or ought to be, the
' chief musician.' The services of precentors and choirmasters
may be dispensed with at churches where the organists are
good all-round men. But organists are absolutely necessary, if
we are to have congregational music in our churches.

Some people think that musical skill and learning does not
necessarily qualify a man to select the music for use in
church ; since, they say, a musician may be a good performer
and theorist, and yet want taste. And some fear that if
organists selected the music, they might choose such as was
either too elaborate, or unsuitable for the churches at which
they officiated. A clergyman once said that 'he would not
allow his organist, even if he were a Doctor of Music, to
choose the music' But surely, few would seriously maintain
that good organists are so deficient in taste as not to know
which chants best suit the expression of the Psalms and
Canticles, which tunes best suit the sense of the hymns. And
it is impossible to believe that an organist who possessed
common-sense would choose music that was either too diffi-
cult, or did not suit the kind of service used at the church
where he officiated. Some are of opinion that separate choir-
masters are absolutely necessary to train choirs and preside
at the choir practices. But this is not the case. A good
organist, who knows his work, can not only train a choir, but
also conduct the practices perfectly well. During a great
part of the practice, he need not be at the organ, but may let
the choir sing without the organ, and give them his undivided
attention. All experienced organists know how to conduct
choir practices, each after his own fashion.

174 Chapters on Church Music.

Experience teaches that the system of employing a number
of officers to manage the music of churches, however well
it may sound in theory, fails when reduced to practice.
Precentors and choirmasters, whether they know their busi-
ness or not, are not only useless at churches where the
organists are good general practitioners, but often worse than
useless. Doubtless some precentors, lay and cleric, are well
qualified to do their work ; but generally, it is to be feared,
these officers are too ignorant of the theory and practice of
music — too little acquainted with musical matters to choose
music and teach choirs. ' In most parishes one of the
parochial clergy executes what remains of the precentor's
office.' A clergyman is respected for his position and learn-
ing ; but he falls immensely when he quits his position and
undertakes wThat he cannot do well. Few curates are good
musicians. Certainly their education does not qualify them
to take a leading part in musical matters. A man may be a
classical and mathematical scholar, and yet not be a musician.
He may have no musical feeling, and if he is ' not possessed
of sufficient technical knowledge of music to be the referee on
purely musical points,' he cannot be fit, as a good organist is
fit, to choose music for other people to sing. He must make
mistakes sometimes. Even cathedral precentors probably have
not always been able to dispense with the help of professional
musicians. Good organists must find it trying to be obliged
to play the music precentors choose, and there must be
friction sometimes. And it must be equally objectionable,
and likely to lead to unpleasantness, when a good organist
finds himself obliged to adapt his accompaniment to the views
of a choirmaster, whose ideas of light and shade and tempo
are perhaps of the crudest. An organist cannot play a loud
organ when the choir are singing softly. If the music is to
be even tolerable, there must be accord between the singers
and the accompanist. So that he must either accommodate
himself to the views of the choirmaster, which must be
annoying to an artist, or play to please the choirmaster at
practice, and himself on Sunday. If, determined to infuse
the correct expression into the music, he does the latter, the

The Church Musical Staff. 175

choir will almost certainly follow him; but there will be
serious unpleasantness between him and the choirmaster,
which could not occur if there were no choirmaster.

But while most people will concede that it is useless, and
worse than useless, to employ ignorant people at churches
where the organists are good musicians and able to select the
music and train the choirs, some have thought that if com-
petent precentors and choirmasters were employed to work
with good organists, the result would be satisfactory, and
harmony, in two senses, secured. Experience teaches that
just the contrary is the case. An organist who is a good
all-round man can select the music and train the choir as
well as any precentor or choirmaster can. And where there
are such organists, the employment of these officers is un-
necessary. It is not well to have a number of musical
officers : it is much better that the work should be in the
hands of only one man, than be shared by two or three.
Even if their duties were always as clearly defined as they are
in Dr. Troutbeck's treatise, it is hardly possible that two or
three men could be engaged in managing the music at the
same church, and not differ sometimes. Even at cathedrals,
where one looks for the best precentors, there has not always
been perfect harmony when these gentlemen have had a voice
in the selection and management of the music, but friction
and even grave misunderstandings have arisen. ' Many men,
many minds,' is an adage that is as true in music as in every-
thing else. Musical opinions often are dependent on the taste
of those who advance them, and therefore admit of no proof.
Nothing is easier than for misunderstandings to arise between
men who hold musical appointments at the same church, and
nothing is more difficult than to reconcile musical officers
between whom a coolness exists, for they are more prompt to
take offence than eager to forgive. But if good organists are
unable always to work in harmony with good precentors, they
agree no better with good choirmasters. There are too man}'
points on which a good organist and a good choirmaster will
hold different opinions, and neither officer will confess the
other's views to be better than his own. Discussions often lead

1 76 Chapters on Church Music.

to unpleasantness. If the choirmaster is ' the teacher and the
conductor of all the practices/ and the organist is ' strictly
the accompanist/ the latter is practically under the direction
of the choirmaster, and cannot claim to have a voice in the
management of the music. However tasteful and judicious
an accompanist, he is little more than a mere machine, for he
must sink his own ideas of tone and pace, and adopt those of
the choirmaster. It must be trying to a good man to feel
that his skill and knowledge are useless, and a little irritating
to be compelled to carry out the views of a man whom he
considers to be a useless officer. It is possible that two or
three men, all excellent musicians, might be engaged in the
music at the same church, and all be so sweet-tempered that
they would never quarrel ; but, generally speaking, the em-
ploying of so many musicians is not likely to promote
harmony, or prove a source of comfort to an incumbent.

Our subject might be pursued farther, but however far we
went, we should arrive at the following conclusions : 1. One
sound, practical musician is worth much more to a church
than two or three pretenders. 2. When a parish will support
a teacher, the organistship, becoming vacant, should be given
to a professional man. 3. Organists' appointments might be
made more valuable, if the offices of organist and choirmaster
were united, and the salaries combined. 4. Precentors and
choirmasters, competent or incompetent, are not required
when organists are good all-round men, and the employment
of them is almost sure to lead to friction and unpleasantness.
5. As there are good organists who are not equal to dis-
ciplining and training the voices of boys, officers to do this
work would be useful where there are boy choristers, though
in most places it would certainly be difficult to find compe-
tent trainers. Such officers should be regarded as specialists,
and not have a voice in the selection or direction of the
music. Their duties would be to take charge of the boys,
and practise and drill them ; they might also look to their
behaviour at practice and service. 6. Curates, if they wished
to help with the music, might do useful work by attending
the choir practices, where their presence would be a check on

The Church Musical Staff. 177

any singers that were disposed to be careless. (Organists
might courteously avail themselves sometimes of the friendly
help of the curates, who, however, even if good musicians,
should not impede progress at practice by offering their
opinions, unless asked to do so.) 7. The rubrics allow certain
portions of the service ' to be said or sung,' and as incumbents
are responsible for the proper rendering of Divine service, it
is most reasonable that they should decide — and they can
insist on doing so — which parts of the service shall be sung,
and which read. Having decided this, they would do well to
place the choir and the direction of the music in the hands
of their organists ; since, if they were good, practical musicians
and men of taste, they would do the work better than any-
one else.

12

CHAPTER II.

THE CLERGY AND CHURCH MUSIC.

IT is proposed, as far as may be possible in a limited space,
to take a somewhat comprehensive view of a subject
which, though often discussed, has generally been regarded
from one-sided points of sight, and by persons whose feelings
have rendered them unable to see the thing in its various
aspects. Misunderstandings between clergymen and organists
about the choice of the music used in the Church services,
and the management of the music, are not now of very frequent
occurrence ; still, they occur, and are sometimes attended with
unhappy consequences. Organs have been closed, and con-
gregations deprived of instrumental music; parishes have
been in an uproar ; rival organists have struggled for the
possession of an organ-stool ; and, in one of our colonies, an
organ is actually said to have been gas-tarred — things which,
while they seem ludicrous enough to all who are not concerned
in them, are doubtless felt to be most unpleasant by the dis-
putants themselves. A slight want of judgment on the part
of a clergyman or an organist may bring on a misunderstand-
ing, which may rapidly become a very serious affair. Some-
times organists, forgetting the position of their clergymen,
have looked with mistrust upon the interest they take in the
Church music, and have been too ready to misconstrue a
kindly-meant suggestion into an act of interference ; and
clergymen, ignoring the superior musical attainments of their
organists, have not always treated these servants of the Church
considerately. And so a coldness has arisen between those
who should have worked together in harmony.*

* Many organists demonstrate a bad feeling towards the clergy, and
are loud in denouncing them. While some of them have reason to

The Clergy and Church Music. 179

The problem to be solved is this : How shall it be arranged
that the organist shall, in a proper and responsible manner,
be allowed to direct the music, and yet the clergyman main-
tain his position in the church ? Here are two parties con-
cerned, and if a right understanding between them is ever to
be arrived at, any arrangement that may be suggested must
clearly meet the views of both. The question is of such im-
portance that it ought to be seriously discussed.

In his own church the clergyman's power is absolute : it is,
indeed, so great that it cannot be greater. All the organist's
power is derived from the clergyman, and it is a mistake to
suppose that an organist has any power or authority whatever
by virtue of his office. The clergyman can say whether cer-
tain parts of the service shall be sung or not ; and as he is
responsible for the proper performance of Divine service, it is
reasonable that he should have this power. The law, there-
fore, is good, for it strengthens the hands of the clergyman
when he most needs support. But surely it can never have

complain of inconsiderate treatment received at the hands of their
particular clergymen, the bad. and disloyal feeling exhibited by these
decriers of the clergy probably arises in most cases from their not being
allowed to do just as they wish. Young organists have sometimes been
so lauded by their admirers that they have become very conceited. It
is the aim of such men to introduce more and more music into public
worship. If they can persuade excessively amiable clergymen to let
them alter the character of the Church services, their gratification knows
no bounds. The praise they receive for their musical performance
ministers to their already overweening vanity. If these men take other
posts as organists, they expect to rule over their new clergy and congre-
gation. They are impatient of control ; and should their attempts to
turn the Church service into a musical performance be firmly resisted,
they at once discover that their clergymen are the enemies of Art. They
even fancy that they are hostile to them personally, and consequently
not men who should be regarded as friends and served loyally, but as
tyrants who should be held up to public reprobation. Older and more
experienced organists, led by the one-sided statements of their younger
brethren, instead of pointing out the proper line of conduct, often con-
dole with them on their fancied grievances. The feeling created by all
this conversation, and a plentiful newspaper correspondence, seems to be
so bad and so widespread, that it may almost be said that ' every pastor is
an abomination to organists'

i8o Chapters on Church Music.

been intended by the framers that clergymen should choose
and direct the music in their churches without having the
necessary musical qualification for so doing. Much less could
it have been supposed that clergymen, practically ignorant of
music, would perform the duties of musical directors, when
churches were supplied with trained artists of skill and cul-
ture. However, the law places great power in the hands of the
clergyman, which he may use either for good or for evil. If
applied to control a foolish organist, who was disposed to give
way to his extravagant fancies, it would be a wise use of the
power. No doubt there have been organists who would have
chosen very unsuitable music, perhaps merely to show off
themselves or their choirs, and given annoyance to the con-
gregation, if there had not been a power to control them. But,
on the other hand, it would be a foolish abuse of power to
apply it where its exhibition was uncalled for.

Since the law, then, gives power to the clergyman and none
to the organist, it must be evident that contention with a
clergyman about the choice of the tunes or the direction of
the music is useless. A clergyman, if his organist persisted in
disobeying him, might stop the contention by closing the
organ, and (if the appointment rested solely with him) he
might dismiss the organist. If the appointment rested with
others the result would be a very painful dispute, in which
the organist, if a ' popular ' man, would have the sympathy of
the congregation generally, and probably of the wardens, while
the clergyman would be supported by his own more intimate
friends. If the well-wishers of the organist gained the day
their victory would be fruitless, for the clergyman could order
the organ to be kept closed. The organist must be worsted in
an encounter with the clergyman, and contention is to be
deprecated. It would be better for him to resign his appoint-
ment (if it could not be retained with comfort) than resist the
lawful authority of the clergyman. A qualified and con-
scientious artist, if he found himself the organist of a certain
kind of clergyman, would feel disgusted and unhappy.* It

* The writer would be sorry if he were understood to mean that there
are many such clergymen. But there have unquestionably been some
who have treated their organists in a most arbitrary fashion.

