FROM THE LIBRARY OF REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D, BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO THE LIBRARY OF PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Section *f£>5 ( HINTS CONCERNING CHURCH MUSIC, LITURGY, AND KINDRED SUBJECTS PREPARED BY JAMES M. HEWINS. BOSTON: IDE & DUTTON, 106 Washington Street. 1856. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, BY JAMES M. HEWINS, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. WILLIAM A. HALL, PKINTER, 22 School Street. AN APOLOGY. The thoughts, so briefly and imperfectly set forth in the pages following, were chiefly conceived in order to a series of letters to the late and lamented Dr. Alexander Young. This design having been suddenly frustrated, they were next partly published in the columns of the " Evening Transcript; " but finding that the subject was outgrowing the space usually allotted to such articles, and by the solicitation of gentlemen who desired that it should be presented in a more substantial manner, it was decided to give it in this form. Disclaiming all pretensions at book-making, and having no desire to play variations upon, or to give feeble dilutions of the works of others, I have been studious to say nothing myself when I could find another to speak for me. Whatever opinions my few readers may entertain con- cerning these pages, one thing only will I demand of them, which is, that they allow me the merit of a good intention. J. M. H. Boston, April, 1856. TABLE OF PRINCIPAL TOPICS. CHAPTER I. Value of Church Music. — The excellency of Praise compared with Prayer. — Of Psalms and Hymns. CHAPTER II. Bad Poetry indues bad Music. — The pernicious Style now in vogue throughout America. CHAPTER III. Abuses of Music in the Episcopal Church. — General remarks on the Secular Style.— Of Organs and Organ-playing. — The Church not a house of Entertainment. — Dr. Crotch on different Styles. CHAPTER IV. The true Style Considered. — The old English Composers. — The opinions of Mr. Havergal, Dr. Watts, and Mr. Cope. CHAPTER V. The bad Influence of Modern Italian Music. — Pythagoras, Aris- totle, and Quintillian. — The Rise of the Musical Pitch. 1* VI PRINCIPAL TOPICS, CHAPTER VI. Extravagant and Fashionable Patronage of Foreign Music. — Addison's Opinions. — Italian Music unsuited to our Language. — Evil Consequences of the Study of it. — Popish Masses. — The Excellency of Handel. — Mr. Hogarth's remarks. CHAPTER VII. Modern German Music. — Chorley's Criticisms. — Transcendental Nonsense. CHAPTER VIII. Down-hill progress of Modern German Music. — Chorley's Recol- lections.— Chromatic Character of Vocal Music. — Sentence of Tim- otheus. — Sound not a sure Medium of Expression. — " Young German " fallacies and nonsense. — Handel Unknown in Germany. CHAPTER IX. What we Americans want. — Abuses in the Church of England. — Reformation and Restoration of Church Music. — Remarks of Rev. J. W. Twist, Dr. Burney, Dr. Bisse, and Dr. Crotch. CHAPTERS X. AND XI. Of the want of a Liturgy ; with incidental remarks. — Elegant extracts from Eminent Writers. — Of Puritanism. — The abuse of the Liturgy, &c, &c. — Dr. Bisse and Jeremy Taylor. CHAPTER XII. Of Congregational and Choir Singing. HINTS CONCERNING CHURCH MUSIC CHAPTER I. Since the Creation, music has always held a prominent place in the public worship of Jeho- vah, and the devout and intelligent of all ages have been loud in their praises of divine song. Luther, who knew the value and power of it, on the seventeenth of December, 1538, invited the singers and musicians to a supper, where they sung "fair and sweet Motetae." Then he said with admiration : — " Seeing our Lord God in this life shaketh out and presenteth unto us such precious gifts, what then will be done in the life everlasting ? " In all times it has been held in the highest estimation ; and any encomiums upon it at this late day, after all that has been written by the greatest and wisest of kings, philosophers, scholars, and divines, would be presumptuous. The character, quality, and propriety of church music, however, are proper subjects for the earnest 8 HINTS CONCERNLM. consideration of all who value public worship, and especially so in this country, where devotional music is but little known and seldom heard, and where, perhaps, not above a dozen sound church musicians can be found. Plato wished that no other music but that of the temple should be heard by either gods or men. St. Augustine speaks of his delight on hearing the psalms and hymns sung, at his first entrance into the church. " The voices flowed in at my ears, truth was distilled in my heart ; and the affec- tion of piety overflowed in sweet tears of joy." St. Luke says, they were continually in the tern- pie, praising and blessing God. Doctor Bisse, on the excellency of praise com- pared with prayer, says : "Let us consider the excellency of praise and thanks- giving, above