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T-  A  ^T  TT  TV  Presented  to  the 

r  AC  U  L 1  I       Faculty  Of  Music  Library 

Of  MUSIC  by 


John  Co/ens 


UNIVERSITY 
OF  TORONTO 


Sbe  dPusic  Cover's 


EDITED    BY 

A.  EAGLEFIELD  HULL 

MUS.    DOC.    (OXON.) 


MUSIC  AND   RELIGION 


MUSIC     AND 
RELIGION 


A   SURVEY 


BY 


REV.  W.   W.  LONGFORD,  D.D, 

Formerly  Scholar  of  Christ  Church 
Vicar  of  Almondbury 


Second  Edition 


LONDON 

KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  CO.,  LTD. 
BROADWAY  HOUSE,  68-74,  CARTER  LANE,  E.C. 


Uxori  dilectae 


UNIFORM  WITH  THIS  VOLUME 


THE  MUSIC=LOVER'S   LIBRARY 

A  series  of  small  books  on  various  musical  subjects  in  a 
popular  style  for  the  general  reader. 

Editor:  A.  EAGLEFIELD  HULL,  Mus.  Doc.  (Oxon). 
Each  about  200  pages. 


Short  History  of  Music.     By  the  EDITOR. 

Shakespeare:  His  Music  and  Song.     By  A.  H.  MONCUR  SIME. 

Short  History  of  Harmony.     By  CHARLES  MACPHERSON,  F.R.A.M., 
Organist  of  St.   Paul's  Cathedral. 

Story  of  Mediaeval  Music.     By  R.  R.  TERRY,  Mus.  Doc.,  Director 
of  Music  at  the  Pro-Cathedral,  Westminster. 

Music  and  Religion.     By  W.  W.  LONGFORD,  D.D.,  M.A.  (Oxon.). 
Modern  Musical  Styles.     By  the  EDITOR. 

Foundations  of   Musical   Aesthetics.     By    J.    B.   McEwEN,    M.A.. 
F.R.A.M. 

The  Voice  in  Song  and  Speech.     By  GORDON  HELLER. 

Everyman  and  his  Music.     By  PERCY  A.  SCIIOLES. 

The  Philosophy  of  Modernism.     By  CYRIL  SCOTT. 

The  Power  of  Music  and  the  Healing  Art.     By  G.  C.  ROTHERY. 

Modern  Pianoforte  Technique.     By  SIDNEY  VANTYN. 

The  Story  of  British  Music.     By  CLEMENT  A.  HARRIS. 

Musical  Acoustics.     By  D.  SEGALLER,   D.Sc. 


KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  Co.,  LTD.,  LONDON. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     INTRODUCTORY                  -  i 

II    ORIGINS  OF  RELIGION      -                        -  8 

III  ORIGINS  OF  Music  AND  ITS  CONNECTION 

WITH  RELIGION       ..  •   ,«-      -        -        -  18 

IV  HEBREW  RELIGIOUS  Music     -        -        -31 
V     Music  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  -                -  45 

VI    THE  GREGORIAN  REVIVAL        -               -  63 

VII     Music  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  78 

VIII     THE  RENAISSANCE  AND  ITS  MAIN  EFFECTS  92 

IX     REFORMATION     PSALMODY  AND   MODERN 

HYMNODY                                                 -  107 

X    MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH  PROGRESS  -       '.-  121 

XI     RELIGIOUS  FUNCTIONS  OF  Music    -        -  140 


FOREWORD 

OF  the  insufficiencies  of  this  volume  none  could  be 
better  aware  than  the  writer.  It  has  been  put  together 
in  scanty  intervals  of  leisure  allowed  by  parochial  life 
during  a  time  of  great  pressure.  To  attempt  to 
satisfy  the  theologian  and  the  musician  with  the  same 
morsel  is  a  task  requiring  no  little  contrivance.  What 
to  admit  and  what  to  exclude  in  a  survey  of  develop- 
ments embracing  the  whole  length  of  human  history 
is  a  sufficient  problem  in  itself.  What  to  explain  and 
what  to  take  for  granted  depends  entirely  on  the  type 
of  reader  who  feels  interested.  It  is  too  much  to  ask 
that  all  will  be  historians  or  musicians  or  philoso- 
phers. There  again  lies  a  difficulty. 

The  writer  has  endeavoured  to  avoid  the  fault  of 
being  too  sketchy  to  be  informing,  or  too  heavy  to  be 
interesting.  If  he  has  broken  any  of  the  unities 
which  this  kind  of  volume  demands,  he  can  only  beg 
the  indulgence  of  those  whose  interest  he  has  en- 
deavoured to  maintain. 

For  any  inspiration  he  has  to  thank  Dr.  Eaglefield 
Hull,  a  former  colleague  in  the  region  where  Music 
and  Religion  play  their  united  part.  To  a  present 
colleague,  Rev.  Wilfrid  Charlton,  he  is  under  obli- 
gation for  help  no  less  necessary  if  more  prosaic. 


MUSIC   AND  RELIGION 

CHAPTER  Ii 

INTRODUCTORY 

THE  connection  of  Music  with  Religion  is  at 
once  so  intimate  and  of  such  long  standing  that 
it  occurs  to  but  few  to  consider  how  the  connec- 
tion came  about,  or  to  enquire  into  the  causes 
which  underlie  its  maintenance.  To  the  average 
person  the  idea  of  Religion  is  indissolubly  as- 
sociated with  Music,  because  Religion  itself  is 
so  widely  interpreted  in  terms  of  Worship.  And 
Worship  to  the  popular  mind  is  so  tied  to  musical 
expression  that  we  are  only  too  ready  to  admit  a 
certain  inevitableness  about  the  situation.  And 
there  the  matter  lies.  For  to-day  the  popular 
mind  does  not  worry  itself  with  mysteries  of  the 
obvious  and  the  familiar.  A  passion  for  scientific 
enquiry  on  the  part  of  the  few  is  balanced  by  a 
complacent  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  many  who 
are  only  too  pleased  to  take  things  for  granted. 
A  suggestive  romance*  written  by  Mr.  F.  M. 
Hueffer  depicts  an  imaginary  situation  in  which 

*  Ladies  -whose  Bright  Eyes. 


2  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

a  person  of  typically  modern  kind  suddenly  dis- 
covers himself  translated  into  the  early  Middle 
Ages.  At  once  it  occurs  to  him  what  an  im- 
pression he  will  make  upon  the  times  with  his 
modern  knowledge.  But  when  the  chance  comes 
he  finds  to  his  supreme  annoyance  that  he  has 
no  actual  knowledge  of  the  real  character  of  the 
inventions  which  have  simplified  the  conditions 
of  modern  living. 

It  is  an  amusing  predicament,  and  it  serves  as 
an  illuminating  commentary  upon  the  modern  sit- 
uation. As  with  the  hero  of  the  story,  the  exact 
connection  of  steam  power  with  motion  is  as  a 
closed  book  to  the  majority  of  those  who  are  most 
dependent  upon  its  actual  working.  A  natural 
habit  of  indolence  has  been  reinforced  by  an 
educational  system  which  can  hardly  be  said  to 
encourage  independent  thought.  At  any  rate  the 
early  inquisitiveness  of  youth,  with  its  perpetual 
questioning,  becomes  almost  entirely  submerged. 
Facts  as  they  are  seem  to  give  promise  of  values 
more  immediate;  reasons  seem  to  involve  an 
extra  worry  with  no  obvious  return. 

Nevertheless  there  is  a  fascination  in  the  study 
of  reasons  and  of  origins  which  more  than  com- 
pensates for  the  mental  stress  involved.  More- 
over few  subjects  offer  more  fruitful  results  to 
the  seeker  than  that  which  affords  justification 
for  the  present  volume.  Religious  origins  and 
musical  origins  carry  the  investigator  so  far  back 


INTRODUCTORY  3 

in  the  history  of  the  race  that  he  has  fields  of 
research  well  nigh  unrivalled.  Geology  may 
take  him  back  into  regions  more  remote.  Biology 
may  offer  an  even  wider  scope  for  trained  scien- 
tific method.  But  neither  of  these  subjects  of 
investigation  carry  with  them  quite  the  same 
human  interest.  Politics  and  Sociology  alone 
can  offer  a  real  rivalry.  Few  however  will  be 
prepared  to  deny  that  in  Religion  we  have  a 
topic  more  absorbing  even  than  these.  Religion 
alone  can  say  with  confidence  nil  human/am  a 
me  alienum.  Religion  is  attracting  to-day  the 
attention  of  trained  investigators  as  perhaps 
never  before  in  history.  Even  those  whose  per- 
sonal interest  in  its  more  intimate  suggestions 
is  but  small  are  finding  themselves  concerned. 
It  is  realised  to-day  ever  increasingly  that  the 
world-wide  phenomenon  which  is  called  religious 
consciousness  is  vital  in  the  development  of  hu- 
manity. The  result  is  that  nowadays  no 
philosophy  can  claim  any  serious  attention  which 
fails  to  set  in  the  fore-front  of  observation  so 
universal  an  aspect  of  self-conscious  life. 

But  can  Music  enter  into  rivalry  with  such 
formidable  competitors?  It  does  so  from  its  very 
connection  with  Religion.  While  it  may  be 
possible  to  study  Religion  apart  from  Music  from 
the  abstract  point  of  view,  historically  no  such 
task  can  be  attempted.  For  it  is  not  by  accident 
that  most  of  the  great  musicians  of  the  past  are 


4  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

known  chiefly  from  their  religious  compositions. 
Modern  music  both  in  form  and  spirit  owes  a 
greater  debt  than  can  be  ever  estimated  to  Re- 
ligion. The  same  is  the  case  with  modern  Law. 

o 

Neither  of  them  in  actual  origin  were  religious 
— at  any  rate  in  the  sense  in  which  we  under- 
stand religions  now.  But  at  certain  points  in 
historical  development  they  became  so  intimate- 
ly attached  to  Religion  that  the  mark  of  the 
connection  can  never  be  lost.  However  inde- 
pendent they  may  appear  to  be  in  modern  de- 
velopments— however  destructive  some  aspects 
of  modern  Law  to  the  teaching  of  Christianity, 
however  subversive  some  phases  of  modern 
Music — this  fact  of  connection,  and  of  intimate 
connection,  is  too  striking  to  be  overlooked.  The 
English  judge  who  has  to  administer  modern 
divorce  legislation  still  wears  the  insignia  of  the 
Christian  ministry;  the  advanced  musician  who 
sets  out  to  overthrow  the  spiritual  convictions  of 
a  thousand  generations  uses  a  medium  fashioned 
for  holy  things. 

For  Music  like  Law  owes  much  of  its  form 
and  power  to  actual  development  within  the 
Church  itself.  At  the  very  beginning  Religion 
had  as  little  to  do  with  social  obligation  as  with 
song.  Men  learnt  by  pain  of  discovery  what  it 
was  wise  to  do  or  to  avoid  in  that  sphere  of 
human  activity.  But  developing  Religion  grad- 
ually adopted  and  improved  customary  Law. 


INTRODUCTORY  5 

And  so  Morality  became  religious,  and  Religion 
became  moral.  Much  modern  Law  in  conse- 
quence is  rooted  in  the  old  Canon  Law  of  the 
Church,  though  not  a  little  finds  its  origin  in 
the  terms  of  the  Old  Testament  dispensation. 
Similarly  with  Music:  though  in  absolute  origin 
it  was  as  independent  of  the  religious  sense  and 
of  religious  practice  as  Law  itself,  nevertheless 
it  could  never  have  discovered  its  latent  possi- 
bilities had  not  Religion  embraced  it,  and 
Christianity  adopted  it  for  its  own. 

This  volume  will  be  an  attempt  to  elucidate 
the  position  here  taken  up.  The  general  line 
of  enquiry  will  be  first  of  all  historical.  We 
have  at  the  outset  to  discover  how  the  connection 
of  Music  with  Religion  is  most  likely  to  have 
begun.  After  that  the  main  lines  of  development 
will  be  noticed  in  such  a  way  as  best  to  bring 
out  the  meaning  of  the  situation  as  we  find  it 
to-day.  A  discursive  account  of  the  actual  con- 
nection of  Religion  and  Music  throughout  the 
whole  world  is  not  the  object  aimed  at.  ^The 
idea  is  to  lead  up  through  historical  enquiry  to 
an  examination  of  the  real  functions  of  Music  as 
a  handmaid  of  Religion^  But  the  enquiry  will 
not  be  made  subordinate  to  the  final  examination. 
The  chief  points  in  the  historical  development 
will  be  noticed  as  interesting  in  themselves, 
apart  from  what  conclusions  are  to  be  gathered 
from  their  emergence. 


6  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

Nevertheless  it  is  hoped  that  the  whole  will 
have  a  practical  bearing.  However  fascinating 
the  study  of  the  past,  we  should  not  be  content 
till  it  has  taught  us  the  meaning  of  the  present. 
That  we  can  only  learn  from  the  past.  Only  as 
we  realise  it  can  we  make  true  progress.  The 
politician  who  knows  nothing  of  the  past  is  no 
safe  guide  in  matters  of  state,  simply  because 
the  inner  significance  of  the  present  inevitably 
escapes  him.  There  can  be  no  true  reform  in 
any  department  of  life  which  neglects  to  compare 
the  present  with  the  past.  And  that  is  as  much 
as  to  say  that  there  can  be  no  true  progress. 

It  will  be  urged  that  in  the  English  Church 
of  to-day  Music  finds  a  fuller  opportunity  than 
elsewhere  of  discharging  those  functions  which 
are  possible  to  it  within  the  religious  sphere. 
Nevertheless  few  English  Churchmen  are  fully 
satisfied  with  the  total  musical  situation  in  the 
Church  to-day.  There  is  considerable  contro- 
versy as  to  the  place  of  music  in  Divine  worship, 
as  well  as  to  the  type  of  music  to  be  preferred. 
And  standpoints  are  'taken  very  often  simply  oh 
grounds  of  personal  preference  without  reference 
to  the  full  bearing  of  the  questions  at  issue.  If 
Church  music  is  to  make  progress  churchmen 
must  understand  the  nature  of  their  heritage. 
Above  all  those  who  are  primarily  responsible 
for  the  services  of  the  Church,  in  the  organ  loft, 
in  the  choir  or  at  the  altar  should  know  the  his- 


INTRODUCTORY  7 

tory  and   rationale   of   that   medium   which   can 
make  or  mar  the  office  which  they  perform. 

The  matter  is  one  of  no  little  complexity.  It 
cannot  be  settled  out  of  hand.  Separate  pro- 
blems have  arisen  which  demand  special  treat- 
ment. The  Setting  (for  the  Canticles) ,  the  An- 
them, Psalmody  and  Hymnody  all  have  their 
different  histories  and  their  different  uses.  Each 
has  its  own  problem  and  its  own  difficulty.  There 
is  Cathedral  music  which  some  would  abolish: 
there  is  parochial  music  which  is  another's  des- 
pair. There  is  instrumental  music  which  some 
deplore:  there  is  congregational  music  which  to 
others  is  no  music  at  all.  Can  the  claims  of  all 
and  of  each  be  justified?  Can  their  place  be 
defined,  and  their  function  be  secured?  No 
answer  should  be  attempted  till  the  actual  ver- 
dict of  history  has  been  sought. 


CHAPTER  II 

ORIGINS  OF  RELIGION 

IT  has  been  postulated  that  in  origin  Religion 
and  Music  are  distinct.  Nevertheless  it  is  to 
the  origins  of  Religion  that  we  have  to  look  if 
we  wish  to  understand  the  full  significance  of 
that  connection  with  Music  which  we  are  setting 
out  to  explore.  And  this  is  the  more  necessary 
from  the  fact  that  an  American  writer  and  com- 
poser of  considerable  reputation  has  hazarded  the 
opinion  that  Religion  itself  is  the  child  of  Music. 
In  his  Critical  and  Historical  Essays,  Macdowell 
urges  that  Religion  was  born  among  mankind  at 
the  moment  of  discovery  of  the  first  musical  in- 
strument. , 

This  suggestion  gives  an  intimacy  to  the  con- 
nection of  the  subjects  under  discussion  far  closer 
than  the  real  facts'  of  the  case  can  be  made  to 
justify.  True,  it  exalts  the  dignity  of  the 
musician  at  the  expense  of  the  prestige  of  the 
priest.  It  has  therefore  been  welcomed  by  those 
who  would  like  to  see  the  traditional  relation 
revolutionized.  We  might  even  suspect  that 
some  such  desire  lay  behind  the  suggestion  were 
it  not  that  serious  argument  is  attempted  in  its 

8 


ORIGINS  OF  RELIGION  9 

favour.     With  this  argument  we  must  deal  first 
of  all. 

Macdowell's  contention  leads  us  at  once  into 
the  region  of  Philosophy.  From  that  region 
therefore  it  is  necessary  to  set  out.  Only  in  the 
philosophical  region  can  the  argument  be  re- 
butted. And  necessity  compels  the  opening  of 
argument  within  this  region.  Historical  informa- 
tion is  not  afforded  us.  We  are  dealing  with  a 
prehistoric  situation.  We  are  forced  therefore 
to  trust  partly  to  inference  in  dealing  with  mat- 
ters so  remote — inference  depending  largely 
upon  our  grasp  of  psychological  facts  and  pro- 
babilities, partly  upon  what  guidance  we  may 
discover  in  the  habits  of  primitive  or  of  still  exist- 
ing savage  types  of  men. 

Macdowell  holds  that  until  the  creation  of  the 
first  musical  instrument — most  probably  some 
type  of  drum — primeval  man  looked  out  upon 
the  world  from  what  he  calls  a  purely  subjective 
point  of  view.  In  other  words,  man  was  simply 
conscious:  the  world  was  part  of  him,  and  he 
was  part  of  the  world.  He  occupied  a  position 
which  corresponded  entirely  with  that  of  the 
animal  creation  round  about  him.  Immediately 
however  he  found  that  he  had  created  something 
outside  ordinary  nature,  "an  idol  that  spoke 
when  it  was  touched,"  he  began  to  feel  that  he 
was  something  apart  from  ordinary  nature  him- 
self. In  other  words  self-consciousness  and  the 


IO  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

Religious  sense  leaped  to  birth  at  the  beat  of  a 
drum! 

The  idea  may  have  been  suggested  by  the 
lines  of  Dryden*  though  Dryden  did  not  urge 
the  priority  in  development  of  instruments  of 
percussion. 

"  When    Jubal    struck    the   chorded   shell 
His    listening  brethren  stood  around, 
And  wondering,  on  their  faces  fell 
To  worship  that  celestial   sound  : 
Less  than  a  God  they  thought  there  could  not  dwell 
Within  the  hollow  of  that  shell 
That  spoke   so   sweetly   and   so  well." 

Macdowell's  argument  implies  that  the  re- 
ligious sense  and  self-consciousness  are  coeval. 
And  here  he  is  indubitably  correct.  But  his  main 
thesis,  however  interesting,  will  not  bear  pro- 
longed investigation.  In  seeking  to  establish 
his  point  he  only  succeeds  in  begging  the  ques- 
tion. He  takes  for  granted  that  man  was  not 
self-conscious  before  he  made  his  drum,  and  that 
having  made  a  drum  he  made  an  idol  of  it.  The 
second  postulate  is  more  likely  than  the  first: 
but  even  if  admitted  it  does  not  entail  the  first. 
The  drum  is  certainly  capable  of  a  number  of 
effects  psychological  as  well  as  acoustic.  '  But 
there  is  really  no  reason  to  suppose  that  humanity 
was  drummed  into  habits  either  of  religion  or 
of  reflection.  It  is  probably  quite  true  to  say 
with  Macdowell  that  wherever  the  savage  is 

*  St.    Cecilia 


ORIGINS   OF  RELIGION  1 1 

found  beating  a  drum  there  will  be  found  also 
a  well-defined  religion;  but  the  inference  is  as 
unjustifiable  as  it  is  precarious  to  suggest  that 
^Religion  in  origin  must  therefore  be  connected 
with  the  chance  discovery  of  artificial  sound.  ( 

Then  when  and  how  are  we  to  believe  that 
man  achieved  self-consciousness?  If  we  do  not 
hold  that  it  was  other  than  latent  in  his  nature, 
can  we  suggest  causes  more  probable  or  more 
potent  in  the  development  of  his  potentialities? 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  it  is  not  the 
fashion  to-day  to  take  the  Hebrew  delineation 
of  primitive  man  as  other  than  the  Hebrew  con- 
ception of  what  the  earliest  situation  was.  It 
cannot  be  neglected.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
however  great  our  reverence  for  the  traditions 
of  Israel,  we  do  not  feel  bound  to-day  to  accept 
all  the  convictions  of  its  seers  in  matters  of 
cosmology,  geology  or  history.  They  are  no 
longer  accepted  premises.  We  refuse  to  admit, 
as  our  fathers  would  insist,  that  an  Aristotle  was 
but  the  rubbish  of  an  Adam.  We  are  convinced 
that  evolutionary  method  has  had  its  place  in 
the  Divine  economy.  We  do  not  look  to  the 
beginning  for  perfection  of  type  or  for  fulness 
of  development.  So  it  is  therefore  that,  faced 
with  unanswerable  and  converging  evidence  from 
many  branches  of  modern  science,  we  have  re- 
gretfully abandoned  the  account  of  Genesis  as  an 
exact  historical  presentation  of  fact. 


12  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

For  the  understanding  of  the  earlier  situations 
in  human  affairs  we  now  find  ourselves  left  to 
speculation  and  to  theories  of  probability.  Our 
chief  material  is  furnished  by  biological  enquiry 
which  has  been  pursued  with  such  enthusiasm 
since  the  time  of  Darwin.  But  this  branch  of 
knowledge  has  excited  a  suspicion  that  in  origin 
we  were  not  even  so  respectable  as  we  had 
hoped.  We  seem  rather  in  the  position  of  pedi- 
gree searchers  who  come  upon  evidence  shatter- 
ing to  their  ambitions  if  they  are  pretentious,  or 
which  discountenances  origins  traditionally  ac- 
cepted if  they  are  actually  of  the  elect. 

Really  we  know  very  little.  Nevertheless,  if 
the  facts  of  human  origins  are  not  so  imposing 
as  we  had  expected,  they  are  certainly  less  dis- 
tressing than  some  consider  they  have  reason  to 
believe.  Man  after  all  has  to  be  explained.  He 
cannot  be  explained  away.  However  close  the 
physical  filiation  with  the  beasts  that  perish  there 
is  just  as  certainly  some  quality  which  separates 
humanity  toto  caelo  from  the  rest  of  created 
things.  That  quality  is  found,  as  Macdowell 
implies,  in  the  unique  possession  of  self-con- 
sciousness; it  is  witnessed  to  in  the  unique 
phenomenon  of  Religion.  On  the  one  hand  we 
have  a  spiritual  attribute  not  attainable  except  by 
those  who  have  obtained;  on  the  other,  a  pre- 
sentiment of  Deity  co-inherent  however  far  back 
we  care  to  trace  it. 


ORIGINS  OF  RELIGION  13 

'  All  men  yearn  after  deities,"  Homer  has 
told  us.  '  What  people  is  there  or  what  race," 
asks  the  Roman  philosopher  Cicero,  "  which 
has  not,  even  without  being  taught,  some  pre- 
sentiment of  the  existence  of  deity?  '  This  is 
not  merely  an  outburst  of  rhetoric.  Modern 
anthropological  enquiry  confirms  ancient  convic- 
tion. As  the  well-known  Scottish  philosopher, 
Dr.  Caird,  has  put  it:  "  Man  has  inborn  a  sense 
of  the  infinite  from  which  he  cannot  escape;  he 
cannot  prevent  his  consciousness  of  the  finite 
from  being  disturbed  by  it." 

There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Religion 
is  the  response  of  some  delicate  human  faculty 
to  some  world-wide  suggestion.  It  is  a  response 
to  environment;  a  response  in  which  man  dis- 
covers himself.  Theology  finds  an  explanation 
of  the  situation  in  the  doctrine  of  Divine  Im- 
manence. God  is  conceived  of  as  being  above 
and  beyond  all  things,  and  yet  as  upholding  all 
things  and  intimately  concerned  in  them.  '  In 
Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,"  as 
S.  Paul  said  to  his  hearers  at  Athens,  quoting 
the  words  of  the  Stoic  Aratus.  For  philosophy 
itself,  before  the  Christian  creed  was  ever 
preached,  could  find  no  other  answer  to  the 
otherwise  unfathomable  problem  which  con- 
fronted it. 

This  sense  of  Religion  in  which  human  con- 
sciousness discovers  itself  is  reinforced  in  the 


14  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

human  breast  by  two  main  factors  working 
through  the  emotional  depths  of  personality. 
There  is,  first  of  all,  the  marvellous  object  les- 
son of  nature,  stirring  to  wonder  and  awe.  Dr. 
Illingworth  has  rightly  insisted  upon  the  import- 
ance of  the  effect  on  human  consciousness  of 
what  he  calls  the  sacraments  of  sunrise  and  sun- 
set. And  it  is  clear  even  to-day  that  the  sense 
of  Religion  is  most  strong  where  nature  is  most 
impressive.  The  hill  country  generally  boasts 
more  religion  than  the  cities  of  the  plain.  And 
here  the  second  factor  also  operates.  Nature  is 
more  exacting.  Side  by  side  with  the  sense  of 
wonder  is  the  universal  sense  of  dependence. 
Schleiermacher  indeed  traces  Religion  in  its 
origin  to  this  one  cause — the  oppressive  sense 
of  need — more  urgent  in  earlier  days  than  now, 
and  even  yet  more  pressing  among  the  moun- 
tains than  in  the  plains.  It  is  more  reasonable, 
however,  to  accept  the  joint  operation  of  a  double 
cause.  As  external  creation  suggests  and  human 
nature  demands,  so  in  the  coalescence  of  sug- 
gestion and  demand  the  theory  and  practice 
of  Religion  originates. 

Have  we  to  await  the  beat  of  a  drum  before 
the  suggestion  of  Creation  and  the  need  of  man 
discover  themselves?  Macdowell  brings  forward 
the  case  of  primeval  survivals  in  the  Andaman 
Islands,  in  Ceylon,  Borneo  and  Patagonia.  Here 
are  to  be  found  savages  possessing  no  form  of 


ORIGINS  OF  RELIGION  15 

musical  instrument.  Here  also,  says  Macdowell, 
they  have  no  religion  whatever,  except  the 
vaguest  superstition. 

But  that  qualifying  clause  destroys  the  whole 
position.  The  outward  manifestation  of  the 
sense  of  Religion  may  be  in  the  last  degree 
superstitious.  It  may  express  itself  in  demon 
worship,  in  ancestor  worship,  in  the  worship  of 
stocks  and  stones,  or  of  the  host  of  heaven.  But 
there  lies  behind  it  all  that  incommunicable 
something  which  distinguishes  human  nature 
from  all  other  natures  in  creation.  Religious 
practices  however  vague  are  only  the  reflection 
of  some  inward  conviction  which  man  is  per- 
petually trying  to  explain  to  himself. 

To  trace  mankind's  endeavours  to  interpret 
the  religious  sense  in  terms  of  mind,  endeavours 
mirrored  in  religious  practice,  is  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  of  studies.  But  it  lies  beyond  our 
present  purpose.  What  we  have  to  realise  is 
that  Religion  is  really  an  emotional  response, 
and  that  it  seeks  an  emotional  outlet.  This 
characteristic  will  be  more  marked  with  primitive 
than  with  modern  forms.  As  Religion  advances 
the  Will  and  the  Intellect  begin  to  take  a  fuller 
part  in  its  expression.  But  Religion  can  never 
be  rational  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word.  It  is 
emotional  at  the  core  if  only  because  our  human 
personality  clusters  round  an  emotional  centre. 
"  Feelino-  "  is  the  central  and  essential  thing  in 


1 6  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

life:  '  willing  '  and  '  reasoning  '  are  sub- 
sidiary albeit  highly  important  and  essential 
processes. 

The  religious  sense  therefore  expresses  itself 
in  a  distinct  emotional  attitude,  as  it  draws  its 
strength  from  emotional  sources.  All  that  the 
will  and  the  intellect  can  do  is  to  strengthen  and 
purify.  They  are  not  the  source  of  fear  or  joy 
or  love.  These  things  unregulated  have  often 
led  to  surprising  and  curious  manifestations  in 
primitive  times,  manifestations  which  growing 
civilisation  has  not  always  held  in  check.  The 
religious  sense  is  found  at  times  prostituted  to 
the  baser  emotions,  and  practices  appalling  to 
the  modern  mind  have  often  found  place  in  the 
religious  exercises  of  humanity.  The  cult  of 
Krishna  in  modern  India  is  only  an  indication 
of  widespread  practices  in  the  earlier  world  such 
as  Christianity  had  to  struggle  with  in  its  earliest 
converts,  like  the  prophets  of  Israel  in  that 
nation's  past. 

Religion  therefore  we  may  reasonably  con- 
clude does  not  originate  in  mere  musical  dis- 
covery. It  is  a  concurrent  and  inevitable  ac- 
companiment of  human  life.  Its  causes  are  deep 
and  far-reaching;  essential  and  not  accidental. 
Music  is  not  even  necessary  to  it.  Awe,  joy, 
aspiration,  desire — all  these  are  possible  both  in 
origin  and  expression  apart  from  Music.  Never- 
theless ffhe  attraction  of  Religion  to  Music  was 


ORIGINS  OF  RELIGION  17 

^inevitable  in  Religion's  practical  manifestations. 
Music  is  so  powerful  a  vehicle  of  emotional  feel- 
ing, quick  to  generate  as  well  as  to  express  the 
deepest  and  most  elemental  passions  of  the  heartJ 
II  will  differ  irLiype  according  to  the  emotional 
attitude  of  the  worshippers;  it  will  take  its  tone 
from  the  actual  forms  of  worship  springing  out 
of  that  attitude.  Fear,  inducing  propitiatory 
rites,  will  have  a  music  of  its  own.  Joy  in  life 
such  as  characterized  those  sections  of  humanity 
to  whom  nature  was  propitious,  will  find  a  cor- 
responding manifestation.  The  music  of  Greek 
religion  differs  from  that  practised  still  by  ab- 
original tribes  whose  religion  corresponds  with 
the  difficulty  of  their  circumstances.  Finally, 
in  the  most  developed  religions,  such  as  that  of 
Israel,  and  pre-eminently  of  Christianity,  where 
adoration  takes  the  foremost  place  as  the  ex- 
pression of  the  worshippers'  sense  of  the  Divine 
love,  Music  has  a  character  equally  distinct  and 
unmistakeable. 


