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massive dignity of the one is set over against the flowing freedom of the other. The simple, radical chords of the first are in sharp contrast to the contrapuntal variety of the second. Which is the most suitable to

public worship? The question has excited long and learned discussion. It is enough for the student, at this point, to observe the comparison, and to connect in his mind the various illustrations of the two forms, even in their extreme manifestations, from the most severe upon the one hand to the most gleeful upon the other.

Yet it ought to be said, that while Tallis' hymn is a fine exponent of the Anglican style it should not be inferred that Tallis departed from legitimate ecclesiastical forms. He was as truly devoted to sacred principles as Palestrina, and most of his compositions are written in what might be called the "familiar style." The student should confirm this by reference to some of his other tunes. He introduced no learned complications into his music merely to astonish his hearers. He endeavored by the use of pure, rich harmonies to promote true devotion, and never paraded his ingenuity at the expense of intrinsic truthfulness to his high themes. The Anglican style which he introduced was not therefore another genus, so to speak, but only another species within the same genus to which tunes like Old Hundred belong, and therefore the chief controversy is not between the Anglican and the Puritan, but between the sacred and the profane. Ere long this distinction began to be observed and the results appeared in the best tunes

which we now possess. It ought to be thoroughly understood and observed to-day, that our services may be thoroughly purged of many tunes which are entirely inappropriate to the worship of God, while a liberal latitude is allowed for tunes of various styles and expressive of manifold sentiments, while yet devotion is never displaced nor reverence forgotten.

The history of English church music in general would be sadly incomplete without some reference to Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), and Henry Purcell (1658-1695). But as their names are not particularly associated with the development of the hymn-tune we must omit any reference to their influential labors. The student, however, is urged to inform himself concerning them.

With Thomas Tallis, then, the modern hymn-tune may be said to have appeared. The work of perfecting and adapting it yet remains. This will be discussed in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PERFECTING OF THE HYMN

TUNE

The work of Thomas Tallis in hymn-tune music was bright with promise, and when we reach this period we feel confident that the development, now brought to such a high degree, will be rich and rapid. But our confidence is at once disappointed, and for several generations the promise is simply promise and nothing more. The reason will appear to any one who consults a good historical atlas. In France he reads of Richelieu and Louis XIV. and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the War of the Spanish Succession; in Germany, of the Thirty Years' War and Frederick the Great; in Great Britain, of the Spanish Armada and the Gunpowder Plot and Cromwell and the Restoration. Nothing was done for the hymn-tune during this period. In fact, there was sad and positive retrogression.

THE OLD PSALM-TUNES

The Scotch Psalter of 1635 contained one hundred and forty-three tunes. Eight of these were "Rapports" (from the French "rapporter," to carry back, i. e., fugue-tunes). Forty-two were taken from the Genevan Psalter and the rest from various musicians on the Continent and in Great Britain. Fifteen years

later (1650) the authorized version of Rous was published, but without tunes. Music was thereby turned adrift, to seek refuge with such individuals as might afford it a shelter, and consequently many tunes fell into disuse, were forgotten, and abandoned. The unsettled state of society, tossed to and fro in the struggles of commonwealth and monarchy, contributed to the deterioration of sacred song, and when the Restoration came, in 1660, the only tunes in use were the few old melodies to which the Psalms were sung, and these grew less and less in number until not more than half a dozen were generally known. A variety of circumstances conspired to continue this state of things. Chief among these was the general use of Rous' version of the Psalms, in which, with scarcely an exception, every number was rendered in common meter, compelling the use of a tune in similar measure.

The custom of "lining out" the hymns, which was rendered imperative by the scarcity of books, confined the worshiper to tunes of a certain class and almost destroyed any musical charm which they might possess, and the absence of instrumental accompaniment completed the barrenness of their performance. In addition to this, a certain veneration attached to the tunes that were distinctly associated with the Reformation and discredited the attempt to add to them. The Psalms in meter had come to the congregations united to certain tunes, which seemed to be a very part of them and to form an indivisible entity, thus inspiring such a spirit as was shown by the old family servant of Dr. Guthrie, who vowed she "wad sing

the Psaams o' Daavit to the tunes o' Daavit and naething else."

So between the pharisaic routine of the Established Church and the stolid dullness of the Dissenters, music remained in statu quo. Twelve "orthodox tunes" were sanctioned by the Scotch Presbyterians. Good tunes they were, however, well suited to their age and purpose; but sadly similar in general structure and most monotonous. Burns refers to them with much feeling in his "Cotter's Saturday Night," and indicates the sentiments with which they were cherished and sung.

"Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide

He wales a portion with judicious care,

And 'Let us worship God,' he says, with solemn air.

"They chant their artless notes in simple guise,

They tune their hearts-by far the noblest aim;
Perhaps Dundee's wild, warbling measures rise,
Or plaintive Martyrs, worthy of the name;
Or noble Elgin beats the heavenward flame,
The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays.
Compared with these Italian trills are tame,

The tickled ear no heart-felt raptures raise,
Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise."

At least three of these oldest hymn-tunes should be examined: St. Michael, Dundee, and Windsor. The first is taken from the Genevan Psalter, 1543. The last two are by Sir Christopher Tye, 1553.* They are characteristic of their age. All are written in common time, in radical chords, and without flour

*As we give no account of these composers, the student who desires to be informed concerning them should consult some cyclopedia of music and musicians, or any similar work.

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