The Clergy and Church Music. 1 8 1

would be painful to the man, and degrading to the artist, to be
forced to teach and play music that his educated musical
taste could not approve. He would not work con amove ; his
capacity for usefulness would be largely destroyed ; and, his
merit under-rated and his talent unacknowledged, his experi-
ence held at nothing, himself neglected and treated as a mere
machine, he would probably be glad to be rid of his appoint-
ment at almost any sacrifice. But if unable from pecuniary
considerations to resign, he must sink the artist and quietly
do the bidding of the clergyman and his friends. The position
of this worthy man now is truly deplorable. His principle
prompts him to throw up his situation, but want of means
compels him, if possible, to retain it. He is, of course, dis-
satisfied and unhappy ; perhaps he murmurs, and the clergy-
man is told of it by someone who courts his favour. Our
worthy organist may try as far as possible to make the best of
his position and go on quietly, but his temper, if too much
tried, may at last break down, and an explosion will probably
be remembered against him. If presently he gives up his
appointment, his chances of securing another depend in no
small measure upon the reference his clergyman gives him.
Our organist may find himself awkwardly placed, if the clergy-
man has brought himself to believe him to be an assuming,
troublesome fellow.

The uselessness having been shown of contending with a
clergyman determined to ' have his own way/ and some of the
probable results of such contention touched upon, it may be
asked how it comes about that some clergymen, when they
have able and tried organists, in whom confidence might safely
be placed, nevertheless direct and choose the music themselves.
There have been clergymen distinguished in the art. The
first organ-builders and organists were priests ; and among
illustrious clerical theorists, composers, and organists may be
mentioned the names of Martini, Vogler, Stadler, Steffani, and
our own Aldrich and Creyghton. Clergymen may also point
with pride to an eminent living clerical musician.* Doubtless

* The late Sir Frederick Ouseley, who was living when these words
were written.

1 82 Chapters on Church Music.

there are clergymen with good musical taste, as there are
organists without it ; but as only very few clergymen have had
a musical training, the great body are necessarily unfit to
direct musical operations, much more so to direct musicians.
It is very right that a clergyman should determine how much
music shall be sung in the service, but if the organist be com-
petent and trustworthy the choice of that music should be left
to him. Which is the more likely to judge of the merits and
effectiveness of a musical composition, and the ability of the
choir to sing it, an organist who has given his time to the
study of such matters, or a clergyman who is practically un-
acquainted with music ? The clergyman would decide whether
an anthem were verbally suitable to the occasion or not, but
there his knowledge would end. If the clergyman chose the
anthem without consultation with the organist, then it might
happen that a poor musical composition might be selected, or
an anthem which required a fine and well-balanced choir to
render it properly might have to be done by an inferior choir,
the result in either case being torture to the musical portion
of the congregation and general dissatisfaction, the organist,
who from the first had foreseen the failure and pointed out
the impracticability of the attempt, being blamed. Again,
simply because some clergymen believe that solo anthems are
objectionable, only full anthems are allowed in their churches.
It seems hard to believe that any arguments could show the
undesirableness or impropriety of an expressive and devotional
rendering in church of such solos as ' 0 rest in the Lord/ or
1 I know that my Redeemer.' The question is not whether
anthems shall be sung or not : that is for the clergymen to
decide. But a clergyman having decided that an anthem may
be sung, it is hard to understand why one that requires twenty
voices to render it should be considered admissible, and
another, simply because it must be sung by only one voice,
discarded, granting it to be sung by a proper and duly qualified
person.

In almost every case clergymen, by troubling themselves
about the music, defeat their own purposes. Unquestionably,
they would best insure having good music by securing the

The Clergy and Church Music. 183

services of good and reliable organists, and then leaving the
choir and the direction of the music in their hands. If clergy-
men say that their organists are unqualified, it may be replied
that the fault is, perhaps, their own. From motives of bene-
volence or personal regard, or a desire to reward a person who
has helped in a parish, or with a view to saving the church
the salary a good organist expects,* they sometimes appoint
persons whose general artistic incapacity and ignorance of the
duties of an organist render them unfit for the post. It is then
xfound necessary that someone be appointed choirmaster, and
probably the clergyman or some member of his family chooses
the music. The curate does all he can to help, and perhaps
ladies in the congregation give the church the benefit of what
knowledge they possess. The result in such cases is bad or
lukewarm singing, to the feeble, expressionless accompaniment
of a sadly ill-used organ. What one good head could have
done proves to be too much for all this host.

Not only is it unnecessary for a clergyman who has a good
organist to trouble himself with the music, but a good organist
will work all the better if made responsible for the music and
allowed to manage it with method. But, remembering the
clergyman's position, an organist should not be too ready to
take offence at any kindly meant suggestions he may offer
from time to time, or look upon such as interference. Most
clergymen have their favourite tunes, and it would be a com-
pliment to the clergyman, and a good thing in itself, if the
organist could now and then introduce these into the services.
To say that a tune is bad or unsuitable, simply because the
clergyman likes it, is mere pettishness, and likely to lead to
speedy trouble.

If their love of music prompts some clergymen to trouble
themselves about their music, others are led to do so by a
feeling that they are responsible for the services. A clergy-
man who was an excellent preacher and an excellent man, but

* A society which helps to supply churches with curates requires,
when its aid is asked for a church, to know how much that church
expends on its music. This must often have an injurious effect on
Church music.

184 Chapters on Church Music.

only a poor musician, once said that he so strongly felt this
responsibility that it was a matter of principle with him to
choose all the music that was used in his church, and added,
quite seriously, that so far from being disposed to concede
any power to his organist, he would not allow him to
choose the chants or hymn- tunes, or to change them, without
his express permission. A clergyman may be responsible for
the music in his church, but surely a ' cure of souls ' implies
other and far greater responsibilities. Would not a clergyman
best fulfil all his responsibilities by devoting himself to
clerical work, strictly so called, and placing the musical ar-
rangements in the hands of a good and reliable organist, who
would best know how to deal with musical matters ? Such
an organist would not be likely to introduce anything un-
seemly or unsuitable into the Church services, and might
safely be made ' responsible ' for the musical portion of the
services.

Besides the clergyman himself, there are sometimes others
who are interested in the music, and firmly persuaded that
their suggestions ought to be acceptable to the organist. The
authority of the clergyman the organist is bound to recognise,
but attempts at interference on the part of ladies and curates
ought (the writer ventures to think) to be respectfully, but
firmly, protested against. A good organist, when he needs
help or advice, will not shrink to ask for it ; but he cannot
effectively perform his duty if he allows himself to be led by
the whims and wishes of these would-be advisers. * In the
multitude of counsellors there is safety;' but Scott pointed
out that the safety which lies in a multitude is sometimes for
the counsellors and not for the counselled. If an organist,
from a fear of disobliging, tries to please everyone, he will, like
the man in the fable, end with satisfying nobody. Bitter, in
his ' History of Music,' says : ' How often are they [able
organists] not urged to perform, against their own better con-
viction, the very things against which their understanding
and their honour as artists must revolt. It is not with the
organist, generally, that the clergyman consults about the
introduction of this or that contemplated change which affects

The Clergy and Churcli Music. 185

the musical part of the service. He whose musical knowledge
and taste stand, in most instances, below zero, is willingly led
by some fashionable musical amateur — an influential member
of the Church — who considers the organist his servant, the
man to whom he dictates his unchangeable will. A man of
character and sound art principles will not and cannot submit
to such despotic treatment, and prefers to retire from such a
degrading position. Thus it happens that unprincipled igno-
ramuses, through base flattery and servile submission, preside
\in responsible places to the dishonour and demoralization of
true Church art.'

These five are the principal arrangements that obtain at
churches respecting the choice of the tunes : (1) the clergy-
man leaves the choice of them to the organist ; (2) the
clergyman and the organist together choose them ; (3) they are
chosen by the clergyman ; (4) by a precentor ; and (5) by a
choirmaster. The first arrangement is in every way the most
satisfactory, supposing the organist to be thoroughly com-
petent, and possessed of the requisite taste and judgment —
mere skill in playing would not be a sufficient qualification.
But if the organist were untried and inexperienced, the second
arrangement might be preferred, and the organist and clergy-
man would choose the tunes in consultation. The clergyman
would, no doubt, be guided by the organist in purely musical
questions, and, in most cases, look upon his own share of the
work as a mere matter of form, though he might think it
desirable to keep up the form. Indeed, it would be merely a
precautionary measure on the part of the clergyman, which
need not be made galling to the organist, or felt to be such by
him. While allowing his organist all reasonable latitude, the
clergyman would retain the power of control, and, like another

iEolus,

* Et premere, et laxas sciret dare . . . habenas.'

He would use the power of control only when it was really
necessary to do so. This arrangement has its faults, but it is
infinitely preferable to those which follow, as it gives the
organist a voice in the choosing of the tunes. According to
the third arrangement, the clergyman chooses the tunes with-

1 86 Chapters on Church Music.

out consulting the organist. This arrangement can only be
required on very extraordinary occasions. It might be called
for, if the organist had proved himself to be wanting in taste
and judgment and was disposed to make himself offensive,
and the authorities did not wish to dismiss him. But it need
not be discussed, as few clergymen would be so unreasonable
as to treat good men and intelligent artists as mere machines.
The precentor or the choirmaster might be of use at churches
where the organist was unfit, and the clergyman felt unable,
to choose the music. But where the organist is a good
general practitioner, he should be his own precentor and
choirmaster.

To sum up. It ought to be left to the organist, if he is a
man of proved taste and judgment, to choose his own music.
Such an organist would have more pleasure in his work,
and perform it more effectively, if his clergyman placed the
directing of the music in his hands. But when there is a
doubt, or the organist is untried and inexperienced, and the
clergyman shrinks from conceding full power to him, the
organist and the clergyman together might select the music.
The clergyman would, in many cases, look upon his own part
in this arrangement as a matter of reserved power, to be used
only when he found it to be really necessary. If organists
remembered the authority of their clergymen, and clergymen
showed deference to the superior musical knowledge of their
organists, and protected them from the interference of meddle-
some persons, each would respect the other, and there could
not fail to be a good understanding between them.

APPENDICES.

APPENDIX A

SOME NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF CHURCH MUSIC —
CHIEFLY FROM BURNEY.

The chief composers of Masses and Services living in England immedi-
ately before the Reformation were John Taverner, Dr. Fayrfax, and
Dr. Tye, who may be called the founders of our Church music. * The
style of these venerable musicians is grave, and the harmony, in general,
unexceptionable, if tried by such rules as were established during their
tiaies ; but with respect to invention, air, and accent, the first two are
totally deficient.'

There is generally such a total want of design, subject, melody, and
attention to the accent and meaning of the words in the pre-Reformation
composers, that ' the notes seem to be thrown upon paper at random ;
nor could they be more devoid of meaning if the sounds of such keys as
these pieces are written in had issued from a mill, or been balloted for
in the Laputan manner.'

Tye lived in no fewer than four reigns — Henry VIII., Edward VI.,
Mary, and Elizabeth's — and contributed not a little to the improvement
of our Cathedral music. He and Tallis are the prominent figures in the
history of the Church music of the Reformation period.

The nobility in Henry's reign seem to have loved good music. The
Earl of Northumberland's chapel-establishment, in 1512, was equal to
that of a cathedral. ' The gentillmen of the Chappell consisted of x
Parsons — as to say — Two at x marc a pece — oone at xls. and oone at xxs.
viz. ij Basses, ij Tenors, and vi counter-tenors — childeryn of the Chappell
vi after xxvs. the pece.' The 'orgaynes,' in general, were not played by
a person appointed for that purpose, but by the choristers — ' oon after
an outher' ; ' ande,' it is ordered, 'every man that is a player shall keep
his cours weikely.' It seems to have been a part of the duty of the
gentlemen and children of this establishment to perform also at the
'Playes and Interludes and dressing that is plaid in the xii Dayes of

1 88 Chapters on Church Music.