CHAPTER  III 

ORIGINS     OF     MUSIC     AND     ITS     CONNECTION     WITH 
RELIGION 

THERE  are  three  natural  channels  through  which 
simple  emotional  experience  declares  itself— 
silence,  motion  and  sound.  There  is  the  silence 
of  tense  excitement,  of  surprise  or  joy,  of  grief 
and  awe.  It  is  often  involuntary;  often  again  it 
is  voluntary.  In  the  latter  case  it  is  perhaps  true 
to  say  that  it  is  a  more  modern  expedient  than  its 
companions.  It  is  an  educated  medium  deliber- 
ately chosen. 

Motion  on  the  other  hand,  like  sound,  bears 
marks  of  the  very  earliest  origin.  Leaping  for 
joy,  stamping  with  rage,  running  from  fright,  are 
natural  and  spontaneous  manifestations  of  ex- 
citement. Gesticulation,  more  common  with 
some  races  than  with  others,  is  only  another  type 
of  the  same  emotional  outlet.  Clapping  unites 
motion  and  sound.  But  on  a  higher  plane  than 
all  these  obviously  primitive  and  spontaneous 
types  of  action  we  find  the  rhythmic  movement  of 
the  dance.  And  here  we  have  a  medium  with 
uses  passing  beyond  the  simple  expression  of 

18 


ORIGINS  OF  MUSIC   CONNECTED  WITH  RELIGION    19 

emotional   depths  to   the   actual   suggestion   ol 
emotional  possibilities.  -J 

In  the  life  of  ancient  peoples  the  dance  held 
a  position  far  more  central  than  it  holds  to-day. 
This  is  a  fact  of  considerable  importance  to  real- 
ize in  view  of  the  enquiry  which  we  have  in  hand. 
The  dance  was  not  a  mere  pastime,  but  a  thing 
of  intrinsic  value  as  well  in  war  as  peace.  It  held 
a  high  place  also  in  religious  life.  Tn  one  sense 
of  course  it  is  impossible  to  separate  the  activi-  . 
ties  of  early  peoples  into  religious  and  secular. 
The  whole  of  life  was  accepted  on  a  religious 
basis.  Both  social  custom  and  martial  observ- 
ance were  endowed  with  religious  significance. 
Nevertheless  there  were  the  special  observances 
of  religion  proper,  and  among  them  the  dance 
held  a  conspicuous  place.  Not  only  was  this  so 
with  the  savage  and  pagan :  it  was  equally  the 
case  in  early  Israel.  David's  dance  before  the 
Ark  was  not  an  act  unusual  in  character.  It  was 
a  customary  religious  exercise.  With  music  the 
dance  took  its  place  as  a  fitting  medium  of  praise. 
So  in  Psalm  150  we  read  the  familiar  ex- 
hortation : 

"  Praise  Him  in  the  cymbals  and  dances, 
Praise   Him   upon  the   strings  and  pipe."    i 

To-day  we  are  witnessing  in  certain  directions 
a  recrudescence  of  the  use  of  dance  forms  to  con- 
vey emotional  suggestion  as  well  as  to  express 


2O  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

emotional  feeling.  Why  the  dance  actually  lost 
its  place  within  the  sphere  of  the  activities  of  the 
higher  religions  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  under- 
stand. It  lent  itself,  to  a  degree  impossible  in 
the  nature  of  things  for  music  to  lend  itself,  to 
the  encouragement  of  those  passions  which  higher 
religious  forms  have  always  denounced ;  although 
they  were  and  still  are  considered  of  deep  re- 
ligious significance  by  certain  more  primitive 
races.  The  dance  must  have  played  no  incon- 
siderable part  in  the  identification  or  confusion 
of  the  emotions  of  sex  with  those  of  religion — a 
condition  of  things  often  occurring  in  the  past 
and  not  always  escaped  in  the  present.  With 
the  inrush  of  many  semi-converted  people  into 
the  Christian  Church  in  the  4th  century  a  tend- 
ency is  observable  to  re-introduce  rhythmic 
movement  into  Christian  worship.  It  was,  how- 
ever, sternly  repressed ;  though  there  appears  to 
have  been  some  such  ritual  recrudescence  in  one 
part  at  least  of  Christendom  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  .practice  is  not  unknown  in 
America. 

"We  come  finally  to  emotional  expression  by 
means  of  sound.  As  with  motion  this  may  be 
simple  or  it  may  be  complex.  Complexity  of 
structure  only  came  with  time  :  like  the  dance,  it 
came  into  being  gradually  as  a  medium  of  more 
sustained  effort.  That  it  was  finally  to  win  for 
itself  a  position  of  superiority  would  be  beyond 


ORIGINS  OF  MUSIC   CONNECTED  WITH  RELIGION    21 

any  expectation  of  primitive  humanity.  To  them 
without  any  dcmbtjthe_dance  was  a  medium  of 
greater  potentiality.  Music  was  adopted  largely 
as  an  expedient  'pour  mieux  sauter.  Never- 
theless the  dance  exhausted  its  possibilities  long 
before  music  had  really  discovered  itself.  Nor 
does  there  yet  seem  to  be  any  indication  of  a  term 
being  put  to  music's  triumphs. 

The  most  primitive  medium  of  sound  is  found 
in  the  ejaculation  or  the  cry.  There,  joy  and 
sorrow,  surprise  and  anger,  hatred  and  love 
could  all  find  momentary  expression.  They 
correspond  to  the  sudden  and  unpremeditated 
physical  activities  which  preceded  the  dance. 

It  is  hard,  perhaps,  to  connect  even  the  earli- 
est music,  which  of  course  was  vocal,  with  such 
seeming  inadequate  origins.  Imitation  of 
sounds  in  nature,  so  eagerly  attempted  by  the 
child,  would  doubtless  have  an  effect  in  the 
musical  progress  of  the  race.  But  actual  musical 
expression  most  probably  arose,  like  the  dancd, 
from  a  sustained  sense  of  joy.  The  origin  will 
be  found  in  the  love  song  of  the  wooer  and  of 
the  mother.  Not  impossibly  we  may  indicate 
another  contemporary  source — the  lament  of  the 
mourner.  It  is  keening  and  crooning  which 
seem  to  offer  the  most  obvious  explanation  for 
sustained  vocal  effort. 

Originally  song  was  monotonic  in  character, 
the  steady  Repetition  of  a  single  tone  only  varied 


22  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

by  the  rising  and  falling  of  the  voice.  Subse- 
quently it  would  be  caught  up  in  the  dance,  gain- 
ing thereby  liveliness  and  motion,  and  under 
stress  of  excitement  a  wider  range  of  tone. 

How  soon  such  music  became  united  to  actual 
words  there  is  no  way  of  determining.  But  that 
the  advance  took  place  under  the  actual  influence 
of  the  dance  seems  sufficiently  clear  from  the 
characteristic  feature  of  verbal  song.  The  fact 
of  metre  which  corresponds  in  origin  with  the 
rhythm  of  dance  movement  makes  it  clear  that 
song  had  to  adapt  itself  to  the  demands  of 
motion.  Poetry  itself,  though  it  has  long  been 
emancipated  from  the  actual  sphere  of  music, 
still  bears  the  mark  of  its  derivation.  Majesty 
of  thought  and  beauty  of  diction  still  owe  allegi- 
ance to  rhythmic  construction. 

In  fact  the  influence  of  the  dance  on  music  is 
not  likely  ever  to  be  fully  estimated.  Adopting 
the  most  primitive  forms  it  made  it  articulate  in 
words.  Subsequently  it  helped  forward  the 
union  of  song  and  instrumental  music,  making 
so  perfect  a  combination  that  a  separate  existence 
became  possible  for  them  as  united  branches  of 
the  same  art.  Thus  there  was  created  a  medium 
of  religious  expression  which  finally  superceded 
its  foster-parent.  But  further  still,  instrumental 
music  itself  only  began  to  disclose  its  immense 
possibilities  through  the  necessity  of  supplying 
the  demands  of  later  dance  forms.  It  is  only 


ORIGINS  OF  MUSIC   CONNECTED  WITH  RELIGION    23 

during  the  last  three  centuries  or  so  that  the 
music  of  the  instrument  has  been  discovering 
that  it  can  convey  a  message  of  its  own.  Sym- 
phony, sonata  and  fugue  all  are  derived  ultimate- 
ly from  the  music  of  the  dance  revived  since 
Renaissance  times. 

So  history  repeats  itself.  That  which  gave 
tone  and  form  to  early  vocal  effort  becomes 
finally  the  promoter  of  music's  independent  life. 

The  origin  of  the  music  of  the  instrument  is 
wrapped  in  some  obscurity.  Dates,  of  course, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  are  impossible.  Acci- 
dent must  have  suggested  what  nature  did  not 
actually  provide.  Some  urge  the  priority  of  the 
wind  instrument,  others  that  of  the  instrument  of 
percussion.  The  latter  suggestion  seems  the 
most  reasonable,  though  there  are  those  who  are 
not  yet  persuaded  that  the  wind  whistling  over  a 
broken  reed  did  not  provide  the  first  suggestion. 
The  musical  history  of  the  child,  however,  would 
seem  to  be  in  favour  of  percussion,  and  the  actual 
evidence  of  antiquity  is  tolerably  conclusive  in 
the  same  direction. 

Of  course  we  are  not  concerned  here  with  the 
actual  discussion  of  instrumental  development. 
It  suffices  to  know  that  drum,  pipe  and  strings 
actually  did  come  into  existence  in  one  form  or 
another,  and  probably  in  that  order.  What  is  of 
interest  is  to  notice  that  the  earliest  instrumental 
music  appears  to  have  been  connected  with  re- 


24  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

ligious  exercises  in  a  very  marked  degree.  Such 
seems  to  be  the  bearing  of  the  tradition  almost 
universal  among  the  races  of  the  world  that  in 
origin  it  was  divine.  The  only  serious  breach  in 
the  tradition  is  made  by  the  Hebrews  who  main- 
tain a  secular  origin.  But  this  was  not  in  any 
way  because  their  idea  of  music  was  a  low  one; 
it  was  because  their  conception  of  the  Divine  was 
so  high.  Jubal,  not  Jehovah,  was  "  the  father 
of  all  such  as  handle  the  harp  or  pipe."  Never- 
theless by  irony  of  circumstance  music  in  Israel's 
hands  became  more  fully  the  handmaid  of  re- 
ligion than  in  any  other  nation  in  the  world. 

The  connection  of  the  music  of  instruments 
with  actual  religious  worship  would  be  secured 
not  in  connection  with  song,  but  in  connection 
with  motionA  It  is  true  that  they  had  religious 
uses  other  man  those  connected  with  actual  wor- 
ship. They  were  used  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  Divinity  to  His  servants'  presence,  or  to 
scare  away  malignant  spirits.  Such  uses  for 
drum  and  trumpet  are  foimd  among  savage  and 
heathen  races  to-day.  ^ 'The  Chinese  beat  the 
drum  to  frighten  the  dragon  who  swallows  the 
sun  or  moon  at  the  time  of  eclipse.  In  Africa 
the  trumpet  is  blown  at  such  seasons.  In  Thibet 
demons  are  exorcised,  as  in  Israel  Jehovah's 
attention  was  called  by  the  blast  of  the  trumpet. 
And  so  our  own  church  bells  are  reminiscent  of 
primitive  practice. i  Themselves  descendants  of 


ORIGINS  OF   MUSIC   CONNECTED  WITH  RELIGION    2$ 

the  drum,  by  our  ancestors  they  were  held  to  have 
special  powers  in  storm  and  plague.  The  pass- 
ing bell  originally  was  rung  to  protect  the  dying 
soul  from  evil  spirits. 

f 

However, 'the  normal  use  of  the  early  instru- 
ment would  be  as  an  adjunct  to  actual  religious 
worship — to  accompany  the  dance  or  the  proces- 
sion, or  to  induce  feelings  of  special  consequence 
to  the  spirit  of  worship.\  So  cymbals  and  trum- 
pets were  used  among  the  Hebrews.  ~~~~And 
modern  travellers  bear  witness  to  the  powerful 
effect  which  the  monotonous  beating  of  the  tom- 
tom produces,  as  an  adjunct  to  the  religious  cere- 
monies of  savage  tribes.  The  feelings  produced 
by  the  beating  of  the  great  sacrificial  drum  of  the 
Aztecs,  which  could  be  heard  eight  miles  away, 
must  have  been  beyond  description.  Even  upon 
the  civilised  westerner  the  drum  has  a  mesmer- 
izing effect,  a  fact  of  which  the  modern  Salvation- 
ist and  the  Orange  Protestant  cannot  be  unaware. 

The  drum  would  hardly  have  lent  itself  well 
to  the  motion  of  the  dance.  Among  African  tribes 
to-day  it  is  found  as  an  accompaniment  of  a 
regular  processional  movement  round  a  restricted 
space.  It  would  be  in  its  derivative  forms  of 
cymbals  that  it  would  be  used  for  dancing. 

It  seems  without  doubt  a  far  step  from  the  ex- 
citation of  emotion  to  the  accompaniment  of 
actual  religious  song.  Possibly  the  transition 
may  have  been  helped  by  what  was  taking  place 

3 


20  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

in  a  sphere  outside  that  of  actual  religious  ob- 
servance. It  is  quite  probable  that  some  instru- 
ments gradually  came  into  being  which  escaped 
for  the  moment  the  actual  trammels  of  religious 
uses;  that  song  came  to  be  accompanied  in  the 
secular  region  before  it  came  to  be  accompanied 
in  religious  dance  and  praise.  Certainly  instru- 
ments of  an  order  differing  from  drum  and 
trumpet  were  required.  They  were  discovered 
ultimately  in  the  lyre  and  harp.  When  and  how 
such  instruments  came  into  existence  we  cannot 
say.  Greek  tradition  attached  the  discovery  to 
Hermes.  In  Homeric  times  such  instruments 
were  quite  familiar,  and  there  is  actually  in  ex- 
istence an  Egyptian  lyre  dating  some  2000  years 
before  Christ.  That  such  instruments  were 
dedicated  from  the  first  to  the  actual  service  of 
religion  none  can  positively  assert.  The  utmost 
that  can  be  said  in  favour  of  such  a  position  is 
that  they  took  their  origin  in  the  East,  the  home 
of  great  religions  and  the  seed-plot  of  religious 
development.  Moreover  in  the  earliest  pictorial 
representations  in  Egypt  they  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  priestly  class. 

Evidently  such  instruments  were  designed  for 
vocal  accompaniment.  But  it  is  not  demonstrable 
that  their  original  use  was  not  secular  or  that  it 
was  ever  uniformly  religious.  The  early  practice 
of  chanting  in  saga  form  the  past  deeds  of  a  race 
may  possibly  have  called  into  existence  instru- 


ORIGINS  OF  MUSIC   CONNECTED  WITH  RELIGION    27 

ments  which  can  be  used  by  the  singer  himself. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  among  all  the  chief  races  of 
antiquity,  stringed  instruments  sooner  or  later 
found  a  place,  and  song  an  appropriate  accom- 
paniment, under  the  aegis  of  religion. 

The  only  other  type  of  instrument  at  all  fitted 
for  vocal  accompaniment  was  an  instrument  of 
much  earlier  occurrence — the  pipe.  Of  the 
same  family  as  the  trumpet  but  prior  in  develop- 
ment, it  undoubtedly  had  a  very  early  place  in 
the  accompaniment  of  the  dance.  But  the  un- 
suitable character  of  its  tone  could  not  have  made 
for  progress  in  actual  song.  In  one  form  or  an- 
other it  undoubtedly  found  a  place  within  the 
religious  sphere.  There  is  some  evidence  for  its 
use  in  early  Hebrew  history.  Among  the  Hin- 
doos its  religious  connection  is  quite  clear.  The 
flute  was  traditionally  derived  from  India,  the 
supreme  deity  of  the  conquering  race.  Aryan 
peoples  therefore  in  the  fourth  millenium  before 
Christ  must  have  used  it  in  their  worship.  While 
in  India  it  gave  place  to  the  stringed  instrument 
given  by  Saravasti,  Brahma's  wife,  elsewhere  it 
found  a  permanent  home  among  peoples  in  some 
cases  widely  varying  from  the  Aryan  stock. 

It  seems  clear,  however,  that  its  general  use 
was  in  religious  exercises  of  a  special  type.  In 
the  later  stages  of  pre-Christian  history  it  was 
looked  upon  as  distinctly  degrading  in  influence. 
A  u>  uoe  in  the  Dionysian  festivals  in  Greece  to 


28  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

accompany  the  dithyrambs  sung  in  dancing 
round  the  altar  is  familiar.  But  the  Dionysian 
festival  had  its  counterpart  among  many  other 
races.  In  Italy,  Phrygia,  Bithynia,  Phenicia, 
Babylon  and  Egypt  the  same  type  of  worship 
held  sway.  The  story  of  Venus  and  Adonis 
forms  the  general  groundwork  of  a  tradition 
against  which  the  prophets  of  the  Old  Testament 
find  it  necessary  to  inveigh.  Bacchanalian 
dances  were  the  least  objectionable  feature  of 
these  observances,  and  the  flute  was  always  found 
as  an  accompaniment  of  the  orgiastic  rites  which 
obtained.  Hence  its  evil  reputation  with  the 
ancients  and  the  erotic  character  attributed  to  its 
music. 

But  to  return.  Throughout  the  history  of  re- 
ligion we  find  a  tendency  to  absorb  elements  of 
secular  practice.  In  the  sphere  of  music  this  is 
always  noticeable.  From  time  to  time  secular 
instruments  and  secular  tunes  have  been  adopted 
and  so  absorbed  as  almost  to  lose  all  connection 
with  earlier  usage.  So  it  may  possibly  be  in  the 
case  of  accompanied  song  in  the  religious  sphere, 
a  phenomenon  curiously  enough  unknown  in 
some  of  the  most  ancient  races  of  the  world,  and 
only  reluctantly  admitted  within  the  Christian 
Church  itself.  What  was  possibly  a  secular 
origin  is  all  but  lost  in  the  completeness  of  its 
religious  adoption.  Becoming  a  characteristic 
feature  of  worship  as  a  handmaid  to  the  dance, 


ORIGINS  OF  MUSIC   CONNECTED  WITH  RELIGION    2Q 

it  finally  broke  away  into  a  career  of  independent 
development,  words  ultimately  becoming  more 
attracted  to  the  new  vehicles  of  sound  than  to  the 
older  ones  of  motion. 

And  so  we  reach  the  psalms  and  hymns  of  an- 
tiquity, so  important  a  part  of  its  religious 
property.  Egypt  had  its  ancient  chants  handed 
down  by  Isis.  The  songs  of  the  Hindoos  hymn- 
ing the  virtues  of  the  old  Aryan  gods  date  back  at 
least  3,000  years  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
sacred  caste  of  singers  known  as  Brahmins  grew 
up  as  exponents  of  the  meaning  of  the  hymns. 
So  great  was  their  influence  and  that  of  song  that 
finally  Indra  got  deposed  from  his  supremacy, 
and  Brahma,  originally  the  sacred  song,  became 
the  name  of  the  supreme  divinity. 

Among  the  Greeks  also  hymns  had  at  one  time 
a  high  place  of  honour.  They  were  the  accom- 
paniment of  sacrifice,  libation  and  procession. 
But  though  Greek  and  Hindoo  sprang  from  a 
common  stock,  there  was  no  development  in 
Greece  analogous  to  that  in  India.  With  the 
Greeks  the  hymn  developed  into  drama.  The 
Tragedian  took  the  place  occupied  by  the  Brah- 
min. Music  itself  gradually  became  a  separate 
art  more  secular  than  religious  in  essential  charac- 
ter— a  stage  accessory.  Musical  modes  were 
elaborated,  no  less  than  fifteen  variants  being 
discoverable,  each  belonging  to  a  separate  local- 
ity and  named  therefrom.  In  time  these  variants 


3O  MUSIC"    AND    RELIGION 

settled  down  to  seven  chief  modes,  of  great  im- 
portance in  later  history. 

But  Greek  religious  genius  tended  to  express 
itself  through  the  medium  not  of  sound  but  of 
form.  It  is  in  the  plastic  arts  that  Greece  excels. 
Ideals  of  beauty,  goodness  and  truth  were  taught 
through  the  eye  rather  than  through  the  ear.  And 
where  sculpture  and  architecture  could  not  go, 
philosophy  came  in  to  complete  the  nation's  con- 
tribution to  the  sense  of  Truth. 

Nevertheless  when  music  came  to  be  adopted 
as  an  essential  part  of  worship  by  the  Christian 
Church,  it  was  to  Greece  that  it  was  most  in- 
debted, a  debt,  as  we  shall  notice,  not  unshared 
by  the  Jews  themselves. 


CHAPTER  IV 

HEBREW   RELIGIOUS   MUSIC 

IT  is  of  course  the  hymn  forms  of  the  Israelites 
which  have  influenced  most  widely  the  religious 
history  of  the  world.  They  stand  out  as  an  abid- 
ing monument  of  that  nation's  religious  genius. 

The  religion  of  Israel  in  its  origin  had  much 
in  common  with  that  of  other  primitive  races  in 
the  nearer  East.  Many  traces  of  obvious  simi- 
larities are  to  be  discovered  in  the  old  Testament 
writings.  The  specialized  development  which 
makes  Hebrew  history  so  unique  has  to  be  at- 
tributed chiefly  to  a  long  line  of  teachers  endowed 
with  a  spiritual  insight  which  grew  more  intense 
with  the  political  vicissitudes  of  the  race. 

Right  back  behind  the  time  of  that  written 
prophecy  which  begins  with  Amos,  the  Shepherd 
of  Tekoa;  before  the  time  of  such  outstanding 
figures  as  Elisha,  Elijah  or  Samuel,  there 
existed  what  are  known  as  '  Schools  of  the 
Prophets."  The  actual  function  of  these  bodies 
is  not  easy  to  determine.  That  they  had  real 
points  of  similarity  with  the  '  Mullahs  '  of 
other  Eastern  races  it  is  idle  to  deny.  Divina- 
tion was  reckoned  among  their  offices.  Further, 

3* 


32  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

the  excitation  of  religious  frenzy — often  of  a 
martial  order — was  equally  customary.  This 
was  achieved  by  throwing  themselves  first  into 
that  state.  The  spirit  of  Jahweh  was  then  said 
to  have  come  upon  them,  the  condition  being 
induced  by  the  instrumentality  of  music. 

Such  was  the  source  of  the  earliest  prophecies. 
When  Saul  went  to  discover  the  asses  of  Kish 
his  father,  he  went  naturally  to  the  prophets. 
Meeting  a  company  of  them  coming  down  from 
the  high  place  with  psaltery,  tabret,  pipe  and 
harp  before  them,  he  fell  into  a  like  state  of 
enthusiasm  with  themselves.  Elisha,  on  the 
other  hand,  belongs  to  a  type  of  prophet  standing 
midway  between  these  "  nebiim,"  as  they  were 
called,  and  those  later  messengers  of  Jahweh, 
whose  writings  alone  reveal  how  great  a  differ- 
ence parted  them  from  their  forbears,  yet  he  also 
depended  upon  instruments  of  music  when  he  de- 
sired "the  hand  of  the  Lord  to  come  upon  him." 

How  the  transition  took  place  from  common 
frenzied  utterance  to  unique  spiritual  insight  we 
are  here  under  no  necessity  of  discussing.  But 
the  frenzy  itself  dates  back  far  in  the  religious 
history  of  Israel;  without  doubt  beyond  the  period 
of  captivity  in  Egypt,  when  instruments  were 
primitive  and  few. 

Egypt  naturally  left  its  impress  upon  Israel 
and  thereby  added  its  quota  to  the  subsequent 
religious  progress  of  the  world.  At  the  time  of. 


HEBREW   RELIGIOUS    MUSIC  33 

the  Exodus,  music  had  reached  a  very  high  stage 
of  development.  Mural  paintings  and  sculptures 
of  the  period  show  the  existence  of  all  early  types 
of  instrument,  of  percussion,  wind  and  string. 
There  is  the  sistrum  with  its  tambourine  effect, 
the  flute,  the  harp — some  of  the  large  size  with 
many  strings,  others  smaller  and  portable;  there 
are  also  the  cithara,  the  lyre,  and  the  lute.  All 
these  instruments  appear  to  have  been  played 
together  as  an  accompaniment  to  vocal  music. 

The  instruments  known  among,  the  Hebrews 
seem  to  have  been  derived  from  those  in  use  in 
Egypt.  The  trumpet  of  the  Egyptians  was  a 
martial  instrument.  Israel,  worshipping  Jahweh 
as  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  brought  this  instrument 
within  the  sphere  of  a  two-fold  usage,  reserving 
it  in  actual  use  to  the  priests.  Further,  in  Egypt, 
as  in  India,  the  cult  of  music  was  largely  in  the 
hands  of  the  priestly  caste,  the  art  being  passed 
on  from  father  to  son.  This  fact  is  of  special  in- 
terest when  we  consider  the  actual  position  of  the 
Levites  among  the  Hebrews.  It  affords  a  clear 
mark  of  connection  between  Hebrew  and 
Egyptian  practice. 

Hebrew  history  as  such  really  begins  from  the 
time  of  the  Exodus.  The  nation  on  its  deliver- 
ance pledged  itself  to  the  worship  of  a  single 
God,  Jahweh.  This  change  was  achieved  at 
the  instance  of  one  man,  Moses.  He  it  was  who 
unay  be  said  to  have  guided  the  religious  instinct 


34  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

of  his  people  into  that  channel  which  offered 
such  wonderful  possibilities  for  the  future. 

It  hardly  falls  within  our  province  to  trace  the 
process  by  which  Jahweh,  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
became  known  as  the  God  of  Righteousness,  and 
finally  as  the  God  of  Love  and  Truth.  But  it 
is  impossible  not  to  conjecture  that  Israel's  music 
was  at  least  as  largely  modified  by  this  internal 
theological  development  as  it  was  by  external 
influences  which  have  yet  to  be  described. 

Precise  information  as  to  the  exact  situation 
before  the  Babylonian  Captivity  (6th  c.,  B.C.) 
is  not  vouchsafed  to  us.  There  is  indeed  no 
actual  music  left,  apart  from  traditional  tones, 
belonging  to  any  part  of  the  Old  Testament  dis- 
pensation. Further,  it  is  now  generally  realised 
that  the  Books  of  Chronicles  (c.  300,  B.C.) 
simply  cast  into  ancient  settings  practices  pre- 
vailing when  they  themselves  were  being  written. 
As  to  the  Psalter,  the  book  as  it  now  stands  is 
undoubtedly  a  post  exilic  production.  While 
certain  of  the  Psalms  themselves  may  quite 
reasonably  be  allowed  a  pre-exilic  origin,  the 
attribution  of  the  whole  book  to  David  rests 
largely  upon  misapprehension.  Some  scholars 
would  fix  the  book  in  its  present  form  as  late 
as  the  middle  of  the  Second  Century.  As  to  the 
actual  musical  settings  there  is  considerable 
scope  for  enquiry.  But  it  seems  clear  that  they 
were  largely  governed  by  Babylonian  and  sub- 


HEBREW   RELIGIOUS    MUSIC  35 

sequently  by  Greek  influences  as  far  as  perform- 
ance in  Temple  rites  was  concerned. 

Actual  worship  in  the  earliest  age  was  of  a 
joyous  type  and  centred  round  a  common  sacri- 
ficial meal  in  which  communion  was  effected  with 
the  Deity.  Procession  and  dance  held  a  place 
as  in  the  contemporary  worship  of  other  peoples. 
And  the  procession,  it  should  be  remembered, 
was  a  chief  characteristic  of  Egyptian  practice. 
In  Israel  the  singers  went  before,  the  minstrels 
after;  in  Egypt  that  order  was  reversed. 

Music  itself  would  not  differ  greatly  in  type 
from  that  in  use  generally  in  the   East  among 
the  Semites.     Syrian  and  Arab  tunes  would  af- 
ford us  the  nearest  clue.        We  may  take  for 
granted  the  use  of  a  simple  pentatonic  scale  such 
as  is  found  almost  universally  in  ancient  music, 
and  which  still  largely  survives  in  the  folk  song 
of  to-day.     There  seems  to  have  been  a  clear 
tendency  in  Hebrew  music  to  absorb  other  ele- 
ments   and    to    admit    external    influences    very 
easily.      The  same  tendency   in   religion   is  the 
cause  of  the  animadversion  of  all  the  prophets. 
So  the  impress  of  Egyptian  influence  is  seen  m« 
the   instrumental   forms   as   well   as   in   musical 
practice  during  the  early  centuries.     So  without: 
doubt  we  must  attribute  to  the  influence  of  Baby- 
lon during  the  captivity  the  increased  majesty  of 
musical  display  which  characterized  the  worship 
of  the  second  Temple.     Subsequently  after  the 


36  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

conquest  of  the  East  by  Alexander,  Greek  in- 
fluence becomes  most  marked.  This  was  not 
only  in  the  province  of  music;  the  effect  was  seen 
also  in  Jewish  life  and  thought. 

Worship  in  later  old  Testament  times  centred 
more  and  more  round  the  Sacrifice,  which  tended 
to  lose  its  social  in  a  more  spiritual  significance. 
In  the  reign  of  Josiah,  just  over  a  century  before 
the  Captivity,  sacrifice  became  centred  at  the 
Temple,  the  householder  being  henceforward 
forbidden  his  ancient  privilege  of  offering  as  the 
household  priest,  in  the  interest  of  the  preserva- 
tion of  true  religion.  It  was  round  the  Temple 
Sacrifice  that  the  Psalms  clustered,  possibly  be- 
ginning in  pre-exilic  times;  but  as  we  now  have 
them  hymns  of  the  second  Temple.  Unless  this 
connection  with  the  sacrificial  service  is  grasped, 
the  significance  of  many  of  the  Psalms  is  lost. 
"  God  is  gone  up  with  a  merry  noise  and  the 
Lord  with  the  sound  of  the  trumpet."  Such  a 
phrase  refers  to  the  theology  of  sacrifice,  Je- 
hovah being  conceived  of  as  visiting  the  altar 
to  partake  in  the  offering,  and  leaving  again 
when  the  rite  was  declared  complete  in  the  blast 
of  the  trumpet. 

On  the  other  hand,  much  of  the  Psalter  can 
certainly  be  used  with  a  much  less  precise  sacri- 
ficial application — war  songs,  psalms  of  instruc- 
tion, penitence  and  thanksgiving,  all  finding  a 
place.  Such  forms,  apart  from  war  songs,  were 


HEBREW   RELIGIOUS    MUSIC  37 

largely  developed  during  the  Captivity.  The 
exiles  were  separated  from  sacrificial  service,  and 
new  forms  had  to  be  elaborated  to  clothe  and 
express  the  religious  idea.  The  germ  of  much 
which  is  looked  upon  to-day  as  most  character- 
istically Christian  is  to  be  found  in  the  expedients 
adopted  in  Babylon,  owing  to  enforced  limita- 
tions in  the  sphere  of  worship.  The  synagogue 
type  of  service  consisting  solely  of  prayer,  psalm 
and  reading  of  the  Scriptures  began  to  be 
evolved;  and  from  the  6th  century  onwards,  down 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  it  spread 
wherever  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion  found  them- 
selves. For,  it  should  be  realized,  only  a  small 
remnant  of  the  Jews  ever  went  back  to  Jeru- 
salem; enough  to  re-establish  the  Jewish  Church, 
but  not  to  re-found  the  Jewish  nation. 

