Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good; sing praises uyto His Name, for it is pleasant. Thy Name, O Lord, endureth for quer; and Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations. PREFACE. The Church Book with Music, simplified and condensed as to its original material. expanded and enlarged to conform to the revised Church Book and the Common Service, needs no lengthy introduction. It is hoped that those who have known it in the past twenty years, will miss nothing that has proved itself of value; and will find much in its new features to commend itself in practical use. Special pains have been taken, by retaining as much as possible of the old Evening Service, to render the transition easy to the Vespers, the only legitimate form for Evening worship in the Lutheran Church. The ANTIPHONS AND RESPONSORIES are entirely new to us, but any one familiar with them in the longer tested German Service, cannot but hope that they will be made welcome also in our English Churches. The Editor must acknowledge, with grateful admiration, the indebtedness of this work to that of the late John Endlich, whose conscientious thoroughness, cultivated intelligence, and fine artistic perception have given to our German congregations a rich mine of musical treasure. How rich it is, those will admit, who recall the Choral Service in the Church of the Holy Communion, during the Session of the General Council in 1885, for which the music, with few exceptions, was taken from Endlich's Choral Buch. This work and Schoeberlein's Schatz des lit. Chor-und Gemeindegesangs, have supplied the Antiphons. The Responsories are for the most part adapted from Mr. Endlich's German setting. Thanks are due to the Rev. J. F. Ohl for two adaptations, marked with his initials. In their nature the Antiphons and Responsories are intended only for the Choir. With this exception the strictly congregational character of the first compilation has been retained, and every word belonging to public worship will be found in this book. Of the Orders for Ministerial Acts the BURIAL SERVICE alone has been introduced, and that somewhat abbreviated, because in such special services the part assigned to the congregation is taken from the ordinary liturgical service. (Salutation, Kyrie etc., see page 223.) With one unimportant exception the INDEXES have been carefully revised and retained in their original fullness, except that the Index to Psalms, Introits and Collects omits reference to the unvarying parts of the Service. The old Evening Service, temporarily included in this work, and the Burial Service are also purposely omitted from all Indexes. January 24, 1893. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS. 1 Where the directions on a page are separated by double lines, all above the lines are Rubrics "by authority." Those below the lines refer to the music, or are drawn from the Rubrics of the Church Book. Where a Rubric “by authority" requires some addition in connection with the music, or in consequence of the partial re-arrangement of the Church Book, this is given in a foot-note, or enclosed in brackets. In the unbarred melodies, the most important of which is the Alleluiatic Sequence, 19 a, the accent of the words determines that of the music. Bars are here only used to show the ending of the lines, and double bars, of the verses, of each hymn. It is seldom desirable to pause much (sometimes not at all) at the end of each line, especially when the sense of the words (or the structure of the melody) connects it with the following line of the hymn or phrase of the music. The slur connects two or more notes when they are to be sung to one syllable. Notes of the same value tied thus, should be sung in equal and measured time, and the half notes should bear the same relation to the whole notes as in other music. Good taste, and a keen sense both of the poetic and musical accent, will in general leave little doubt on the mind of the musician, as to what is the best reading of each particular melody; while the rate of progress will be dictated by its style and structure, the Season of the Church Year, the sentiment of the verse and the capabilities of the singer or accompanist.* The same rule in regard to the rate of speed, will apply to all melodies German as well as English; the notation of these, whether in half notes or quarter notes, being chosen in every case for typographical reasons only. Congregations unaccustomed to chanting will find the following explanation useful. Anglican Chants are of two kinds, single and double. A single Chant is composed of two parts, the first consisting of three bars, and the last of four, and is to be sung through once to every verse of the Psalm or Introit. A double Chant is exactly equal to two single Chants, and must be sung through once to every two verses. When the Psalm contains an odd number of verses, the last half of a double Chant should be repeated for the final verse, in order that the Gloria Patri may begin with the first strain. Good chanting is simply good reading, only in a musical tone; the grouping of the words, emphasis, expression, etc., should be the same as in reading. The time of the first or reciting note is variable, and must depend upon the number of syllables to be sung to it; but though it may be held longer than a full bar if the number of words require it, yet, however few the words, it is never held less than a full bar. These words should not be unduly hurried, but recited at the pace in which they would commonly be read. A slight pause may be made at commas and upon the last accented word before the bar, but only such a pause as the emphasis would require in ordinary reading. The first bar marks the beginning of musical time, which continues to the double bar, after which the recitation is resumed. A single word or syllable between two bars, is to be sung to all the notes between the corres ponding bars in the music. Where more than two syllables occur in one bar, the accent of the words and music must coincide. As a rule, the words "of the" "to the" and similar phrases, before or after an ac cented word in the same bar, are to be sung to one note. The.. separates words (and the - syllables) sung to different notes, where a doubt might arise as to their division. A dot following a bar shows that the preceding syllable is held for one note. dicate that the notes of the whole bar are to be sung to the preceding syllable. * From the Preface to "Accompanying Harmonies to the Hymnal Noted." So two dots in THE Moveable Festivals all depend upon Easter except Advent. Advent Sunday is always the nearest Sunday to the thirtieth day of November, whether before or after. The time of Easter being found, the other Festivals occur as follows: Septuagesima Sunday is nine weeks before Easter. Ash Wednesday, or the beginning of Lent, is forty-six days before Easter. Palm Sunday, or the beginning of Holy Week, is eight days before Easter. Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter. Good-Friday is the Friday before Easter. Ascension-Day is forty days after Easter. |