Crestenmas,' and at the other great festivals, for which they received
extra pay.

From the son of this nobleman Cardinal Wolsey, then in the plenitude
of his power, demanded his choral books for the use of his own chapel.
In a letter to Wolsey the young Earl says : ' I do perceayff my Lorde
Cardinalls pleasour ys to have such Books as was in the Chapell of my
lat Lord and ffayther (wos soil Jhu pardon). To the accomplychment
of which, at your desyer, I am conformable, notwithstandinge I trust to
be able ons to set up a Chapelle of myne owne — I shall with all sped
send up the Boks unto my Lords Grace, as to say iiij Antiffonars, such
as I think wher not seen a gret wyll — v Grails — an Ordeorly — a Manuall
— viij Prossessioners.'

Wolsey had in his chapel ten singing-priests, a master of the children,
twelve singing-men (laymen), and ten singing-children, with a servant to
wait on them.

Henry VIII., the last Prince ef pre-Reformation times, was a good
musician. He is even said to have composed two Masses, which were
often sung in his chapel. When he was ' on journeys or progresses/ six
singing- boys and six gentlemen of the choir made a part of the royal
retinue.

In 1539 a 'Book of Ceremonies' was published, in which 'the sober,
discrete, and devout singing, music, and playing with organs, used in the
Church, in the service of God,' is ordained.

From a letter of Cranmer to Henry in 1545, it appears that the Venite,
Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, Psalms, and Versicles,
and in the Mass, the Gloria in Excelsis, Gloria Patri, Credo, Perfice,
Paternoster, and portions of the Sanctus and Agnus, were sung to plain-
chant.

Cranmer made an experimental setting of the English Litany to plain-
chant — 'not full of notes, but as near as may be, for every syllable a
note.'

Edward VI. had forty-one officers of his Chapel Royal (Farrant and
Tallis were of the number), at a cost of £476 15s. 5d., which sum includes
the allowance to the boys, the number of whom is unknown.

In Edward's reign Tye, Tallis, and Farrant produced Services and Full
Anthems in the motet style.

In 1550 the Daily Prayer and Office of the Holy Communion were set
by Merbecke to a plain-chant. (Tallis afterwards harmonized it. ' The
melody used by Tallis is not exactly similar to that of Marbeck ; it is
only of the same kind, consisting of fragments of the ancient ecclesiastical
canto fermo.')

Appendix A. 189

Burnet says it was much complained of — ' that the priests read the
prayers generally with the same sort of voice that they had used formerly
in the Latin service, so that it was said the people did not understand
it much better than they had done the Latin formerly. This I. have
seen represented in many letters ; and it was very seriously laid before
Cranmer and Martin Bucer.'

In Mary's reign and that of her illustrious sister and successor, the
number and salaries of the musicians of the Royal Chapel were nearly
the same as in Edward YI.'s. The officers were mostly the same in these
three reigns, being generally ' turncoats,' and varying their views of
religion to suit the times. But Merbecke is an exception. His Pro-
testantism, it is said, nearly made him a martyr.

It appears strange to us (with our modern ideas of kingly authority)
to learn that, in the days of the Tudors, the Sovereign sometimes im-
pressed men and children to sing in the Royal Chapel.

Though the language used in the Church service at this period of our
history was sometimes English, sometimes Latin, the music hardly varied
in character.

Elizabeth's reign is an important one in the annals of Cathedral music,
of which she was indeed the saviour. By her time t a school of counter-
point had been formed in this country that was equal, at least, to that of
any other part of Europe ' ; and during her reign, ' in spite of the fanatical
spirit of the times, and the outcry of the Puritans against every species
of Church music except syllabic psalmody, our Cathedral service, by the
diligence and abilities of Tye, Tallis, Bird, Morley, and others, was
brought to a pitch of perfection which was hardly surpassed by that of
Italy itself.'

In 1560 and 1565 Day printed the Cathedral Service, with the music of
Tallis and other worthies. ' The two publications by John Day fixed
for near a century the style of our choral music, of which the movement
is grave, the harmony grateful, and the contrivance frequently ingenious.'
But the music ' obscured the sense of what was sung by too frequent
fugue, as well as by an utter inattention to the accent and expression of
the words.'

The chief composers of Church music (Services and Full Anthems)
during Elizabeth's reign were Robert Whyte, Tallis, Bird, and Morley.
Tallis and Bird wrote excellent Latin motets and hymn3, and published
them under the title of Cantiones Sacrce in 1575. (Aldrich and others
afterwards adapted them for use in cathedrals.) These compositions are
full of contrapuntal artifices. Morley set the Burial Service.

* Before the works and reputation of Palestrina had circulated through-
out Europe, we had choral music of our own, which for gravity of style,
purity of harmony, ingenuity of design, and clear and masterly con-

190 Chapters on Church Music.

texture, was equal to the best productions of that truly venerable
master.' But in the compositions of this period the words were very
often wrongly accented.

The learned and solemn music of the sixteenth century seems more
suited for use in cathedrals than compositions in the modern, free style,
with their unchurchlike organ accompaniments. And it is sad that it
should not be more often heard. • The fugues and canons of the six-
teenth century, like the Gothic buildings in which they were sung, have
a gravity and grandeur peculiarly suited to the purpose of their con-
struction ; and when either of them shall, by time or accident, be
destroyed, it is very unlikely that they will ever be replaced by others in
a style equally reverential and stupendous. They should therefore be
preserved as venerable relics of the musical labours and erudition of our
forefathers, before the lighter strains of secular music had tinctured
melody with its capricious and motley flights/

The organists in olden time were ecclesiastics. The first lay organists
of the Chapel Royal, upon record, were Tye, Tallis, and Bird, all during
the reign of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth ' loved state and some magnificence in religion as well as in
everything else'; she 'liked ceremonies, and hated puritanism ' ; she was
a good musician ; and she saved Church music. The service in her own
chapel was performed with organs and other instruments.

The Injunctions of 1559 required collegiate and parish churches, that
had choral establishments, to retain them, and to use a ' modest and
distinct song ' in all parts of the common prayers, ' that the same might
be as plainly understood as if it were read without singing.'

' These Injunctions are supposed to have been compiled by the select
divines who had been employed in Sir Thos. Smith's house about the
Prayer-book ; but the hand of the Secretary Cecil was upon them ; to
amend them after the Queen's mind. So that, as had been the case with
the Prayer-book itself, the influence of the Court was exercised against
the opinion of the leading Protestant divines.' That the Queen was
thought to have exceeded her prerogative on this occasion appears from
a letter of Archbishop Parker to Lord Burghley : ' Whatsoever the
[Queen's] ecclesiastical prerogative is, Ijfear it is not so great as your pen
hath given it in the Injunctions' (Procter, 'History of the Book of
Common Prayer,' p. 61 and note).

Heylin, speaking of the results of the Injunctions, says : ' As plain-
song was retained in most parish churches for the daily psalms, so in her
own chapels, and in the quire of all cathedrals, and some colleges, the
hymns were sung after a more melodious manner, with organs commonly,
and sometimes with other musical instruments, as the solemnity required.
... In 1560 the Church of England, as it was first settled and established

Appendix A. 191

under Queen Elizabeth, may be regarded as brought to perfection. . .
Musick was retained in all such churches in which provision had been
made for the maintenance of it, or where the people could be trained up
at least to plain song.'

But Heylin wrote a hundred years after the time he is speaking of.
And it is impossible, after reading the homily ' Of the Place and Time of
Prayer,' which was written by a bishop who lived during Elizabeth's
reign, to believe that chanting could have been as common in parish
churches as the excellent and enthusiastic Heylin would lead us to
suppose. In this homily a woman is imagined as lamenting the changes
made in the manner of performing Divine service, and saying to her
neighbour : ' Alas, gossip, what shall we now do at church, since all the
Faints are taken away, since all the goodly sights we were wont to have
are gone, since we cannot hear the like piping, singing, chanting, and
playing upon the organs, that we could before ?'

But whatever may have been the precise quantity of music used at
parish churches in Elizabeth's reign — that the cathedral service was used
only at cathedrals and collegiate churches in the reign of Charles II. is
shown by the titles of two books published in 1664 : 'Short Directions
for the Performance of Cathedral Service. . . . Published for the in-
formation of such as are ignorant in the performance of that service, and
shall be called to officiate in cathedral or collegiate churches.' ' Collection
of Divine services and anthems usually sung in his Majestie's chapell,
and in all the cathedral and collegiate choirs, of England and Ireland.'
The same negative kind of proof, that the choral service was not used at
parish churches in the reign of James II., is furnished by the fact that
the commission of great divines who met in 1689 to prepare alterations
in the liturgy, agreed that ' the chanting of Divine service in cathedral
churches should be laid aside, that the whole may be rendered intelligible
to the common people.' From which it may safely be inferred that the
cathedral service was not used at parish churches : since, if the com-
missioners objected to the use of a musical service at cathedrals, they
would not have failed to discourage its continuance at parish churches,
had it existed there.*

[While the artistic, or choral service was used at churches with choral
establishments (cathedrals, chapels royal, and collegiate churches), the
service at parish churches was plain enough. At many parish churches
there was no music, but metrical psalms, chosen by the clerk (who,
according to the 91st Canon, of 1604, was to be known to be ' sufficient
for his reading, writing, and also for his competent skill in singing, if it
may be '). One of the duties of this officer was to choose and lead the
psalmody. Sometimes he read each line aloud before the people sang it,
for the benefit of such as could not read. In course of time choristers

* See also pp. 194, 195, 196, and the second extract in the note, p. 204.

192 Chapters on Church Music.

and instruments (flutes, hautboys, clarionets, bassoons, and the like) —
now laid aside for a harmonium or an organ — appeared in churches. The
more important churches had organs (and sometimes wind instruments,
and even stringed instruments also), Smith and Harris erecting organs
in many London, and some country, churches in the latter half of the
seventeenth century. (Byfield, Schrider, Schwarbrook, the Jordans, and
Bridge carried on the work in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Snetzler, the younger Byfield, Green, Avery, and the Englands are later ;
Avery and the younger England continuing to build organs even in the
early part of the present century.) The organs made by all these
excellent builders, it is scarcely needful to say, were finger-organs. But
in country places the instruments were generalty of the ' barrel ' kind.*
When there was a choir, the Canticles were sometimes chanted, and some-
times the Psalms — to the great disgust of people who had inherited
puritanical ideas. These objectors would sometimes openly show their
rooted abhorrence of chanting the Psalms by sitting down with their
hats on.f]

The reign of James I. is interesting to the musical historian chiefly
from the fact that Orlando Gibbons then lived and wrote. As this truly
great musician died in 1625, the Service inF, and the anthems ' Hosanna,'
1 Oh clap your Hands,' and ' Almighty and Everlasting/ show what a
composer of genius and learning could produce early in the seventeenth
century.

Charles I. was very fond of hearing anthems and services, and often
chose them himself. Child was the principal composer of his reign.

In 1645 the Directory was substituted for the Prayer-book, and its use
enforced. The cathedral service was totally suppressed. ' This gave a
grievous wound to sacred music, not only checking its cultivation, but
annihilating as much as possible the means of restoring it, by destroying
all the church books, as entirely as those of the Romish communion had
been at the time of the Reformation. Nothing now but syllabic and
unisonous psalmody was authorized in the church ; organs were taken
down, organists and choirmen turned adrift, and the art of music, and
indeed all the arts but those of killing, canting, and hypocrisy, were
discouraged.'

If we may trust Thomas Mace, the psalmody in country churches was
not very well rendered in the reign of Charles II. "Tis sad,' he says in

* It would be interesting to know if barrel-organs are still used anywhere. The
writer was present at a service in a little country church in Derbyshire^some
fifteen years ago where there was a powerful one, which, however, played only
the psalm tunes. Perhaps chants were not included in its repertory, or the
operator may not have been skilful enough to undertake to accompany the
chanting.

t„ To this day some people call the Prayer-book psalms the ' reading psalms,'
and the metrical psalms the 'singing psalms,' or the ' Psalms of David.'