It  was  to  the  circumstances  of  the  Captivity 
that  we  may  attribute  with  reasonable  probability 
the  curious  custom  of  chanting  the  Scriptures, 
which  still  persists  in  Christian  worship  to-day. 
Previous  to  the  Exile  the  Scripture  of  the  Jews 
would  have  been  the  Law.  Subsequently  the 
Prophets  and  the  Writings  were  added.  For 
the  reading  of  each  of  these  sections  appropriate 
melodies  were  devised,  precursors  of  those  forms 
in  vogue  in  the  Christian  Church  for  the  reading 
of  the  liturgical  Epistle  and  Gospel.  It  is  the 
same  custom  which  is  found  among  the  Moslems 
in  the  recitation  of  the  Koran. 


30  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

In  the  main  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  religious  music  of  the  Jews  in  post  exilic 
times,  whether  instrumental  or  vocal,  centred 
round  the  adequate  performance  of  the  Psalms. 
The  actual  picture  which  we  get  from  the  in- 
formation afforded  by  the  later  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  suggests  that  the  choral  parts  of  the 
Temple  service  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Levites; 
the  only  parts  assigned  to  the  congregation  being 
an  occasional  chorus,  the  Hallelujahs  and  the 
Amens.  Singing  was  antiphonal  in  character, 
thus  setting  the  form  very  generally  adopted  in 
the  later  musical  practice  of  the  Christian  Church. 
The  vocal  parts  would  be  in  unison  or  at 
the  octave,  since  knowledge  of  harmony  was 
developed  only  within  comparatively  modern 
times. 

Among  the  Levites  who  returned  after  the 
Captivity  there  seem  to  have  been  special  guilds 
of  musicians,  those  of  David,  Asaph,  and  the 
Sons  of  Korah  being  clearly  chief  in  importance. 
Their  names  stand  at  the  head  of  many  of  the 
Psalms,  indicating  that  the  Psalms  in  question 
belonged  originally  to  their  private  collections. 
The  present  Psalter,  like  our  modern  Church 
hymn  books,  was  of  course  a  selection  from 
several  sources,  earlier  books  being  laid  under 
contribution. 

As  to  the  numbers  which  constituted  these 
guilds  we  should  remember  that  the  Books  of 


HEBREW   RELIGIOUS    MUSIC  39 

Chronicles  are  not  always  trustworthy;  numbers 
are  very  often  highly  exaggerated  from  a  par- 
donable sense  of  pride  and  a  desire  to  impress 
other  nations.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  even  in  300  B.C.  there  were  anything  like 
4,000  actual  performers  "  who  praised  the  Lord 
with  instruments."  But  we  may  have  a  hint  of 
the  real  truth  of  the  matter  in  I.  Chronicles,  xxv. 
There  we  are  told  of  the  Temple  musicians  that 
'  the  number  of  them  with  their  brethren  that 
were  instructed  in  singing  unto  the  Lord,  even 
all  that  were  skilful,  was  two  hundred  four  score 
and  eight."  This  body  was  apparently  respon- 
sible for  twenty-four  courses  into  which  the  year 
was  divided.  Their  instruments  consisted  of 
cymbals,  psalteries,  and  harps.  They  were  ar- 
rayed in  fine  linen  and  stood  at  the  east  end  of 
the  altar.  This  tradition  of  actual  numbers  has 
confirmation  also  in  the  Talmud,  the  book  of 
Jewish  oral  tradition.  There  we  are  informed 
that  the  singing  of  the  Psalms  was  initiated  by 
twelve  Levites  playing  upon  nine  lyres,  two 
harps,  and  one  cymbal.  They  were  supported 
by  boys  and  younger  men  of  the  same  order,  the 
former  singing,  the  latter  joining  in  with  the  ac- 
companiment. 

So  much  for  the  externals;  actual  practice  is 
more  difficult  to  determine.  Roughly  speaking, 
our  only  clue  is  to  be  found  in  the  musical  rubrics 
of  the  Psalms.  But  these  terms  have  puzzled 


40  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

generations  of  commentators,  and  their  precise 
significance  can  hardly  yet  be  considered  clear. 
The  trouble  arises  from  the  two-fold  cause  of 
the  break  in  Jewish  tradition  following  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  (70  A.D.),  and  from  the 
fact  that  the  old  Testament  Scriptures  were 
originally  written  without  vowels.  Consonants 
alone  were  given  and  traditional  knowledge  sup- 
plied what  was  lacking.  With  the  destruction 
of  the  nation  came  the  break  up  of  the  schools 
of  the  Rabbis;  with  the  destruction  of  the  Temple 
the  sacrificial  system  of  worship  with  its  pro- 
fessional choirs  and  musicians  came  to  an  end. 
Hence  the  meaning  and  significance  of  the  some- 
what cryptic  musical  direction  was  lost.  When 
the  Massoretic  text  of  the  Old  Testament  came 
to  be  produced  (7th  century,  A.D.),  the  attempt 
to  supply  the  exact  vowels  was  often  a  matter 
of  guess  work. 

Modern  scholarship  has  produced  many  sur- 
prises in  Old  Testament  fields.  Applied  to  the 
Psalms  it  would  appear  that  many  of  the  super- 
inscribed  directions  will  yield  their  secret.  With 
regard  to  some  terms  which  have  received  ex- 
planation in  the  past,  considered  as  they  stand 
unamended,  it  is  possible  that  we  shall  have  to 
change  our  views.  Earlier  explanations  seem 
likely  to  fall  to  the  ground.  What  does  it  mean 
when  a  Psalm  is  to  be  sung  to  Gitteth  or  any  of 
the  four  other  terms,  Aijeleth,  Jonalh,  Shushan 


HEBREW   RELIGIOUS    MUSIC  4! 

and  Alamoth?  With  but  slight  and  legitimate 
changes  of  the  vowel  points,  we  discover  a  sug- 
gestive series — Gathite,  Aeolian,  Ionian,  Suslan 
and  Elamite.  These  are  clearly  geographical 
titles  which  indicate  the  modes  to  which  the 
chants  were  sung,  following  the  Greek  fashion. 
This  opens  out  a  most  interesting  field  of  en- 
quiry and  of  suggestion.  After  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  Greek  influence  on  Jewish  life  was 
considerable.  The  Maccabean  rising  was  large- 
ly a  revolt  against  the  progress  of  Hellenism, 
traces  of  which  can  be  found  in  many  phases  of, 
Jewish  thought  and  practice  in  the  latter  years 
of  the  nation's  history.  A  hint  of  Greek  drama 
is  found  in  the  Old  Testament  in  the  Song  of 
Songs,  while  Greek  philosophy  finds  a  most 
noteworthy  medium  of  expression  in  the  book 
of  Wisdom.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  Greeks 
had  an  important  share  also  in  the  musical  ar- 
rangement of  the  Temple  services.  It  may  well 
be  therefore  that  the  tunes  in  use  for  the  Psalms 
in  the  day  when  the  present  psalter  was  com- 
pleted were  in  the  main  similar  in  type  to  those 
recognized  among  the  Greeks.  Early  Christian 
music  undoubtedly  adopted  the  Greek  scales, 
and  yet  there  was  at  the  same  time  a  tradition 
that  Jewish  psalmody  was  not  without  its  in- 
fluence. Jewish  origin  certainly  has  been  claimed 
for  the  Gregorian  type  of  cantillation.  If  we  can 
accept  the  theory  of  Greek  influence  on  the  later 


42  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

music  of  the  second  Temple,  the  reconciliation  of 
fact  with  tradition  can  be  effected. 

As  to  the  character  of  the  instrumental  music 
there  is  no  little  uncertainty,  and  we  are  left 
largely  to  theory.  Direction  as  to  the  kind  of 
instruments  to  be  used  is  often  given.  But  it 
would  seem  that  our  knowledge  of  the  actual  type 
of  accompaniment  will  depend  upon  the  correct 
appreciation  of  the  term  Selah. 

The  first  suggestion  which  arises  is  that 
musical  accompaniment  was  partly  of  the  nature 
of  an  interlude — as  it  was  subsequently  for  con- 
siderable periods  in  the  Christian  Church.  Selah 
appears  to  be  a  transliteration  of  the  Greek 
'  psalle."  It  would  indicate  that  at  certain 
points  the  players  should  strike  up  and  play  their 
part  before  the  hymn  is  taken  up  again  by  the 
choir. 

The  character  of  this  interlude  would  naturally 
be  determined  by  the  colour  of  the  psalm.  It 
has  been  suggested  with  great  probability  that 
there  would  be  Selahs  of  war  and  sacrifice,  made 
by  the  priests  upon  the  trumpet;  Selahs  of 
mourning  performed  on  the  reed  pipes;  Selahs 
also  descriptive  of  natural  phenomena,  such  as 
the  storm,  produced  by  harps,  clapping  and 
stamping  of  feet.  '  Selah  is  always  a  musical 
interlude,  but  not  always  what  is  known  to 
modern  critics  as  pure  music.  Where  it  separates 
stanzas  it  may  be  mere  sound  appealing  by  the 


HEBREW   RELIGIOUS    MUSIC  43 

beauty  of  its  melody  or  by  combination  of  instru- 
ments; more  often  it  represents  what  we  should 
call  '  programme  music,'  and  is  consciously  and 
deliberately  descriptive  of  the  text  which  it  ac- 
companies."* 

Such  in  brief  is  an  account  of  the  part  played 
by  music  in  the  religion  of  Israel.  An  examina- 
tion in  the  narrower  sphere  of  the  types  of  in- 
strument in  use  would  be  beyond  the  scope  of 
our  present  purpose.  Doubtless  it  would  offer 
a  more  fruitful  field,  since  precise  information  is 
as  abundant  as  it  is  scanty  in  the  more  attractive 
sphere  of  our  enquiry. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Christian  era  therefore 
there  were  prevalent  two  types  of  religious  ser- 
vice among  the  race  from  which  Christianity  took 
its  birth.  There  was  first  the  highly  developed 
service  of  the  Temple  surrounding  the  act  of 
sacrifice,  with  its  paid  musicians  and  professional 
singers.  In  the  second  place  there  was  the  less 
elaborate  and  non-sacrificial  type  of  service  with 
its  psalms  and  cantillation  of  the  Scriptures. 
This  latter  type  had  been  rapidly  spreading 
throughout  those  parts  of  the  civilised  world  in 
which  the  Jews  found  themselves. 

The  approximation  of  Christian  worship  to 
Jewish  forms  was  inevitable,  since  the  earliest 
converts  were  in  the  main  Jews  or  proselytes. 
Christian  religious  music  undoubtedly  owes  a 

*  Stainer  :  Music  of  the   Bible,  p.  92. 


44  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

considerable  debt  to  Judaism,  if  only  for  the 
Psalms.  But  Christian  worship  at  first  from 
force  of  circumstances,  though  afterwards  over 
considerable  sections  of  the  Church  from  force 
of  custom,  was  of  great  simplicity  of  character. 

The  worship  of  the  Temple  had  less  actual 
influence  than  that  of  the  synagogue.  There 
were  no  sacred  buildings  set  apart;  and  instru- 
mental music  was  out  of  the  question  in  time  of 
persecution.  No  rite  had  any  opportunity  of 
such  elaboration  as  would  give  scope  to  the  kind 
of  music  prevalent  in  the  Temple.  It  was  only 
as  persecution  tended  to  become  less  regular  that 
the  Eucharist  began  to  develope  into  such  a  rite, 
and  to  give  the  old  Temple  tradition  an  oppor- 
tunity of  re-asserting  itself.  At  first  psalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs  were  the  only  musical 
outlet  for  emotions  deeper  and  more  pregnant 
with  possibilities  than  the  world  had  ever  ex- 
perienced before. 

The  final  overthrow  of  Jerusalem  at  the  hands 
of  the  Romans  (70  A.D.)  was  of  momentous 
importance  in  the 'history  of  religion,  and  equally 
in  that  of  music's  place  therein.  As  the  Christian 
Church  was*  not  as  yet  in  the  position  to  take 
over  the  music  of  the  Jewish  Church  at  the  point 
at  which  Judaism  was  forced  to  abandon  it,  there 
was  a  resultant  set-back  in  progress  lasting  for 
centuries.  The  development  of  music  itself  was 
affected  as  well  as  its  adaptation  to  religious 
uses. 


CHAPTER  V 

MUSIC   IN  THE  EARLY   CHURCH 

To  give  any  clear  conspectus  of  the  conditions 
of  worship  in  the  early  Church  during  the  first 
two  centuries  is  impossible.  In  the  first  place, 
for  the  period  between  the  actual  age  of  the 
Apostles  and  the  close  of  the  second  century,  his- 
torical information  is  but  scanty.  Beyond  that 
fact,  owing  to  the  differing  conditions  under 
which  Christian  worship  could  be  pursued,  we 
have  to  reckon  with  divergence  of  custom  in  dif- 
ferent localities. 

In  the  3rd  century,  despite  persecution,  the 
Church  appears  before  us  as  a  united  homogene- 
ous whole  with  considerable  correspondence  in 
all  essentials  of  faith  and  practice.  The  catholic 
idea  had  grown  strong  enough  to  assert  itself  as 
it  were  in  public.  We  find  a  common  episcopate, 
common  scriptures  and  a  common  creed.  Wor- 
ship began  to  be  followed  in  buildings  set  apart 
for  the  purpose.  Gradually  it  became  more  and 
more  possible  to  adopt  musical  embellishments 
of  the  Divine  Offices  in  a  way  impossible  under 
earlier  conditions. 

Previous  to  the  3rd  century  other  conditions 

45 


46  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

obtained.  The  catholic  idea  was  strong  enough. 
Ignatius  of  Antioch,  for  instance,  speaks  quite 
clearly  of  the  Catholic  Church.  The  letter  of  the 
Church  of  Smyrna  (155  A.D.)  is  addressed  "  to  all 
the  congregations  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church 
in  every  place."  Sense  of  unity  was  real,  but 
its  outward  manifestation  to  the  world  only  be- 
came possible  with  growth  in  the  numbers  and  in 
the  social  importance  of  the  Christian  body. 
Until  that  point  was  reached  the  conditions  of 
uniformity  were  largely  absent.  But  even  then 
forms  of  worship  tended  to  differ  and  to  preserve 
local  characteristics  of  their  own. 

The  actual  point  of  contact  between  the  music 
of  the  new  dispensation  and  the  old  is  found  in 
the  hymn  sung  by  Jesus  and  His  disciples  after 
the  inauguration  of  the  Eucharist.  "  And  when 
they  had  sung  an  hymn,  they  went  out  into  the 
Mount  of  Olives."  Such  is  the  witness  of  S. 
Mark;  and  so  the  old  was  taken  up  into  the  new, 
and  the  book  of  Psalms  received  its  imprimatur 
as  the  song  book  of  the  New  Israel. 

For  it  would  be  a  psalm  that  was  sung  on 
this  memorable  occasion;  most  probably  one  of 
those  consecrated  by  Jewish  liturgical  usage  to 
be  sung  after  the  celebration  of  the  Passover 
Supper.  These  were  the  Hallel  Psalms  (cxiii- 
cxviii)  used  regularly  at  the  greater  festivals  of 
the  Jewish  year.  Pious  conjecture  has  identi- 
fied the  actual  psalm  with  Ps.  cxiv  (In  exitu 


MUSIC  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  47 

Israel}  and  has  associated  the  familiar  Tonus 
Peregrinus  with  its  actual  setting. 

So  the  first  Christian  music  was  associated  with 
the  Eucharist.  And  from  the  beginning  it 
should  be  remembered,  distinctively  Christian 
worship  centred  round  the  Breaking  of  the  Bread. 
They  continued,  we  are  told,  in  the  Apostles' 
teaching  and  fellowship,  in  the  breaking  of  bread 
and  the  prayers.  It  is  no  matter  of  surprise, 
therefore,  that  such  religious  music  as  there  was 
began  to  cluster  round  this  service. 

At  the  beginning  such  a  development  was  not 
equally  rapid  among  all  converts.  The  earliest 
Christians  at  Jerusalem  still  frequented  the 
Temple  services,  finding  there  the  highest  ex- 
pression of  the  spirit  of  worship.  They  still 
hoped  for  the  redemption  of  Israel  and  contem- 
plated no  rival  system  of  worship.  Despite 
sundry  outbreaks  of  persecution,  there  is  little 
reason  to  doubt  that  such  continued  the  condition 
of  affairs  until  the  signs  of  Jerusalem's  coming 
overthrow  were  distinct. 

Outside  Judea  matters  were  on  a  somewhat  dif- 
ferent footing.  The  first  converts  were  drawn 
from  the  synagogues,  and  the  methods  of  the 
synagogue  without  doubt  had  considerable  influ- 
ence. After  the  synagogue  refused  to  admit 
them  to  any  further  association,  they  worshipped 
entirely  apart,  meeting  in  the  houses  of  the  richer 
brethren.  With  this  change  came  the  establish- 


48  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

ment  of  a  distinctively  Christian  day  of  worship. 
The  first  day  of  the  week  was  chosen  in  com- 
memoration of  the  Resurrection,  and  it  soon  be- 
gan to  be  considered  an  act  of  disloyalty  to  ob- 
serve the  actual  Sabbath. 

Worship  consisted  of  prayer,  praise,  exhort- 
ation, reading  of  the  Scriptures,  and  celebration 
of  the  Eucharist.  Not  unfrequently  in  the  ear- 
liest days  a  common  meal,  or  Agape,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  last  Supper,  had  its  place. 
But  this  feature  from  various  causes  failed 
to  persist. 

Force  of  circumstances  generally  consecrated 
the  late  hours  of  the  night  and  the  early  hours  of 
the  morning  to  such  Christian  observances.  In 
the  daytime  ordinary  avocations  had  necessarily 
to  be  pursued,  for  the  attachment  of  a  large  slave 
class  to  the  new  religion  allowed  very  little  inde- 
pendence of  arrangement.  The  earliest  hymns 
would  be  naturally  in  the  main  the  ancient 
Psalms,  together  with  those  more  Christian 
canticles  which  soon  came  into  use — the  Magnifi- 
cat, Nunc  Dimittis  and  Gloria  in  Excelsis,  pre- 
served in  S.  Luke.  There  is,  moreover,  some 
indication  that  hymns  of  private  composition 
and  of  spontaneous  nature  were  admissible, 
though  the  time  came  when  they  had  to  be  dis- 
allowed. 

As  to  whether  any  instrumental  music  ever 
found  place  in  the  worship  of  the  earliest  days  we 


MUSIC  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  49 

have  no  method  of  ascertaining.  It  is  more  than 
probable,  however,  that  from  the  beginning  in 
Gentile  sections  of  the  Christian  Church  the 
pagan  associations  of  ordinary  instrumental 
music  would  militate  against  its  acceptance. 
After  persecution  had  become  more  or  less  regu- 
lar, the  necessity  for  secret  observance  of 
Christian  rites  would  strengthen  such  a  position 
on  the  grounds  of  common  safety.  Moreover, 
there  was  another  consideration  of  even  greater 
weight — the  expectation  of  an  early  Second 
Coming  of  the  Lord.  To  spend  time  and 
thought  on  the  elaboration  of  services  was  the 
last  thing  with  which  the  faithful  could  be  ex- 
pected to  concern  themselves. 

What  is  probably  the  earliest  Christian  docu- 
ment outside  the  New  Testament,  the  so-called 
Teaching  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  (c.  95  A.D.) 
gives  us  our  first  clear  information  of  the  worship 
of  the  post-apostolic  Church.  Definite  direc- 
tions are  given  as  to  Divine  worship;  but  no 
mention  of  music  is  found.  Thanksgiving 
centres  round  the  Eucharist;  but  it  finds  its 
medium  in  prayer.  Some  twenty  years  later  we 
find  an  actual  reference  to  the  practice  of  singing 
as  characteristic  of  the  Christians.  It  is  found 
in  a  letter  of  Pliny  to  the  Emperor  Trajan.  As 
a  newly  appointed  governor  of  Bithynia,  a  pro- 
vince on  the  south  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  Pliny 
found  himself  at  a  loss  as  to  the  proper  method 


5O  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

of  dealing  with  the  new  sect.  Apart  from  re- 
fusal to  worship  the  Roman  deities,  their  only 
eccentricity  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  was  their  habit 
to  assemble  on  a  fixed  day  before  daylight  and 
sing  a  hymn  antiphonally  to  Christ  as  God,  bind- 
ing themselves  sacramentally  not  to  commit  theft 
or  adultery  or  to  break  their  word. 

This  reference  to  antiphonal  singing  shews  the 
persistence  of  Jewish  influence,  though  early 
Church  writers  held  the  opinion  that  Ignatius, 
Bishop  of  Antioch,  who  was  martyred  about  the 
year  no  A.D.,  was  the  originator  of  the  custom. 
The  tradition  points  to  the  early  development 
of  Church  music  at  Antioch — the  city  where  the 
disciples  were  first  called  Christians.  The  im- 
portance of  this  centre  of  Christian  influence 
during  the  first  four  Christian  centuries  can  hard- 
ly be  overestimated.  From  Antioch  the  missions 
of  S.  Paul  radiated.  In  Antioch  by  the  3rd 
century  ceremonial  reached  a  pitch  of  magnifi- 
cence undreamed  of  elsewhere  in  the  Church. 
In  Antioch  at  a  later  date  there  arose  a  school  of 
theologians  unrivalled  in  the  early  Church.  And 
Antioch  was  undoubtedly  a  home  of  music.  The 
Roman  satirist,  Juvenal,  writing  early  in  the  2nd 
century  and  deploring  the  influence  of  Syria 
upon  Rome,  speaks  of  the  river  Orontes  pouring 
into  the  Tiber  not  only  the  language  and  morals, 
but  also  the  cymbals  and  pipes  and  three- 
cornered  harps  of  Antioch.  The  epistles  also  of 


MUSIC  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  51 

Ignatius,  written  as  he  journeyed  to  Rome  for 
martyrdom,  bear  contemporary  witness  to  the 
same  prevalence  of  music  in  the  instrumental  il- 
lustrations which  are  used.  Speaking  of  one  of 
the  bishops  in  Asia  Minor  he  writes,  "  He  is 
tuned  in  harmony  with  the  commandments  as  a 
lyre  with  its  strings."  Again  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  E-phesians  the  following  noteworthy  passage 
is  found  :  '*  Your  noble  presbytery,  worthy  of 
God,  is  fitted  to  the  bishop  as  the  strings  to  a 
harp.  And  thus  by  means  of  your  accord  and 
harmonious  love  Jesus  Christ  is  sung.  Form 
yourselves  one  and  all  into  a  choir,  that  blending 
in  concord  and  taking  the  key  note  of  God,  you 
may  sing  in  unison  with  one  voice  through  Jesus 
Christ  to  the  Father." 

If  it  cannot  be  proved  that  the  Jews  oi  later 
pre-Christian  times  adopted  those  Greek  modes 
which  became  prevalent  in  the  Church  at  an  early 
date  for  the  purposes  of  chanting,  no  better  sug- 
gestion could  be  made  than  that  Antioch  was  the 
scene  of  the  wedding  between  Jewish  psalm  and 
Greek  melody.  It  should  be  remembered  that 
S.  Paul  himself,  as  a  student  at  Tarsus,  must 
have  been  acquainted  in  the  ordinary  course  with 
Hellenistic  musical  forms,  as  well  as  with  Greek 
poetry  and  philosophy.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is 
at  Antioch  that  we  first  hear  of  the  fashion  initi- 
tated  by  Bishop  Leontius  (c.  350  A.D.)  of  two 
choirs  singing  antiphonally,  as  the  custom  is  to 


52  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

the  present  day  in  the  Church.  From  Antioch 
S.  Ambrose  of  Milan  adopted  the  custom  in  387 
A.D.,  so  introducing  it  into  the  West.  At  Antioch 
also  other  less  regular  developments  had  their 
place — applause  during  service  and  the  admis- 
sion of  women  singers  into  the  choir.  But  in 
the  main,  such  customs  were  deprecated  else- 
where, particularly  in  the  West.  Nevertheless, 
after  the  legalization  of  Christianity  by  Constan- 
tine  at  the  beginning  of  the  4th  century,  there 
was  a  very  definite  tendency  in  the  East  to  an 
almost  pagan  elaboration.  It  may  be  that  the 
character  of  the  public  buildings  put  at  the  dis- 
posal of  Christian  congregations  before  they  had 
churches  of  their  own,  influenced  music  and  ritual 
in  a  secular  direction.  Basilicas  and  public  halls 
with  their  raised  dais  offered  temptations  to  dis- 
play. The  Church  on  the  other  hand  was 
flooded  with  converts  only  too  ready  to  be  on  the 
winning  side.  The  result  was  a  deterioration  in 
the  total  life  of  Christianity. 

Such  is  the  explanation  of  the  debased  charac- 
ter of  much  that  pertained  to  life  and  worship  in 
the  4th  century,  particularly  in  the  Eastern 
section  of  the  Church.  Churches  in  the  greater 
ciths  became  palaces;  the  choirs  were  no  longer 
leaders  of  devotion,  but  mere  collections  of  virtu- 
osi whose  efforts  won  the  applause  and  exclam- 
ation of  the  congregation.  They  used  unguents 
for  the  throat  and  accompanied  song  with 


MUSIC  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  53 

gesture.  Further,  the  temptation  to  the  rhythmic 
movement  of  the  dance,  which  belonged  to  pagan 
modes  of  worship,  was  not  unknown  among  the 
congregations. 

The  contrast  between  this  condition  of  things 
and  the  agelong  puritanism  in  such  matters, 
which  is  even  now  so  marked  a  feature  of  Greek 
Christianity,  is  very  striking.  In  the  Eastern 
Church  generally  instrumental  music  is  not 
allowed.  The  modern  Greek  choir  sings  unac- 
companied music  in  two  divisions,  each  division 
having  its  Psaltes  or  chief  singer,  while  the  con- 
gregation take  no  real  part  in  the  singing  proper. 
Reformation  was  enforced,  partly  by  political  dis- 
aster, partly  by  the  influence  of  the  monasteries. 
The  monastic  life  had  been  largely  embraced 
owing  to  the  very  deterioration  in  ordinary  church 
life  which  it  now  set  itself  to  conquer.  The 
Council  of  Laodicea  (367  A.D.)  took  a  very  firm 
stand  against  the  practices  which  all  the  best 
Church  leaders,  such  as  S.  Chrysostom,  so  loudly 
deplored.  Church  music  was  confined  for  exe- 
cution to  a  body  of  canonical  singers  who  could 
only  gain  their  office  through  a  special  form  of 
ordination. 

Finally,  early  in  the  8th  century,  the  monk, 
John  of  Damascus,*  set  the  house  in  order  as  far 
as  the  music  of  the  sanctuary  was  concerned.  He 
stands  to  the  Eastern  Church  in  this  respect  in 

*  One  of   his  best  known  hymns  is  in  common  use  in   the   English 
Church.     The  Day  of  Resurrection,  earth  tell  it  out  abroad. 


54  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

much  the  same  relation  as  we  shall  see  Gregory, 
Bishop  of  Rome,  standing  to  the  Church  of  the 
West.  The  only  difference  is  that  while  the 
music  of  the  East  still  stands  much  as  he  left  it, 
in  the  West  Gregory's  work  was  but  the  found- 
ation of  continual  musical  advance. 

In  the  West  there  was  a  generally  severe  tone 
in  religious  observance  from  the  outset.  Feeling 
was  more  puritan  and  religious  expression  more 
restrained  than  in  the  East.  There  were  two 
chief  centres  of  influence,  since  Christianity 
reached  the  West  by  two  routes.  It  reached 
Rome  as  an  opinion  still  within  Judaism  com- 
paratively early.  It  had  there  to  await  the 
arrival  of  S.  Paul  (c.  59  A.D.).  for  definite  organ- 
ization. From  Rome  it  spread  at  a  very  early 
date  into  North  Africa,  the  home  of  such  great 
leaders  as  Tertullian,  S.  Cyprian  and  S.  Augus- 
tine. But  it  reached  northern  Italy  through  the 
efforts  of  missionaries  who  went  overland  through 
Macedonia  and  Dalmatia.  There,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Po,  Milan  became  an  independent  centre 
from  which  the  influence  of  Christianity  radiated 
westwards  into  Gaul.  Eventually  both  Rome 
and  Milan  became  the  homes  of  definite  schools 
of  Church  music  as  well  as  rivals  in  other  spheres. 

At  Rome  the  earliest  converts  being  among 
Jews  and  proselytes,  the  earliest  type  of  music 
would  be  that  in  use  in  the  synagogues  of  the 
Dispersion.  The  Romans  themselves  were  but 


MUSIC  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  55 

poor  musicians,  and  depended  upon  external  aid 
in  this  respect.  The  later  history  of  Church 
music  gives  only  too  clear  witness  to  this  fact. 
With  the  earliest  Christians,  therefore,  intoning 
of  scripture  and  chanting  of  psalm  would  follow 
the  Jewish  mode.  Hence  the  force  of  the  con- 
tention that  the  later  Gregorian  Tones  really  pre- 
served in  their  simpler  forms  the  customary 
melodies  ,of  Jewish  cantillation.  Nevertheless, 
there  seems  to  have  been  but  narrow  scope  for 
music  during  the  first  two  and  a  half  Gentries.  As 
we  can  see  from  the  Apology  of  Justin  Martyr 
(died  165  A.D.),  worship  centred  here  as  else- 
where, after  the  primitive  fashion,  in  the  Euchar- 
ist. But  no  mention  is  made  of  music.  Orpheus  it 
is  true  was  held  symbolical  of  Christ  as  the  Good 
Shepherd  during  the  period,  several  examples 
being  found  depicted  with  the  lyre  in  the  cata- 
combs themselves.  But  if  S.  Thomas  Aquinas 
is  to  be  accredited  as  at  all  a  typical  representa- 
tive of  the  thought  of  Latin  Christianity,  there 
prevailed  for  centuries  a  prejudice  against  all 
instrumental  music  lest  an  appearance  should 
be  given  of  Judaizing! 