and before, though not exclusive of, prayers, supplications, and intercessions. These are, we know and profess, all necessary offices, and ought to be found in all Christian liturgies, being commanded by the Apostle ; but then each, as he commands also, must be joined with thanks- giving. This excellency will appear by viewing the differ- ence of their subjects ; for most different they are " The worship of the Church triumphant is wholly made up of hymns, those songs of praise for what they enjoy, and of thanksgiving for what is passed, without any mixture of supplications. For why ? their wants and wickedness, which are the subjects of them, are ceased : all the evils which CHURCH MUSIC. V fill the litanies of the Church militant, are passed away. Praise ceaseth not with this state of mortality, like the others, but will accompany the saints into heaven, even as charity will. " Upon this account the Christian Church, even though militant here on earth, hath in all ages made the greatest part of her public worship to consist of praise. Psalms, hymns, and doxologies, all being songs of praise, fill up the liturgies of the ancient Church, as far as can be judged from the remains and ruins of them." Mr. Jennings, in his admirable lecture on the decline of music, (D wight's Jour. Music, Vol. I.) ascribes the low state of church music to the de- cline of reverence ; which is, doubtless, one of the immediate causes. The fundamental causes of the pernicious style which prevails in this country, are the influence of Puritanism, and the want of suita- ble musical instruction in our colleges. The Con- gregational churches have sought to diversify the barrenness of Puritanical worship by the introduc- tion of vain and trivial poetry ; from which cause church music has suffered more than from any other. Young clergymen, who are ignorant of music, often seek to establish their fame, and perchance their pockets, by "getting up" a new collection of hymns. Then what a passion for original hymns. For an ordination or dedication, some young lawyer, or newspaper poetess of the 10 HINTS CONCERNING parish is engaged to write a hymn ; which usually begins with a high-sounding address to the Deity, and then it is all over. The multiplicity of these productions shows how fickle and unsatisfactory they are. If one enters a strange church, all is new ; the power of youthful association is lost. Many of our hymns (so called) are in the same philosophic, reasoning strain as the Odes of Hor- ace ; and doubtless much of the poetry offered to the heathen gods, was superior to some that is now found in our Christian temples. We have in mind certain hymns, which seem to be modeled upon the following ode, by Horace : " The just who firmly keeps his destined course, No tyrant's threat'ning frowns control, No crowd's unjust demands can force, Or shake the steady purpose of his soul." " There are many decent and correct compositions," says an able writer, " in good regular metre, which it would be ridiculous to sing. We have heard pious meditations, religious reasonings on doubtful points, and doctrinal expo- sitions of Scripture, sung loudly by congregations of well- meaning people, with instrumental accompaniments. But if they had reflected a little, they would certainly have found that the subject and tenor of such compositions are naturally opposed to singing ; that if a man were really and seriously occupied with such matters as the hymn implies, he would not be disposed to sing at all, but to be silent and think." CHURCH MUSIC. 11 The compilers of our modern hymn-books seem to be inexcusably ignorant of their subject. A hymn is an address to the Almighty, while devo- tional poetry may be a very different affair, and in many of the productions in question, there is no allusion to God. They are wholly wanting in dignity, unity and simplicity of design. Ideas of the most heterogeneous kind are often crowded into the same hymn, the accentuation of which is quite as various ; whilst obscurity, and novelty of expression, ugly or uncouth combinations of words, (e.g., " The beautiful vicissitude,") and irregularity of metre render them as fit for the comic almanac as for the church. Any attempt to add music to or to sing such poetry, only makes it the more ridiculous. Sometimes, not an idea develops be- fore the middle of the second verse, whereas every line should be perfect in itself, and have a satis- factory close, like a strain of music. Monosyllables should be freely used, and the whole sentiment of the hymn so uniform that it may be expressed by one common tune. From the few ancient metres, the common and short being the best, the number has now been swelled to at least one hundred and twenty! some of which are as irregular as the price-current in the newspapers. Quite a variety of them are marked " P* M.," notwithstanding they 12 HINTS CONCERNING are of no particular metre. u