Appendix A. 193

his ' Musick's Monument,' written in 1 676, ' to hear what whining, toling,
yelling, or screeking there is in our country congregations, where, if there
be no organ to compel them to harmonical unity, the people seem
affrighted or distracted.' Mace advises congregations to purchase organs.
His suggestions for creating a supply of organists are curious to read now,
when organists are only too plentiful. He recommends that ' the dark
learn to pulse or strike the psalm-tunes ' (which he offers himself to teach
for thirty or forty shillings) ; ' and the dark afterwards may instruct all
the boys in the parish for a shilling or two a piece to perform the business
as well as himself. And thus by little and little the parish will swarm
or abound with organists.'

N At the Restoration the cathedral service was restored, only after con-
siderable trouble, and the reign of Charles II. was ' more favourable to
the progress of our native church [cathedral] music than any other
except that of Queen Elizabeth.'

Charles grew tired of the grave and solemn music of Tallis, Bird, and
the old masters, and desired the composers of the royal chapel to intro-
duce symphonies for instruments (violins, cornets, and sackbuts) into their
anthems. Pelham Humphrey, Blow, and Wise, choristers of the royal
chapel, were encouraged by the King to produce both full and verse
anthems. Composers began now to have some idea of expression. Hum-
phrey is said to have been sent to Paris to study under Lully. Both he
and his fellow-composers of the royal chapel indulged the King's
French taste in their anthems. When Charles died, Purcell was twenty-
seven years old, and had been nine years organist of Westminster Abbey,
and three years organist of the Chapel Royal.

This great genius, who was equally happy in the learned style of Tallis
and Gibbons, and a more expressive style of his own, flourished during
the reigns of Charles II., James II., and William and Mary. His anthems
and services, if not more learned than those of his predecessors, are in-
finitely more varied and expressive. ' His music is often " rich and
strange," but never vulgar. It has the unfortunate property of making
all other music (excepting pure old Church music and Bach's organ
fugues) appear common and insipid' (Crotch's 'Lectures on Music ').
His melody is often wanting in symmetry and grace, and he is not free
from mannerisms. But his genius, * though less cultivated and polished,
was equal to that of the greatest masters on the Continent/ Some of
his anthems have symphonies for stringed instruments. In his grand
Te Deum and Jubilate, written in 1694 for St. Cecilia's Day, he uses such
instruments as were known in his time. This composition was produced
nearly twenty years before Handel's Utrecht Te Deum, and nearly fifty
years before the famous Dettingen Te Deum. As the admirable Gibbons
was the composer at the beginning, so Purcell stands conspicuous at the
end of the seventeenth century, and connects those learned and solemn

13

194 Chapters on Church Music.

old writers, his predecessors, with the great composers of the eighteenth
century. Purcell, who seems to have been as feeble in constitution as he
was vigorous in mind, died in 1695, aged but thirty-seven. It is impos-
sible to say what splendid work he might not have produced had his life
been prolonged into the eighteenth century, and he been acquainted with
the works of his contemporaries.

Dr. Crotch says of Purcell, ' We ought not to be unacquainted with
any work of this man, who was not only the greatest master of his time,
but the most extraordinary genius that this nation ever produced.'
Though Purcell is the pride and delight of English musicians, the popular
craving for something new (which requires to be satisfied with a new kind
of Church music, and anthems full of modern improvements (?) and
novel ' effects '), combined, perhaps, with want of taste on the part of
some of those whose duty it is to choose the music in high places, is
causing the music of the old master to be gradually laid aside.

After Purcell come a succession of composers of excellent Church
music, including such well-known names as Jeremiah Clarke, Aldrich,
Croft, Greene, Boyce, Nares, Battishill, Arnold, Attwood, and the late
Dr. Weslej'.

The English cathedral service, though it ever maintained its ground,
except during the troublous times of the Commonwealth, has always
been an object of mistrust to many well-meaning people. It is remark-
able that, though often nearly overthrown, it was always saved by the
Sovereign.

Even so early as the reign of Henry VIII. some of the more zealous
reformers declared that ' Synging, and saying of mass, matins, or even-
song, is but roryng, howling, whistelyng, mummying, conjuryng, and
jogelyng, and the playing at the organys a foolish vanitie.'*

In Queen Elizabeth's time the Puritans censured and opposed 'all
curious singing and playing at the organs.' ('Curious singing' was a
species of polyphonic music, full of intricacy and complicated measures,
which caused the words to become confused and unintelligible.) Among
the proposals prepared by them in 1562, there is one ' that the Psalms
may be sung distinctly by the whole congregation, and that organs may
be laid aside.'

Burnet says : ' The offence which was taken at organs and Church
music, as practised in cathedrals, was rather general ; and the question
of rejecting them was agitated in the Convocation of 1562.'

The outcry and violence of the Puritans against ' playing upon organs,
curious singing, and tossing about the Psalms from side to side,' were
very great in Elizabeth's reign.

* So thought the clergy of the Lower House within the Province of Canter-
bury in 1536.

Appendix A. 195

(The great Hooker defends the use of suitable Church music in his
' Ecclesiastical Polity.')

In 1571, in their Confession, the Puritans say, ' Concerning singing of
Psalms, we allow of the people's joining with one voice in a plain tune,
but not of tossing the Psalms from one side to the other, with inter-
mingling of organs.'

They wished to break up choral establishments, and to take the money
of the singers and pay preachers with it.

In 1586 they published ' A Request of all true Christians to the House
of Parliament,' in which they pray, ' That all cathedral churches may be
put down, where the service of God is grievously abused by piping with
"organs, singing, ringing, and trowling of Psalms from one side of the
choir to another, with the squeaking of chanting choristers disguised (as
are all the rest) in white surplices ; some in corner caps and silly copes,
imitating the fashion and manner of Antichrist the Pope, that man of
sin, and child of perdition, with his other rabble of miscreants and
shavelings.'*

(The Puritans' love of metrical psalmody and dislike of organs,
choristers, and the cathedral service finds expression in the words of the
enthusiastic Major Bridgenorth, in ' Peveril of the Peak.'* Speaking of a
service, at which he was present, in a remote American settlement, he
says : ' Our temple was but constructed of wooden logs ; but when shall
the chant of trained hirelings, or the sounding of tin and brass tubes
amid the aisles of a minster, arise so sweetly to Heaven, as did the
psalm in which we united at once our voices and our hearts !')

At the Great Rebellion, ' in the opinion of those that were then in
power, it was thought necessary for the promotion of true religion that
no organs should be suffered to remain in the churches ; that choral-
books should be torn and destroyed ; painted glass windows broken ; the
cathedral service totally abolished ; and that those retainers to the Church,
whose function had been to assist in such profane vanities, should betake
themselves to some employment less offensive to the Lord. In conse-
quence of these tenets, collegiate and parochial churches had been stripped
of their organs and ornaments ; monuments defaced ; sepulchral inscrip-
tions engraven on brass torn up ; libraries and repositories ransacked for
musical service-books of every kind, which being all deemed alike super-
stitious and ungodly, were committed to the flames, or otherwise de-
stroyed, and the utmost efforts used at total extirpation. And, indeed,
their endeavours had been so effectual, that when the heads of the Church
set about re-establishing the cathedral service, it was equally difficult to

* In his 'Histrio-Mastyx,' published in 1633, the Puritan Prynne speaks in no
measured terms against Church music. 'The music in the churches he affirmed
not to be the noi-e of men, but a bleating of brute beasts ; choristers bellow the
tenor, as it were oxen ; bark a counterpart, as it were a kennel of dogs ; roar out
a treble, as it were a sort of bulls ; and grunt out a base, as it were a number of
hogs.' — Rushworth, quoted by Hume.

196 Chapters on Church Music.

find instruments, performers, books, and singers able to do the requisite
duty.'

Dr. Rimbault (Rimbault and Hopkins, on 'The Organ,' pp. 91-98)
gives a highly interesting account of the destruction of organs, and the
desperate proceedings of the fanatical Parliamentary soldiers during the
Interregnum.

(It is not to be supposed that if they detested the cathedral service,
the Puritans disliked music. If Cromwell permitted, and perhaps en-
couraged his regiment to savagely demolish the organs in Peterborough
Cathedral, he is said, on the authority of old Anthony Wood, to have
' loved a good voice and instrumental music well.' Milton, who inherited
musical talents from his father, is said to have solaced himself in his
affliction with playing on the organ.)

The difference between the Puritan theory of Church service and that
of the Church of England is shown by the following :

(1) Church of England.

The 18th Canon, of 1604, says : 'None, either man, woman, or child, of
what calling soever, shall be otherwise at such times busied in the Church,
than in quiet attendance to hear, mark, and understand that which is
read, preached, or ministered ; saying in their due places audibly with
the minister, the Confession, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed ; and
making such other answers to the public prayers as are appointed in the
Book of Common Prayer.'

(2) Puritan.

At the Savoy Conference, 1661, the Puritans proposed 'to omit the
repetitions and responses of the clerk and people, and the alternate
reading of the Psalms and hymns [the Prayer-book Psalms and Canticles],
which cause a confused murmur in the congregation : the minister being
appointed for the people in all Public Services appertaining to God ; and
the Holy Scriptures intimating the people's part in public prayer to be
only with silence and reverence to attend thereunto, and to declare their
consent in the close by saying Amen.'

The first of these quotations opposes the theory of a silent congrega-
tion, and requires the people to take part in the public services of the
Church ; the second advocates silent worship on the part of the congre-
gation, and opposes response-saying and the reading of the Psalms by the
minister and people. Both show that in the services of the Church of
England the people took part audibly, and that the services were not
rendered chorally in churches.

In the ' Heart of Midlothian ' Scott makes his heroine write a letter
from England to her father, in which she tells that staunch Presbyterian
that ' there are a sort of chosen people in the land, for they hae some

Appendix B. 197

kirks without organs that are like ours, and are called Meeting-houses,
where the minister preaches without a gown.' What would Jeanie Deans
and Douce Davie have said, could they have foreseen that one day organs
*'ould multiply in the churches of Scotland !*

And what would the worthy old English Puritans have said, if one
had told them that a generation of Nonconformists would one day spring
up in England, who would not only have organs in their places of worship,
but sometimes even chanting and anthems !

APPENDIX B.

NOTES ON METRICAL PSALMODY — PARTLY/ FROM BURNEY.

' The use of Metrical Hymns began in the churches of the East, and
was brought into the West by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (374), who
composed hymns in Latin to the glory of the Holy Trinity for the people
to sing in church to preserve them from the Arian heresy ' (Procter,
' History of the Book of Common Prayer,' p. 173). Hilary, Bishop of
Poictiers, another vigorous opposer of Arianism (350), also composed
hymns to be sung in the Western churches. By some the authorship of
the Te Deum is attributed to him,

* Metrical Psalmody/ Burney remarks, ' was always in favour with
reformers and schismatics.' The Arians, in the fourth century, marched
in procession through the streets of Constantinople, singing hymns.
Those early Protestants, the Albigenses and Waldenses, were psalm-
^ingers. They went to the stake singing psalms. The sect created by
Wickliffe's Poor Priests in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries sang
psalms, and are supposed to have taken their name of 'Lollards' from
the old German lullen, 'to sing in a low tone.' The Bohemian and
Moravian Brethren, led by Jerome of Prague and John Huss, used hymns
and religious songs in their churches in the fifteenth century. Luther,
Calvin, Cranmer, Beza, Buchanan, and John Knox, in the sixteenth
century, all took an interest in psalmody.

If the archaic Gregorian chant was the Church music of the priests
centuries ago, and to this day continues to be used in the services of the
Church of Rome, in Protestant countries Metrical Psalmody was, and so
long as the Reformed Church exists will continue to be, the Church

* Smollett seems to have foreseen that the Scottish objection to Church organs
would die out. In his last work (written in 1771) he makes the principal character
say : • Some of the [Edinburgh] churches have admitted such ornaments as would
have excited sedition, even in England, a little more than a century ago ; and
psalmody is here practised and taught by a professor from the cathedral of
Durham. I should not be surprised, in a few years, to hear it accompanied
with an organ.'

198 Chapters on Church Music.

music of the people. There can be little doubt that the new order of
Church music recommended itself highly to the people, and helped greatly
in the spread of the Reformation. Wherever it was started, it drew
large congregations. The voice of the people, hitherto silenced, was
now heard, everyone singing in his own language the praises of God.

