The Academic Hymnal A COLLECTION OF HYMNS AND CHANTS WITH TUNES HARMONIZED FOR MEN'S VOICES AND IN UNISON Specially designed for use in College Chapels New York, G. Schirmer 1899 The general copyright claim of the publishers covers the compilation of hymns and the harmonization of all of the Publishers' Mote The compilation of the ACADEMIC HYMNAL was suggested by the requirements of college chapels for which no adequate provision appears to have been made in the extensive range of hymnology. The harmonizations in the hymnals generally used in college chapels are for mixed voices, and, as every musician knows, entirely useless for men's voices. The one or two collections for men's voices that exist are in so many respects inadequate, that the publishers feel justified in issuing the present work, to which they have been urged and encouraged by correspondents throughout the country. The chief collaborators in the Academic Hymnal were Charles B. Hawley, J. Hyatt Brewer, H. W. Nicholl and Max Vogrich, and the publishers are also indebted to Harry Rowe Shelley, Gerrit Smith, Horatio W. Parker, Homer N. Bartlett and others for valuable suggestions. A practical difficulty considered at the outset was the fact that a large number of the student body are unable to read music, and when these join in the singing usually reinforce the melody throughout. This made it desirable to put the melody in as low a key as the compass of each tune permitted, and thus it will be found that most are within easy reach of the average voice. In a few cases, however, the limitations of the basses had to be considered in the harmonization, and the melody range is necessarily so high as to place some notes of the tune beyond the reach of the majority of amateur tenors. The impossibility of entirely obviating this difficulty will be readily recognized by ordinary musicians. A special feature of this hymnal, which should commend itself by reason of its general usefulness, consists in the large number of hymns that have been arranged for voices in unison, with special harmonizations for the organ. These arrangements are by Mr. Nicholl and Mr. Vogrich, the latter contributing several of the old German Chorales, most of them being new to English hymnology. In order to secure for the book the widest circulation, single and double chants and other music with the words necessary for the various services of the Protestant Episcopal Church and its colleges, have been included. have been placed altogether at the end of the volume. These It is offered as a practical suggestion that when two hymns are included. in the service, the first should be sung as harmonized (preferably unaccompanied), and the second in unison with the special organ accompaniment. When the organ accompanies harmonized tunes, the following suggestions will be useful to non-professional organists. When eight-foot stops are used, the tenor parts should be played an octave lower than printed; when sixteenfoot stops, the bass parts should be played an octave higher. A large number of the hymns will be recognized as standard favorites that could not be omitted from any collection. To these have been added a sufficient variety suited to the different days of the Christian Year and special occasions. The index of subjects will be found to be a very useful guide to the special bearing of each hymn. Included in the Academic Hymnal are a number of tunes specially written for the work, and thus not to be found in any other book. |