To prayer, to prayer ! for the morning breaks," is a specimen of this sort. Descriptive poetry is also bad, because there are few things in nature which music is capable of imitating. That pretty little poem, "How blest the righteous when he dies," ought never to be obtruded into the church. Metrical hymns should be hymns of praise, or at least of mingled prayer and praise ; not little metrical prayers, ballads, odes or romances. A clear distinction is made between prayer and praise. " Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray," &c. " And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God." " St. Augustine defines hymns to be praises offered to God with singing. ' Hymns,' says that holy doctor, ' are none other than songs which contain the praise of God. If it be praise, and not of God, it will not be a hynin ; if it be to the praise of God and is not sung, it will not be a hymn. To make a hymn it is necessary three things should be united : praise — the praise of God — and singing." How can any man be so stupid as to prefer these modern compositions to the divine canticles of the royal Psalmist? Christ and the Apostles chanted David's psalms ; and if metrical poetry be desirable, the best version of these psalms forms an ample stock for all time. But we may flatter ourselves that this evil will CHURCH MUSIC. 13 soon be checked. The material is waxing scarce - — the British poets, magazines, &c, have been pretty thoroughly ransacked and pillaged. Clergy- men, in some quarters, have now betaken them- selves to the chaotic practice of framing liturgies ; in which, if they do not succeed better than they have in hymnology, they will shed no lustre on their own names, and will but disgrace the church. We know what sort of hymns inspired the Apostles and Fathers, — the "Gloria in Excelsis," " Benedieite," " Te Deum Laudamus," " Magni- ficat," "Nunc Dimmittis," &c, — these are the models, some of which, for fifteen hundred years, have exalted the hearts of men throughout Chris- tendom, and which will continue long after the rhyming compositions of this generation have been destroyed by the rats in the garret. To the ancient hymns of the church might be added great numbers of supplicatory, scriptural anthems, with music the most heavenly and devo- tional, adapted to the sentiment. These anthems, with some of the apostolic hymns, are most un- happily excluded from the Prayer-book, in this country. Addison says : " There is no passion that is not finely expressed in those parts of the inspired writings which are proper for divine 14 HINTS CONCERNING songs and anthems. There is a certain coldness and indif- ference in the phrases of our language, when compared with the oriental forms of speech. There is something so pathetic in this kind of diction, that it often sets the mind in a flame, and makes our hearts burn within us. How cold and dead does a prayer appear, that is composed in the most elegant and polite forms of speech which are natural to our tongue, when it is not heightened by that solemnity of phrase which may be drawn from the sacred writings! It has been said by some of the ancients, that if the gods were to talk with men, they would certainly speak in Plato's style; but I think we may say, with justice, that when mortals converse with their Creator, they can not do it in so proper a style as in that of the Holy Scriptures. " Since we have, therefore, such a treasury of words, so beautiful in themselves, and so proper for the airs of music, I can not but wonder that persons of distinction should give so little attention and encouragement to that kind of music which would have its foundation in reason, and which would improve our virtue in proportion as it raises our delight." Some of the worst selections have been made from the works of Bo wring. Surely, the church ought not to rob the world of all the pretty poetry. In this connection, let us ask those who object to that very solemn and impressive mode of inton- ing prayers to the plain chant, (which is only a solemn way of speaking,) how they like rhyming prayers ; prayers in common and long metre, and sung to a fashionable operatic melody? is there any thing absurd in this? CHURCH MUSIC. 