Roger Askam, in a letter from Augsburg, dated May 14, 1551, says :
1 Three or four thousand singing at a time in a church of this city is but
a trifle.' And according to Beza, in 1558 some of the Huguenots, being in
the Prez aux Clercs, a public place at Paris, near the University, began
to sing psalms, in which others who were there at the time joined. This
was continued for several days by great numbers, among whom was the
King of Navarre, and many Huguenot nobles. Bishop Jewel, writing to
Peter Martyr in 1560, says : 'Immediately, not only the churches in the
neighbourhood, but in the towns far distant, began to vie with each other
in the same practice. You may now sometimes see at St. Paul's Cross,
after the service, 6,000 people, old and young, of both sexes, all singing
together and praising God.'

The inspiriting effect of good unisonous singing is well known to those
who have heard it, as it is still rendered in the Lutheran churches of
Germany. In 1644 (the reign of Charles I.) Thomas Mace was delighted
with the psalm-singing in the cathedral at York, which ' was the very
best harmonical music he ever heard ; yea, far excelling all other either
private or publick cathedral music, and infinitely beyond all verbal ex-
pression or conceiving.' 'They had then a custom in that church,' he
says, ' that always before the sermon the whole congregation sang a psalm,
together with the quire and the organ ; and you must also know, that
there was then a most excellent — large — plump — lusty — full — speaking
organ, which cost, as I am credibly informed, a thousand pounds. This
organ, I say (when the Psalm was set before the sermon), being let out
into all its fulness of stops, together with the quire, began the Psalm.
But when that vast conchording unity of the whole congregational chorus
came (as I may say) thundering in, even so, as it made the very ground
shake under us ; (oh the unutterable ravishing soul's delight !) in the
which I was so transported, and wrapt up into high contemplation, that
there was no room left in my whole man, viz., body and spirit, for any-
thing below divine and heavenly raptures.' Beza says : c When I came
into the assembly where they were singing the praises of God, I found
myself suddenly inspired with a divine warmth, and strangely affected
with love and joy, so that the assembly appeared to me as the gate of
heaven, or an entrance into glory.'

In the time of the Great Rebellion the singing of metrical psalms,
though perhaps not quite so common as in the days of Jerome, when
' you could not go into the fields, but you might hear the ploughman at
his hallelujahs, the mower at his hymns, and the vine-dresser singing

Appendix B. 199

David's Psalms,' was in great favour with the Puritans, whom their
political adversaries nicknamed ' Psalm-singers.' Cromwell's troopers
sang them, and charged to victory. (It may even be said that metrical
psalmody contributed to place that able but unscrupulous man at the
head of the State.) In his ' Peveril of the Peak ' Scott makes allusion to
psalm- singing and its effects. The Puritans, as they proceed to the
memorable banquet, raise a triumphal psalm when they reach the gate
' which the Lord opened to the godly.' The Cavaliers attempt to laugh
them to scorn, but unsuccessfully. The psalm-tune, which now came
rolling on their ear, had been heard too often, and upon too many occa-
sions had preceded victory gained over the ' malignants,' to permit them,
even in their triumph, to hear it without emotion.

But psalmody could be used for other than religious or warlike pur-
poses. When the lady of the house goes to receive her Puritan guests,
they return her courtesy by raising the 133rd Psalm :

' O what a happy thing it is,
And joyful, for to see
Brethren to dwell together in
Friendship and unity !'

In Scotland, also, as indeed in every land whither the Reformation
spread, the effect of psalmody, in bindiDg together the members of sects,
and rousing and inspiriting them, is seen. Search was made for insurgents
who, on a particular occasion, had insulted the bishops and the Queen
Regent in her own palace, and destroyed the statue of St. Giles ; but none
could be apprehended, 'for the brethren assembled themselves in such
sort, in companies, singing Psalms, and praising God, that the proudest
of their enemies were astonished.'

The stern Covenanters were enthusiastic psalm-singers, and in ' Old
Mortality ' they are, of course, represented as such. At Loudon Hill
they reply to the bold and warlike flourish of menace and defiance of the
trumpets and drums of the royal cavalry, by uniting their voices, and
sending forth, in solemn modulation, the two first verses of the 76th Psalm,
according to the metrical version of the Scottish Kirk. A short, or rather
a solemn, acclamation attends the close of the stanza ; and after a dead
pause, the second verse is resumed by the insurgents, who apply the
destruction of the Assyrians as prophetical of the issue of their own
impending contest.

But besides being used in Divine service and on public occasions
(religious and political), the Psalms were sung in private devotion ; and
doubtless they were a delight and solace to many. From Burns' ' Cotter's
Saturday Night,' we learn that psalm-singing was one of the pious occu-
pations of the cotter's family a hundred years ago (see the thirteenth
stanza of that fine poem). In England also psalm-singing was a favourite
indoor occupation for families. Hawkins, in his 'History of Music,'

200 Chapters on Church Music.

says : ' The time is hardly beyond the reach of some persons living [1776]
when psalmody was considered a delightful exercise. ... A passenger
on a Sunday evening, from St. Paul's to Aldgate, would have heard the
families in most houses in his way occupied in singing psalms.'

If the Puritans greatly disliked chanting, their love of metrical versions
was boundless. They would even have substituted metrical versions of
such parts of the service as the Canticles and the Lord's Prayer for the
prose forms.

(This love of metrical versions was not peculiar to the Puritans.
Luther had not only made metrical translations of many of the ancient
Latin hymns, but had also done the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and other
parts of his liturgy into German verse. He had even written his cate-
chism in verse, and had it set to music in harmony. The ' Confession of
Augsburg ' had been done into verse and set to music. The Picards and
Bohemian Brethren, in their book of 1538, had bound up metrical ver-
sions of the Te Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, Yeni
Creator, the Humble Suit of a Sinner, the Athanasian Creed, and the
Lord's Prayer with metrical hymns. Our own Prayer-books contained
till quite recently, not only Tate and Brady's Version of the Psalms,
hymns for Christmas, Easter, and the Holy Communion, and the Morning
and Evening Hymns, but also metrical versions of the Veni Creator, Te
Deum, Benedictus, Magnificat, and Nunc Dimittis, the Creed, the Lord's
Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Lamentation of a Sinner.)

When the Puritans stopped the cathedral service, and Church music
was limited to the singing of metrical psalmody, their divines issued the
following excellent instructions : * It is the duty of Christians to praise
God publickly by singing of psalms together, in the congregation, and
also privately in the family. In singing of psalms the voices to be
audibly and gravely ordered ; but the chief care must be to sing with
understanding and with grace in the heart, making melody unto the Lord.
That the whole congregation may join herein, everyone that can read is
to have a Psalm-book, and all others, not disabled by age or otherwise,
are to be exhorted to learn to read. But for the present, when many in
the congregation cannot read, it is convenient that the minister, or some
fit person appointed by him and the other ruling officers, do read the
Psalm, line by line, before the singing thereof.'

(Happily all are now compelled to learn to read, and it is no longer
necessary to have recourse to the expedient recommended in the last
sentence of the above.)

In England metrical psalmody was not used by the Puritans only ; it
was the staple of our parish church music, and continued to be till within
the memory of many people now living. It thrust out the old method
of rendering the Psalms, as metrical hymnody is now thrusting out the

Appendix B. 201

sentences from Scripture which the Prayer-book appoints to be read
during the offertory.

Germany is the home of metrical psalmody. Before the rise of
Lutheranism, the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren had used metrical
versions in their assemblies. In 1504 Bishop Lucas made a hymn-book
— ' the first hymn-book containing melodies set to native words ' — for the
use of these sects. (It is worth noticing that in comparatively recent
times members of the Moravian communion have written excellent
hymns.) In 1538 a book with musical notes was printed at Ulm for the
Picards and Bohemian Brethren. This collection contains metrical
translations of many Roman Catholic hymns. 'The melodies are
borrowed from the old Roman chants.'

The Lutheran Psalmody.

Luther seems to have been rather a versifier and a compiler of tunes
than an original poet and composer. Of the many tunes that have been
attributed to him, only the famous ' Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,' and
two others, are certainly known to be his. The tune known as ' Luther's
Hymn ' is not thought to be his composition, though it appears in Kluge's
collection of 1531. He paraphrased the Psalms, and made metrical
versions of some of the finest Latin hymns. (It is remarkable that on!y
one Latin hymn — the ' Come, Holy Ghost, eternal God ' — is retained in
our Prayer-book.) For his tunes he chose popular melodies (sacred and
secular). The tunes of some of those chorale, which are the delight of
congregations and connoisseurs, were originally love-songs. It is not,
however, to be supposed that these old German melodies were light and
frivolous. ' A certain air of religious expression prevails throughout the
Lied productions of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and reformers
found little to change in these secular compositions when they thought
fit to make use of them in Divine worship. The form of the melody,
the harmonic treatment, the compactness of the whole form — all developed
from the folk-song, secular as well as sacred — were qualities with which
the people could readily sympathize, because they understood them, and
the more so as the words wedded to these songs were in the German
language ' (Ritter, * History of Music ').

Johann Walther and Conrad Rumpf had the honour of helping Luther
with his tunes ; and Johann Galliculus and Ludwig Senfl composed many
for him.

Walther published a hymn-book at Wittenberg, in 1524, under Luther's
supervision. The melody, or part for the congregation, was in the tenor.
The harmony was in four, five, and sometimes six parts ; and the counter-
point was not of the ' note against note ' species, but often florid.

(Whatever faults Luther's detractors may seek to lay to his charge, the
memory of this wonderful man must ever be dear to us.)

202 Chapters on Church Music.

After Luther's day, the good work of arranging and harmonizing
melodies, or composing original tunes, for the Lutheran Church, was
continued by able men like John Eccard, Leo Hassler, Michael Pretorius,
Melchior Vulpius, Schoppe, Rosenmiiller, Neumark, and John Kriiger.

(The use of organ interludes in accompanying the psalmody was
known in the Lutheran churches at least as early as 1580. Montaigne,
who travelled in Germany in that year, mentions it in his journal.)

The Psalmody of the Genevan Calvinists and the Huguenots.

In 1540 Clement Marot versified about thirty of the Psalms, ami
published them at Paris. (He afterwards did twenty more at Geneva.
The fifty were printed, without music, at Geneva in 1543. Beza did the
rest of the Psalms, and the whole 150 were published at Strasburg in
1545.)

In 1545 Clement Marot and Beza's Psalms were published at Geneva,
with melodies adapted by Guillaume Franc. (Bourgeois, Goudimel,
Claude le Jeune, and others, afterwards harmonized the melodies in plain
or florid counterpoint.)

The Calvinists of Switzerland and the Huguenots of France, unlike
Luther, did not borrow from the Roman Catholic Church. They
' adapted the Psalms versified by Clement Marot and Theodore Beza for
their musical service. The melodies, as far as can be ascertained, were
adapted from popular people's-songs [sacred and secular], and harmonized
in a simple form by Claude Goudimel and Claude le Jeune ' (Ritter,
' History of Music '). In the earliest editions the tunes are not harmonized.
' The Calvinists of Geneva admitted no harmony, and therefore Goudimel's
and Le Jeune's settings were not used at Geneva, but by the French
Huguenots and Calvinists out of Geneva ' (Burney).

In 1551 thirty-four psalms were added to the Geneva Psalter, and the
' Old Hundredth ' appears for the first time.

In 1561 a setting of eighty-three psalms to music in four, five, and six
parts by Louis Bourgeois was published at Paris and Lyons.

In 1562 the Geneva Psalter was completed ; the tunes are not
harmonized.

In 1565 Goudimel harmonized the whole Psalter of Marot in four
parts, and published it at Paris.

(Many of Goudimel's settings are too florid and too like motets to be
suitable for congregational use ; they were reprinted in Holland in
1607.)

In 1627 Claude le Jeune harmonized the Psalms in plain counterpoint
in four and five parts.

(Before they were set to music, Marot and Beza:s Psalms were sung
by Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics, in private to secular tunes,
which, however, were not lively. But when, in 1553, they were bound

Appendix B. 203

up with Calvin's Catechism and the Geneva Liturgy, the Catholics
forbade the further use of them.)

The Lutherans and Calvinists borrowed tunes from one another, and
we in England borrowed from both. Thus the finest old tunes in the
English Psalters (the ' Old Hundredth,' e.g.) are either Lutheran or
Calvinistic.