The  formal  legalization  of  Christianity  in  the 
West  by  the  Edict  of  Milan  (314  A.D.)  removed 
the  chief  disability  of  Christian  worship.  At 
Rome  it  synchronized  with  the  foundation  of  a 
school  of  sinj'ng  by  Pope  Sylvester.  Here  then 
the  prototype  is  found  of  that  institution  with 


56  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

which  we  are  familiar  to-day — the  choir  school 
attached  to  the  cathedral  foundations.  Pope 
Sylvester's  action  was  an  advance  of  immense 
significance  both  for  the  Church  and  for  Christ- 
endom generally.  Not  only  was  the  practice  of 
music  advanced  :  it  was  in  the  cathedral  schools 
of  a  later  century  that  the  germ  of  the  medieval 
university  was  found.  Nevertheless,  during  the 
period  of  nearly  three  centuries  intervening  be 
tween  the  pontificate  of  Sylvester  and  that  of 
Gregory  the  Great,  comparatively  little  advance 
was  made  in  Rome.  Leo  the  Great  (440-461  A.D.) 
established  or  re-established  a  singing  school; 
but  Rome  continued  ultra  conservative,  and  de- 
velopments which  began  to  take  place  with 
rapidity  elsewhere  seemed  to  have  left  Roman 
Christianity  almost  untouched.  Such  progress 
as  was  made  came  mainly  through  the  influence 
of  the  monastic  order  of  S.  Benedict,  founded 
early  in  the  6th  century.  The  result  was  that 
Gregory  found  wide  scope  for  initiative  and  re- 
form when  his  opportunity  came. 

While  conservatism  was  reigning  at  Rome,  an 
important  change  was  coming  over  the  scope  of 
Christian  worship  in  the  4th  century.  It  is  found 
in  the  widespread  development  of  daily  services. 
And  here  we  are  able  to  come  into  touch  with  the 
work  of  Milan.  During  the  first  three  centuries, 
apart  from  the  Eucharist,  the  only  other  type  of 
service  was  the  Vigil,  held  before  each  Sunday 


MUSIC  IN  THE  EARLY  CHURCH  $7 

and  prior  to  fast  and  feast  days.  From  the  4th 
century  onwards  this  latter  type  of  service  began 
to  develop  into  daily  evening  and  morning 
prayer,  the  custom  developing  finally  into  the 
eight  offices  of  the  medieval  church.  Cessation 
of  persecution  made  this  advance  possible,  while 
the  growth  of  the  monastic  class  made  it  desir- 
able. These  services  at  first  consisted  in  prayer, 
psalms,  and  in  some  places  lections  from  the 
scriptures.  They  had  their  choral  parts  which 
they  inherited  from  the  vigils — though  with  vigils 
music  was  of  somewhat  late  adoption.  Two 
treatises  of  the  4th  century  attributed  to  Niceta  of 
Remesiana,  the  probable  author  of  the  Te  Deum, 
defend  the  practice  of  keeping  vigils  with  psalm- 
ody and  hymns  against  the  objections  of  the  more 
conservative  Christians.  This  clearly  shows  that 
the  custom  was  then  of  but  recent  origin. 

It  is  probable  that  daily  public  evening  and 
morning  -prayer  was  established  first  in  the 
Eastern  Church  during  the  period  350-375  A.D. 
The  custom  seems  to  have  originated  in  the  mo- 
nastic life  of  Egypt  and  to  have  passed  north- 
ward through  Jerusalem  to  Antioch.  From 
Antioch  it  passed  quickly  to  Milan  and  thence  to 
the  Church  in  Gaul,  Spain  and  Britain.  The 
choral  accompaniment  was  added  outside  the 
place  of  its  origin ;  for  according  to  S.  Augustine, 
Egyptian  psalmody  resembled  distinct  reading 
rather  than  song. 

5 


58  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

The  Western  development  began  under  Aux- 
entius,  a  native  of  Cappadocia  and  Bishop  of 
Milan  355-374  A.D.  It  was  continued  under  his 
successor,  S.  Ambrose,  who  also  introduced  to 
Milan  and  the  West  the  singing  by  antiphonal 
choirs  which  had  begun  at  Antioch.  This 
fashion  spread  into  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  century,  though  Rome  forbore 
to  adopt  it  till  the  middle  of  the  following  cen- 
tury, and  omitted  to  make  morning  and  evening 
offices  compulsory  on  the  clergy  till  well  into  the 
6th  century.  By  adopting  this  attitude  the  Latin 
Church  closed  to  itself  the  avenue  of  musical 
progress,  for  it  was  in  the  new  services  that  the 
real  opportunity  now  lay. 

Western  Europe,  apart  from  Roman  Italy, 
was  soon  flooded  with  new  liturgical  forms,  and 
as  we  shall  see,  with  new  Church  song.  The 
exact  character  of  the  music  has  unfortunately 
long  been  lost  sight  of.  It  became  so  merged 
in  the  general  Plainsong  of  later  days  that  few 
traces  of  it  are  to  be  found.  All  that  remains  is 
what  sedulous  enquiry  has  discovered  in  deriva- 
tive tones  persisting  in  Gallican  and  Spanish 
forms.  But  of  the  liturgical  forms  many  traces 
still  exist,  both  of  the  Liturgy  proper  and  also  of 
hymns  and  canticles  suitable  for  the  daily  offices. 
Of  these  perhaps  the  most  important  are  those 
which  were  preserved  in  Ireland.  The  Anti- 
phoner  of  the  monastery  of  Bangor,  Co.  Down, 


MUSIC  IN   THE  EARLY  CHURCH  59 

which  dates  from  about  680  A.D.,  contains  not 
only  Irish  hymns  but  also  with  the  Te  Deum,  the 
Gloria  in  Excelsis  and  the  Biblical  canticles, 
hymns  of  S.  Cyprian  and  S.  Ambrose.  It  num- 
bers in  its  collection  a  series  of  antiphons  and 
collects  such  as  were  repeated  before  and  between 
the  singing  of  the  psalms,  together  with  the  fam- 
iliar Eucharist  hymn,  "  Draw  nigh  and  take  the 
Body  of  the  Lord."  There  is  still  preserved 
also  a  "  Book  of  Hymns  "  with  a  very  ancient 
text  of  the  Te  Deztm;  while  in  the  famous  Cursus 
Scottorum  we  have  rules  laid  down  by  S.  Colum- 
ban  for  the  chanting  of  the  Psalter. 

The  day  and  hour  services  by  attracting  to 
themselves  psalmody  and  hymns  had  the  effect  of 
modifying  the  earlier  liturgical  forms  of  the  Eu- 
charist. Prior  to  the  growth  of  these  services  suit- 
able psalms  were  sung  before  and  between  the 
lections,  which  were  taken  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophecy  as  well  as  from  the  Epistles  and 
Gospel  of  the  New  Testament.  These  lections, 
owing  to  the  growth  of  the  new  services,  became 
generally  cut  down  to  two.  The  psalms  gradually 
deserted  the  Liturgy  and  short  hymns  took 
their  place.  That  is  why  the  Psalter  of  the 
Church  of  England  to-day  is  attached  to  Mattins 
and  Evensong.  The  Liturgy  also  itself  tended 
to  become  more  fixed  in  form  than  it  had  been 
previously.  It  was  during  the  4th  century,  ac- 
cording to  Duchesne,  that  the  famous  Gallican 


6O  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

Liturgy  came  into  being.  This  form  of  service, 
issuing  from  Milan  probably  under  the  direction 
of  Auxentius  or  Ambrose,  penetrated  Gaul, 
Spain  and  Britain,  holding  its  own  till  gradually 
displaced  centuries  later  by  the  Roman  rite. 

The  general  aspect  of  this  liturgical  form  is 
interesting  to  notice,  particularly  in  regard  to  its 
musical  setting  and  possibilities.  It  may  be 
compared  with  the  later  Roman  form  which 
Gregory  the  Great  is  reputed  to  have  fixed,  and 
round  which  so  much  wonderful  music  came  to 
be  written.  Its  features  are  Eastern  in  character. 
It  began  with  an  anthem ;  after  an  exhortation 
and  a  collect  the  Trisagion  was  sung.  After  this 
came  the  Benedictus  with  lections;  then  the  Bene- 
dicite  followed  by  the  Gospel,  which  was  itself 
preceded  and  followed  by  the  Trisagion.  After 
a  sermon  and  further  prayers  came  the  oblation 
of  the  Bread  and  Wine,  during  which  an  offertory 
anthem  was  sung.  Further  prayers  and  Conse- 
cration followed,  with  another  anthem,  while  a 
final  anthem  was  sung  during  Communion. 

Such  is  the  general  outline.  Clearly  there 
was  considerable  scope  for  musical  expression. 
Hymns  were  needed.  S.  Ambrose  himself  com- 
posed numbers  of  them  in  metrical  form.  Some 
are  supposed  to  have  survived  in  ancient  office 
hymns  which  still  exist  .  Of  those  attributed  to 
him  the  best  known  are  "  O  Strength  and  Stay 
upholding  all  creation  "  and  "  The  eternal  gifts 


6i 

of  Christ  the  King."  But  S.  Ambrose  did  much 
more  than  this.  He  it  is  who  was  responsible 
for  fixing  the  Authentic  modes  for  the  music  of 
the  Church.  All  music  apart  from  folk-song 
was  still  based  on  the  old  Greek  modes.  By 
limiting  Church  music  to  four  tones  S.  Ambrose 
both  gave  it  a  chance  of  developing  a  character 
of  its  own  and  also  eliminated  the  future  possi- 
bility of  the  adoption  of  undesirable  and  profane 
melodies,  which  curiously  enough,  as  subsequent 
history  shows,  continually  manifest  a  tendency 
to  creep  into  ecclesiastical  music. 

The  general  effect  of  the  new  music  combining 
as  it  did  the  joyous  and  exulting  with  the  grave 
and  the  tender,  was  such  as  to  move  to  ecstasy 
the  great  disciple  of  S.  Ambrose,  S.  Augustine 
of  Hippo.  His  only  fear  was  lest  the  charm  of 
sound  should  rob  the  hearer  of  the  value  of  the 
words.  He  sees  a  snare  which  has  underlain  the 
development  of  the  music  of  worship  through  all 
its  subsequent  history  in  the  Christian  Church; 
though  he  admits,  perhaps  somewhat  grudging- 
ly, a  counterbalancing  consideration — "  that  by 
delight  of  the  ears  the  weaker  minds  may  rise  to 
feelings  of  devotion." 

This  promising  condition  of  things  was  broken 
in  upon  by  the  political  disasters  which  soon  be- 
gan to  affect  all  Europe  west  of  the  Rhine  and 
south  of  the  Danube.  Ireland  alone  escaped  the 
scourge.  The  barbarian  Teutonic  tribes  began 


62  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

to  break  into  the  Roman  empire  and  none  could 
say  them  nay.  At  the  beginning  of  the  5th  cen- 
tury the  Visi-Goths  under  Alaric,  after  overrun- 
ning Italy  and  Southern  Gaul,  settled  down  in 
Spain.  At  the  close  of  the  century  the  Ostro- 
Goths  under  Theodoric  took  possession  of 
middle  Italy.  Angles  and  Saxons  in  the  same 
century  began  to  overrun  Britain.  Vandals  and 
Burgundians  carved  out  kingdoms  in  Gaul, 
Spain  and  Africa.  The  Franks  broke  into 
northern  Gaul,  while  in  the  following  century  the 
Lombards  swarmed  into  the  valley  of  the  Po. 

The  Church  having  but  just  subdued  the 
Roman  world,  was  left  to  struggle  with  large 
alien  populations  whose  traditions  were  pagan  or 
at  the  best  heretical.  Of  the  ancient  civilization 
little  was  left  save  that  which  the  Church  man- 
aged to  conserve.  But  even  within  the  Church 
the  disorders  of  the  times  left  their  mark.  The 
voice  of  authority  became  imperatively  needed, 
and  before  progress  could  be  made  the  West  had 
to  await  more  kindly  circumstances  and  the 
strong  hand  of'a  capable  reformer. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  GREGORIAN  REVIVAL 

THE  closing  years  of  the  6th  century  found  Wes- 
tern Europe  settling  down  to  the  new  conditions. 
It  was  a  period  of  transition,  and  like  all  such 
periods  it  offered  a  unique  opportunity  to  a  man 
of  outstanding  capacity.  Such  a  man  was  found 
in  Gregory  the  Great,  Bishop  of  Rome. 

Gregory  may  be  almost  styled  the  Founder 
of  the  Papacy.  He  did  not  actually  pretend  to 
the  authority  subsequently  claimed  by  his  suc- 
cessors; but  by  statesmanship  and  power  of  or- 
ganization he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  wider  in- 
fluence in  the  West  than  that  which  had  formerly 
accrued  to  Milan.  He  treated  as  an  inde- 
pendent sovereign  with  the  new  barbarian  kings, 
and  by  his  bitter  quarrel  with  the  Patriarchs  of 
Constantinople  made  more  actual  that  schism 
with  Eastern  Christianity  which  in  the  loth  cen- 
tury became  complete.  Milan  had  been  a 
channel  of  Eastern  influence  into  the  West,  and 
as  late  as  the  second  half  of  the  7th  century 
England  had  an  Eastern  as  archbishop  in  the 
person  of  Theodore  of  Tarsus.  But  from  the 
time  of  Gregory's  pontificate  the  West  became 

63 


64  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

more  and  more  a  separate  entity  with  develop- 
ments peculiarly  its  own.  Except  indirectly 
through  the  Crusades,  the  East  hardly  came  in 
contact  with  the  West  again  until  the  revival  of 
learning  in  the  I5th  century. 

With  the  effect  of  the  Renaissance  we  shall  be 
concerned  subsequently.  Our  present  task  is  to 
trace  the  progress  and  development  of  religious 
music  in  the  West,  and  for  this  we  have  first  to 
consider  the  creation  and  establishment  of  the 
Gregorian  system. 

Apart  from  his  other  achievements  Gregory's 
contribution  to  the  department  of  Church  wor- 
ship was  very  considerable.  He  founded — or 
refounded — a  school  of  singers  at  Rome.  He 
fixed  the  order  of  the  Mass.  He  compiled  an 
Antiphonary  of  liturgical  music.  He  widened 
the  scope  of  ecclesiastical  music  by  authorizing 
.-additions  to  the  modes  of  Ambrose.  From  this 
time  onward  until  the  days  of  the  Troubadours 
music  became  the  sole  possession  of  the  Church. 

The  extravagant  claims  made  by  some  as  to 
the  importance  of-  Gregory's  personal  share  in 
this  great  work  cannot  well  be  maintained.  It 
hardly  seems  probable  that  he  should  neglect  to 
lay  under  contribution  the  musical  treasury 
which  had  been  accumulated  during  the  preced- 
ing half  century  by  the  new  Benedictine  order 
to  which  he  belonged.  That  treasury  could  not 
fail  to  be  largely  indebted  to  the  church  song 


THE    GREGORIAN    REVIVAL  65 

prevailing  at  the  time  of  its  inception.  Gre- 
gory's own  letter  to  Augustine  of  Canterbury 
in  the  matter  of  liturgical  uses  to  be  adopted  in 
England  is  illuminating.  "  I  should  like  you 
carefully  to  select,"  he  writes,  "  whatever  you 
have  found  either  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  or  in 
that  of  Gaul,  or  in  any  other,  which  may  better 
please  Almighty  God;  and  to  introduce  into  the 
Church  of  the  English  what  you  have  been  able 
to  gather  together  from  many  churches."* 

In  face  of  such  advice  in  liturgical  matters  it 
is  hardly  to  be  denied  that  Gregory  would  pur- 
sue a  like  course  in  the  elaboration  of  a  musical 
scheme  to  answer  the  requirements  of  liturgical 
expression.  In  Gregory  we  see  not  so  much  an 
originator  as  a  compiler.  That  his  music  has 
characteristics  marking  it  off  from  earlier  Galli- 
can  tones  cannot  be  denied.  But  it  should  be 
remembered  that  the  term  Gregorian  as  now  used 
is  wider  in  significance  than  originally  was  the 
case.  All  Plainsong  is  not  necessarily  derived 
from  Gregory.  The  authentic  Gregorian  music 
is  contained  within  fairly  strictly  defined  limits. 
The  Antiphonary  contains  all,  and  perhaps  more 
than  all,  for  which  he  was  personally  responsible. 
Of  the  melodies  which  he  gave  the  Church  the 
simplest  are  considered  of  greatest  age;  the  more 
elaborate  are  conjectured  to  be  contributions 
drawn  from  Greek  and  Syriac  sources.  It  is 

*  Epistles,  Bk.   xi.,  64. 


66  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

therefore  by  no  means  necessary  to  postulate  a 
great  outburst  of  Church  song  in  Rome  during 
the  preceding  three  centuries.  The  backward- 
ness of  Rome  in  liturgical  and  musical  progress 
has  already  been  noticed,  together  with  its  chief 
causes — the  slow  adoption  of  the  daily  offices  and 
its  innate  conservatism.  The  hymn  itself  was 
only  reluctantly  admitted,  and  at  a  date  much 
later  .than  that  of  Gregory.  Rome  absorbs  and 
systematizes,  but  rarely  originates. 

The  Antiphonary  of  Gregory*  contained  pro- 
vision for  psalmody  in  the  daily  offices  (anti- 
phonarium  officii),  and  also  directions  for  the 
musical  parts  of  the  recently  settled  Canon  of 
the  Mass  (antiphonarium  missae) .  By  this  time 
in  the  hands  of  the  Benedictines  the  daily  offices 
were  practically  fixed  in  the  since  prevalent 
canonical  order — the  night  hour  of  Mattins,  with 
Lauds,  Prime,  Terce,  Sext,  None,  Vespers  and 
Compline.  The  earlier  Vigil  had  provided  three 
chief  hours  of  prayer,  vespers  at  sunset,  mattins 
at  midnight,  and  lauds  at  sunrise.  In  the  sub- 
sequent monastic  development  these  hours  be- 
came of  daily  occurrence,  while  the  third,  sixth, 
and  ninth  hours  were  also  adopted  for  devotions 
during  the  rest  of  the  day.  Later  on,  the  addi- 
tional devotions  of  prime  and  compline  were  ad- 

*  It  might  here  be  noted  that  some  scholars  disallow  Gregory  I's  part 
in  this  musical  advance.  They  urge  that  the  Mass  waited  till 
about  700  A.D.  for  completion,  and  that  the  offices  were  not  fixed 
till  680  A.D.  by  Pope  Agatho. 


THE    GREGORIAN    REVIVAL  67 

mitted,  the  latter  being  in  origin  the  usual  private 
prayer  of  Christians  on  retiring-  for  the  night. 

At  all  these  offices  music  was  introduced.  In 
the  night  offices  the  older  method  of  responsory 
chanting  tended  to  prevail.  The  later  monastic 
additions  showed  the  mark  of  their  origin  in  the 
more  general  antiphonal  character  of  the  chant- 
ing. It  was  usual  as  we  can  see  both  from  the 
Irish  and  the  Roman  books  to  preface  and  con- 
clude with  an  antiphon  explaining  the  general 
or  particular  bearing  of  the  psalms  which  were 
sung. 

The  Roman  Eucharist,  or  the  Mass,  was  made 
up  of  two  elements.  There  was  first  of  all  the 
permanent  core  of  the  service.  This  was  called 
the  Ordinarium.  Its  music  was  fixed.  It  con- 
sisted of  the  Kyrie,  Gloria  in  Excelsis,  Sanctus, 
and  Agnus  Dei.*  The  other  element,  compris- 
ing Introit,  Gradual,  Alleluia,  Tract,  and  Com 
munion  Antiphon,  changed  with  special  days  and 
seasons.  It  was  called  the  Propriwn,  and  gave 
scope  for  musical  variety.  The  Introit  accom- 
panied the  approach  of  the  priest  to  the  altar. 
The  Gradual  was  a  chant  sung  between  the  first 
two  lections.  Originally  it  was  a  whole  psalm 
sung  responsorially,  the  precentor  singing  his 
verses  from  the  steps  (gradus)  before  the  altar. 
The  Alleluia — or  in  penitential  seasons  the 
Tract — came  between  the  lections  of  epistle  and 

*  The  Creed  was  not  added  in   Rome  till  the    nth  century. 


68  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

gospel.  Originally  a  simple  Alleluia,  it  gained 
in  Gregory's  time  psalmodic  additions,  again 
sung  responsorially.  The  Tract  was  simply  a  solo 
chant.  The  Communion  Antiphon,  originally  a 
rendering  of  a  portion  of  Psalm  xxxiv,  became  in 
course  of  time  variable  in  text.  It  was  a  com- 
plement to  the  Introit  and  rounded  off  the  whole 
r 
service. 

The  general  subject  of  Plainsong,  the  cate- 
gory to  which  the  music  of  Gregory  belongs,  will 
be  dealt  with  at  length  in  another  volume.  Its 
general  characteristics  however  are  familiar.  It 
differs  from  music  of  later  development  in  two 
respects,  in  absence  of  rhythm  and  the  arrange- 
ment of  tone  and  semitone.  In  modern  music 
there  are  only  two  modes,  major  and  minor,  de- 
spite the  number  of  keys  which  are  allowed  for. 
To  the  four  tones  authorized  by  Ambrose,  Gre- 
gory added  four  others,  styled  plagal,  and  all 
these  tones  necessitated  different  intervals  of  tone 
and  semitone.  Hence  the  distress  frequently  ad- 
mitted by  those  accustomed  to  the  comparative 
monotony  of  present  day  music.  Plainsong  is 
thought  barbaric  when  really  it  has  quite  as  much 
to  say  for  itself  as  that  which  is  thought  more 
civilized.  The  present  arrangement  has  only 
grown  up  to  answer  the  demands  of  modern 
musical  development.  The  range  of  expression 
in  Plainsong  is  more  varied,  and  as  a  vehicle 
of  spiritual  emotion  it  is  peerless. 


THE    GREGORIAN   REVIVAL  69 

The  other  point  of  difference  also  lies  on  the 
side  of  greater  freedom.  Early  music  as  we  have 
already  noticed  was  rhythmic,  owing  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  dance.  Modern  secular  music, 
being  in  origin  largely  dependent  on  dance  forms, 
is  also  governed  by  fixed  rhythm.  Plainsong 
however  is  without  such  limitations.  Beginning 
among  the  Jews  in  scripture  cantillation,  it  was 
applied  by  the  Church  to  the  Psalms  in  their 
translated  and  necessarily  unrhythmic  form.  It 
is  therefore  a  sort  of  prose  music  fashioned  to 
verbal  demands. 

The  advantage  of  this  characteristic  was  enor- 
mous in  the  earlier  days  as  a  defence  against 
paganism.  Plainsong  could  defy  any  attempt 
to  debase  it  to  such  types  of  emotional  expression 
as  tended  to  develop  in  the  4th  century  in  the 
East.  There  was  no  appeal  to  bodily  motion. 
Rhythm  could  only  be  found  in  actual  metrical 
hymnody,  and  the  hymn  did  not  become  popular 
early  in  Latin  Christianity.  The  result  was  a 
spiritualization  of  religious  emotion  to  a  pitch 
unreached  even  by  the  Jews. 

Gregory's  reform  did  not  affect  the  religious 
music  of  the  West  all  at  once.  Its  first  conquests 
were  made  in  Southern  Italy,  though  it  probably 
reached  the  Church  of  the  English  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  7th  century.  Singing  schools 
were  subsequently  set  up  at  Canterbury  and 
afterwards  at  York.  Within  the  century  even 


JO  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

Ireland  was  affected.  We  find  some  Roman  in- 
novations spreading  from  England  and  imping- 
ing upon  Gallican  custom.  Nevertheless  it  was 
not  till  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Charlemagne, 
towards  the  close  of  the  8th  century,  that  Gre- 
gorian music  was  given  its  full  chance. 

Prior  to  that  date,  and  subsequent  to  the  in- 
vasion of  the  Barbarians,  Western  Europe  was 
chiefly  influenced  by  missionaries  from  Ireland. 
These  brought  with  them  their  own  adaptation 
of  Gallican  customs.  For  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  at  the  beginning  of  the  7th  century 
culture  was  more  advanced  and  more  secure  in 
the  great  monastic  schools  of  Ireland  than  else- 
where in  the  West.  Rome  itself  was  largely  in 
ruins  in  Gregory's  day.  The  re-evangelization 
of  the  West — even  of  northern  Italy — fell  largely 
to  the  lot  of  the  Irish.  Celtic  missionaries  were 
responsible  likewise  for  the  greater  share  of  the 
evangelization  of  England. 

The  type  of  music  actually  in  vogue  among 
the  Irish  is  not  known  precisely.  Their  basal 
scale  is  thought  to  have  resembled  the  ancient 
Dorian  mode.  B'ut  Celtic  music  was  not  bound 
to  the  old  Greek  scales.  It  was  of  independent 
development.  There  remains  possibly  a  clue  to 
its  character  in  the  traditional  vocal  music  of 
Wales — a  spontaneous  harmony  created  by 
natural  musical  instinct.  No  such  reasons  as 
were  urgent  in  the  case  of  the  Christians  in  the 


THE    GREGORIAN    REVIVAL  71 

old  Roman  Empire  would  militate  against  the 
use  of  instruments.  The  mention  of  the  ancient 
harp  and  the  crotta  or  crwfrh  early  in  the  /th 
century  by  Fortunatus,  Bishop  of  Poictiers, 
would  seem  to  point  to  the  possibility  of  their 
use  for  religious  purposes. 

The  only  serious  rivals  to  the  Irish  were  the 
English  missionaries  who  began  to  attack  the 
heathen  fastnesses  east  of  the  Rhine  at  the  close 
of  the  7th  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  8th  cen- 
tury. With  them  the  Roman  music  came  back 
into  Europe  and  was  established  among  the  con- 
verts in  Western  Germany.  What  might  have 
been  the  outcome  of  the  Irish  influence  from  the 
point  of  view  of  ecclesiastical  development 
generally  and  of  music  in  particular  is  an  in- 
teresting academic  speculation.  Unfortunately 
Danish  inroads  began  to  affect  the  security  of 
Ireland  as  a  home  of  learning,  while  in  Europe 
itself  there  rose  to  power  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  8th  century  a  ruler  in  whom  were  united  a 
genius  for  conquest  and  a  passion  for  the  cus- 
toms of  Rome.  The  Emperor  Charlemagne 
ruled  over  practically  all  the  West  but  Britain 
and  the  greater  part  of  Spain  before  his  death 
in  814  A.D.  He  established  the  Gregorian 
music  throughout  his  dominions  and  swept  all 
other  types  away.  Ambrosian  collections  were 
destroyed  and  little  remains  to  witness  to  their 


72  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

character  but  reminiscences  prevailing  in  the 
Spanish  rite. 

The  magic  spell  of  Rome  upon  his  semi-bar- 
barous imagination  was  reinforced  by  influences 
of  a  more  personal  kind.  Charlemagne  was  eager 
for  a  revival  of  learning  throughout  the  West, 
and  his  chief  lieutenant  was  the  English  Alcuin 
from  the  now  famous  school  of  York.  Under 
these  auspices  the  Benedictine  monasteries  be- 
gan to  assume  the  character  of  schools  of  learn- 
ing, elementary  indeed,  but  full  of  promise  of 
greater  things.  This  promise  was  fulfilled  at 
the  close  of  the  period  of  political  chaos  which 
succeeded  the  death  of  the  Emperor.  In  con- 
nection with  these  monasteries,  schools  of  music 
were  set  up  similar  to  those  already  established 
at  Rome,  Canterbury,  and  York.  Such  schools 
were  founded  in  France  at  Soissons,  Cambrai, 
Sens,  Toul,  Dijon,  Orleans,  and  Lyons,  while 
in  Germany  those  of  Mainz  and  Treves  were 
perhaps  chief  in  importance. 

The  newly  established  music  found  a  powerful 
stimulus  and  support  from  a  quarter  entirely  un- 
expected by  Gregory  himself.  It  was  in  union 
with  Gregorian  song  that  the  organ 'began  to  take 
that  place  in  support  of  religious  music  with 
which  to-day  it  is  so  generally  associated. 

Ecclesiastical  historians  have  hardly  given  suf- 
ficient weight  to  the  importance  of  music  in  the 
expansion  of  the  primacy  of  Rome  in  the  Wes- 


THE    GREGORIAN    REVIVAL  73 

tern  Church.  Uniformity  of  musical  expression 
was  a  factor  of  immense  importance  in  the  earlier 
centuries.  It  effected  at  least  as  much  as  legal 
fiction  and  political  opportunity  in  raising  the 
Pope  to  that  position  which  he  held  by  the  close 
of  the  1 2th  century.  From  the  time  of  this 
establishment  of  uniformity  under  Charlemagne, 
the  organ  began  to  take  an  intimate  place  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  Church's  solemnities — finally 
coming  to  modify  the  rendering  of  the  Mass  it- 
self. 

It  was  in  Spain  and  England  that  the  organ 
seems  to  have  found  its  earliest  footing  within 
the  ecclesiastical  sphere.  The  organ  at  Sher- 
borne  is  mentioned  in  the  ;th  century  by  Bishop 
Aldhelm.  In  the  next  century  Charlemagne's 
predecessor  had  been  presented  with  one  by  the 
Byzantine  Emperor.  But  in  Constantinople  it 
was  probably  a  secular  instrument,  the  descend- 
ant of  those  in  use  in  pagan  Rome  in  the  ist 
century.  Charlemagne  caused  instruments  to  be 
introduced  into  some  of  the  greater  churches  on 
the  continent.  In  the  century  following  his 
death,  organs  increased  in  numbers  and  capacity. 
Rome  itself  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  them, 
and  even  now  the  Sistine  Chapel  does  not  admit 
such  music.  Yet  from  time  to  time  the  organ  has 
suffered  violence  from  the  fury  of  iconoclasts 
who  see  in  it  a  clear  symbol  of  popery.  In  a 

6 


74  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

sense  their  prejudice  is  better  founded  than  they 
know. 

In  the  loth  century  some  remarkable  organs 
were  set  up  in  England.  Dunstan  erected  one 
for  the  monks  at  Malmesbury,  while  an  instru- 
ment of  enormous  proportions  was  built  at  Win- 
chester. This  organ  had  400  pipes  and  26  pairs 
of  bellows,  necessitating  the  services  of  no  less 
than  70  blowers.  Later  in  the  century  consider- 
able improvements  in  construction  were  made 
by  Gerbert  of  Aurillac,  while  a  teacher  at  the 
cathedral  school  of  Rheims.  A  great  mathe- 
matician, he  had  acquired  special  knowledge 
from  the  Moors  through  residence  within  the 
Spanish  marches.  His  inventive  skill  brought 
him  a  somewhat  dangerous  reputation,  which  he 
hardly  threw  off  by  becoming  Bishop  of  Rome 
as  Sylvester  II. 