15 Bui, seeing that the ordinary speaking is suffi- ciently audible in our little meeting-houses ; and that those monuments of piety, the English cathe- drals, are not likely to be repeated in this country, and in this utilitarian and secular age, we need not fret ourselves about intoning the prayers. But what shall be said of the sacrilegious hands that have mutilated the " Te Deum," and abolished that best of all glorifications, the " Gloria Patri ? " Who but a musical ignoramus, would think of sub- stituting such clumsy words as " immortal," " in- visible," &c, and that, on account of a theological quibble. A man, who could alter these apostolic hymns, surrounded as they are by all the tradition- ary charms of antiquity, might almost be sus- pected of burning a church. Who are these liberal Christians, who thus utter a lie on the Lord's day, and in His temple ? The Arians altered the hymn of glory or " Glo- ria Patri," as early as the year three hundred and forty-nine. " In the choirs of Antioch, while they praised God as the manner was, at the end of the psalms which they sung, some glorified the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and some the Father by the Son, in the Spirit ; whereupon a jar ensued in the Church." There is one very foolish custom to be corrected, 16 HINTS CONCERNING viz., that of reading the hymn before it is sung. This was very well with the Puritans, when one- book served the whole congregation, but now it is only a vain repetition. Why should a hymn be sung after it has been said ? Some assert (in support of hymnology) that St. Ambrose composed hymns for the people. This is true ; but then they were hymns of praise to God. The Fathers adopted many of the Pagan customs, in order to interest the people in the new religion ; hence we have at the Christmas season the evergreens, in imitation of the feast of Bacchus. Origen, one of the Fathers^ says : — " We sang hymns to none but the Supreme Being, and to his only Son, in the same manner as the pagans sing to the sun, moon, stars, and all the heavenly host." Local and politic exceptions like these must not be cited in support of a custom which is contrary to the general practice of both Jews and Chris- tians, and which is not founded in reason. The door being once opened, what is to restrain or regulate the evil ? The hymns used by the early Christians were in prose, and not in rhyme ; and it is quite certain that St. Ambrose, Ignatius, and many others did compose hymns in great numbers for the use oi the early Christians ; but. then they were not in- CHURCH MUSIC. 17 tended for the regular services of the church, and excepting some of the greater hymns, as the " Te Deum Laudamus," &c, were only designed for occasional and private use. " Tertullian speaks of husbands and wives singing psalms and hymns together, mutually provoking one another, and striv- ing who should make the sweetest melody to their God." " And there is no doubt," says Bingham? " but that this private psalmody was an imitation of the public psalmody of the church." These hymns were also used before and after the celebra- tion of public worship, and between the regular services. Such hymns were given to the people in order to inspire them when compassed with perils. •■ When we consider," says Bingham, " that the Early Christians spent whole days and nights almost in psalmody ; as when St. Ambrose's church was beset with the Arian soldiers, the people within continued the whole night and day in singing psalms, it will be easy to imagine that at such times they did not sing appropriated psalms, but enter- tained themselves with such as the Bishop then occasion- ally appointed. ' Psalmody was their exercise at all times in the church,' as St. Austin notes, ' to fill up all vacuities.' And upon this account (if the observation of L'Estrange be rightly made out of Chrysostom,) the people were used to entertain the time with singing of psalms before the con- gregation was complete and fully assembled." 2* 18 HINTS CONCERNING The Rev. W. Romaine, in his " Essay on Psal- mody," thus discourses of modern hymns : " There is another thing relating to the psalms, I can not tell it an abuse, for it is a total neglect of them. They are quite rejected in some congregations, as if there were no such hymns given by the inspiration of God, and as if they were not left for the use of the church, and to be sung in the congregation. Man's poetry is exalted above the poetry of the Holy Ghost. Is this right ? . . . . " I know this is a sore place, and I would touch it gently, as gently as I can with any hope of doing good. The value of poems above psalms is become so great, and the singing of men's words, so as to quite cast out the word of God, is become so universal, (except in the Church of England,) that one scarce dare speak upon the subject ; neither would I, having already met with contempt enough for preferring God's hymns to man's hymns, if a high regard for God's most blessed word did not require me to bear my testi- mony " Let me observe, then, that I blame nobody for singing human compositions. I do not think it sinful or unlawful, so the matter be scriptural. My complaint is against pre- ferring men's poems to the good word of God, and prefer- ring them to it in the church. I have no quarrel with Dr. Watts, or any living or dead versifier. I would not wish all their poems burnt. My concern is to see Christian congregations shut out divinely inspired psalms, and take in Dr. Watts' flights of fancy ; as if the words of a poet were better than the words of a prophet, or as if the wit of a man were to be preferred to the wisdom of God. When the church is met together in one place, the Lord has made a provision for their songs of praise — a large collection and CHURCH MUSIC. 