The English Psalmody.

Sir Thomas Wyatt is said to have translated some of the Psalms into
English metre during the reign of Henry VIII. ; and Coverdale versified
a number of ' Ghostly Psalms and Spiritual Songs,' which were burnt by
an order of Henry in 1546.

About 1547 Sternhold versified nineteen psalms, and dedicated the
work to Edward VI. ; and in 1549 he and Hopkins published forty-four
psalms.

In 1562 Sternhold and Hopkins' complete edition of the Psalms — the
' Old Version' — was published, with about forty tunes.

(The Protestants who had fled the country in Mary's reign versified
psalms. Some of William Whittingham's and William Kethe's rendering
appear in the Old Version.)

In 1562 John Daye printed his Psalter, which contains all the Psalms
and sixty-three tunes (melodies only). The tunes are chiefly German.

In 1579 Daman's Psalter appeared. ' William Daman first composed
parts to the melodies in England.' The tunes were 'for the use of godly
Christians, for recreating themselves, instede of fond, unseemely ballades.'
This collection contains about forty tunes, and is rather a tune-book than
a psalter.

In 1585 Cosyns published sixty psalms in six parts and in plain
counterpoint to the melodies in common use.

In 1591 another edition of Daman appeared.

In 1592 Este's ' Psalter' was published — ' The whole Book of Psalms,
with their wonted tunes in four parts.' The harmony, which is ' note
against note,' and vevj correct, is the work of Kirkbye, Farnaby, John
Dowland, and six others. This Psalter has a tune for each psalm.

In 1599 Allison published a Psalter. The tunes may be either sung, or
played on instruments ('lutes, orpharions, citternes, and bass violls').

In 1621 Ravenscroft published his first edition, which has a melody for
each psalm. Many of the melodies are his own ; others are ' still sung by
the German, Netherlandish, or French Protestants ' (Burney). The
harmony is four-part. Tallis and twenty others added the three parts*
There are only five tunes in triple time. (Another edition of this work
appeared in 1633.)

In 1643 Rous's Psalter appeared.

In 1671 John Playford's Psalter was published. It has bar-lines, and
the harmony is four-part. This Psalter had a very large sale, and

204 Chapters on Church Music.

rendered ' psalm-singing in parts a favourite amusement in almost every
village in the kingdom.5

Tate and Brady (the 'New Version') published 1696.*

The Scottish Psalmody.

Psalm - singing was very early practised in Scotland. The Wedder-
burn (or Dundee) Collection is first mentioned in 1546, but the date of
the publication of the work is not known.

In 1556 John Knox instituted the Protestant worship in Scotland ;
and in 1560 his Confession of Faith was adopted by the Scottish Parlia-
ment.

In 1565 John Knox's Psalms and Liturgy were published at Edinburgh.
The collection contained 138 tunes.

In 1615 Andrew Hart's Psalter was published at Edinburgh.

In 1633 Raban's Psalter was published at Aberdeen.

In 1635 an authorized edition (with harmony) was published at
Edinburgh by the heirs of Andrew Hart.

Remarks on the Old Psalters.
In the literature of the old psalmody the terms ' proper' and ' common '
are applied to tunes. A ' proper ' tune was one that was ' proper ' to a
particular psalm, and always sung to it. A 'common ' tune was one that
was made to serve for several psalms. The ' proper ' tunes were called
after the psalms to which they belonged : as, ' The Hundredth,' ' The
Hundred and Twenty-fourth' tunes. The 'common' tunes, which were
of later date than the ' proper,' were named after places. Common tunes

* The two following notices will probably be interesting to those who have not
alread}r seen them :

'At the Court at Kensington, December 3, 1696. Present the King's Most
Excellent Majesty in Council. — Upon the humble Petition of Nicholas Brady and
Nahum Tate, this Day read at the Board, setting forth, that the Petitioners have,
with their utmost Care and Industry, completed A New Version of the Psalms of
David, in English Metre, fitted for public Use ; and humbly praying his Majesty's
Royal Allowance, that the said Version may be used in such Congregations as
shall think fit to receive it :

' His Majesty taking the same into his Royal Consideration, is pleased to order
in Council, That the said New Version of the Psalms, in English Metre, be, and
the same is hereby Allowed and Permitted to be used in all such Churches,
Chapels, and Congregations, as shall think fit to receive the same.

1 W. Bkidgkman.'

'May 23rd, 1698.
' His Majesty having Allowed and Permitted the Use of a New Version of the
Psalms of David, by Dr. Brady and Mr. Tate, in all Churches, Chapels and
Congregations ; I cannot do less than wish a good Success to this Royal Indul-
gence ; For I find it a Work done with so much Judgment and Ingenuity, that
I am persuaded it may take off that unhappy Objection, which has hitherto lain
against the Singing Psalms ; [Sternhold and Hopkins' ' Old Version '] and dispose
that part of Divine Service to much more Devotion. And I do heartily recom-
mend the Use of this Version to all my Brethren within my Diocese.

1 H. London.'

Appendix B. 205

begin to appear in Este's Psalter (1592) ; ten are found in Allison (1599).
They appear in the Scottish Psalters of Andrew Hart (1615) and
Raban.

The old tunes were such that all could take part in them ; and as they
were comparatively few in number, the people would soon know them by
heart.

Burney, writing a hundred years ago, says the parochial tunes had
become ' so generally and firmly established that it would be difficult to
prevail on the whole nation to agree in admitting any new melodies of
this kind by whomsoever composed.'

In the old tunes the principal melody, or canto fermo, for the congrega-
tion is always in the tenor. It did not become general to transfer it to
the soprano much before the end of the eighteenth century.

Psalm and hymn tunes may be classified as follows :

1st Period. — The (obsolete) motet-like tune — unsettled as to tonality
and form.

2nd Period. — The grand old tune — majestic and impressive — tonality
not always modern.

3rd Period. — The melodious tune — more or less elegant and pleasing ;
and the florid tune — cheerful, but often too lively.

4th Period. — The tune at present popular — often weak and ' sugary ' —
seldom inspiriting, but timidly quiet, and seeming fitter to soothe the
dying than to rouse the living.

APPENDIX C.

NOTE ON THE MUSICAL ARRANGEMENTS AT FRENCH ROMAN
CATHOLIC CHURCHES*

There is no law as to placing the organ and choir. But the singers
should always (by custom) occupy the choir of the church ; though this is
possible only at large churches and cathedrals. In small churches there
would not be room enough for the singers and the enfants de chceur.

Every choir should be composed only of clergymen or persons who
intend to take Orders ;f but because these are not always sufficiently
numerous, they take laymen, and even boys ; and these, in large and
wealthy churches, wear the surplice. In small and poor churches the
choir, if there is one, is composed of laymen and boys only. At great
performances on great festivals, when difficult solos are to be sung by

* For the following note the Author is indebted to a foreign Roman Catholic
gentleman, a professor at a French Jesuit College, who obligingly got him the
information from the Fathers.

+ Perhaps novices are meant. — Author.

206 Chapters on Church Music.

prime donne, these ladies are seldom permitted to sing in the chancel,*
but the choir goes to the Tribunef with all the staff (clergy, men, boys,
and all).

In churches where the singers are forced to go to the Tribune — that is,
at perhaps four churches out of five — the choirs are composed very often
of men and women, and sometimes a few boys.

When the choir or chancel is large enough to contain the singers, there
is generally a smaller organ (not a weak one, however) to accompany
them. (The priest is never accompanied ; but the organ may give him
the note, if he cannot keep the pitch.) This organ is played by a second
organist, or by the choirmaster ; and the large organ in the Tribune is not
used in accompaniment : it plays only voluntaries.

Les enfants de chceur are sometimes numerous : but in Low Masses
there are generally only two of them. Even one is sufficient. He assists
the priest, and says parts of the prayers, for the congregation, in reply to
the priest. The enfants de chceur never sing.

APPENDIX D.

EXAMINATIONS IN LITERARY WORK — ARTS TESTS.

It is not seldom that one hears it said of musicians that they are un-
educated men. Indeed, some people seem to think that organists must
almost necessarily be men of no education, and no position. An organist
called at a clergyman's house to ask for particulars respecting a vacant
organistship, and, learning during the interview that the clergyman made
it a matter of principle to choose the tunes himself, said he thought the
choosing of the tunes ought to be left to the organist, if he were a
competent man. The clergyman's wife here joined the controversy, and
the respect in which she held the profession may be inferred from her
remark : ' 1 have a good cook, but I should not like her to choose the
dishes' (!). The ridiculous expression, 'He is only an organist/ is
common enough among unmusical people, who seem almost disposed to
class modern Church musicians with the merry minstrels and jongleurs of
a bygone period.

While not agreeing with what is said by careless speakers, the sincere
friends and well-wishers of Church musicians must probably feel them-
selves compelled to admit that organists are not always as well educated
as they might be. No serious person would require that Church musicians
should be great classical scholars, or expect every organist to be a

* When they sit in the chancel, they are probably screened-off from observa-
tion.— Author.

f The west gallery. — Author.

Appendix D. 207

Herschel ;* but everyone interested in Church music would be glad to see
the old reproach of ignorance removed from organists, and the profes-
sional status generally raised.

The Universities, formerly contented to admit, as candidates for musical
degrees, men who could produce letters from Masters of Arts certifying
that they were ' qualified in manners and learning to be members of the
University,' now require that such candidates shall pass a stiff examina-
tion in literary work. Probably the authorities may smile when they
hear the examination called a 'stiff' one ; but although Responsions, the
Previous Examination, the Senior 'Local' Examination, the Examina-
tion of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board, the
Dublin Examination, and Matriculation at London, must appear quite
elementary tests of scholarship in their eyes, musicians find them very
hard. Even undergraduates, who are professedly reading for a B.A.
degree, find ' Smalls ' and the ' Little-go ' sufficiently difficult, and the
other examinations are little easier, t Indeed, the examinations in literary
work are so stiff that unless a musician pass them in his youth, when the
education he received at school — and it must be no mean one — is still
fresh in his memory, there is but very little chance that he will ever pass
them at all. An organist's time is fully occupied ; his duties are many
and onerous ; he must devote some time every day to practising the
organ and pianoforte, and extending his acquaintance with the great
masters ; early and late he is teaching — probably the most fatiguing of all
work. If, amid the anxiety and toil of a professional life, he did find
himself able to spare time for preparing for a stiff examination in Latin,
mathematics, and a modern language, it is not likely his wearied brain
would be equal to the work that would be required of it. The writer
would not willingly be guilty of an exaggeration, but he believes that if
a schoolmaster, who had an ear for music, but knew nothing of theory,
and a fine musician, who knew no Latin or mathematics, started together
for the purpose of obtaining a degree in music, and the candidates were
of the same age and equal ability, and had the same perseverance and
opportunities for study, the chances are that, if either ever arrived at the
end of the course, the schoolmaster would not come in second. If
musical degrees are given for knowledge and skill in music, it seems
strange that they should be as much within the grasp of the unmusical
scholar as that of the unlettered musician.

It is said that only ' educated ' men ought to hold University degrees,

* The elder Herschel was in the early part of his life an organist and teacher
of music.

f The writer has lately been informed by one of the learned and courteous
Professors of Trinity, that the Dublin examination is not so difficult as he supposed,
and that it is made as little formidable to candidates as possible. And it has
been pointed out to him that, as the London Doctors of Music have a higher
standing at their University than other doctors have at theirs, London is justified
in requiring her musical graduates to matriculate.