By  the  eleventh  century,  the  time  when  the 
great  intellectual  revival  began  to  set  in,  nearly 
all  cathedrals  and  many  of  the  larger  churches 
of  Western  Europe  had  organs.  It  should  be 
realized  however  that  until  much  later  in  the 
Middle  Ages  the  instrument  was  of  very  limited 
capacity.  It  did  not  actually  accompany  the 
choir.  It  gave  the  intonations,  and  must  have 
sounded  much  like  the  pedal  organ  of  to-day. 
The  keys  had  to  be  thumped  down,  two  players 
being  necessary  to  play  in  octave.  But  despite 
what  seem  to  us  such  serious  disabilities  the 


THE    GREGORIAN    REVIVAL  75 

organ  played  a  conspicuous  part  in  confirming 
the  establishment  of  the  Latin  music. 

But  even  yet  the  story  is  not  completely  told. 
Personal  influence  of  rulers,  even  when  seconded 
by  special  instrumental  support,  could  not  have 
assured  to  the  Gregorian  system  the  final  success 
which  it  achieved.  It  needed  something  more 
to  preserve  it  from  the  hazards  of  such  uncertain 
periods  in  human  affairs  as  that  which  succeeded 
the  age  of  Charlemagne.  It  could  not  have 
maintained  itself  till  its  champion  arose,  had  it 
not  possessed  something  that  had  been  denied 
even  to  Jewish  music.  That  essential  safeguard 
was  a  system  of  notation.  For  this  it  was  in- 
debted to  the  East.  The  invention  of  neumes 
is  generally  attributed  to  S.  Ephraim  of  Edessa, 
a  Syrian  Father.  This  great  hymnologist  died 
in  378  A.D.  His  system  of  notation  may  have 
reached  Milan  in  the  time  of  Ambrose.  But  this 
is  uncertain.  Gregory  however  was  able  to  take 
full  advantage  of  it.  Very  odd  it  looks  to  modern 
eyes  with  its  fourteen  characters  indicating  notes 
and  modulations.  But  it  was  a  great  advance, 
and  it  made  possible  the  preservation  of  a  written 
tradition  during  times  in  which  oral  tradition 
could  easily  have  perished. 

In  this  work  of  preservation  the  Benedictine 
monasteries  played  the  chief  part.  During  the 
9th  and  loth  centuries  Europe  reached  its  darkest 
hours.  Political  chaos  was  enhanced  by;  the 


76  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

desperate  and  far-reaching  inroads  of  the  North- 
men. The  work  of  Charlemagne  in  every  de- 
partment seemed  in  danger  of  complete  over- 
throw. 

Nevertheless  even  in  the  darkest  hour  light 
never  actually  disappeared.  It  was  not  a  matter 
of  accident  that  we  find  developing  in  the  nth 
century  a  great  school  of  Church  Music  in  Nor- 
thern France,  where  Paris  gradually  was  becom- 
ing the  great  intellectual  centre  of  the  West. 
Though  monasteries  and  abbeys  might  be  de- 
stroyed, as  they  were  through  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  West,  the  Benedictines  saw  to 
it  that  the  fruits  of  Gregory's  labours  were  not 
lost.  Musical  schools  persisted,  and  some  at- 
tempt is  seen  to  elaborate  the  opportunities  of 
the  singer.  Hucbald,  of  S.  Armand  in  Flanders 
(born  840,  A.D.),  experimented  with  part  sing- 
ing on  the  Plainsong  basis,  adding  discant  to 
the  ordinary  melody.  To  modern  ears  the  actual 
acoustic  effect  of  his  productions  is  barbarous  in 
the  extreme.  But  his  work  marks  an  important 
advance  in  music  both  foY  itself  and  as  an  ad- 
junct to  public  worship.  Another  prominent 
contemporary  worker  in  the  same  field  was 
Notker,  the  monk  of  St.  Gall.  St.  Gall  was 
one  of  the  great  Irish  foundations  of  an  earlier 
date.  There  the  Gregorian  music  had  been  in- 
troduced for  the  first  time  in  790,  A.D.,  and  the 
original  manuscript  of  this  Antiphonary,  the 


THE    GREGORIAN    REVIVAL  77 

oldest  extant,  is  still  preserved.  Notker  was 
both  a  composer  and  a  conspicuous  musical 
theorist,  and  played  no  inconsiderable  part  in 
the  preparation  for  that  advance  in  the  sphere 
of  religious  music  which  took  place  in  later 
medieval  times. 

So  by  the  labour  of  one  and  another,  by  strokes 
of  good  fortune,  and  by  their  own  intrinsic  merit, 
the  Gregorian  settings  to  the  Church's  worship 
had  won  a  settled  place  in  France  and  Germany 
as  well  as  Italy  at  the  opening  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Such  parts  of  Spain  as  remained 
Christian  after  the  conquests  of  the  Moors  main- 
tained their  older  forms.  In  England  alone,  by 
irony  of  circumstance,  the  Roman  music  seems 
to  have  fallen  short  of  utter  conquest. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 

IT  will  have  become  clear  that  it  is  more  easy 
to  trace  the  progress  of  religious  music  in  the 
period  subsequent  to  the  6th  century  than  in  that 
preceding  it.  The  earlier  period  of  persecution, 
followed  as  it  was  from  the  beginning  of  the  4th 
century  by  dogmatic  discords  and  a  growing 
separation  of  West  from  East,  offered  but  narrow 
scope  for  development  in  what  may  be  called  the 
arts  of  the  Church — architecture,  sculpture, 
painting  and  music.  Certain  phases  of  develop- 
ment are  to  be  seen;  but  they  tend  to  be  elusive, 
as  they  are  generally  local  in  significance. 

After  the  6th  century  the  East  began  to  settle 
down  to  a  somewhat  uncompromising  conserva- 
tism, which  was  hardened  owing  to  the  necessity 
of  self-defence  against  Mahomet.  Egypt  and 
North  Africa  in  turn  were  overrun  by  the  Mos- 
lems, who  also  intruded  themselves  into  Spain. 
The  flourishing  Christianity  of  the  Churches 
which  had  bred  S.  Athanasius  and  S.  Augustine 
quickly  became  a  thing  of  the  past. 

In  the  West,  however,  despite  circumstances 
in  many  ways  unfavourable,  there  was  no  such 

conservatism  and  no  such  destruction.     We  ob- 

78 


MUSIC    IN    THE    MIDDLE   AGES  79 

serve  a  growing  unity  of  development  in  ec- 
clesiastical affairs  which,  beginning  with  Gre- 
gory I,  reached  a  climax  in  the  papacy  of  his 
namesake,  Gregory  VII. 

From  that  point  onwards — the  second  half  of 
the  nth  century — we  have  to  deal  with  a 
Medieval  Europe:  a  period  characterized  by  a 
unity  even  more  marked  than  that  of  its  prede- 
cessor, till  its  death-knell  was  rung  in  the  Re- 
naissance and  the  Reformation.  The  contribu- 
tion of  this  age  to  Christian  worship  and  devo- 
tion is  one  which  cannot  be  overlooked.  It  is 
perpetually  re-enforcing  itself  upon  the  imagina- 
tion. Nevertheless  it  was  not  on  the  side  of 
music  that  the  greatest  advances  were  made. 
Other  forms  of  church  art  came  to  perfection 
and  had  exhausted  their  potentialities  before 
music  came  into  its  true  kingdom.  For  that 
consummation  we  have  to  wait  until  the  more 
modern  period. 

The  most  enduring  achievement  of  the  Middle 
Ages  lies  in  the  expression  of  religious  idealism 
through  material  forms.  It  was  in  architecture 
and  its  concomitant  arts  that  the  medieval  spirit 
discovered  its  opportunity  of  realizing  itself.  The 
progress  can  be  traced  from  the  utilitarian  to  the 
ideal;  from  its  beginnings  in  plain  buildings  of 
the  Roman  type  to  the  splendid  climax  in  which 
enchantment  is  held  captive  in  grey  stone.  The 
great  Abbey  and  Cathedral  edifices  which  were 


8O  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

beginning  to  take  form  during  the  early  days  of 
the  period  were  not  raised  to  meet  the  need  of 
congregations.  They  enshrined  the  religious 
idea:  they  were  to  stimulate  the  soul  to  wonder, 
awe  and  aspiration. 

Music  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  fulfilled  so 
high  and  full  a  function  till  a  much  later  date. 
There  was  no  parallel  development.  Music 
halted  a  long  way  behind.  Its  capacities  were 
hidden  and  the  conditions  of  advance  were  longer 
in  disclosing  themselves.  It  was  only  after  the 
progress  of  architecture  had  reached  its  apogee, 
after  the  point  had  been  reached  at  which  only 
elaboration  became  possible  and  decadence  was 
at  hand,  that  music  began  to  come  into  its  own. 

Curiously  enough,  the  very  influences  which 
went  to  debase  architecture  were  those  which 
gave  music  a  wider  scope  and  higher  possibilities. 
The  result  is  that  it  has  been  finding  ways  to 
transcend,  if  that  were  possible,  the  actual 
achievement  of  architecture.  It  was  the  Re- 
naissance with  its  return  to  classical  and  pagan 
usage  which  put  a  term  to  the  development  of 
Christian  architecture.  The  revival  of  pagan 
models  meant  the  abandonment  of  the  pure  in- 
spiration of  Christian  art.  There  is  a  gulf 
separating  St.  Peter's  at  Rome  from  Notre  Dame 
in  Paris,  well  nigh  as  wide  as  that  separating 
the  worship  of  Jupiter  from  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ. 


MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  8 1 

Music  on  the  other  hand  needed  to  be  freed 
from  ecclesiastical  bondage,  from  consecration 
merely  to  the  demands  of  Christian  song  before 
it  could  really  discover  its  own  hidden  poten- 
tialities. It  had  to  be  paganized,  to  come  back 
to  that  rhythmic  form  from  which  it  had  been 
divorced  in  ecclesiastical  usage  all  through  the 
Middle  Ages.  It  had  to  be  freed  from  the  tyranny 
of  the  voice,  through  dance  and  other  forms, 
before  it  could  reach  the  stage  of  fully  inde- 
pendent appeal. 

In  point  of  tact,  music  was  more  tardy  even 
than  painting  in  discovering  itself.  Colour  like 
sculpture  was  at  first  subservient  to  the  expression 
of  the  religious  idea  in  architecture.  Simple 
didactic  frescoes,  with  their  ancient  classical  filia- 
tions, following  the  demands  of  the  Gothic  build- 
ing, melted  into  coloured  glass.  Nevertheless, 
comparatively  early  there  arose  a  line  of  painters, 
more  particularly  in  Italy  and  Flanders,  who 
gradually  produced  the  independent  imaginative 
picture  symbolizing  and  expressing  the  religious 
idea.  There  was  nothing  in  music  by  the  end 
of  the  1 4th  century  which  could  really  compare 
in  parallel  development  with  the  wonderful  paint- 
ings of  Van  Eyck. 

The  only  way  of  escape  for  music  lay  in  the 
free  development  of  instrumental  art.  Words 
after  all,  however  poetic  their  imagery,  are  help- 
less in  the  face  of  the  deeper  emotions  and  the 


82  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

highest  truth.     In  subservience  to  words,  how- 
ever  transcendently    the    service    is   performed, 
music  has  limitations  which  were  hardly  guessed 
at  in  the  Middle  Ages.     Its  finest  products  did 
not    contemplate    the    use    of    instruments    but 
were  a  capella  compositions.    The  scope  of  music 
had  been   much   wider  in  pre-Christians  times, 
though  its  actual  technical  development  was  far 
in  arrear  of  that  point  of  excellence  to  which 
the  service  of  religion  had  brought  it.     In  the 
service  of  the  drama  and  the  dance  however  its 
emotional   appeal   had   covered   a   wider   range. 
The  Renaissance  freed  music  from  its  narrower 
trammels,  and  re-opened  to  academic  considera- 
tion the  earlier  channels  of  expression  in  which 
it  still  flowed  in  popular  usage.     The  result  was 
beyond  expectation.    Music  was  enabled  in  course 
of  time  to  offer  Religion  an  inspiration  and  sup- 
port    hitherto     unequalled.         The     music     of 
Palestrina,  though  subsequent  in  production  to 
the    Middle    Ages    proper,    was    the    supreme 
achievement  of  the  medieval  system.     We  have 
only  to  compare  the  nature  of  his  contribution 
with  that  of  Bach  to  understand  the  character  of 
the  change. 

Bearing  these  points  in  mind,  we  proceed  first 
to  examine  the  actual  development  during  the 
Middle  Ages.  It  was  almost  entirely  a  develop- 
ment within  the  sphere  of  Religion.  Though  in 
the  1 2th  and  i3th  centuries  Troubadour  and 


MUSIC   IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  83 

Minnesinger  may  claim  a  share,  it  was  no  im- 
portant one.  The  subsequent  efforts  of  the 
Meistersingers  had  even  less  effect.  Neither 
music  nor  poetry  was  very  much  advanced  by 
the  contests  in  which  they  engaged.  The  Trou- 
badour is  looked  upon  generally  as  a  very  secular 
type.  But  the  tone  of  his  music  could  not  escape 
that  which  was  prevalent  within  the  Church.  The 
very  love  songs  which  were  in  vogue  at  a  much 
later  date  in  the  Court  of  France  provided  the 
melody  to  which  the  earliest  Reformation  psalms 
were  set.  The  tone  of  all  such  compositions 
would  be  termed  ecclesiastical  to-day.  And  such 
is  certainly  the  case  with  the  most  famous  of  the 
Troubadours  even  of  Provence.  The  haunting 
melodies  of  Adam  de  la  Hale  (i3th  century)  are 
not  at  all  suggestive  of  secular  tone.  The  only 
really  secular  music  during  the  period  was  con- 
fined to  simple  folk-song.  Secular  music  in  its 
higher  flights  was  dependent  upon  contemporary 
developments  within  the  ecclesiastical  sphere, 
while  its  very  contests  were  often  held  within 
the  church  walls. 

The  real  potency  of  music  depends  mainly 
upon  harmonic  structure.  The  task  of  the 
medieval  musician  therefore  was  to  learn  how 
to  fill  in  the  outline  provided  in  the  simple 
melody.  Just  as  painting  needs  background  and 
perspective  to  please  the  eye,  so  music  needs  the 
richer  effect  of  being  written  in  parts  to  satisfy 


84  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

the  ear.  But  while  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
as  we  shall  see  later,  that  in  Celtic  music  there 
was  a  natural  harmony,  neither  Greek  nor  He- 
brew nor  other  ancient  music  seems  to  .have  got 
beyond  the  octave.  It  is  possible  of  course  that 
arpeggios  were  played  on  stringed  instruments. 
But  such  instruments  found  no  permanent  home 
in  Latin  Christendom.  All  that  the  medieval 
musician  had  to  work  upon  were  the  meticulous 
rules  of  later  -Greek  theorists  preserved  mainly 
in  the  work  of  Boethius.*  So  it  came  about  that 
when  progress  became  possible,  advance  was  de- 
layed by  over-emphasis  on  theoretical  specula- 
tion as  to  the  true  canons  of  harmony.  This 
was  in  fact  the  chief  reason  for  the  slower  pro- 
gress of  music  as  compared  with  the  other  arts. 
In  painting  and  sculpture  the  canons  were  visible, 
while  in  architecture  the  difficulty  seems  to  have 
been  overcome  experimentally. 

Three  conditions  had  to  be  fulfilled  before  any 
real  advance  could  be  made.  The  first  was  a 
cultivation  of -musical  feeling.  Outside  Celtic 
circles  there  seems  to  have  been  at  the  outset 
but  small  realization  of  discordance  in  sound. 
Combinations  which  affright  the  modern  ear  were 
accepted  without  astonishment  in  the  early 
Middle  Ages.  The  other  needs  were  less 
aesthetic  than  practical.  They  were  a  simple 
scale  which  would  systematize  the  modes  in 

*  De  Institutione  Musica. 


MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  85 

vogue,  and  a  system  for  symbolizing  sound  more 
advanced  than  that  which  had  been  "provided  by 
S.  Ephraem. 

The  first  great  achievement  in  these  directions 
was  that  of  Guido  of  Arezzo.  He  had  had  his 
predecessors  in  Hucbald  and  Notker.  But  he 
was  more  independent  and  more  originative. 
Guido  was  the  first  of  a  line  of  great  figures  in 
the  medieval  period  who  strove  with  music  with 
a  view  to  elicit  its  latent  possibilities.  Berengar, 
of  Tours,  Anselm  and  Lanfranc  were  in  part  his 
contemporaries.  His  work  therefore  was  per- 
formed at  a  time  when  the  beginnings  are  found 
of  those  striking  intellectual  developments  which 
were  soon  to  find  further  manifestation  in  the 
growth  of  the  Universities.  The  Cluniac  Re- 
formation which  had  begun  to  cleanse  monastic 
life  in  the  loth  century  was  now  bearing  rich 
fruit,  and  already  the  monastic  and  cathedral 
schools  of  Italy  were  dispersing  a  new  culture 
beyond  the  Alps. 

Guido 's  contribution  to  music  was  the  actual 
foundation  of  the  method  upon  which  the  present 
notation  is  based.  He  also  invented  the  system 
of  solmization  and  produced  theories  of  his  own 
on  the  actual  construction  of  counterpoint.  His 
services  won  for  him  from  his  contemporaries 
the  title  of  Inventor  Musicae. 

Guido's  work  was  continued  in  northern 
France,  where  Paris  was  fast  becoming  a  great 


86  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

home  of  learning.  Till  the  final  climax  of  medi- 
eval religious  music  is  found  in  Orlando  Lassus 
and  Palestrina,  Italy,  Northern  France  and 
Flanders  vied  with  one  another  in  the  production 
of  continental  Church  music.  But  the  greatest 
contribution  during  the  Middle  Ages  proper 
came  from  the  Flemish  school,  which  devoted  it- 
self strenuously  to  the  elaboration  of  counter- 
point and  canonic  writing. 

The  development  of  polyphony  in  place  of 
simple  melody  limited  the  actual  expression  of 
worship  more  and  more  to  trained  singers.  The 
body  of  the  congregation  had  no  such  part  as  it 
performed  in  the  days  of  S.  Ambrose.  Diffi- 
culties of  language  had  intervened.  Latin  was 
no  longer  the  tongue  of  the  people,  though  it 
still  remained  the  language  of  the  Church. 
Choirs  became  a  matter  of  necessity,  except  in 
monastic  foundations  where  all  could  sing  and 
understand.  These  choirs  consisted  of  bodies  of 
clerks  in  minor  orders.  Reminiscences  of  this 
state  of  things -are  to  be  found  embedded  in  the 
present  English  prayer  book,  as  well  as  in  con- 
tinued practice  in  our  cathedrals. 

A  change  now  begins  to  come  over  the  central 
Christian  service.  As  we  have  seen,  in  early 
days  musical  expression  found  variety  and  scope 
more  in  the  Proper  than  in  the  Ordinary  of  the 
Mass.  There  it  was  provided  with  changing 
melodies  for  changing  psalms  and  antiphons. 


MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES    '  87 

But  after  choirs  had  learned  through  the  gradual 
formulation  of  rules  of  consonance  and  disson- 
ance to  combine  four  or  more  melodies  in  one, 
the  tendency  arose  to  seize  upon  the  Ordinary  of 
the  Mass  as  the  one  fixed  element'  of  the  service 
and  reserve  it  for  special  musical  treatment — 
building  up  congruent  settings  for  all  the  parts  of 
the  one  whole.  The  fashion  began  in  France, 
and  only  won  admission  in  Rome  at  a  later  date. 
There  it  was  one  of  the  consequences  of  the  so- 
called  Babylonian  captivity — the  popes  having 
taken  up  residence  at  Avignon  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  kings  of  France  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  I4th  century.  Gregory  XI  is  thought 
to  have  introduced  it  on  his  return  to  Rome. 

The  cantus  firmus,  as  the  melody  was  styled, 
around  which  the  earlier  elaboration  of  parts  was 
made,  was  first  of  all  a  Plainsong  theme.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  rein  was  given  to  other  tendencies, 
only  too  frequently  found  in  ecclesiastical  music. 
There  arose  over-emphasis  on  the  music  at  the 
expense  of  the  actual  words  of  the  service.  It 
got  to  matter  little  to  some  composers  whether 
the  whole  text  of  the  Mass  was  provided  for,  and 
not  unfrequently  other  verbal  texts  were  intro- 
duced or  superimposed  upon  the  original.  Side 
by  side  with  this  tendency  was  another  even  more 
unfortunate,  of  using  secular  and  even  ribald 
tunes  as  themes.  In  many  cases  the  effect  must 
have  been  grotesque  in  the  extreme.  The  same 


88  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

tendency  crops  out  in  sculptured  art.  It  is  not 
always  objects  of  piety  that  we  find  carved  in  the 
stonework  of  the  medieval  church. 

This  latter  tendency,  however  deplorable,  wit- 
nessed to  the  exhaustion  of  Gregorian  themes. 
It  was  an  important  step  towards  a  new  advance 
— the  production  of  original  melodies.  Josquin 
des  Pres  (1440-1521),  a  singer  belonging  to  the 
Papal  Chapel,  appears  to  be  the  first  conspicu- 
ous composer  of  new  religious  tunes.  He  is  not 
free  from  the  reproach  of  using  popular  tunes  as 
well.  So  he  stands-  at  the  point  of  transition  to 
better  things.  Several  original  masses  stand 
to  his  credit.  Through  his  pupil  Goudimel,  he 
is  the  musical  ancestor  of  Palestrina  (1514-1594). 

With  Des  Pres  we  find  the  beginning  of  a  new 
order  of  musical  possibilities.  He  it  was  who  first 
began  to  grasp  the  function  of  music  as  an  actual 
language.  Plainsong  tones  had  certainly  af- 
forded opportunities  for  joy  or  sorrow  to  find 
fitting  expression.  But  Des  Pres  went  further. 
He  made  a  beginning  in  the  actual  manifestation 
of  thought  in  sound.  Music  was  thus  started  on 
the  way  of  becoming  a  medium  of  expression  for 
the  deeper  emotional  verities.  Before  this  time 
it  had  merely  stimulated  and  assisted  such  ex- 
pression in  action  or  word.  Though  the  begin- 
nings were  but  small,  this  was  a  most  important 
advance,  coming  to  fuller  manifestation  as 
instrumental  music  came  into  its  kingdom. 


MUSIC  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  89 

The  Renaissance  movement  was  in  full  flood 
before  the  medieval  music  had  manifested  its  full 
power.  With  the  Renaissance  and  its  conse- 
quences in  the  sphere  of  music  we  have  to  deal. 
But  for  the  moment  we  must  keep  to  the  older 
thread. 

The  outward  unity  of  Western  Christendom 
was  broken  up  during  the  epoch  of  the  Reform- 
ation, a  movement  which  really  began  in  the 
second  decade  of  the  i6th  century.  Certain 
abuses  in  the  older  ecclesiastical  system  led  to  a 
widespread  revolt,  with  results  far-reaching  on 
every  side  of  religious  life.  The  most  outstand- 
ing feature  of  the  whole  movement  was  the  denial 
of  the  hegemony  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  by  large 
sections  of  Western  Christendom.  This  neces- 
sitated an  attempt  on  the  part  of  those  who  still 
owned  the  Roman  allegiance  to  cleanse  and  re- 
form the  system  which  had  led  to  the  revolt.  The 
attempt  was  made  in  the  famous  Council  of 
Trent  which  closed  in  1563. 

Among  other  things  which  called  for  reform 
the  music  of  worship  held  no  insignificant  place. 
So  great  had  become  the  general  deterioration  of 
music  owing  to  the  tendencies  already  noticed, 
that  the  Council  had  well  nigh  determined  that 
a  return  to  simple  melodic  Plainsong  should  be 
made.  The  licence  of  the  Renaissance  con- 
ditions had  not  improved  the  secular  tendencies 
of  Church  song. 


9O  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

Happily  the  iconoclastic  tendencies  of  the 
Council  were  not  given  full  play.  At  the  in- 
stance of  Pope  Pius  IV  a  commission  was 
appointed  to  examine  the  real  possibilities  of 
those  methods  of  harmonic  construction  in  the 
development  of  which  the  musical  history  of  the 
Middle  Ages  is  summed  up.  So  it  came  about 
that  Palestrina  was  selected  as  an  exponent  of 
their  fitness  to  be  considered  proper  adjuncts  to 
religious  worship.  Three  Masses  were  com- 
posed, the  success  of  which,  particularly  of  that 
called  after  Pope  Marcellus,  assured  the  reten- 
tion of  polyphonic  music. 

The  fruits  of  six  centuries  of  varied  toil  were 
thus  preserved.  A  new  school  of  music  was  set 
up  in  Rome  from  which  Palestrina  and  his  friend 
Nanini  strove  to  permeate  the  reformed  Latin 
communion  with  a  true  ideal  of  religious  music. 
"  As  long  as  religion  lasts,  Palestrina's  music 
will  be  the  purest  and  loftiest  form  in  which  it 
has  been  expressed."* 

Nevertheless,  despite  the  union  of  genius  and 
opportunity,  Palestrina  was  unable  to  make  a 
permanent  impression  on  the  Church's  worship. 
The  influences  flowing  from  the  Renaissance, 
to  which  religious  music  owes  much,  were  not  all 
of  them  in  favour  of  religion.  In  the  process  of 
gaining  greater  freedom  of  expression  through 
union  with  instrumental  forms,  the  music  of  wor- 

*   Parry,   Studies  of  great  composers 


MUSIC   IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  9! 

ship  in  the  Latin  Church  soon  lost  its  true  re- 
ligious tone. 

Much  had  been  achieved  by  the  Middle 
Ages.  Unjustifiable  developments  apart,  music 
had  become  a  great  stimulus  to  devotion,  as 
well  as  a  clear  medium  of  devotional  expres- 
sion. But  its  highest  function,  the  suggestion  of 
spiritual  verities,  had  yet  to  be  realized.  Curi- 
ously enough,  for  that  consummation,  it  had  to 
wait  till  a  time  when  religion  itself  was  beginning 
to  sink  to  a  low  ebb  all  over  Europe.  It  is  not 
until  the  i8th  century  that  the  fullest  religious 
possibilities  of  music  disclose  themselves.  It 
then  soars  out  of  the  sphere  of  mere  utility  and 
begins  to  match  itself  against  the  medieval  poetry 
in  stone.  Historically  it  is  a  far  cry  from  the 
fugue  and  prelude  of  Bach  to  the  long  drawn 
aisle  and  fretted  vault;  but  it  is  no  far  cry  in  fact. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   RENAISSANCE   AND   ITS    MAIN    EFFECTS 

THE  Renaissance,  or  Revival  of  Letters,  is  a 
term  applied  to  a  movement  which  began  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  I5th  century.  Schism  with  the 
East  had  cut  off  Latin  Christianity  from  partici- 
pating in  the  possession  of  those  treasures  of 
poetry  and  philosophy  in  which  the  temper  of 
pre-Christian  Greece  had  been  preserved.  When 
learning  began  to  revive  in  the  early  Middle 
Ages,  philosophers  had  to  trust  for  their  material 
to  translations  of  Greek  works  which  reached 
them  largely  through  Moorish  sources.  In  the 
1 5th  century,  however,  the  pressure  of  the  Mos- 
lems upon  Eastern  Europe,  held  back  for  so 
long  by  series  of  crusades,  became  overwhelming. 
In  1453  Constantinople  fell  into  their  hands. 
Greek  scholars  bringing  with  them  treasures  of 
ancient  learning,  began  to  flood  over  into  Italy, 
where  the  materials  of  civilization  and  culture 
had  accumulated  already  with  greater  rapidity 
than  elsewhere,  Italy  having  become  the  centre 
of  exchange  between  the  West  and  the  farther 
East. 

There  ensued  a  classical  and  pagan  revival, 

92 


THE   RENAISSANCE   AND   ITS   MAIN   EFFECTS      93 

the  general  outlines  of  which  will  be  sufficiently 
clear  to  the  English  reader  of  George  Eliot's 
:(  Romola  "  or  Charles  Reade's  "  The  Cloister 
and  the  Hearth."  This  revival  affected  every 
side  of  life,  spreading  gradually  into  other  coun- 
tries in  the  West,  and  providing  in  more  ways 
than  one  both  fuel  and  fire  for  the  later  move- 
ment of  religious  reform.  Renewed  study  of  the 
earliest  Christian  documents  gave  to  scholars 
beyond  the  Alps  material  of  the  first  importance 
to  the  task  of  reviewing  the  later  and  less  at- 
tractive developments  of  Latin  Christianity.  The 
reversion  to  pagan  ideals  on  the  part  of  many  of 
the  most  prominent  Italian  churchmen  afforded 
no  small  justification  for  the  series  of  revolts 
against  the  Roman  obedience  which  took  place 
subsequently  in  the  North.  "  God  hath  given 
us  the  Papacy,  let  us  enjoy  it "  was  the  exclam- 
ation of  a  famous  Medici  Cardinal  just  elected 
to  the  spiritual  leadership  of  the  West.  It  was 
the  shameless  hawking  out  of  pardons  to  pay  for 
the  new  paganized  fane  of  S.  Peter  at  Rome, 
which  provoked  the  first  outburst  of  the  re- 
former Luther. 

The  general  effect  of  the  Renaissance  upon 
the  progress  of  music  has  already  been  noticed. 
For  a  thousand  years  all  musical  advance  had 
been  made  under  the  aegis  of  the  Church. 
Those  limitations  of  its  character  which  had 
prevailed  since  the  days  of  S.  Ambrose  were 


94  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

now  disregarded  in  the  new  liberty  of  thought 
and  action  which  it  was  the  privilege  of  the  new 
age  to  bestow.  Art  of  all  kinds,  formerly  pur- 
sued for  the  sake  of  Religion,  began  to  arro- 
gate more  independent  functions.  Architecture, 
sculpture  and  painting  broke  back  to  classical 
models — though  the  older  inspiration  still  re- 
mained and  was  followed  till  well  on  into  the 
1 7th  century.  Music  followed  the  same  course 
though  the  signs  of  its  actual  departure  become 
clear  at  a  date  somewhat  later  than  that  of  its 
co-partners  in  the  arts  of  the  Church. 

The  change  was  rapidly  approaching  on  the 
side  of  music  before  the  time  of  Palestrina's 
death.  It  is  associated  largely  with  the  rise  and 
progress  of  Opera,  though  madrigal  and  dance 
bore  their  subordinate  part. 

Opera  was  born  in  Florence.  In  the  year 
1580  a  society  was  founded  for  the  study  of 
ancient  Greek  drama  with  a  view  to  the  revival 
of  musical  and  dramatic  declamation.  The 
first  opera,  "  Dafne,"  was  produced  in  1594. 

In  one  sense  the  new  departure  was  a  kind  of 
secular  counterpart  to  the  more  purely  religious 
experiment  known  as  Oratorio,  which  began  in 
1540,  also  at  Florence.  Oratorio,  which  took 
its  name  from  its  birth-place,  the  oratory  of  S. 
Philip  Neri,  was  the  older  Miracle  or  Mystery 
play  in  a  Renaissance  dress.  Such  plays  were 
familiar  features  in  the  life  of  the  Middle  Ages. 