19 a great variety. I speak not of private people, or of pri- vate singing, but of the church in its public service. "Why should Dr. Watts, or any hymn-maker, not only take pre- cedence of the Holy Ghost, but also thrust him entirely out of the church ? Insomuch that the rhymes of a man are magnified above the word of God. If this be right, men and brethren, judge ye." Some of our hymns (so called) are not intended as an offering of praise to God, but are only used as poetical illustrations of the sermon — a kind of punning, so to speak. The parson, therefore, in- stead of saying, ' let us sing to the praise and glory of God,' ought to say, — let us illustrate by singing the following paraphrase. CHAPTER II. The obtrusion of unharmonious and secular poelry into the church, is a great hindrance to divine song. It is seized upon by ignorant or avaricious men, as a pretext for the introduction of all sorts of secular music. As a counterpart to the hymn-books before alluded to, we have tune-books without number, made up of the most ridiculous adaptations and selections from orato- rios, operas, sonatas, symphonies, songs, &c, all suited to the general ignorance and secularity of the times, and to that intemperate rage for novelty which everywhere prevails. Musical conventions are called in various parts of the country, under the pretence of improving the public taste, when in fact they are only intended to promote the sale of silly and mischievous music. Now the money- changers were driven from the temple long ago, and I submit that the music and psalmody of the church is not a legitimate article of speculation, and that our country friends are most egregiously CHURCH MUSIC. 21 imposed upon. Good music never wears out; whereas the sillv and ephemeral trash so much in vogue, perishes with the use of it, and a new tune- book is wanted every year, just as the makers of them intend. Those who indulge in such base practices, flatter themselves that it is a harmless pursuit, and are wont to say that the people want to be "humbugged;" but I have heard some sound musicians say that it will take half a cen- tury to eradicate the evil consequences. It is a national calamity. There are banded together in the cities of New York and Boston, a set of speculators who trade in the songs of Zion. With these fellows all styles are good, and that is best to-day which sells best. They know well enough in their hearts how limited the sphere of devotional song is, but if they acknowledge the truth, why, then their occupation is gone. The public ought to be cautioned against such musical pickpockets. In some of their books the most solemn words are often coupled with the melody of some familiar or vulgar comic song, with feeble harmony to match. Again, we have glees outright; literal selections from operas, &c, all bound up together, and covered with the high- sounding and queer names of " Hallelujah," " Cith- ara," "Dulcimer," "Shawm," "Lute of Zion," 22 HINTS CONCERNING " The Handel," &c. To give a kind of mock solemnity to such music, tunes of a light char- acter are often closed with a strong ecclesiastical cadence, which seems like putting heavy armor upon an infant. What deformity, what incon- gruity is all this ; and yet it is done (ostensibly) for the church of Christ ! So numerous are these catch-penny works, that the powers of invention are severely taxed in finding names for them. " If in a picture, Piso, you should see A handsome woman with a fish's tail, Or a man's head upon a horse's neck, "Would you not laugh, and think the painter mad ? Trust me that book is as ridiculous, Whose incoherent style, like sick men's dreams, Varies all shapes, and mixes all extremes." A like state of things existed for a time in Eng- land, probably amongst the Puritans. Sir John Hawkins relates that in country parishes, about the year 1675, " Some poor ignorant man, whom the poring over Ravens- croft and Playford has made to believe that he is as able a proficient in psalmody as either of those authors ; such men as these assume the title of singing-masters and lovers of divine music, and are the authors of those collections which are extant in the world, and are distinguished by the titles of "David's Harp New Strung and Tuned," " The Harmony of Sion," " The Psalm-Singer's Companion," and others of a like kind, to an incredible number." CHURCH MUSIC. 