208 Chapters on Church Music.

and many agree with this, and hold that it is quite right that candidates
for the degree of Mus. Bac. should be obliged to pass an examina-
tion in literary work. But the examinations are far too hard ; they
require too much of musicians. If the Universities had required candi-
dates to pass some simple examination — such as the Oxford or the Cam-
bridge Junior Local Examination — they would have asked no more than
musicians might perhaps have done, and yet enough to guarantee that
their musical graduates were men of some education. When men were
admitted as candidates for musical degrees without any examination in
literary work, probably uneducated men sometimes became Bachelors and
Doctors of Music ; and if the Universities, when they found the old
scheme faulty, had insisted upon candidates passing a really elementary
examination in Latin, mathematics, English subjects, and a modern
language, no one could have complained of those learned bodies.*

But good musicians have cause to complain when they know that they
are being debarred by the interposition of a stiff examination in literary
work (which is not their proper subject) from appearing before the
University Professors of Music in their true characters as musicians.
Even to the many excellent musicians who have not altogether forgotten
their Latin and mathematics, this examination is a stumbling-block, whilst
the case of musicians who have forgotten their school-work must be more
hopeless. Absolutely hopeless must be the case of those who never had
what is called a good education ; and yet some of these men, if they came
before the Professor of Music, might be found to be musical geniuses. In
the world's estimation, a musician who has a degree in music often takes
precedence of one who has not ; and it seems a little hard that the
Universities should close their gates against really good men simply
because they are not scholars. f Everyone knows experienced musicians
— men of great musical skill and learning, and of cultivated taste — who
can never take a degree, simply because they have not passed in the
literary portion of the work in youth, and, busily engaged in earning a
livelihood, cannot find the time, and bear the excessive mental exer-
tion necessary to pass the examination in after-life. It is excessively hard
on such men, that they are effectually shut out from obtaining a degree
which very young men, fresh from a good school, can get without any
very great difficulty. J

* Since this appeared in the Musical World, Durham has commenced to hold
examinations in music. The amount of literary work required of candidates is
most reasonable.

+ A clergyman remarked to the writer that he was glad that music was not
required of candidates for a B.A. degree, though he thought 'it would be as
reasonable to require it of them as to require Latin and mathematics of candidates
for a musical degree.'

% The writer does not feel at liberty to mention the names of those with whom
he has corresponded on this subject ; but he may say that among those very high
in office there are, or were, some who would be willing to see the examinations in
the literary portion of the musical candidates' work made more simple.

Appendix D. 209

But if the Universities at present demand far too much literary work
of candidates for musical degrees, and force many a musician who desires
to have a * degree ' to take a Colonial one, surely the council of no musical
college should go to the other extreme and ignore the importance of a fair
general education.

That an education is useful to musicians as well as to other people is
certain. Some subjects are, indeed, of more practical utility than others
to musicians, and on these stress might be laid. In a letter to the
Musical World the writer ventured to express the hope that the College
of Organists would hold examinations in literary work, leaving it to
candidates themselves to decide whether they would sit for them or not.
If the College held such examinations, one would fancy that papers
would be set in arithmetic, English grammar, geography, English history,
a modern language, and, perhaps, algebra. A fair knowledge of the first
four is expected of all who claim to be educated people. Arithmetic is of
much use to the musician. In some branches of musical study a know-
ledge of it is absolutely necessary. In the Middle Ages great attention
was given to the study of scientific or speculative, as distinguished from
practical, music ; and we find music, together with arithmetic, geometry,
and astronomy, forming a quadrivium of mathematical sciences. The
early musicians must have been good mathematicians. Indeed, many of
them distinguished themselves as astrologers, and no less worthies than
John de Muris and Walter Odington are said to have excelled in that
singular science. For a long time an acquaintance with the abstruse and
speculative writings of Boethius was required of candidates for musical
degrees. Happily we have changed all that, and music is no longer
a branch of mathematics. But a knowledge of arithmetic is necessary to
the student who wishes to follow intelligently the early history of music,
which deals so much with the speculations of philosophers and theorists.*
The great composers knew little or nothing of acoustics ; certainly they
could not have been acquainted with the recent discoveries in that branch
of science, and they needed not the knowledge. Helmholtz points out
that Palestrina generally uses the tetrards in the best positions, and adds
that ' as the existence of combinational tones was not then known, we

* It is interesting and curiou3 to read what Zarlino, a contemporary of
Palestrina, thought about the education of musicians. According to this famous
theorist, a man, in order to be a complete musician, must know arithmetic (to be
able to calculate musical proportions) and geometry (to measure them), must un-
derstand the monochord and harpsichord (to try experiments and effects), must be
able to tune (in order to accustom the ear to distinguish and judge of intervals),
must be able to sing with truth and taste, and perfectly understand counterpoint,
should be a grammarian (in order to write correctly and set words with propriety),
should know the history of his art, should be a master of logic (to reason upon,
and investigate the more abstruse parts of it), and of rhetoric (to express his
thoughts with precision), and should know something of natural philosophy and
the philosophy of sound (that his ears, being perfectly exercised and purified, may
not be easily deceived).

14

210 Chapters on Church Music.

can only conclude that his fine ear led him to do so.' But, rightly or
wrongly, a knowledge of acoustics is required of music students, and in
reading this science and the theory of temperament, practice in arith-
metic (especially in fractions, ratio, and proportion, and in squaring, and
extracting the square root of, numbers) is quite necessary. Even in
double and multiple counterpoint a practised arithmetician would
probably learn faster than a person who had neglected his arithmetic. In
order to spare candidates useless labour, certain portions of the subject
would not be asked for — such as interest, stocks, profit and loss, and cube
root. No English Church musician would question the importance to him
of a knowledge of the elements of English grammar. And it will
probably be conceded that all organists should know the main outlines of
English history, and have a fair knowledge of the continents and oceans,
with their leading physical features, the division of continents into
countries, and the government and religion and principal towns and places
of interest in those countries. For the modern language German would
probably be considered to be quite the best. It is a fine language, and,
when the rudiments are once mastered, very fascinating, and it is,
perhaps, as good mental training as Latin. A knowledge of it would be
valuable to musicians, as English translations of many excellent G-erman
theoretical works are not published. Probably our examiners would
permit candidates to substitute French or Italian for German, if they
preferred to do so. To be able to read a little Italian would certainly be
very useful. Whichever language candidates chose, fairly easy questions
would be set in the grammar, and a bit of prose given for translation into
English. If German is useful in enabling the musician to read many
excellent modern treatises on music, a knowledge of Latin would be no
less helpful if he wished to read the old Latin treatises. As much fine
and interesting music has been written to Latin words, and Latin phrases
occur in books on theory, an acquaintance with the language is, no doubt,
useful to musicians. But, as regards the old treatises, the knowledge of
Latin sufficient to enable men to read them is to be acquired only after
very long study, and, after all, few men wish to become musical anti-
quaries. The old Church composers must have known some Latin. In
his well-known book Albrechtsberger relates a charming little story
about himself and Haydn, and permits us to see a canon which he sent
with a few lines of Latin — probably of his own composing — to that
delightful composer. But on the whole, Latin, beyond enabling them to
understand the sense of the words of many fine Church compositions, is
not of much use to modern organists, and we should not expect to find it
in the list of subjects for examination, Euclid would be a useless study
for a musician. Admirably calculated to strengthen the reasoning powers,
it would rather injure than improve the faculty of imagination so prized
by artists. Algebra is of some use to students of the science of music
as the formulas in acoustics are expressed algebraically ; and perhaps a

Appendix D. 211

paper might be set which would require an acquaintance with the
elements of this science as far as easy fractions and simple equations.
But as so slight a knowledge of the subject would not be of much use —
and more could not reasonably be expected of musicians — probably the
authorities would deem it better to omit algebra.

The subjects, then, of such an examination as we have been imagining
would be arithmetic, English grammar, geography, English history, a
modern language, and, perhaps, a little algebra. A sound knowledge of
the elements of each subject would be required, special stress being laid
on certain parts of arithmetic. Bad spelling would count against candi-
dates. As the object of the examiners would be to see if candidates had
carefully prepared the subjects, fair, straightforward questions would be
set, and care would be taken to avoid perplexing students, or setting
papers of too great difficulty. Musicians who decided to sit for the
examination might prepare themselves for it without any very great
labour ; and, as they would know beforehand that failing to pass it would
not disqualify them for the examination in music, they would work com-
fortably, and have no cause whatever for uneasiness. The Testamurs of
successful candidates would declare that they had passed the examination
in the literary portion of the work.

While the examinations in literary work held by the Universities in
connection with examinations in music are far too stiff, the examination
here suggested as suited for a college of musicians would not be found
too difficult. There can be no doubt that if optional examinations in
literary work were held, and organists availed themselves of them, much
good would be the result. And not the least important among the
benefits the system would confer on organists, would be the certain rise
of the profession in the public estimation.

INDEX.

Accompaniment, 134, 135, 136 ; in-
telligent and devotional, 118, 136 ;
different styles of (orchestral, har-
monical, and imitative), 139-141

Altos, 158

Ambrose, St., 58, 197

' Aniens,' in the service, musically
rendered, 33

Anthem, the, 39, 43 and note, 132,
158 note

Antiphonal singing, 58, 163

Architects and church organs, 67

Arrangements, modern, of old tunes,
18, 19

Ascham, Roger, 198

Astrologers, musical, 209

Augustine, St., 29, 47

Bach, 124, 128, 130

Barrel-organs, 192

Beza, 198, 202

Bishop of Lichfield, the, on choristers,
161

Boethius, 209

Boys and women, 155

Boy singers, 17 ; at cathedrals, 146 ;
at churches, 146; requirements, 147 ;
objections to, 151 ; their behaviour,
151, 159 ; management of them,
151 ; untrustworthy, 152, 153 ;
mixed with women, 152 ; their per-
formance, 153 ; a source of trouble
and anxiety, 154 ; their worthless-
ness known at Rome, 154 ; Pietro
della Valle's opinion of them, 155

Brethren, Bohemian and Moravian,
200, 201

Cathedrals, the effect of the choral
service in, 28

Cathedral music of the sixteenth cen-
tury, 190 ; of the seventeenth, 192

Cathedral service, the, 189, 190, 191 ;
not used in parish churches, 191 ;
suppressed, 192, 195

Chancel choirs, women in, 82, 147
Chants, Ambrosian, source of, 58
Chants, Anglican, 54 ; alterations in,
54 ; minor, when used, 54 ; changed
during a psalm, 55
Chants, Gregorian, 55, 57 (see

Gregorian Music)
Chanting the Psalms, objections to,

41 ; common faults in, 163 note
Chapel establishments of the nobility,

187
Charles II., his influence, 193 ; his

musicians, 193
Choir, the, at choral celebrations, 42 ;
often unfavourably placed in church,
67 ; the west gallery position, Part
II., chap. i. ; in the chancel, 68 and
notes, 70 ; voluntary, 148, 165 ; sur-
pliced, 149, 150 ; balance and quality
of the voices, 157 ; admitting new
members, 158, 159, 160 ; practice and
instiuction, 163, 164 ; unpleasant-
ness and its causes, 165 ; strikes,
165, 166 ; true use of a choir, and
its use by Ritualists, 69 note
Choirs in French Roman Catholic

Churches, 205
Choir - masters, when needed, 169,
186 ; their power, 172, 173 ; use-
lessness, 173 ; unpleasantness with
organists, 174, 175
Choral celebrations-, 35 ; supposed argu-
ments for them, 36 ; ttie Holy Com-
munion made like a Mass, 36 ; which
parts of the Holy Comnmnion may
be sung, 38 ; the Agnus Dei and
Benedict -u--, 39 ; the Holy Com-
munion rendered in plain- song and
Mass music, 49
Choral service, the, arguments for and
against, 23-35 ; at New York, 25 ;
with orchestral accompaniment, 25 ;
effect of the music, 29 ; often a
failure musically, 30, 34, 35 ; musical
Litanies, Creeds, etc., 31-33 ; not

Index.