THE    RENAISSANCE    AND    ITS    MAIN   EFFECTS      95 

Mystery  plays  were  representations  of  Old 
and  New  Testament  stories  bearing  on  the  Fall 
and  Redemption  of  Man.  The  Miracle  play 
proper  was  a  dramatized  version  of  the  life  of  a 
saint.  Originally,  like  oratorio,  these  plays 
took  place  near  or  within  the  buildings  of  the 
Church,  the  earliest  players  being  clergy.  Their 
general  vogue  was  from  the  i2th  to  the  i6th  cen- 
tury, when  drama  of  a  more  secular  type  began 
to  take  their  place.  The  last  known  play  in 
England  took  place  in  1580  at  Coventry.  A 
continental  survival  of  this  type  of  play  is  found 
still  in  the  Passion  Play  of  Oberammergau. 
By  the  I3th  century  they  were  commonly  held 
in  all  towns  of  any  standing  at  Christmas  and 
Easter,  the  Christmas  depictions  dealing  with 
the  Fall  and  leading  to  the  birth  of  Christ; 
those  at  Easter  dealing  with  the  events  from  the 
Passion  to  the  Ascension.  Early  in  the  i4th 
century  the  two  sets  were  brought  together — at 
any  rate  such  was  the  case  in  England.  They 
were  performed  then  by  the  town  guilds  on  Cor- 
pus Christi  Day. 

These  plays,  originally  didactic  in  purpose, 
tended  in  time  to  offer  scope  for  buffoonery,  and 
their  original  religious  purpose  lost  much  of  its 
force.  But  they  had  given  considerable  scope 
to  popular  religious  music.  They  were,  in  fact, 
the  progenitors  of  the  carol.  S.  Philip  Neri  en- 
deavoured to  re-introduce  the  religious  atmos- 


96  MUSIC  AND    RELIGION 

phere  which  had  become  so  attenuated.  He 
caused  religious  allegories  and  gospel  scenes  to 
be  produced  within  the  chapel  of  S.  Maria  in 
Vallicella.  Incidental  music  was  allowed,  and 
recitative  alternated  with  chorus.  Palestrina 
himself  was  partly  responsible  for  the  music. 

From  such  simple  beginnings  Oratorio  as 
we  know  it  to-day  first  sprang,  whether 
in  the  narrower  sense  as  Passion  Music 
or  in  the  wider  of  Religious  Cantata.  From 
such  simple  beginnings  Opera  also  gleaned  its 
inspiration  and  its  method.  Oratorio  proper 
was  inaugurated  in  1600  in  the  performance  of 
L'Anima  e  Corpo  by  Cavaliere.  This,  as  the 
title  would  suggest,  was  really  a  kind  of  sym- 
bolic Mystery  Play.  It  corresponded  with 
Opera  in  surroundings  and  stage  effects  as 
Opera  corresponded  with  it  in  form.  Both  types 
of  performance  in  fact  followed  at  first  much  the 
same  lines — musica  parlante,  chorus  and  ritor- 
nello.  The  declamatory  parts  were  sung  with 
the  support  of  the  theorbo  or  harpsichord. 

The  ritornello  or  musical  interlude  gave  an 
opportunity  to  orchestral  music.  Instrumental 
music  was  now  struggling  for  an  utterance  of  its 
own.  The  organ  had  already  discovered  its 
power  of  producing  elementary  symphony  by 
combining  four  or  more  melodies  in  one,  after 
the  fashion  of  vocal  music.  This  aptitude  seems 
to  have  been  hit  upon  at  Florence  late  in  the  I4th 


century.  Gradually  the  example  was  imitated 
on  clavichord  and  virginal.  Combinations  of 
other  instruments  were  experimented  with,  and 
by  the  close  of  the  i6th  century  orchestras  were 
in  being. 

Chamber  music  had  been  coming  slowly  into 
fashion  during  the  century  and  a  beginning  had 
been  made  already  in  the  work  of  utterance  by 
conveying  impressions  of  natural  phenomena  in- 
strumentally.  This  was  a  useful  preliminary  to 
the  later  development  in  which  ideas  themselves 
were  to  find  expression  in  sound. 

The  more  secular  of  the  Florentine  revivals 
in  course  of  time  tended  to  give  the  tone  to  its 
congener.  And  not  only  so;  the  Mass  itself  fell 
under  the  influence  of  Opera.  Orchestras  were 
admitted  in  the  performance  of  the  service  of  the 
Mass  at  the  same  time  as  their  place  became  se- 
cure in  Opera.  At  first  no  great  difference  is  dis- 
coverable between  the  new  secular  and  religious 
music — whether  of  Oratorio  or  Mass — than  can 
be  discovered  between  that  of  Troubadour  and 
clerk  in  the  Middle  Ages,  or  of  Protestant 
psalmody  and  Parisian  love-song. 

Real  secularly  of  tone  took  some  little  time 
to  develop.  But  all  through  the  i;th  century  the 
actual  transition  was  being  effected..  There  is 
little  noticeable  difference  in  style  between  the 
opera  music  of  Caccini  and  that  of  Carissimi's 
oratorio.  But  soon  after  the  first  half  of  the 


98  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

century  the  distinction  between  the  old  and  new 
becomes  very  marked  in  France,  where  opera  was 
first  introduced  in  1659.  When  Charles  II  in- 
troduced this  lighter  music  into  the  worship  of 
his  private  chapel,  the  English  ear  at  any  rate 
was  quick  to  grasp  how  wide  the  gulf  between, 
secular  and  religious  had  then  become. 

With  the  adoption  of  orchestra,  the  music  of 
the  Mass  took  over  the  opera  style  with  recitative 
chorus  and  interlude.  It  adopted  also  the  opera 
singer,  till  gradually  it  lost  its  true  religious 
bearing,  becoming  little  but  a  monument  of  vir- 
tuosity. Great  names  are  to  be  found  among 
offenders  in  this  matter.  Haydn,  Cherubim, 
Verdi  and  Gounod  are  all  among  those  who  fol- 
lowed fashion  and  neglected  spiritual  propriety. 
"  This  is  Church  music,"  wrote  Hauptmann  of 
Palestrina's  Masses,  "  all  other  music  is  some- 
thing different ,  "*  He  wrote  in  a  day  when  all 
other  music  as  far  as  the  Roman  Church  was 
concerned  was  indeed  something  different. 

Only  of  late  years  has  a  real  attempt  been 
made  to  throw'  off  the  baneful  influence  of  con- 
cert music  and  re-introduce  that  which  really 
strives  to  match  the  spirit  of  the  Liturgy.  It 
was  forgotten  that  when  music  shares  the  duty 
,of  expression  with  words  enshrining  a  message 
of  their  own  its  function  is  not  to  dominate  but 

to  serve.     And  the  actual  religious  possibilities 

/•- 

*   Hauptmann    (1794-1868),    a    well    known    musical   theorist. 


THE    RENAISSANCE    AND    ITS    MAIN    EFFECTS      99 

of  music  seem  to  have  been  overlooked  also.  The 
result  has  been  the  creation  of  a  situation  almost 
analogous  to  that  existing  when  the  Council  of 
Trent  was  in  session.'  Reaction  has  set  in;  and 
papal  rescripts  in  favour  of  plain  song  as  the 
music  of  worship  are  a  sign  of  the  natural  revolt 
which  was  bound  to  occur  against  a  fashion  in 
which  the  first  principles  of  Christian  worship 
tended  to  get  lost. 

To  return  to  Oratorio.  Here,  as  we  have 
said,  the  same  secularizing  influences  asserted 
themselves  as  in  the  music  of  the  Mass.  Ora- 
torio held  its  place  as  a  distinctively  ecclesiastical 
performance  till  Handel  (1685-1759)  brought 
about  its  connection  with  the  stage.  By  his  time 
it  had  lost  its  actual  dramatic  character  and  had 
become  a  religious  cantata  not  inappropriate  to 
the  concert  room.  As  such  it  provides  at  the 
present  time  well-nigh  the  chief  spiritual  pabulum 
of  large  classes  of  our  own  people  in  the  in- 
dustrial North.  Originally  conceived  as  a  hand- 
maid to  religion  it  has  become  in  some  parts  a 
popular  fetish  commanding  the  worship  of  greater 
congregations  than  any  altar  in  the  kingdom. 
Moreover  Oratorio  has  been  in  great  favour  with 
the  extremer  forms  of  Anglo-Saxon  protest- 
antism, the  Biblical  character  of  its  libretto  being 
uncompromised  by  any  real  ecclesiastical  bias  in 
its  music.  For  such  religionists  it  has  formed  a 
kind  of  Cathedral  standard  through  which  the 


IOO  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

narrower  prejudices  of  earlier  forms  of  worship 
have  been  broken  down.  That  is  doubtless  an 
achievement,  but  outside  the  mind  of  its  origina- 
tors and  certainly  beneath  the  standard  which 
they  proposed  for  it. 

Were  it  not  for  the  imperishable  contribution 
to  music  of  this  type  of  Bach,  Handel's  contem- 
porary, (1685-1750),  the  original  function  which 
it  was  meant  to  serve  might  have  become 
obliterated.  Oratorio  gave  Bach  the  opportunity 
of  writing  his  magnificent  Passion  Music  to  the 
Gospel  stories  of  S.  JVIatthew  and  S.  John.  The 
attraction  t©  the  Passion  which  is  characteristic 
of  earlier  German  work  in  the  same  sphere  seems 
to  have  arisen  from  a  feeling  for  the  evangelical 
doctrine  of  the  Cross  which  was  relatively 
stronger  in  Lutheran  circles  than  elsewhere. 
Bach  fully  justified  the  original  purpose  of  Ora- 
torio. His  contribution  is  more  nearly  akin  to 
the  religious  drama  of  S.  Philip  Neri,  both  in 
form  and  spirit,  than  that  of  any  other  writer 
within  the  same  sphere.  The  re-introduction  of 
Oratorio  into  the  actual  service  of  the  Sanctuary 
is  the  result  of  his  work.  It  is  a  happy  sign  of 
the  growing  religious  understanding  of  modern 
times. 

The  name  of  Johann  Sebastian  Bach  is  as- 
sociated with  things  infinitely  greater  than  the 
true  rendering  of  the  spirit  of  Oratorio.  His  real 
greatness  lies  in  his  contribution  to  the  language 


THE   RENAISSANCE   AND    ITS   MAIN    EFFECTS      IOI 

of  Music  as  a  vehicle  of  Truth.  The  meaning 
of  this  achievement  will  be  noticed  subsequently. 
It  is  however  recognized  universally  that  in  his 
work  Music  begins  to  fight  on  equal  terms  with 
the  architecture  of  an  earlier  age  for  the  wonder 
and  admiration  of  the  world. 

The  school  of  music  which  reached  its  highest 
point  of  power  in  Palestrina  achieved  great 
things:  but  it  could  not  achieve  the  impossible. 
Styled  nuova  musica,  its  filiations  were  not  with 
the  new  but  with  the  old.  Working  under  the 
limitations  even  then  obtaining,  there  were 
heights  beyond  its  range  of  vision.  If  Palestrina 
found  an  alphabet  and  made  a  rich  vocabulary, 
Bach  took  a  vocabulary  and  transformed  it  into 
a  tongue. 

'  Music,"  wrote  Cardinal  Newman  in  a  noble 
passage  quoted  by  his  admirer,  Mr.  Bellasis, 
"  Music  is  the  expression  of  ideas  greater  and 
more  profound  than  any  in  the  visible  world, 
ideas  whch  centre  in  Him  Who  is  the  seat  of  all 
beauty,  order  and  perfection  whatever."  It  was 
not  the  operatic  Masses  after  the  French  and 
Italian  manner,  it  was  not  even  the  unequalled 
"  a  capella  "  compositions  of  Palestrina,  which 
made  possible  such  an  expression  of  belief. 
Through  the  instrumentality  of  Mendelssohn  and 
Samuel  Wesley,  Bash's  contribution,  though  so 
long  unnoticed,  had  wrought  its  influence  on  the 
Western  world. 


102  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

It  was  in  Bach  that  the  Renaissance  and  Re- 
formation movements  first  found  an  adequate 
expression  in  terms  of  music.  Hitherto  instru- 
mental music  had  been  aiming  chiefly  at  sensuous 
beauty  of  sound.  In  Bach's  hands  it  became  a 
vehicle  of  ideal  revelation.  It  speaks  the  very 
language  of  the  soul. 

Bach's  great  medium  of  expression  was  the 
organ,  which  now  comes  into  a  kingdom  never 
again  to  be  disputed.  On  the  organ  Bach  asserts 
and  maintains  his  supremacy  among  all  musicians 
of  whatever  age.  In  his  day  this  instrument  was 
still  of  highest  development  among  its  lesser 
rivals.  Its  adaptation  to  true  ecclesiastical  style 
in  music  had  been  carried  to  considerable  lengths 
in  Germany,  where,  since  the  Reformation,,  it  had 
been  vouchsafed  greater  opportunities  than  else- 
where. In  the  Roman  communion  the  only  real 
opportunity  lay  in  extemporization  of  interludes 
during  processions.  In  the  English  Church  or- 
gans were  used  simply  to  support  the  choir.  They 
had  no  pedals  until  a  comparatively  late  date. 
Pedals  howeve'r  had  been  invented  in  Germany 
as  far  back  as  1325.  Reed  stops  were  added  in 
the  following  century.  At  the  Reformation  under 
the  encouragement  of  Luther  the  congregational 
chorale  became  an  established  part  of  Protestant 
worship,  and  the  chorale  soon  began  to  tend  itself 
to  artistic  development  on  the  organ  in  the  form 
of  Preludes. 


THE    RENAISSANCE    AND    ITS    MAIN    EFFECTS      1 03 

Here  Bach  found  a  great  opportunity.  In  the 
chorales  many  of  the  older  ecclesiastical  tones 
had  been  preserved.  Working  with  such  material 
as  well  as  giving  rein  to  his  own  genius,  he  pro- 
duced some  of  the  most  beautiful  and  characteris- 
tic examples  of  his  art.  The  true  spirit  of 
devotion  expresses  itself  in  the  outpouring  of  a 
great  heart. 

But  this  spirit  finds  an  even  deeper  manifesta- 
tion in  the  Fugues,  which  go  beyond  expression 
to  suggestion  of  the  most  tremendous  order. 
Theme  after  theme  suggests  or  embodies  ideas 
essentially  religious  in  a  manner  so  inspiring  that 
the  force  of  Newman's  apothegm  comes  home 
unavoidably.  '  Perhaps,"  he  once  said, 
'  Thought  is  Music."  When  we  consider  under 
how  limited  conditions  Bach  had  to  work  in  order 
to  achieve  the  presentation  of  his  ideas — that 
apart  from  the  antique  contrapuntal  manner  of 
the  fugue  all  that  offered  was  the  sonata  form 
hardly  yet  emancipated  from  the  suite — his  suc- 
cess stands  out  as  nothing  short  of  gigantic. 

Bach  was  the  supreme  gift  of  Lutheranism  to 
the  service  of  religion.  Considerable  figures  in 
the  musical  world  have  appeared  in  Germany 
since  his  day,  but  lacking  the  same  inspiration 
and  power.  And  history  has  shown  that  Lu- 
theranism is  lacking  in  those  qualities  which  can 
appreciate  and  foster  the  message  of  its  greatest 
son.  A  message  so  deep  in  meaning  and  so 


IO4  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

catholic  in  spirit  demanded  a  religious  setting 
more  receptive  and  aspiring.  Bach's  message  is 
enshrined  more  completely  in  conditions  more 
catholic  than  those  within  which  he  worked.  It 
was  the  revival  of  English  Church  music  in 
the  i  Qth  century,  with  its  great  development  of 
organ  music,  encouraged  by  Mendelssohn  and 
carried  out  by  Walmesley,  S.  S.  Wesley,  and 
Goss,  which  gave  Bach's  music  a  setting  and  an 
influence  more  fitting  to  its  worth.  It  is  one  of 
the  ironies  of  history  that  Bach,  whom  Handel 
had  overlooked,  should  have  played  so  great  a 
part  in  that  revival  which  the  influence  of  Handel 
had  made  at  last  so  necessary. 

"  To  thee  the  lords  of  song  ascribe  their  fame, 
For  thee  the  chiming  spheres  attune  their  fires ; 
To  all  the  ends  of  earth  thy  glorious  name 
Resounds,   while  high  in  heaven  immortal  lyres 
Salute  thee,   and  the  streets  of  gold  acclaim 
Thy  worth  with  plaudits  of  celestial  choirs."* 

Since  the  time  of  the  Reformation  music  has 
had  a  scope  within  the  English  Church  wider 
than  that  offered  elsewhere  in  Christendom.  It 
has  had  the  opportunity  of  fulfilling  all  the  func- 
tions possible  to  it  within  the  religious  sphere. 
Not  always  has  the  scope  or  the  opportunity  been 
appreciated.  Nevertheless  the  sum  total  of 
achievement  within  the  English  Church  is  greater 
than  can  be  shown  elsewhere.  The  Roman 
Church,  though  it  is  tending  in  imitation  of  the 

*  Hayes  :  /.  S.  Bach  in  The  cup  of  Quietness, 


THE    RENAISSANCE    AND    ITS    MAIN    EFFECTS      IC»5 

practices  of  others  to  give  greater  scope  to  actual 
congregational  worship,  is  debarred  by  the  lan- 
guage of  its  liturgy  from  offering  the  possibilities 
open  since  the  Reformation  to  English  church 
folk.  Moreover,  wonderful  as  its  achievements 
in  the  music  of  the  sanctuary  have  been,  their 
deficiencies  from  the  more  purely  religious  view 
have  been  obvious. 

The  contribution  of  Calvinism  is  negligible, 
and  continues  so  to-day  in  all  communions 
which  preserve  the  Calvinistic  spirit.  Among  the 
more  modern  Protestants,  where  elaboration  of 
worship  is  allowed,  the  music  is  purely  imitative 
and  drawn  from  extraneous  sources. 

In  the  Eastern  Church  music,  like  theological 
expression,  tends  to  remain  where  it  was  after  its 
reform  in  the  earlier  Christian  centuries.  In  the 
Greek  Church  proper,  singing  is  left  to  clergy 
and  choir,  and  the  music  is  of  a  primitive  order 
reminiscent  of  the  ancient  tones.  No  part-sing- 
ing even  gained  a  place  till  late  in  the  iQth 
century,  while  instrumental  music  is  still  con- 
sidered unsuitable  to  sacred  uses.  In  Russia 
things  are  practically  in  the  same  condition. 

How  the  English  Church  has  used  its  oppor- 
tunity the  following  chapters  will  attempt  to 
show.  Progress  has  not  been  uniform,  nor  has 
it  always  been  maintained  at  one  and  the  same 
time  in  all  the  departments  in  which  musical  ex- 
pression is  permissible  and  of  value.  During  the 


io6 


MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 


past  century  the  bulk  of  achievement  has  been 
great  and  fully  worthy  of  a  glorious  past.  The 
-best  of  the  older  traditions  in  conjunction  with 
the  fuller  resources  of  the  present  have  es- 
tablished a  union  of  the  practical  and  the  aesthetic 
in  ways  before  unthought  of  and  elsewhere  im- 
possible. 

How  so  desirable  a  consummation  has  been 
brought  about  and  what  factors  contributed  to 
its  successful  issue  it  will  be  now  our  business 
to  enquire. 


CHAPTER  IX 

REFORMATION  PSALMODY  AND  MODERN  HYMNODY 

THE  general  change  in  the  religious  and  social 
life  of  Western  Europe  which  is  associated  with 
the  Reformation  was  a  product  of  causes  too 
numerous  for  our  present  consideration.  Be- 
ginning among  Teutonic  peoples  in  the  revolt 
of  Luther,  and  continued  in  the  Romance  world 
by  Calvin,  its  breach  with  the  past  issued  in  the 
creation  of  new  types  of  religious  services  among 
its  several  adherents. 

Important  consequences  accrued  which  affected 
the  bearing  and  claims  of  music.  While  there 
was  a  tendency  on  some  sides  to  cling  to  older 
forms  of  worship,  there  were  equally  tendencies 
on  others  to  part  entirely  with  ancient  tradition 
and  to  reconstitute  Christian  worship  in  accord- 
ance with  individual  desires.  With  all  however 
there  was  the  general  principle  of  making  the 
form  of  worship  more  congregational.  In  Ger- 
many, and  also  in  England,  as  much  of  the  older 
form  was  maintained  as  was  consistent  with  modi- 
fications adopted  in  doctrinal  standards.  But  the 
Puritan  spirit,  manifested  first  in  Calvin  and  car- 
ried to  its  logical  conclusion  in  English  protestant 

107 


IO8  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

nonconformity,  was  essentially  iconoclastic. 
Neither  beauty  in  surroundings  nor  elaboration 
in  performance  was  permitted  in  Divine  worship. 
Music  as  an  art  fell  under  a  ban  which  is  by  no 
means  wholly  removed  even  at  the  present  time. 
It  was  a  popish,  or  at  the  best,  a  worldly  in- 
vasion of  the  sanctuary. 

Nevertheless  even  under  these  least  favourable 
conditions  a  new  element  of  progress  is  observ- 
able. An  advantage  lost  in  one  direction  was 
gained  in  another.  Popular  vocal  melody — so 
long  as  it  was  not  sung  in  parts — was  unsus- 
pected of  taint  even  by  the  most  extreme  innova- 
tors. The  Reformation  movement  therefore  on 
all  sides  witnessed  an  outburst  of  popular  re- 
ligious song  the  more  striking  as  it  had  been  so 
long  denied. 

The  growth  and  development  of  this  form  of 
religious  music,  with  its  consequences  upon 
modern  practice  is  the  subject  of  our  present 
enquiry.  It  will  lead  us  chiefly  into  consideration 
of  the  congregational  aspect  of  post-Reformation 
English  Church  worship. 

As  regards  Europe  generally,  the  part  of  the 
laity  in  the  offering  of  praise  within  the  building 
of  the  churches  became  more  restricted  as  the 
Middle  Ages  advanced.  The  chief  congrega- 
tional service  was  the  Mass,  and  its  musical  ex- 
pression demanded  an  ever  growing  expert 
knowledge,  which  was  confined  to  the  clergy  and 


REFORMATION   PSALMODY,    MODERN  HYMNODY       IOQ 

trained  singing  men.  Almost  the  only  oppor- 
tunity for  the  laity  arose  when  some  secular 
melody  disclosed  itself  as  the  cantus  firmus. 
Then  they  would  join  in  with  astonishing  vigour, 
using  the  words  of  the  secular  ditty.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  case  in  England,  and  that 
point  has  yet  to  be  discussed,  practically  the  only 
other  way  in  which  provision  was  made  for  the 
laity  was  found  in  such  curious  liturgical  mani- 
festations as  those  connected  with  the  Feast  of 
Asses,  where  liberties  were  permitted  more  as- 
tonishing than  pleasing  to  the  modern  mind. 
Oddly  enough  the  popular  sequence  in  that  ser- 
vice is  preserved  in  the  tune  generally  sung  to 
the  well-known  hymn,  "Soldiers  who  are  Christ's 
below." 

Nearly  all  great  religious  movements  have 
been  marked  by  outbursts  of  song  on  the  part  of 
the  laity.  Reformers,  orthodox  or  unorthodox, 
have  realized  its  value.  So  it  was  in  the  i6th 
century.  The  introduction  of  the  vernacular, 
whether  wholly  or  in  part  as  the  language  of  de- 
votion in  the  place  of  Latin,  gave  to  popular  song 
an  opportunity  which  it  was  not  slow  to  accept. 
The  chief  difficulty  lay  in  the  choice  of  what  to 
singf.  True,  the  Psalms  were  soon  available  in 

o  ' 

translated  form.  But  for  the  most  part  people 
could  not  read;  they  could  only  sing  something 
which  they  could  get  by  heart,  like  the  ballads  in 
use  on  secular  occasions.  With  this  they  were 


IIO  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

soon  provided.  Luther  in  Germany  hit  upon  the 
device  of  the  chorale.  The  office  was  performed 
for  Romance  protestantism  by  a  much  less  likely 
person. 

It  is  again  one  of  the  ironies  of  history  that  the 
more  extreme  forms  of  Puritanism  were  indebted 
to  a  notorious  writer  of  love  songs  for  their 
material  in  congregational  praise.  In  1542  Cle- 
ment Marot  published  fifty-two  Psalms  in  metre, 
set  to  the  music  used  for  other  purposes  at  the 
French  Court.  Despite  the  fact  that  their  source 
as  well  as  that  of  their  music  was  equally  dis- 
reputable, these  Psalms  became  immensely  popu- 
lar on  the  continent.  Calvin  adopted  them,  and 
Beza,  his  successor,  added  a  version  of  those 
remaining. 

From  this  time  onwards  the  metrical  psalm 
began  to  take  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  worship 
of  large  bodies  of  Protestants.  It  was  often  the 
merest  doggerel,  but  it  answered  a  need  and  pro- 
vided an  opportunity.  It  came  to  England  at 
the  beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign  (1559),  when 
the  exiles  of  the  reign  of  Mary  returned  from 
abroad.  It  was  Calvinism,  absorbed  in  Frank- 
fort and  Geneva,  to  which  these  refugees  were 
attached.  English  Puritanism  therefore  received 
its  song  from  French  and  not  from  Lutheran 
sources.  True,  Coverdale's  Goostly  Psalmes 
and  Spiritual le  Songes  had  introduced  a 
Lutheran  element  in  1539.  But  its  influence  was 


REFORMATION  PSALMODY,   MODERN  HYMNODY       III 

as  slight  as  its  existence.  Sternhold  and  Hop- 
kins produced  an  imitation  of  Marot  which,  set 
to  ballad  and  dance  tunes,  soon  caught  the 
popular  fancy. 

Though  deprecated  by  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities, the  popular  fancy  forced  its  will  upon 
the  actual  services  of  the  English  Church.  It 
became  necessary  to  issue  formal  license  to  per- 
mit the  singing  of  these  psalms  before  and  after 
the  ordinary  offices.  Thousands  would  assemble 
at  S.  Paul's  Cross  early  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
to  participate  in  the  new  devotions. 

The  adoption  of  such  Psalmody  within  the 
Church  was  assisted  doubtless  by  the  fact  that 
official  Church  Music  in  England  clung  to  pre- 
Reformation  ideals  of  liturgical  music.  Though 
the  English  services  were  now  in  the  vernacular, 
officially  there  was  no  attempt  to  follow  the  cus- 
toms of  continental  Protestants.  In  that  sense 
the  Reformation  settlement  in  England  was  pecu- 
liar. There  was  no  such  breach  with  Catholic 
tradition  as  occurred  upon  the  continent. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  the  official  position, 
continental  manners  asserted  themselves,  with 
the  result  that  though  the  same  Prayer  Book  was 
used,  two  distinct  types  of  service  came  into 
existence.  Where  there  were  "  quires  and  places 
where  they  sing  " — in  cathedral  and  collegiate 
churches — the  non-congregational  ideal  of  re- 
ligious music  prevailed.  "  Why  is  the  whole 


112  MUSIC    AND   RELIGION 

congregation  to  sing,"  wrote  Dr.  Charles  Burney 
(1726-1814),  "any  more  than  preach  or  read 
prayers?  It  does  not  appear  by  any  passages  of 
the  Bible  concerning  the  performance  of  the 
Psalms  that  they  were  originally  intended  to  be 
sung  by  the  whole  congregation  indiscriminately. 
Singing  implies  not  only  a  tuneable  voice,  but 
skill  in  Music:  for  Music  either  is  or  is  not  an 
Art,  or  something  which  nature  and  instinct  do 
not  supply.  Every  member  of  a  conventicle, 
however  it  may  abound  with  cordwainers  and  tay- 
lors,  would  not  pretend  to  make  a  shoe  or  a  suit 
of  cloths;  and  yet  in  our  Churches  all  are  to 
sing."* 

Such  was  the  position  in  the  i8th  century. 
Any  approach  to  congregational  music  till  within 
living  memory  was  considered  unworthy  of 
cathedral  services.  Elsewhere  in  the  parish 
church  the  liturgical  parts  of  the  service  were 
reduced  to  the  speaking  voice,  and  the  metrical 
psalm  alone  gave  opportunity  for  music — a  con- 
dition of  things  which  often  must  have  justified 
Burney 's  wise  remark.  Tunes  were  sung  in 
unison,  and  following  generally  the  continental 
practice,  all  sitting.  There  were  no  organs  in 
general  parochial  use,  though  many  of  the  more 
important  churches  had  been  provided  with  them 
since  early  days.f  Stringed  and  wind  instruments 

*  History  of  Music  iii  64  (digested), 
t    Sometimes  these  organs   were   only   small   "  portatives." 


REFORMATION   PSALMODY,  MODERN  HYMNODY       1 13 

were  those  usually  in  vogue.  When  the  religious 
fervour  which  supported  earlier  psalmody  died 
out,  the  services  in  the  ordinary  parish  churches 
became  unspeakably  dull.  The  custom  of  "  lin- 
ing out  "  each  psalm  two  lines  at  a  time,  first 
allowed  during  the  Commonwealth  period  for  the 
sake  of  the  unlearned,  must  have  been  far  from 
elevating  even  when  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  had 
given  way  to  Tate  and  Brady.* 

The  ideal  of  the  extreme  reformers,  upholding 
the  necessity  of  purely  congregational  worship, 
could  not  be  fitted  into  the  English  liturgical 
system  without  penalty.  It  was  an  ideal  im- 
possible under  ordinary  conditions,  because  it 
demanded  an  educated  laity.  It  was  met  by 
failure  all  along  the  line.  Outside  England  the 
music  of  the  reformed  communions  is  crude  and 
unsatisfying.  But  for  the  parallel  development 
in  England  of  a  more  ancient  ideal,  our  own 
Church  music  might  have  been  no  better.  It 
was  from  the  Cathedral  that  the  rescue  came 
when  the  deceptiveness  of  the  purely  congrega- 
tional ideal  had  been  laid  fully  bare. 

The  highest  ideal  of  worthip  under  ordinary 
circumstances  is  to  be  found  in  such  a  union  of 
cathedral  and  congregational  methods  as  may  be 
possible  under  any  given  circumstances.  Dr. 
Burney  wrote  at  a  time  when  educational  stan- 
dards were  not  high,  and  when  the  spiritual  bank- 

*  Authorized  by  William  III  in  Council,  1696. 