23 Mr. Zeuner, in the preface to one of his books, makes the following very just remarks : " From the abuses and absurdities that exist in well- known publications, it is not a very difficult matter to demonstrate that the church is inundated with music of a frivolous, trifling, and, may we not add, profane char- acter ! " He then goes on to notice a great number of profane airs, such as " The Brave Swiss Boy," " The Harmonious Blacksmith," &c, as well as many others, which, he says, are now being per- formed on the boards of the American and Eng- lish theatres ! " Ignorance and inexperience have no right to meddle with church music, which ought to be the most perfect in character and style. It ought always to be free from un- hallowed associations, and its character, dignity, and solem- nity ought to be constantly guarded. Has the time arrived when sacred words are to be associated with secular music, for common use in our churches ? ' My house is a house of prayer,' &e. " If one happen to hear again in the church what he has before heard in a profane place, he must indeed doubt whether he be in an insane hospital or a place of worship." A musician can accomplish what the mere ama- teur, from the shop or counting-room, fails in ; and amongst all who have written for the church, in this country, the above named gentleman has 24 HINTS CONCERNING alone displayed a true knowledge of the require- ments and propriety of Sacred Harmony. Not that his music is altogether what it should be, for of this he was well aware ; but that he has best adapted himself to the flimsy poetry he had to deal with. Although slightly tinged with modern Ger- man chromatics, yet he has displayed good judg- ment in altering the rythmical forms of church compositions, without destroying their grave har- mony. By this means he has adapted them to the light hymns in use, without falling into the lullaby style, as his cotemporaries have done. Some of Mr. Zeuner's " chanting tunes " will serve as an illustration. The fact is, that a good strong, devo- tional tune, like " Dundee " or " London," is too much for many of the little nursery hymns in use ; while, on the other hand, the most sublime and instructive poetry is often wholly enervated by being coupled with an operatic melody. What further progress can be made in secular- izing the songs of the church it is not easy to see, unless the British poets and the Italian opera are swallowed at a gulp ; and of this there are some symptoms, as recent publications intended for the Christian church give evidence. Some of these musical pretenders try to justify themselves by saying that their books contain a great deal of CHURCH MUSIC. 25 good music. But what of that ? The multitude, ever ready to sacrifice the understanding to the gratification of the senses, are sure to seize upon the bad. Plato complained of the injury done to music by the poets, who "confounded all things with all;" and surely no man can be justified in med- dling with the psalmody or ritual of the church, unless he has a suitable knowledge of music. A tinker might as well undertake to build a telescope. What a blessing would it be, if all the poetic and musical trash of our time could be heaped together on some large plain, and then touched with a lighted torch, — " Heavens ! what a pile ! whole ages perish there, And one bright blaze turns learning into air." But setting aside the quality of the music in question, it is a great sin to multiply it to such an indefinite extent. It creates much confusion. One hundred and fifty good metrical tunes are enough for this world, and perhaps there is not a much larger number of good ones extant. The music and poetry of the church, to be of any real value, must become familiar to the mind.* Now in most of the Congregational * " One generation shall praise thy works to another." 3 26 HINTS CONCERNING churches in Boston, may be found at least two thousand psalm-tunes, and about one thousand hymns. Suppose then, that one-half are fit to be used at all, (and this is a most magnanimous allowance,) and that four of each are used every Sunday ; it would require four and a half years to sing the former, and two years and a half to dis- patch the latter. " In 1567, Archbishop Parker published the first trans- lation, by one and the same person, of the entire Psalter into English metre. It was printed at London by John Daye, with the royal privilege, and appended to it are eight psalm-tunes, sufficing in metre and in character, as was supposed, for every psalm." Adaptations are generally bad, unless done by a master. There is a disagreement between the accentuation of the words and the music. The melody of the music must suit the melody of the language. Now in the face of this perverted state of things, who does not see the necessity of music schools in our colleges. We have no standard. The Puri- tans demolished organs,* committed music to the * During the Great Rebellion, very few organs escaped the fury of the Puritans, excepting the sweet-toned instrument at Magdalen College, Oxford ; which, it is said, " Cromwell contrived to steal, and had it removed to Hampton Court for his own entertainment. The rest were for the most part broken in pieces." CHURCH MUSIC. 