213

understood by the poor and ignorant,
51 ; in country churches, 52

Chorale, 5, 15, 18, 19, 141, 201

Choristers, management of, 120 ;
quarrelling and jealousy of, 148,
149, 165; surpliced 'for decency,'
150 note ; in church, 159 ; social
position and morality, 159, 160, 161,
162 ; irreverence, 162

Church music, good, 22 and note ; its
purpose, 25 note

Clergymen using poor psalmody, 5, 6 ;
indifference of some, 3 ; often mis-
understood by organists, 178, 183

Clerical musicians, famous, 181

Clerk, the parish, 191

Communicant test, the, 121 and note,
161

* Composers,' 14, 119 note

Composers of church music, old, the
pre-Reformation, 187 ; living at the
time of the Reformation, 187 ; in
Elizabeth's reign, 189

Confession, General, the, 32

Congregational singing, 24, 29, 47 ; the
music suited for it, and the congrega-
tional compass, 43, 44 ; practice, 45 ;
how it may be improved, 46 ; needs
an organ, 132 ; accompaniment of
it, 134

Cooper, George, 122

Cosyns, 203

Craving, the popular, for something
new, 20, 194

Creeds, musical, 32, 33, 42, 49

Cromwell, Oliver, 196, 199

Crotch, Dr., 124

Curates and church music, 174, 176,
184

Daman, William, 203
David, full of praise, 8
Daye, John, 203

Deadness in the responding and sing-
ing, 36, 37
Doric tunes, 15, 19
Drawing people to church, 150
Dykes, Dr., on Gregorian music, 61

Echkia, the, 74

Edward VI., his first Prayer-book
appealed to by Romanizers, 50 ; his
chapel and composers, 188

Elizabeth, her chapel music, 190 ; com-
posers, 189 ; organists, 190 ; a good
musician ; her influence, 190 ; the
Injunctions, 190

Enthusiasm, properly directed, 40

Enthusiasts, musical, 24, 25, 39, 40

Este, 203

Evangelicals, some, imitating the

Ritualists, 150
Examinations for organists in literary

work, 206-211
Expression, false, 137

Fancy stops, 105, 124

Fashion, 21, 67

Feeling, devotional, 118 and note,

120, 129, 130
Florid psalm tunes, 16 ; composers of,

17
Franc, Guillaume, 202
Fugal tunes, 16
Fugues, 117, 128
Full swell, the, 134

Gallery, the west, 67 ; why it is often
abandoned, 68, 69, 71 ; not im-
possible to render the choral service
therein, 68 ; arguments for it, 80-
83 ; effect of music in it, 83 ; the
size and plan of one, 84, 85 ; further
particulars, 85
Gibbons, Orlando, 192
Goudimel. 202
Grand old tunes, 15 ; effect of, 16 ;

many unknown in England, 19
Great Rebellion, the, 192, 195
Gregory, Bishop of Rome, 57
Gregorian hymn-tunes, 18 and note
Gregorian music, 171 ; its tonality, 57 ;
antiquity of, 58 ; unsuitable for use
now, 58 ; when effective, 59 and
note ; not suited for our liturgy, 60 ;
in the Church of Rome, 60 and note ;
Dr. Dykes' remarks, 61-63 ; Men-
delssohn's, 63 ; difficulties in, 61
Gregorian society, a, 59 note

Henry VIII., church music and organs
in his reign, 188

Hilary, 197

Hymns, many are unsatisfactory, 6, 7,
10 ; gloomy and sentimental, 8, 9 ;
cheerful, stirring hymns, 10 ; dread-
ful hymns on the Passion, 9 ; some
cannot be sung without the sense
being lost or perverted : reasons for
this, 11

Hymn-books and Psalters, old, 201-
204

Hymn tunes, for street services and for
church, 4, 5, 6 ; not suited rhythmic-
ally to the words, causing ludicrous
perversions of the sense, 12 and
note ; not always satisfactory, 13,
14 ; the new style of tune, 14, 21 ;
faults in hymn tunes, 14 ; adapted,
14, 15 ; good tune:*, characteristics

214

hapters on Church Music.

of, 15 ; grand old tunes (Lutheran,

Oratorio performances, a strange ob-

Calvinistic, and imitations of them),

jection to, 161

15 ; chorale, 15 ; Scotch tunes, 15 ;

Organ, the uses of it, 131-142

Old English, 15 ; Doric, 15 ; florid

Organ, silent, 137 ; feeble use of the,

and fugal, 16 ; changes in, 18 ;

136

recent alterations of old tunes, 18,

Organ, good qualities it must possess,

19 ; melodious tunes laid aside, 20 ;

87 ; recent improvements in, 88 ;

transposing, 45

defects in, 88 ; the number of stops

it should have, 89 ; what kind of

Incumbents, their treatment of organ-

stops, 89, 90, 91, 94 ; hints for draw-

ists not always considerate, 178, 180,

ing up a specification, 91 note ; organ-

181, 184

building, good and bad, 92, 93 ; cheap

Incumbents and church music, 166,

organs, 92, 93 ; deceptive appear-

177, 181-186

ances, 94 ; restorations, 95 ; builders'

Instruments, ancient, 140, 141

estimates, 95-97 ; the appearance of

Intoning, 26, 33, 189 ; not authorized ;

the organ, 97 ; pitch, 98 ; tuning,

its probable origin, 38

99 ; pipes, the scaling of the, 100 ;

metal for the pipes, 100, 101 ; sug-

Jekome, 198

gestions, 102, 103 ; specifications,

Josiah, dirges for, 9

105-115

Organ :

Key-relationship, 55 note

Action, 87, 88, 92, 96

Kyries, musical, 32

Bellows, 95

Case, 97

Le Jeune, Claude, 202

Choir Organ, use of, 91 ; its contents,

Litany, the, 188 ; read or sung ? 41,

91 note ; its pipes, 101 ; a sub-

42 ; strange and irreverent render-

stitute for, 108

ings of, 31, 32

Composition pedals, 88, 103

Liturgy, the, 26, 38, 53 (see Prayer-

Controllable, 88

book)

Engines, 101

Lollards, 197

Foundation tone must predominate,

Lord's Prayer, the, musically per-

89, 94 note

formed, 33, 49

Front pipes, 97

Luther, 200, 201 ; on hymns, 7 ; on

Great to Pedal coupler, 103

church music, 48 note ; on Gregorian

Interchangeable combinational pis-

music, 61 note

tons, 88

Lutheran tunes (see Chorale)

Metal for the pipes, 97, 100, 101

and note

Mace, Thomas, 192, 198

Pedal-board, 102

Marot, Clement, 202

Pipes, ingeniously borrowed, 94 ;

Meddlesome people, 165, 184, 185

scaling of the, 100

Melodious tunes, 15, 20

Pitch, 98

Merbecke, 188, 189

Shifting movements, 87, 88

Metrical psalmody, 191, 197-205 ;

Sound-boards, 96

early psalm-singers, 197 ; popular,

Stops, incomplete, borrowed, ' half-

198, 199, 203 ; effects of, 198 ; how

stops,' 94

used by the Puritans, 199 ; in Scot-

Swell-box, 96

land, 199 ; in private devotion, 199 ;

Tone, 87, 91 note ; of poor organs,

in our churches, 200

92

Milton, 196

Touch, 87, 96

Monotone, the, 26, 31

Ventils, 104, 114

Music, the choice and direction of the,

Voicing, 88, 92

173, 182-186

Winding, 87, 96

Music, the powers of, 28

Organs in French Roman Catholic

Music in'prayer, 31, 34

churches, 206

Musical study in the Middle Ages, 209

Organs may be a hindrance to worship,

134
Organs, crowded, 80

* Old Hundredth,' the, 29, 202

« Old Version,' the, 203

Organs, the position for — the west

Oratorios in church, 30, 48, 83, 99

gallery and other positions dis-

Index.

215

cussed, Part II., chap. i. ; general
principles, 72-75 ; importance of
position, its effect on the power and
tone of the organ, 72, 81, 88, 89 ;
position with regard to the choir,
and congregation, 73 ; the organ at
the end of an aisle, 75 ; in a chamber,
76 ; in various other positions, 77,
78 ; two organs, 79 ; two choirs
but only one organ, 79, 80 (see
Gallery)
Organs, injuries, derangements, and

breakdowns, 77, 86, 93, 94, 98
Organ-builders and their work, 92,
95 ; agreements with ; estimates, 95 ;
famous, 192
Organist, the, a mere machine, 176,

181, 186
Organist, the, must not contend with

the incumbent, 180
Organist, his qualifications, 116-121,
136 ; his calling an honourable one,
137_
Organist, the, better concealed, 82 ;
the place for his seat, 77 and notes,
80
Organist, the, and the choir, 165
Organists, their management of boys,

152
Organists, unqualified, 104, 170, 183
Organists, good and bad, 134, 170, 171,

172
Organists, their troubles, 180-182
Organists, vanity and irreverence of
some, 123, 129, 130, 138, 139; may
need to be controlled, 180, 186 ; bad
feeling of some towards the clergy,
178 note
Organists, their views, 120 note ; their

education, 120, 121, 206, 210
Organists, amateur, 170, 171
Organists and organ lessons, 98
Organ music and true style of playing,

125, 128-130
Organ chambers, 67, 71, 76, 77
Ouseley, Sir Frederick, 128 ; on organ-
chambers, 76

Pace of tunes, 17, 163

Palestrina, 209

Parthenon, the, 40

1 Paternosters,' 36, 49

Paxton Hood, a story of, 10 note

Pecuniary considerations, 72, 80, 92-

94, 100, 158, 170
Plain-song, 49, 60, 188, 189, 190
Playford, John, 203
Playing the people out, 126 and note
Playing, extempore, 125, 128 and

notes, 130

Playing, good, 117 ; monotonous, 134 ;
noisy, 134 ; mechanical, 116, 125 ;
fanciful, 138 ; expressive and feel-
ing, 117, 125

Pointing, absurdities in, 56

Poor, good hymns and tunes for the, 4

Poor, the, driven from church, 52, 53

Poor music in church, 21

Practice for the congregation, 45

Prayer-book, what singing it authorizes,
38, 41 ; does not authorize musical
Confession, etc., 39; opposed to a
musical performance of the services
in parish churches, 39 ; does not pre-
scribe choral celebrations, 41 ; a
simple and beautiful form of service,
52 (see Liturgy)

Precentors, when needed, 169, 186 ;
unpleasantness with organists, 174,
175, 176

Processions, genuflexions, etc., 68 and
note

Pronunciation, bad, 163 note

Psalms, the, joyful, 8, 9 ; sung to
Gregorian music, 61

Psalmody, pace of it too great, 10 ; not
cheerful, 22 ; the Lutheran, 201,
202 ; of the Calvinists and Huguenots,
202 ; English, 203 ; Scotch, 204

Public taste, the, 20, 124, 125

Purcell, 193, 194

Puritans and Puritanism, 192, 194-
197, 199, 200 ; wherein their theory
of worship differs from ours, 196

Ravenscroft, 203
Response-singing, 34, 155 note
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 125 note
Ritualism, 68, 1 50 and note
Romanizers, 36, 49-51

Sacred music cheerful in Bible times,
9 ; singing is the vehicle of praise
and thanksgiving, and not of mourn-
ing and prayer, 8-10

Sanctus and Gloria, sung or read ? 42

Saul, 29

Scheme for a surpliced chancel choir
and a west-gallery organ, 79, 80

School teachers in choirs, 160 note

Services in parish churches in the
olden time, 191, 196

Services of song, 30, 48

Service-music, 43, 44

Singers, professional, 158

Singing, the, at Nonconformist chapels,
20, 26

Singing, unaccompanied, 131, 132,
133

Singing at sight, 163

2l6

Chapters on Church Music.

Snetzler, a story of, 95
Solo-singing, 162, 164, 165, 182
Strikes, 166
Surpliced choristers, 52, 149, 150 and

note ; supposed to represent angels

in Paradise, 68 and note

Tallis, 187-190

Tate and Brady, 204 and note

Te Deum, the, how it might be divided,

43 note
Temperament, systems of, 99
Tone of organs spoiled, 75, 76, 100
Trainers of voices, 146
Tunes, played over, 141
Two organs in churches, 78
Tye, 187-189

Unmusical voices in the congregation,

46
Unpleasantness, a cause of, 175, 176

Valle, Pietro della, on boy singers, 154

Versions, metrical, of the Lord's
Prayer, etc., 200

Voluntaries, middle, 133 ; introductory,
125 ; concluding, 126-130

Voluntaries, many unsuitable, 120 and
note, 127 ; use of them, 126, 133 ;
should be appropriate, 127 ; offer-
toires, gavottes, and marches, 127,
129 ; examples of good voluntaries,

[128

Walthek, Johann, 201

Women singers, in the chancel, 82, 147
and note ; absurd objections to, 145,
146, 147, 148, 149 ; their dress, 147 ;
quality of voice, 147, 154 ; a serious
objection to, 148, 149 ; used in Bible
and early Christian times, 149 ;
mixed with boys, 152, 153

Zarlino, 209 note.

THE END.

Elliot Stock, Paternoster Roto, London.

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