114  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

ruptcy  of  Genevan  psalmody  was  only  too  ob- 
vious. To-day  conditions  are  somewhat  altered. 
Another  popular  form  of  religious  song  has  been 
discovered  and  the  general  level  of  congrega- 
tional ability  is  such  that  far  higher  musical 
achievements  are  possible  to  it  than  was  the  case 
under  earlier  conditions.  The  last  century  has 
witnessed  the  steady  permeation  of  the  older 
parochial  type  of  service  by  cathedral  standards; 
and  it  is  becoming  much  more  generally  realized 
that  beauty  in  worship  and  inspiration  to  the  wor- 
shipper cannot  both  be  expected  if  music  is 
limited  wholly  to  the  compass  of  the  general  con- 
gregation— whether  considered  from  the  vocal, 
mental  or  aesthetic  point  of  view. 

The  way  of  escape  from  the  cut  de  sac  into 
which  metrical  psalmody  had  led  the  ordinary 
music  of  worship  was  discovered  chiefly  by  the 
Wesleys.  The  salvation  of  the  situation  lay  in 
the  re-discovery  of  the  value  and  power  of  the 
metrical  hymn. 

Why  re-discovery  ever  became  necessary  it 
seems  not  inappropriate  to  ask.  There  were  two 
chief  reasons.  Firsfof  all  there  was  the  protest- 
ant  worship  of  things  scriptural.  This  gave  the 
psalms  even  in  versified  translation  a  clear  ad- 
vantage over  other  forms  of  song.  Here  lay  the 
chief  factor  which  militated  against  the  growth 
of  natural  hymnody  within  the  sphere  of  Cal- 
vinistic  influence.  So  late  as  the  closing  decades 


REFORMATION  PSALMODY,   MODERN  HYMNODY       1 15 

of  the  1 8th  century  we  find  Romaine,  a  prominent 
leader  in  the  Evangelical  movement,  objecting 
strongly  to  hymns  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
merely  human  compositions! 

The  second  reason,  more  valid  for  the  English 

*  o 

Church  itself,  lay  in  the  failure  of  Cranmer's 
attempt  to  translate  the  old  Latin  hymns  with 
that  felicity  which  at  once  approved  his  work  on 
the  ancient  collects.  The  result  was  that  with 
the  exception  of  the  ' '  Veni  Creator  '  in  the 
Ordinal,  no  hymn  was  preserved  for  the  Prayer 
Book  services. 

This  was  a  serious  omission,  the  more  so  as  it 
left  completely  open  to  Calvinistic  psalmody  the 
place  which  it  was  fully  ready  to  arrogate  to  it- 
self. Its  actual  consequences  from  that  cause 
alone  we  have  already  seen. 

But,  beyond  that,  this  omission  was  a  danger- 
ous breach  in  tradition.  Hymnody  had  arisen  in 
the  Early  Church  from  the  necessity  of  combating 
the  influence  of  popular  heretical  songs  in  which 
it  had  become  the  fashion  of  schismatic  teachers 
to  enshrine  their  teaching.  S.  Ephraem,  S. 
Athanasius  and  S.  Chrysostom  each  employed 
the  hymn  as  a  weapon  of  Church  defence.  Their 
example  was  followed  and  the  basis  of  the  hymn 
was  broadened  by  S.  Hilary  and  S.  Ambrose  in 
the  West.  Forcing  its  way  into  the  forms  of 
worship,  as  the  metrical  psalm  did  later  on,  it 
proved  its  great  value  as  the  metrical  psalm  did 


Il6  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

not.  It  was  adopted  by  the  Benedictine  order 
and  inserted  in  the  daily  office.  Hence  the  title, 
"  office  hymn,"  by  which  many  of  the  ancient 
examples  are  still  known. 

No  lack  of  hymn  writers  of  varying  merit  is 
found  in  the  period  between  the  6th  century  and 
the  Reformation.  The  medieval  writers  like  S. 
Bernard,  Thomas  of  Celano,  and  S.  Thomas 
Aquinas  made  contributions  to  the  Liturgy  itself. 
Here  the  sequence,  developed  at  S.  Gall  from 
the  psalmodic  additions  to  the  Alleluia,  offered 
an  appropriate  field.  Two  well-known  hymns, 
"  Come  thou  Holy  Spirit,  come  "  and  "  Now 
my  tongue  the  mystery  telling,"  were  written  for 
the  sequence  by  King  Robert  of  France  and  S. 
Thomas  Aquinas  respectively. 

All  this  wonderful  development  was  lost  to  the 
English  Church  at  the  Reformation,  the  hymn 
disappearing  as  an  integral  part  of  public  worship 
everywhere  except  in  the  Universities,  where 
Latin  liturgical  forms  were  still  allowed.  The 
Prayer  Book  gave  its  benediction  to  the  non- 
congregational  anthem,  and  there  it  was  forced 
to  stay.  An  attempt  was  made  in  1623  by  George 
Wither  to  re-introduce  the  ancient  practice.  His 
Hymns  and  Songs  of  the  Church,  set  to  music 
by  Orlando  Gibbons,  excited  the  discerning  ad- 
miration of  King  James.  Jealousy  however  on 
the  part  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  which  was 
interested  in  the  printing  of  the  Metrical  Psalms, 


REFORMATION   PSALMODY,    MODERN  HYMNODY       I  I/ 

ruined  this  laudable  adventure.  Even  to-day 
hymnody  as  such  has  no  regularized  position. 
The  attempt  of  Cotterell  to  introduce  hymns  at 
Sheffield  in  the  year  1819  led  to  a  suit  in  the 
Archbishop's  Court.  Much  later  still  the  prac- 
tice of  Bishop  King  at  Lincoln  was  one  upon 
which  Archbishop  Benson  had  to  sit  in  judgment. 

It  was  not  till  the  opening  years  of  the  i8th 
century  that  the  hymn  began  to  find  a  vogue. 
Later  in  the  i/th  century  Bishop  Ken  had 
written  his  Morning,  Evening,  and  Midnight 
Hymns,  but  these  were  simply  for  academic  use 
at  Winchester.  The  first  really  great  English 
writer  was  Dr.  Watts,  a  prominent  nonconformist 
divine.  In  his  hands  the  hymn  began  to  show 
possibilities  undiscovered  in  the  Latin  metrical 
hymn.  The  difference  is-  not  easy  to  define,  but 
it  is  obvious  by  actual  comparison.  The  new 
hymn  is  more  emotional  and  less  majestic.  It  is 
at  once  an  outlet  and  a  support  for  spiritual  fer- 
vour. 

The  Methodist  movement  took  up  the  new  dis- 
covery. John  Wesley,  following  Wither's 
example,  had  issued  a  Church  hymn  book  in 
1737,  before  the  work  for  which  he  is  specially 
famous  was  begun.  It  had  but  little  circulation, 
but  it  shews  that  he  had  realized  the  potentialities 
of  the  new  auxiliary  to  worship.  The  success  of 
Methodism  must  be  largely  attributed  to  the 
adoption  of  a  medium  through  which  it  was  able 


Il8  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

to  keep  alive  in  the  popular  mind  the  evangelical 
message  of  the  preacher. 

The  slowness  of  the  Church  in  realizing  the 
importance  of  the  hymn  is  easily  accounted  for. 
There  was  at  the  time  a  strong  dislike  in  clerical 
circles  to  "  enthusiasm,"  as  the  religious  pro- 
duct of  Methodism  was  styled.  This  was  not  all 
mere  prejudice.  Anyone  who  has  read  Lecky's 
account  of  the  revival  will  have  to  admit  that 
elements  of  justification  for  such  an  attitude  were 
not  wanting.  There  was  further  a  natural  re- 
luctance to  embrace  a  usage  originating  and 
fostered  largely  within  the  circle  of  noncon- 
formity. Many  of  the  hymns  which  came  into 
being  during  the  century  would  not  have  cor- 
responded with  the  doctrinal  standards  of  the 
Church,  though  of  course  there  was  a  residuum 
of  outstanding  merit  having  no  such  disadvan- 
tage. Many  such  are  in  use  within  the  Church 
to-day. 

Though  Dr.  Porteus,  Bishop  of  London,  de- 
clared in  1790  that  "  Psalmody  is  now  almost 
totally  useless 'in  the  Church  of  England,"  the 
custom  still  held  good  till  well  on  into  the  last 
century.  High  Churchmen  seem  to  have  been 
particularly  averse  to  any  change;  the  only  ap- 
proaches made  to  nonconformist  practice  being 
made  by  individual  Evangelical  clergy. 

With  the  Oxford  movement  however  a  school 
of  hymnologists  began  to  grow  up  within  the 


REFORMATION  PSALMODY,   MODERN  HYMNODY       1 19 

Church.  It  was  the  inevitable  consequence  of 
fresh  study  of  ancient  models  of  worship  and  new 
appreciation  of  their  value.  Felicitous  transla- 
tions of  ancient  Greek  and  Latin  hymns  were 
supported  by  original  compositions  which  can 
hold  their  place  with  any  hymns  of  the  past,  of 
whatever  origin.  At  the  same  time  a  new  school 
of  Church  musicians  arose  foremost  among  whom 
perhaps  we  should  set  Sir  John  Goss.  A  union 
of  words  and  music  became  possible  which  was 
worthy  of  the  service  of  the  Church.  With  the 
hymn  music  of  the  i8th  century  no  such  con- 
summation would  have  been  possible.  That  had 
a  florid  character  of  its  own  which  has  de- 
generated into  the  musical  jargon  of  latter  day 
revivalists. 

Thus  Anglican  congregations  have  been  given 
opportunities  of  a  fuller  kind  than  heretofore  for 
adding  their  quota  to  public  worship,  while 
through  the  training  in  musical  appreciation 
given  in  hymn  tunes  the  way  has  been  opened 
to  more  complete  appreciation  of  the  meaning 
and  power  of  musical  expression.  It  is  hardly 
too  much  to  say  that  the  Church  at  large  in  Eng- 
land has  been  led  through  the  mediation  of  ec- 
clesiastical hymnody  to  rediscover  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  older  musical  tradition. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  there  have  been  no  mis- 
takes. Popular  taste  has  been  and  often  still 
remains  vitiated.  The  music  of  many  individual 


I2O  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

composers  famous  in  their  day  is  far  from  satis- 
fying the  more  exacting  modern  canons.  Pur- 
suit of  sentimentality  has  occasionally  gone  too 
far.  Sweetness  at  the  expense  of  sense  has  often 
been  aimed  at  and  achieved.  But  that  makes  but 
little  difference  to  the  main  line  of  argument. 
However  glaring  the  faults  of  this  or  that 
hymnologist,  through  hymnody  the  English 
Church  has  been  able  to  make  perfect  the  oppor- 
tunity of  music  in  religious  practice;  through 
hymnody  English  churchfolk  have  been  led  to 
realize  the  priceless  value  of  their  possession. 


CHAPTER  X 

MAIN  LINES    OF   ENGLISH  PROGRESS 

AT  this  point  it  might  be  considered  that  our  sur- 
vey was  complete,  and  that  (in  view  of  the  data 
now  collected)  the  time  had  come  to  attempt  the 
analysis  of  the  actual  function  of  Music  in  Re- 
ligion. Nevertheless  there  still  remains  some- 
thing to  be  done.  "  Long  before  the  works  and 
reputation  of  Palestrina  had  circulated  through- 
out Europe,"  writes  Dr.  Burney,  '  we  had 
Choral  Music  of  our  own,  which  for  gravity  of 
style,  purity  of  harmony,  ingenuity  of  design, 
and  clear  and  masterly  contexture,  was  equal  to 
the  best  productions  of  that  truly  venerable 
master."* 

Both  scientific  and  patriotic  motives  combine 
in  compelling  a  consideration  of  the  development 
of  that  ecclesiastic  music  in  England  which,  with 
the  post  Reformation  uses  just  discussed,  has 
given  us  the  actual  treasure  of  to-day.  English 
religious  history  naturally  has  many  points  in 
common  with  that  of  the  rest  of  western  Christen- 
dom, more  particularly  during  the  last  thousand 
years.  But  here  has  been  no  absolute  uniformity 

*   History  of  Music   iii  76. 

121  n 


122  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

of  tradition,  and  as  far  as  music  is  concerned, 
even  since  the  Norman  Conquest,  development 
has  by  no  means  been  limited  to  imitation — as 
some  have  imagined  and  some  still  aver. 

We  must  start  first  with  origins,  and  then  fol- 
low that  development  subsequent  to  the  close  of 
the  Middle  Ages  which  persisted  in  the  official 
standards  of  the  Church  despite  popular  accept- 
ance of  different  ideals. 

The  nature  of  the  music  of  Celtic  Christianity 
has  been  observed  already.  The  British  Church, 
as  an  organized  ecclesiastical  society,  grew  up 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  2nd  century.  It  was 
founded  probably  by  missionaries  from  Gaul,  and 
Gallican  influences  prevailed  until  Britain  was 
cut  off  from  its  neighbours  by  the  Saxon  inva- 
sions of  the  5th  century.  These  invasions,  by 
driving  the  British  westward  re-inforced  the 
Christianity  already  existing  in  Wales,  as  well 
as  that  which  was  in  its  infancy  in  Ireland. 

There  would  have  been  time  before  the  actual 
severance  from,  Gaul  came  about  to  have  absorbed 
elements  of  Ambrosian  practice,  though  not 
impossibly  native  music  had  chief  influence  and 
place.  At  a  date  subsequent  to  the  mission  of 
S.  Augustine  to  the  English  (597),  Christian 
music  in  Ireland  was  based  on  pre-Christian 
melodies.  Even  after  the  fashion  of  plain  song 
had  spread  across  to  Ireland,  the  influence  of 
native  music  continued  very  clearly  marked. 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  123 

It  is  extremely  probable  therefore  that  the  con- 
tention as  to  the  position  of  native  music  is  true 
with  regard  to  Britain  proper.  The  probability 
is  strengthened  by  the  information  which  comes 
to  us  from  Giraldus  Cambrensis.  Giraldus  wrote 
in  the  I2th  century,  but  in  view  of  the  passionate 
loyalty  with  which  the  British  in  Wales  clung  to 
their  institutions  in  face  of  Saxon  pressure,  his 
information  is  as  likely  to  be  correct  for  the  5th 
century  also.  The  music  of  that  day  was  sung 
in  parts  in  a  natural  harmony  and  in  a  minor 
key,  and  was  accompanied  by  harp,  crwth,  and 
pipe.  The  significance  of  this  information  will 
appear  as  we  continue. 

With  regard  to  the  English  Church  proper,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  it  was  the  product  of 
evangelization  taken  up  by  representatives  of  the 
ancient  Christianity  of  these  islands  as  well  as 
by  those  sent  by  Gregory  from  Rome.  The 
actual  influence  of  the  continental  missionaries 
was  strongest  in  Kent,  though  it  had  some 
vitality  north  of  the  Plumber.  Elsewhere  the 
work  was  carried  out  almost  entirely  by  Celtic 
missionaries.  It  is  true  that  Wessex  was  con- 
verted by  a  missionary  with  commission  from 
Rome.  But  his  name,  Birinus  (Byrne),  is  only 
too  significant  of  his  origin. 

With  the  Roman  mission  the  Gregorian  system 
of  music  naturally  came  in.  Outside  Rome, 
England  was  probably  the  first  country  to  give 


124  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

it  a  home.  Nevertheless  despite  the  influence 
of  the  famous  schools*  of  Canterbury  and  York, 
other  tendencies  found  a  place  in  England  as 
they  did  abroad  during  the  period  preceding  the 
reign  of  Charlemagne.  The  newly-introduced 
foreign  prelates  at  the  Norman  Conquest  found 
much  to  take  exception  to  in  English  Church 
music.  It  must  have  differed  considerably  from 
the  Gregorian  type  which  they  employed.  Other- 
wise it  is  difficult  to  understand  the  action  of  the 
Norman  Abbot  of  Glastonbury  who  summoned 
archers  to  shoot  down  the  English  monks  at 
their  altar  because  of  their  refusal  to  change  their 
style  of  music! 

Apart  from  the  undoubted  influences  flowing 
from  early  Celtic  sources,  the  Gregorian  system 
was  broken  in  upon  at  the  close  of  the  gth  cen- 
tury. The  Danish  invasions  had  played  havoc 
with  the  Church.  Abbeys  and  monasteries  had 
been  destroyed  and  with  them  a  vast  quantity  of 
materials  of  learning.  In  consequence  the  clergy 
were  soon  reduced  to  a  pitiable  state  of  ignorance 
which  was  only  mended  in  the  work  of  recon- 
struction undertaken  by  Alfred  after  the  Peace 
of  Wedmore  (878,  A.D.).  Alfred  re-established 
schools  of  learning,  in  which  musical  instruction 
naturally  found  a  place.  As  there  were  hardly 

*  In  668  Pope  Vitalian  had  sent  Roman  singers  to  Kent,  where 
Theodore  of  Tarsus  had  just  established  the  School  of  Canter- 
bury. In  680  Pope  Agatho  sent  John,  Precentor  of  S.  Peter's  to 
Northumbria. 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  125 

any  priests  left  in  England  who  could  read  a 
page  of  Latin,  instructors  had  to  be  found  else- 
where. So  it  fell  out  that  Alfred's  chief  assistant 
was  a  Welsh  churchman,  Asser,  who  became  his 
biographer.  Music  was  entrusted  to  another 
Celt,  John  of  S.  Davids.  Here  alone  lay  a  suffi- 
cient cause  for  any  subsequent  falling  away  from 
pure  Gregorian  standards. 

The  North  was  of  course  largely  heathen. 
The  Danes  were  conquered  as  well  as  converted 
from  Wessex.  How  far  they  accepted  southern 
musical  standards  must  be  a  matter  of  conjecture. 
It  has  been  held  that  they  had  musical  standards 
of  their  own,  through  which  they  made  their  own 
contribution  to  the  general  musical  development 
in  England.  After  having  dealt  with  Welsh 
music,  Giraldus  found  himself  impelled  to  add: 
"  In  the  northern  parts  of  Britain  beyond  the 
Humber  and  on  the  borders  of  Yorkshire,  the 
inhabitants  make  use  of  similar  symphonious 
harmony  in  singing,  but  with  only  two  differences 
of  tone  and  voice,  the  one  murmuring  the  under- 
part,  the  other  singing  the  upper  in  a  manner 
equally  soft  and  pleasing.  This  they  do  not  so 
much  by  art  as  by  a  habit  peculiar  to  themselves 
which  long  practice  has  made  almost  natural. 
This  method  of  singing  has  taken  such  deep  root 
among  this  people  that  hardly  any  melody  is  ac- 
customed to  be  uttered  simply.  But  as  not  all 
the  English  but  only  those  of  the  north  sing  in 


126  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

this  manner,  I  believe  they  had  this  art  at  first 
like  their  language  from  the  Danes  and  North- 
men who  formerly  occupied  those  parts  of  the 
island."* 

Whether  this  conjecture  of  Giraldus  is  correct 
it  is  difficult  to  determine.  We  have  also  to 
reckon  with  earlier  British  influences  in  the  north. 
It  can  hardly  be  without  significance  that  the 
British  kingdom  of  Loidis  (Leeds)  maintained 
itself  for  a  considerable  time  after  the  earlier 
English  invasions,  and  that  it  covered  practically 
the  same  territory  as  that  in  which  a  natural  sense 
of  harmony  is  found  best  developed  even  to-day. 

After  the  Norman  Conquest  official  ecclesias- 
tical music  was  forced  more  into  line  with  the 
fashion  on  the  Continent  where,  in  Northern 
France,  great  advances  were  being  made.  The 
English  Liturgy  also  came  more  into  line  with 
the  Roman  uses  But  with  the  loss  of  possessions 
in  Northern  France,  English  interests  gradually 
became  more  insular  and  independent.  English 
music  therefore  found  freer  scope  for  develop- 
ment, though  absolute  independence  of  external 
influence  could  not  be  expected  with  the  cor- 
respondence which  was  maintained  between 
scholars  through  the  medium  of  the  growing 
Universities.  England  produced  its  own  au- 
thorities however  in  the  sphere  of  musical  theory. 
From  William  Odington  (died  1250)  onwards, 

*  Cambriac  Descriptio,   cxiii. 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH  PROGRESS  127 

several  of  them  played  a  considerable  part  in  that 
technical  development  in  which  the  Middle  Ages 
gave  their  contribution  to  general  progress.  Not 
impossibly  when  the  matter  comes  to  be  under- 
stood fully,  it  will  be  found  that  Englishmen 
should  have  the  credit  for  musical  advances,  in 
the  past  generally  attributed  to  the  schools  of 
the  Continent.  John  Dunstable  (died  1453), 
undoubtedly  a  great  contributor  to  musical  art, 
was  in  all  probability  the  originator  of  the 
Flemish  School  of  Dufay. 

We  have  to  reckon  with  a  remarkable  piece 
of  evidence,  overlooked  by  such  writers  as 
Naumann,  which  seems  to  point  to  a  clear 
superiority  of  English  national  talent  as  well  as 
to  imply  a  possible  divergence  in  ecclesiastical 
use.  This  is  found  in  the  remarkable  canon, 
Sumer  is  icumen  in,  written  in  six  parts,  which 
has  been  found  in  a  manuscript  dating  from  1220. 
It  points  to  an  emergence  of  harmony  at  a  date 
far  earlier  than  is  known  elsewhere,  while  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  set  to  a  simple  Latin  hymn  as 
well  as  to  the  secular  verses,  we  may  conjecture 
an  early  use  of  popular  harmony  in  the  service 
of  the  Church. 

That  such  compositions  did  not  stand  alone  is 
clear  from  other  examples  preserved  in  the  same 
manuscript.  But  for  the  wilful  destruction  that 
accompanied  the  Dissolution  of  the  Monasteries 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  much  greater  wealth 


128  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

of  documentary  evidence  might  have  been  found. 
But  further  examples  somewhat  later  in  date 
and  set  to  English,  Latin  and  French  are  still 
preserved.* 

Indications  of  coming  possibilities  are  found 
in  the  i4th  century  among  Wicklif's  followers, 
who,  like  reformers  before  and  since,  popu- 
larized their  message  through  the  medium  of 
song.  Hence  their  popular  nickname  of  Lollards. 
Otherwise  the  I4th  century  has  little  to  show  in 
musical  advance.  In  the  beginning  of  the  next 
century  things  are  very  different.  Side  by  side 
with  the  work  of  John  Dunstable,  some  fifty  of 
whose  compositions  have  been  recovered,  we 
have  examples  of  the  work  of  more  than  a  score 
of  English  composers,  chief  among  whom  was 
Lionel  Power. 

The  Wars  of  the  Roses  forbad  further  pro- 
gress. But  immediately  they  reached  a  conclu- 
sion, music  again  is  found  asserting  its  claims. 
The  Tudor  age  is  famous  for  its  song.  Be- 
ginning with  the  work  of  Robert  Fairfax,  organist 
of  S.  Alban's  Abbey,  music  both  secular  and 
sacred,  reaches  a  high  pitch  of  development  and 
wins  its  way  to  a  position  of  importance  hardly 
realized  in  the  subsequent  life  of  the  nation. 

In  view  of  this  evidence,  slight  as  it  may  seem, 
we  can  scarcely  doubt  that  music  took  a  living 
place  in  medieval  English  church  life.  The  ten- 

*   Given  in   Early   English  Harmony,    1897. 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  129 

dency  until  within  recent  times  was  to  consider 
English  music  but  a  pale  reflection  of  that  which 
obtained  abroad;  confined  to  liturgical  chant- 
ing, where  it  was  not  purely  academic  in  char 
acter.  Modern  research  has  shattered  that 
conception.  Technical  music  found  its  place  in 
the  degree  courses  of  the  Universities  where  the 
majority  of  the  clergy  were  trained.  But  these 
typically  English  institutions  did  more  for  music 
than  that.  They  gave  to  the  English  clergy  a 
wideness  of  outlook  not  so  fully  realized  abroad. 
That  in  itself  was  a  great  gain. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  taken  for 
granted  that  popular  or  congregational  music 
ever  found  any  considerable  place  in  the  actual 
services  during  the  medieval  period.  Neverthe- 
less it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  many  re- 
latively modern  departures  have  roots  stretching 
far  back  into  the  past.  It  may  be  therefore  that 
English  folk  had  larger  opportunities  within  the 
walls  of  their  churches  than  has  been  admitted 
hitherto.  The  written  evidence  of  liturgical  forms 
is  never  a  full  criterion  of  actual  custom;  even 
Law  is  not.  Legally  the  English  secular  clergy 
could  not  be  married  between  the  reigns  of  Henry 
I  and  Henry  VIII;  actually  large  numbers  al- 
ways were.  The  future  liturgiologist  who  can 
decipher  the  actual  condition  of  Church  worship 
to-day  from  the  Prayer  Book  will  need  to  be 
endowed  with  insight  more  than  human. 


I3O  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

There  we  must  leave  the  question,  with  a  bias 
towards  the  more  attractive  theory.  But  there 
is  another  kindred  problem  which  is  possibly 
interconnected.  What  about  instruments?  Or- 
gans were  in  use  in  England  at  an  earlier  date 
than  on  the  continent,  except  perhaps  in  Spain. 
Did  other  instruments  play  a  part  in  worship, 
or  did  they  come  in  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
from  the  secular  region  to  accompany  music  taken 
from  secular  associations?  That  depictions  of 
many  types  of  medieval  instruments  may  be 
found  in  minstrel  galleries  and  choirs  in  ancient 
churches  is  no  proof  of  their  use  within  the 
church  itself.  But  there  seems  to  be  evidence 
as  far  back  as  the  I2th  century  of  cymbals,  pipes 
and  cornets — or  their  medieval  representatives 
being  used  in  Yorkshire  in  addition  to  organs.* 
Cymbals  may  have  been  bells,  which  are  again 
mentioned  in  1450  with  organs  and  clarions. 
John  Evelyn,  writing  in  i662,f  complains  of  the 
introduction  of  a  concert  of  violins  in  place  of 
the  ancient  grave  and  solemn  wind  music  accom- 
panying the  organ.  '  We  no  more  hear  the 
cornet  which  gave  life  to  the  organ;  that  instru- 
ment is  quite  left  off,  in  which  the  English  were 
so  skilful." 

Evelyn  is  hardly  the  man  to  write  of  a  custom 
being  ancient  which  was  not  yet  above  a  century 

*   Speculum  Caritatis  by  Ethelred  of  Rievaulx. 
t  Diary  of  John    Evelyn. 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  131 

old.  It  may  therefore  be  that  the  instrumental 
music  common  within  living  memory  in  many  of 
our  parish  churches  goes  back  for  its  origin  to 
very  primitive  custom. 

In  England  the  breach  with  Rome  preceded 
by  a  considerable  interval  any  general  change 
in  the  Church's  services.  The  introduction  of 
the  Litany  in  English  by  Archbishop  Cranmer 
(1544)  was  the  first  indication  of  how  things 
might  possibly  go.  With  but  slight  changes  in 
words  and  setting,  it  is  the  Litany  used  through- 
out the  English  Church  to-day.  Apart  from 
this  advance  the  music  of  the  reign  was  written 
for  the  Latin  services,  Fairfax,  Taverner,  Mer- 
beck,  Sheppard,  and  Tye  being  the  outstanding 
contributors.  Henry  VIII  himself  can  claim 
some  skill  in  composition,  though  we  may  not 
attribute  to  him  all  that  was  once  allowed. 

Vernacular  services  came  with  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  Almost  without  exception,  those 
who  had  composed  for  the  Latin  forms  gave 
equal  diligence  to  fulfil  the  new  needs.  This 
fact  will  occasion  little  surprise  to  those  familiar 
with  the  general  character  of  the  English  reform 
movement.  Just  as  the  great  body  of  the  clergy 
accepted  the  changes  as  they  came — from  Latin 
to  English  under  Edward,  back  to  Latin  again 
under  Mary,  and  finally  to  English  with  Eliza- 
beth— so  the  musicians  accommodated  them- 
selves to  each  transition.  Taverner,  Merbeck, 


132  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

Sheppard,  Tye  and  Tallis,  all  left  examples  of 
Prayer  Book  compositions. 

In  1550  Merbeck  produced  '  The  Booke  of 
Common  Praier  noted,"  and  thereby  largely  de- 
termined the  subsequent  development  of  English 
Church  music.  The  inflections  in  the  priest's 
part  and  the  responses  of  the  congregation  in 
the  daily  offices  were  practically  the  same  as 
those  normally  in  use  to-day.  Merbeck's  most 
striking  contribution  however  was  in  the  music 
of  the  Eucharist.  It  has  well  been  said  that  had 
he  left  nothing  but  his  setting  of  the  Creed  he 
would  have  been  a  benefactor  to  his  Church  and 
country. 

The  medium  used  by  all  these  composers  was 
simple  Plainsong.  They  found  considerable 
difficulty  in  accommodating  the  older  tones  to  the 
new  language.  This  was  surmounted,  and  plain 
song  settings  were  the  custom,  and  alone  had 
real  sanction  until  the  latter  part  of  the  1 7th  cen- 
tury. 

In  the  work  of  Tye  and  Tallis  a  beginning  is 
found  of  that 'characteristic  feature  of  the  full 
Prayer  Book  service — the  Anthem.  A  develop- 
ment of  the  older  motet  popularized  by  Des  Pres,  / 
it  was  akin  to  the  Madrigal,  so  popular  in  the 
secular  sphere. 

Queen  Elizabeth's  Prayer  Book  differed  slight- 
ly from  that  which  Merbeck  had  noted  in  her 
brother's  reign.  Harmonized  settings  making 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  133 

large  use  of  his  melodies  were  provided  in  the 
year  after  its  issue  by  the  most  distinguished 
musicians  of  the  day.  The  work  of  Tallis  is  best 
known  from  his  harmonies — still  well  nigh  uni- 
versally used — for  the  Responses  and  the  Litany. 
They  lent  that  richness  and  dignity  to  the  ser- 
vices concerned  which  a  careful  posterity  has  pre- 
served. 

Considerations  of  space  and  proportion  forbid 
any  extensive  treatment  of  the  wonderful  period 
that  followed — the  formative  period  of  purely 
English  music.  It  was  an  age  of  great  things — 
of  great  soldiers  and  sailors,  writers  and 
dramatists.  Never  in  English  history  do  we  find 
such  a  galaxy  of  great  names — Drake  and 
Raleigh,  Bacon  and  Shakespere.  Music  did  not 
dally  behind.  We  find  Byrde  and  Farrant  and 
Bull,  and  as  outstanding  in  his  own  sphere  as 
Shakespere  among  dramatists,  the  English 
Palestrina,  Orlando  Gibbons. 

This  great  advance  was  not  made  without  op- 
position. The  Puritan  party  throughout  Eliza- 
beth's reign  strove  to  degrade  Church  worship 
to  their  own  standard.  With  vestments  and 
ritual,  music  had  to  share  the  obloquy  which  the 
violence  of  partisanship  was  not  slow  to  devise. 
The  organ,  with  its  special  ecclesiastical  connec- 
tion, was  a  chief  object  of  attack.  Antiphonal 
singing  also  called  forth  wrath.  Matters  reached 
a  climax  in  the  Civil  War  when  the  iconoclastic 


134  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

spirit  had  full  scope.  The  organs  were  removed 
from  all  the  churches,  and  the  liturgy  was 
silenced  for  twelve  years.  It  was  a  melancholy 
interlude. 

Gibbons  died  early  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 
Through  all  this  reign  the  Elizabethan  tradition 
was  being  extended  and  consolidated  in  the  fa- 
vourable environment  of  a  High  Church  revival. 
The  hiatus  created  by  the  Commonwealth  only 
accentuated  the  triumphs  which  were  to  come. 

The  Restoration  period,  which  began  in  1660, 
is  characterized  by  tew  glories  and  by  many  in- 
famies. A  reaction  followed  the  Commonwealth, 
as  was  indeed  inevitable.  Puritanism  pure  and 
simple  is  so  out  of  accord  with  the  teaching  of 
nature,  and  is  based  on  a  conception  of  the  uni- 
verse so  utterly  alien  to  its  true  spirit,  that  it 
always  achieves  its  own  overthrow — and  often- 
times much  more  than  that.  Its  consequences 
are  often  more  distressing  than  its  self-destruc- 
tion. 

Of  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  Restoration 
the  less  said  the  better.  Such  chronicles  as  the 
diary  of  Samuel  Pepys  show  how  quickly  com- 
pulsory narrowness  of  outlook  became  voluntary 
laxity  of  conduct.  But  this  same  diary  bears 
witness  to  the  strength  of  another  reaction,  a  re- 
action wherein  lies  the  only  glory  of  the  age. 
We  find  Pepys  full  of  a  fresh  delight  in  music. 
He  describes  the  sensations  which  it  produces  in 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH  PROGRESS  135 

him.  He  gads  about  from  place  to  place  to  hear 
it,  and  he  fills  his  house  with  a  great  litter  of 
instruments. 

And  this  attitude  was  characteristic  of  a  genera- 
tion which  had  grown  to  manhood  without  music. 
Music  provoked  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Within 
the  religious  sphere  the  concord  of  sweet  sounds 
was  as  welcome  as  in  drama  and  in  dance.  Opera 
also  saw  the  light  in  obedience  to  the  mandate 
of  those  foreign  fashions  which  had  grown  pop- 
ular with  the  returning  exiles. 

But  it  is  in  Church  music  that  the  most  en- 
during achievements  are  found.  It  was  the  age 
of  Henry  Purcell,  and  the  magic  of  the  name  of 
Purcell  still  exercises  its  old  charm.  The  verdict 
of  to-day  is  no  less  emphatic  than  that  of  his 
own  generation.  Yet  he  was  only  one  among  a 
number  of  outstanding  figures.  We  read  in 
Pepys  (Nov.  22,  1663)  how  the  diarist  heard  a 
good  anthem  made  for  five  voices  by  one  of  Cap- 
tain Cooke's  boys,  "  and  they  say  there  are  four 
or  five  of  them  who  can  do  as  much."  Those 
boys  left  each  of  them  his  mark. 

Cooke  was  an  old  royalist  musician  whom 
Charles  II  put  in  charge  of  the  music  of  the 
Chapel  Royal.  Wise,  Humfrey  and  Blow  were 
all  among  his  pupils,  Purcell  himself  being  a 
decade  younger  and  pupil  in  turr  of  Humfrey 
and  of  Blow.  Despite  the  difficulties  caused  by 
a  situation  described  by  Dr.  Burney  as  ' '  ten 


136  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

years  of  gloomy  silence  before  a  string  was  suf- 
fered to  vibrate,  or  a  pipe  breathe  aloud,  in  the 
kingdom  " — partly  perhaps  because  of  these  diffi- 
culties a  great  school  of  music  was  in  process  of 
being  set  up,  uniting  with  the  contribution  of  the 
past  fresh  elements  of  distinction  and  beauty.  A 
natural  comity  is  found  between  Tallis  and  Gib- 
bons and  Purcell.  Yet  each  has  points  of 
difference  from  the  other,  and  Purcell's  is  the 
difference  most  marked. 

For  the  Restoration  in  restoring  tradition  had 
broken  it.  New  influences  prevailed.  Charles  II's 
predilection  was  for  the  lighter  forms  of  music, 
and  particularly  for  those  orchestral  forms,  which 
then  prevailed  in  France.  Humfrey  was  sent  to 
Paris  to  study  Lully's  method.  His  success  is 
seen  in  the  measure  of  change  which  was  intro- 
duced into  the  older  and  more  severe  forms.  The 
nature  of  the  change  is  best  described  in  the 
words  of  Dr.  Hullah:*  "  In  place  of  the  over- 
lapping phrases  of  the  old  masters,  we  have 
masses  of  harmony  subordinated  to  one  rhyth- 
mical idea;  in'place  of  sustained  and  lofty  flights 
we  have  shorter  and  more  timorous  ones,  these 
even  relieved  by  frequent  halts  and  frequent  di- 
vergencies; and  in  lieu  of  repetition  of  a  few 
passages  under  different  circumstances,  a  con- 
tinually varying  adaptation  of  music  to  changing 
sentiment  of  words,  and  the  most  fastidious  ob- 
servance of  their  emphasis  and  quantity." 

*  Quoted  in  Barrett's  English  Church  Composers,   p.   96. 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  137 

In  the  new  school  Purcell  was  an  apt  pupil, 
though  he  shows  signs  of  Italian  influence.  His 
actual  contribution  seems  to  be  summed  up  best 
in  the  words  of  his  epitaph:  "  Who  left  this  Life 
and  is  gone  to  that  Blessed  Place  where  only 
his  Harmony  can  be  exceeded."  His  death  in 
his  thirty-eighth  year  was  a  great  disaster  for 
English  music,  since  it  made  the  more  easy  that 
unfortunate  perversion  of  Church  music  which  is 
associated  with  the  name  of  Handel.  Croft  and 
Boyce  continued  the  older  English  traditions  till 
the  middle  of  the  following  century.  But  in  the 
end  the  artificial  foreign  production  prevailed  to 
the  confusion  of  religion  as  well  as  of  music. 

But  the  Restoration  period  had  left  an  indelible 
mark  upon  English  development.  The  older 
plain  song  chant  melted  into  that  form  which  to- 
day is  considered  so  typically  Anglican  that 
adoption  of  the  older  ways  to  some  minds  savours 
of  disloyalty.  The  transition  was  not  unnatural. 
It  was  thought  to  be  a  useful  accommodation  to 
the  needs  of  congregational  singing,  particularly 
as  the  melody,  which  in  earlier  plain  song  days 
was  the  tenor,  was  now  removed  to  the  soprano 
—a  practice  probably  originating  with  Palestrina. 
In  its  actual  consequences  the  new  fashion, 
though  still  most  popular,  has  hardly  maintained 
that  pitch  of  religious  feeling  which  characterized 
the  older  music. 

The  other  special  contribution  of  the  Restora- 

10 


138  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

tion  was  the  developed  Verse  Anthem,  begun  by 
Gibbons  and  perfected  by  Purcell.  Here  was 
found  opportunity  for  the  introduction  of  sym- 
phonic orchestral  music  such  as  was  invading  the 
Mass  abroad.  But  the  tone  was  far  more  sober 
and  the  expression  more  restrained. 

Regrettable  as  was  the  secularization  of  Eng- 
lish Church  music  during  the  great  part  of  the 
1 8th  century,  its  effect  for  the  future  was  largely 
neutralized  by  the  compilation  by  Boyce  of  the 
best  examples  of  English  sacred  music  during  the 
two  preceding  centuries.  Material  was  thereby 
ready  to  hand  when  the  times  of  refreshing  drew 
near  once  more. 

Between  Boyce  and  the  revival  of  the  igth 
century,  links  are  found  in  John  Wesley's 
nephew,  Samuel  Wesley,  and  Thomas  Attwood. 
The  contribution  of  the  former  in  forcing  into 
public  notice  the  work  of  J.  S.  Bach  has  been 
noticed  already.  The  latter,  a  contemporary  also 
of  Mozart  and  of  Mendelssohn,  made  no  little 
mark  through  his  pupils.  It  was  in  Attwood's 
pupil,  John  Gbss,  and  Wesley's  even  greater  son 
that  the  revival  of  true  religious  standards  in 
music  found  its  earliest  and  most  adequate  ex- 
pression. Other  figures  of  distinction  of  course 
there  were — Clarke- Whitfield  and  Crotch.  But 
they,  like  Attwood  and  the  elder  Wesley,  belong 
rather  to  the  twilight  than  the  dawn. 

Such  in  outline  is  the  history  of  sixteen  cen- 


MAIN  LINES  OF  ENGLISH   PROGRESS  139 

turies  of  English  religious  music,  from  the 
earliest  days  till  union  was  effected  with  the 
musical  by-products  of  the  Reformation.  That 
the  union  has  produced  all  that  can  be  desired 
and  nothing  that  has  to  be  deplored  is  the  last 
thing  that  any  thinking  person  would  care  to 
claim  for  it.  Prolific  offspring  gives  many  host- 
ages to  fortune.  But  that  the  total  effect  has 
been  to  raise  the  general  standard  of  religious 
aspiration  and  expression  in  ways  not  possible 
elsewhere  in  Christendom  it  would  be  idle  to 
deny.  Progress  is  still  being  made  and  the 
promise  of  the  future  is  no  uncertain  one. 


CHAPTER  XI 

RELIGIOUS   FUNCTIONS    OF    MUSIC 

To  understand  in  any  fulness  the  actual  function 
of  Music  within  the  sphere  of  Religion,  it  is 
necessary  to  be  quite  clear  as  to  all  that  the 
term  Religion  connotes.  Sometimes  it  is  used 
to  suggest  less  than  the  whole  that  it  implies. 
Sometimes  it  is  held  to  imply  even  more.  By 
one  Religion  is  thought  to  imply  little  that  is 
specific;  by  another  it  is  narrowed  down  to  very 
precise  terms  indeed. 

We  have  considered  already  the  origins  of  the 
phenomenon.  We  saw  that  it  was  in  essence  a 
response  to  environment  universally  present  in 
humanity,  since  it  was  an  inevitable  concomitant 
of  the  self-conscious  state.  It  arose  from  the 
sense  of  dependence  wedded  to  that  of  wonder. 
It  is  a  consciousness  developed  through  emo- 
tional channels,  and  as  the  human  race  pro- 
gresses, sustained  and  conserved  by  moral  and 
intellectual  sanctions. 

Religious  consciousness  and  its  expression  in 
worship  must  always  have  gone  hand  in  hand. 
For  practical  purposes  they  are  well  nigh  in- 
separable. To  the  popular  mind,  to  be  religious 

demands  regularity  in  acts  of  devotion.       The 

140 


RELIGIOUS    FUNCTIONS    OF    MUSIC  141 

only  trouble  is  that  the  popular_Jdea  does  not 
always  get  beyond  this  point.  ^Developed  Re- 
ligion stands  for  more  than  Worship.  Religion 
has  to  act  as  a  moral  dynamic  and  control,  and 
it  has  to  offer  guidance  and  satisfaction  to  the 
intellect.  rOur  enquiry  therefore  must  embrace 
not  only  Worship,  but  also  Morality  and  TruthJ 

Human  personality  clusters  round  an  emo^ 
tional  core.  Yet  man  is  something  more  than  a 
mere  creature  of  the  emotions.  His  being  mani- 
fests itself  through  the  more  specialized  channels 
of  will  and  intellect.  Action  and  thought  are 
characteristic  features  of  his  nature,  as  well  as 
capacity  for  sensation.  These  must  not  be  con- 
sidered separate  compartments  of  living,  though 
they  mature  in  historical  succession.  But  feel- 
ing, will  and  intellect  each  express  a  real  emer- 
gence of  that  subtle  and  inexplicable  thing  which 
constitutes  the  real  Self.  Man's  actions  respond 
to  feeling  before  they  are  governed  by  intelli- 
gence; for  rational  development  is  no  more  a 
feature  of  primitive  human  conditions  than  it  is 
of  child  life.  Gradually  however  life  becomes 
something  more  than  a  series  of  emotional  ex- 
plosions; it  comes  to  be  regulated  through  in- 
tellect and  will  in  view  of  both  physical  and 
social  necessities. 

The  history  of  the  discovery  of  social  obliga- 
tion lies  somewhat  outside  our  province.  To-day 
we  recognize  that  Religion  has  the  task  of  con- 


142  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

trolling  and  directing  the  Emotions  through 
regulation  of  the  Will.  Quite  primitive  Religion 
was  non-moral  in  its  outlook.  Human  conduct 
was  then  governed  simply  by  expediency,  laws 
of  which  were  arrived  at  gradually.  But  ages 
had  to  elapse  before  expediency  was  translated 
into  duty;  that  is,  before  conduct  was  related  to 
the  idea  of  Divine  law  for  man. 

Among  the  Hebrews  the  realization  grew  most 
strong  of  righteousness  in  God  demanding 
righteousness  in  man.  With  them  therefore  Re- 
ligion became  a  dynamic  and  control  within  the 
moral  sphere  in  a  way  unapproached  by  other 
nations.  For  this  purpose  it  had  to  offer  in- 
tellectual satisfactions  to  the  mind.  This  office 
could  not  be  confined  simply  to  the  practical 
sphere  of  rational  injunction  to  the  will ;  in 
view  of  growing  realization  of  the  problems  of 
existence  it  had  to  be  extended  into  the  more 
purely  mental  sphere. 

These  several  points  have  now  to  be  con- 
sidered in  their  order.  Religion  is  only  possible 
according  as  'the  religious  consciousness  is 
realized.  That  is  the  fact  of  primary  importance. 
Ill-balanced  reasoning,  moral  depravity  or  per- 
sistent neglect  to  give  expression  to  that  con- 
sciousness in  worship — any  such  factors  may  ob- 
scure a  witness  which  is  present  in  all  self-con- 
scious beings.  Some  may  ignore,  others  may  de- 
stroy it.  Bnt  there  cannot  be  Religion  without  it. 


RELIGIOUS    FUNCTIONS    OF    MUSIC  143 

And  what  part  is  possible  to  Music  here?  It 
cannot  create;  that  we  have  seen  already.  But 
it  can,  and  does,  stimulate  and  revive.  In  this 
direction  its  power  has  been  recognized  from 
earliest  days. 

In  the  more  primitive  religions,  barbarous 
sounds,  equally  with  grotesque  images,  kept  alive 
a  sense  of  awe.  Still  to-day  in  its  proper  setting 
Music  can  raise  the  soul  to  heavenly  spheres.  In 
the  hands  of  spiritual  composers  it  becomes  sacra- 
mental, re-invigorating  and  re-inforckig  the  mes- 
sages of  personal  need  and  cosmic  wonder^ 

This  power  has  never  found  better  expression 
than  in  Milton's  well-known  lines  in  //  Penseroso 

"  There  let  the  pealing  Organ  blow 
To  the  full  voic'd  Quire  below, 
In  Service  high,  and  Anthems  cleer, 
As  may  with  sweetness,   through  mine  ear, 
Dissolve  me  into  extasies, 
And  bring  all  Heav'n  before  mine  eyes. 

Such  power  as  this,  in  some  degree,  is  of  first 
necessity  for  music  which  claims  to  be  religious 
in  the  true  sense.  Earlier  types  of  sound  may  not 
move  us  as  they  moved  our  forbears;  the  condi- 
tions of  impression  and  of  reception  are  so  al- 
tered. But  the  modern  ear  can  detect  and  ap- 
preciate the  spiritual  motive  of  any  music  however 
ancient  which  has  been  inspired  by  Christian 
thought.  It  is  not  equally  probable  that  Chris- 
tians of  quite  early  times  could  detect  the  message 
of  all  that  appeals  to  us  now.  A  child,  equally 
with  an  adult  may  recognize  religious  value  in  a 


144  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

hymn  tune,  though  the  bearing  of  a  fugue,  much 
more  deeply  suggestive  to  the  one,  would  be  lost 
upon  the  other.  This  point  must  be  kept  in  mind. 
The  change  from  simple  to  complex  in  religious 
music  involves  the  simple  in  the  understanding 
of  the  complex.  But  the  understanding  of  the 
simple  would  not  necessarily  involve  the  other. 
So  that  it  might  be  that  music  which  was  full  of 
religious  suggestion  for  one  age  might  never  so 
appeal  to  an  earlier  generation. 

Pre-Christian  music  would  depend  for  its 
ability  in  this  direction  upon  the  success  with 
which  it  brought  home  supra-mundane  sugges- 
tion. Where  it  was  confined  strictly  to  hieratic 
use,  any  kind  of  sound  would  carry  religious  sig- 
nificance. But  as  the  use  of  music  became  more 
diffused,  religious  standards  would  become  de- 
fined with  greater  care.  Their  character  would 
depend  upon  conceptions  of  divinity,  martial  or 
other,  obtaining  among  those  concerned. 

This  primary  function  of  religious  music- 
widest  in  scope  and  most  essential  in  its  bearing 
—is  linked  therefore  in  use  and  in  development 
with  the  growth  of  the  conception  of  religious 
Truth.  Religion  as  it  advances  gradually  finds 
itself  confronted  by  fundamental  questions.  To 
these  it  is  forced  to  fashion  answers.  Tentatively 
at  first,  later  with  growing  confidence,  it  deals 
with  problems  of  metaphysical  significance  in  the 
light  of  the  Divine  consciousness  which  is 


RELIGIOUS    FUNG i IONS    OF    MUSIC  145 

realized.  In  divers  portions  and  in  divers  man- 
ners, through  prophets  and  teachers  known  and 
unknown,  knowledge  of  God  grew  more  and 
more  intimate.  In  the  light  of  that  knowledge 
the  great  problems  of  existence,  themselves  of 
gradual  emergence,  were  asked  and  answered. 
Israel  and  the  Greeks  offer  the  clearest  examples 
of  advance  to  the  same  goal,  though  by  different 
pathways.  The  fruits  of  their  achievement  have 
been  passed  on  to  Christianity. 

Thus  it  comes  about  that  religious  music  grows 
in  meaning  and  narrows  in  suggestion  as  it 
gradually  eliminates  that  which  belongs  to  less 
enlightened  days.  How  finally  it  comes  to  aid 
Religion  to  express  what  it  divines  but  cannot 
utter  will  be  a  matter  for  subsequent  considera- 
tion. 

We  now  come  to  Religion  as  Worship;  and 
Worship  in  its  character  is  conditioned  similarly 
by  knowledge  of  Truth  and  the  attitude  towards 
it.  Primitive  worship  is  governed  by  primitive 
ideas.  Modern  worship  should  reflect  the  state 
of  modern  spiritual  apprehension.  But,  whether 
primitive  or  modern,  in  worship  Music  has  found 
its  greatest  opportunity.  Feelings  of  devotion 
and  aspiration  find  natural  expression  in  song. 
In  worship  music  exercises  its  most  catholic  ap- 
peal. Here  inevitably  its  success  or  failure  is 
most  marked.  Here  it  may  foster  or  destroy  mosf 
easily  the  very  spirit  which  it  sets  itself  to  serve. 


14-6  MUSIC  AND  RELIGION 

Failure  in  this  high  matter  is  at  least  as  easy 
as  success.  S.  Augustine's  fear  that  worship 
might  be  robbed  of  its  true  meaning  has  proved 
itself  well  founded.  Much  of  that  degradation  of 
popular  religion  which  is  so  deplored  to-day  must 
be  laid  to  the  charge  of  popular  worship.  Cor- 
ruption has  crept  in  with  popular  music,  which 
has  generally  been  wedded  to  the  hymn.  And 
not  only  has  music  failed  in  its  true  function,  the 
maintenance  of  the  religious  sense  at  a  pitch  co- 
incident with  modern  faculties  of  apprehension; 
the  hymn  itself,  relying  on  the  aid  of  simple  tune- 
fulness, has  invaded  spheres  outside  its  proper 
province.  It  has  now -become  largely  a  doublet 
form  of  prayer  and  creed,  of  inferior  value,  and 
robbing  liturgical  forms  of  proper  balance. 
Moreover  hortatory  and  didactic  elements,  best 
confined  to  the  pulpit  or  reserved  for  the  anthem, 
have  been  absorbed. 

The  attitudes  of  aspiration  or  devotion  are  pos- 
sible without  musical  subvention,  and  without 
utterance.  Yet  both  are  most  easily  achieved 
through  the  help  of  music  whether  or  not  ex- 
pressed in  words.  But  music  itself  may  only  be 
of  neutral  value:  it  may  become  a  decadent  emo- 
tional force.  It  is  useless  if  it  adds  no  fuel  to  the 
fire  of  worship;  it  is  worse  than  useless  if  it  de- 
grades worship  to  the  level  of  mere  emotionalism. 
Despite  all  that  has  been  won  that  makes  for  truth 
and  purity  in  worship,  there  never  was  a  time 


RELIGIOUS    FUNCTIONS    OF    MUSIC  147 

when  so  clear  a  call  was  heard  for  merciless  de- 
struction of  everything  in  word  or  music  which 
robs  the  act  of  worship  of  real  value  and  true 
force.  Well  might  we  echo  the  solemn  words, 
once  more  of  Milton,  in  view  of  the  failings  of 
the  times. 

"  Blest  pair  of  Sirens,  pledges  of  Heav'ns  joy 
Sphear-born  harmonious  Sisters,  Voice  and  Vers, 
Wed  your  divine  sounds,  and  mixt  power  employ. 
Dead  things  with  inbreath'd  sense  able  to  pierce, 
And  to  our  high-raised  phantasie  present 
That  undisturbed  Song  of  pure  content 
Ay  sung  before  the  saphire-colour'd  throne 
To   him  that   sits  thereon   .... 
That  we  on  Earth  with  undiscording  voice 
May  rightly  answer  that  melodious  noise ; 
As  once  we  did,  till  disproportion 'd  sin 
Jarr'd  against  natures  chime." 

Such  an  ideal  as  this  was  possible  in  the  i/th 
century.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  to-day.  The 
outcry  from  time  to  time  for  the  discontinuance 
of  Cathedral  music  is  as  mischievous  as  it  is  mis- 
guided. It  disregards  the  power  of  true  music  in 
the  maintenance  of  religious  consciousness. 
Equally  it  overlooks  its  enormous  value  in  the 
preservation  of  the  true  spirit  of  worship.  Noth- 
ing else  can  take  its  place.  The  support  and 
encouragement  of  ideal  standards,  always  capable 
of  leavening  the  religious  life  of  the  nation, 
should  be  continued  at  whatever  cost. 

We  come  then  to  Religion  as  a  Moral  Force. 
What  aid,  if  any,  can  Music  offer  here?  It  is  a 
large  question.  Morality  depends  upon  govern- 


148  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

ment  of  the  emotional  life.  In  Music  we  have 
great  emotional  forces  which  may  develop  their 
1  resources  on  the  side  either  of  good  or  of  evil. 
Past  and  present  experience  is  full  of  warnings. 
True,  the  Greeks  held  that  real  music  was  al- 
ways moral:  but  equally  they  realized  that  there 
was  immoral  music.  For  that  reason,  among 
the  thoughtful,  certain  types  of  instruments  were 
taboo.  Plato  is  clear  that  music  may  be  used  in 
education  to  inspire  love  of  the  noble  and  hatred 
of  the  mean.  But  he  recognized  that  moral  pur- 
pose must  lie  behind  it,  if  that  end  was  to  be 
achieved. 

There  can  be  no  question  that  some  kinds  of 
music  stimulate  irregular  desires,  and  therefore 
must  be  considered  immoral  in  their  tendency.. 
On  the  other  hand  music  may  be  used  as  cer- 
tainly to  suggest  the  very  opposite  desires.  It 
can  appeal  to  the  higher  as  well  as  to  the  lower 
in  man.  The  question  really  is  how  far  such 
appeal  or  such  suggestion  can  show  permanent 
influence  upon  the  soul.  Music  may  move  to  high 
resolve;  it  may  agitate,  it  may  enlighten.  But 
these  effects  seem  generally  to  be  temporary  in 
their  nature.  Except  in  those  few  cases  where 
intellectual  apprehension  is  secured,  the  effect  of 
sound  is  not  maintained  for  long,  when  its  action 
upon  the  emotions  has  ceased.  Troops  will  be 
played  right  up  to  the  fighting  line,  the  piper  will 
skirl  up  to  the  very  moment  of  the  charge;  for 


RELIGIOUS    FUNCTIONS   OF    MUSIC  149 

memory  does  not  seem  able  to  perpetuate  the 
message  of  the  sound. 

It  would  appear  therefore  as  far  as  moral  con- 
trol is  concerned  that  all  music  can  achieve  is  to 
create  an  atmosphere.  Regular  hearing  of  in- 
spiring music  must  have  a  good  effect.  Continual 
hearing  of  morbid  music  must  have  an  evil  effect. 
But  really  permanent  moral  consequences  can 
only  be  produced  by  acting  upon  the  Will  along 
lines  more  purely  intellectual  than  emotional. 
There  is  necessarily  an  intellectual  element  in  all 
music;  but  the  general  appeal  is  pre-eminently 
emotional.  Like  other  forms  of  art,  music  can 
create  conditions  favourable  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  moral  truth  and  of  ideal  righteousness. 
But  a  more  purely  mental  method  of  appeal  is 
essential  if  the  individual  approbation  of  the  good 
is  to  be  secured  on  a  permanent  basis. 

We  now  reach  the  final  topic  of  discussion. 
Can  Music  assist  Religion  in  its  supreme  voca- 
tion of  witnessing  to  transcendental  Truth? 

It  is  said  that  the  friendship  between  Wagner 
and  Nietzsche,  a  friendship  of  great  significance 
in  the  earlier  development  of  the  latter's  genius, 
came  suddenly  to  an  end  when  Wagner  found 
himself  forced  to  confess  his  inability  to  with- 
stand the  influence  of  the  Church's  system.  He 
had  tried  to  leave  Religion  out  of  account:  Par- 
sifal was  the  confession  of  his  failure. 

The  reason  for  this  rupture  must  be  sought 


I5O  MUSIC    AND    RELIGION 

along  lines  not  only  personal  but  philosophical. 
Nietzsche  had  abandoned  the  idea  of  God  and 
therefore  hated  Wagner  for  going  over  to  the 
enemy.  Philosophically  his  point  of  view  was 
that  Religion  was  retrograde,  deceptive,  and 
therefore  evil.  Consequently  it  could  have 
nothing  to  say  in  the  discovery  of  Truth. 

The  incident  is  not  without  significance  in  re- 
gard to  the  topic  now  under  discussion.  Religion 
is  either  all  that  it  claims  to  be,  or  else  it  can 
demand  no  further  hearing.  Wagner,  apparently 
through  the  message  of  music  itself,  was  forced 
back  into  line  with  tradition.  Nietzsche  would 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  in  his  rebellion 
finally  went  mad.  Wagner  discovered  that  the 
highest  which  music  could  offer  had  to  be  sought 
along  the  lines  that  Religion  suggested. 
Nietzsche  hated  all  historical  precedent.  He  was 
a  pragmatist  of  the  deepest  dye,  determined  to 
think  and  live  experimentally  and  apart  from  all 
former  canons. 

Wagner  was  in  the  right.  Nietzsche  was 
wrong,  though  he  knew  that  history  and  the  com- 
bined experience  of  mankind  was  against  him. 
Religion  stands  as  a  witness  of  perennial  ex- 
perience, and  points  to  a  supreme  Reality  in 
which  all  thought  and  life  subsist.  The  very 
fact  of  personality  depends  upon  what  Religion 
has  to  say.  What  does  Creation  mean?  What 
does  Existence  mean?  The  only  line  of  dis- 


RELIGIOUS    FUNCTIONS    OF    MUSIC  151 

covery   is   that   which   is   disclosed   to   religious 
intuition. 

Nietzsche  of  course  is  not  alone  in  his  revolt. 
But  on  the  side  of  philosophy  he  is  an  outstand- 
ing example  of  modernist  tendencies.  On  the 
emotional  side,  music,  colour  and  form  have 
shown  no  uncertain  signs  of  endeavour  to  break 
their  traditional  bonds.  Cubism  for  instance  is 
a  form  of  madness  not  unparalleled  in  other 
directions.  But  time  will  take  its  inevitable  re- 
venge. The  witness  of  generations  of  progress 
in  the  understanding1  of  Personality  cannot  be 
denied  with  impunity.  And  it  is  round  this  under- 
standing that  every  other  question  has  to  stand. 

The  Absolute  in  Truth  cannot  be  envisaged 
even  by  Religion.  Intuitions  of  its  nature  come 
through  the  emotions  to  will  and  intellect.  So 
our  ideals  of  Beauty,  Goodness  and  Truth  grow 
and  converge  in  witness.  In  their  lower  ranges 
these  ideals  admit  of  actual  expression.  But 
there  are  higher  reaches  only  revealed  through 
forms  of  art.  True  Art  consists  in  the  suggestion 
of  hidden  realities.  In  its  various  forms  it  is 
apocalyptic  of  Reality.  Through  such  media  as 
colour,  form  and  sound,  it  suggests  verities  be- 
yond the  capacity  of  poetry  or  philosophy  to  set 
in  actual  words.  Based  as  it  is  in  its  various 
forms  on  principles  and  standards  of  judgment 
of  no  arbitrary  adoption,  in  its  cumulative  witness 
it  becomes  ever  more  secure. 


152  MUSIC   AND    RELIGION 

In  that  witness  Music  fulfils  to-day  the  highest 
part.  In  width  of  range  and  power  of  appeal  it 
has  long  since  overtaken  its  competitors.  Nor 
is  it  time  to  say  that  the  best  has  now  been  done. 
The  very  fact  that  Music's  models  are  not 
sought,  like  those  of  plastic  forms  of  art,  among 
the  phenomena  of  nature,  gives  it  a  scope  im- 
possible to  define. 

Our  only  question  really  is — can  Religion  bear 
witness  to  the  Truth?  Through  the  religious 
witness,  the  principles  and  standards  of  to-day  are 
what  they  are.  If  like  Nietzsche  we  deny,  then 
neither  music  nor  any  other  art,  as  we  now  know 
them,  has  any  claim  on  our  attention.  But  if  in 
Religion  we  find,  as  Christians  hold,  the  highest 
witness,  then  Music  may  become  a  veritable 
theology  of  the  emotions.  It  can  suggest  the 
deepest  verities  in  terms  of  human  comprehension. 

"  Heights,   that  we  long  had  struggled  to  achieve 
Seem  close  at  hand  and  simple  to  attain  ; 
The  baffling  mists  of  doubt  dissolve  and  leave 
The  heavenly  landmarks  plain."* 


*  Hayes  :   Broken   Music   in    The  Cup   of  Quietness 
Printed  in  Great  Britain  by  Ebenezer  Baytis  $•  Son.  Trinity  Works,  Worcester.