21 flames, and annihilated all musical education; and, while we bow with reverence to the huge virtues of those old sons of thunder, we can not fail to see their errors, the consequences of which are too obvious. For want of collegiate instruc- tion, we have no suitable men to manage our public schools, and the children are now taught from certain silly school song-books, which only tend to dissipate all true musical feeling and taste from the mind, and which they are ashamed to reflect upon as they grow older. This is a great evil. It is not owing to our climate that we have not as good singers as any nation upon earth, but it is for the want of proper youthful training. The first impressions which are made on the mind are always the strongest ; hence, instead of pernicious sing-song ditties, children should always be exer- cised in strong classical examples, and especially in the church style, which they learn with the greatest facility, and to their lasting benefit. The eye, by the optic nerves, carries impressions to the brain. Sounds, also, through the auditory nerves, glide up to the brain and lay their messa- ges before the mind, the effects of which vary according to the character of the objects or harmo- nies presented, — some exalting the mind and 28 HINTS CONCERNING loftier sentiments, while others tend to levity and dissipation of the mind. Luther says i u The youth ought to be brought up and accustomed to this [arty for it maketh fine and expert people. A school- master ought to have skill in music, otherwise I would no* regard him ; neither should we ordain young fellows to the office of preaching, except they have been well exercised iu the school of music." Here is a sample of that effeminate, whining style of metrical psalmody which (to our shame be it spoken,) prevails in a great number of Amer- can churches. The women praise it, and young girls call it " beautiful." It is a soothing, lullaby style that suits their particular mood, — something akin to anise and paregoric for the babies. 0-0-0- -o\m- -0- * -0? i i.ii I 0- fj ~0-0 -2- \»V I V ^rUJ V Now, all this may be very well for little girls to sing at the piano on a Sunday evening, but what kind of praise is it to offer to Him who sendeth his lightnings to the ends of the earth, and rides CHURCH MUSIC. 29 upon the storm ? Is this the way to " praise God in his sanctuary " and " in the firmament of his power ? " Is this praising Him " according to his excellent greatness ? " Is this " singing forth the honor of his name," and " making his praise glo- 3* CHAPTEE III. The abuses of music are not confined to Con- gregational churches alone ; the Episcopal church furnishes some glaring instances. It is well known that a certain fashionable church in New York has become a by-word —that printed programmes of fashionable opera music have been distributed in the pews on occasions of worship, and that the same have been printed in the newspapers of the day, with no very nattering comments, — one writer remarking that he could not say whether or not any of the pieces were encored. These people seem to regard the music only as a low and sen- sual gratification, and young men and women listen to the amorous strains, and cry out " splen- did ! " just as they do at the theatre. It is said that this church is composed of the beau-monde of the town, for which reason, perhaps, the bishop does not put an end to such abominations. If they are really people of quality, why can they not afford a season ticket to the opera, and not prosti- CHURCH MUSIC. 31 tute the church to such low uses? An organist ol this church has produced a publication which would disgrace any choir-boy at Trinity Church. Now, howbeit we may all agree to a moderate indulgence in that exotic, the Italian Opera, on proper occasions; yet surely, none can tolerate the " sweet enfeebler of the heart" in a place of worship. Young women are not to be obtruded into the choir, to sing with that " languishment of note," and with all the " lulling softness and dying falls," as well as exaggerated accentuation, so peculiar to Italian music. St. Jerome says : " We are not like tragedians to gargle the throat with sweet modulation, that our theatrical songs may be heard in the church, but we are to sing with reverence." Dr. Burney says : " It has long appeared to me, that whoever brings theat- rical levity to the church is guilty of want of taste, judg- ment, and due reverence for the religion of his country." Another writer, on the introduction of secular compositions into our churches, says : " These are sometimes, though not often, serious, now and then touched with pathos. Yet they do not inspire devo- tion. They may awaken sympathy, and even tears ; but are unfruitful of pious emotions or exalting power. Many of these selections abound in sentiment, grace and deli- cacy 32 HINTS CONCERNING " Much ornament is not admissible in the sanctuary ; it would be as much out of keeping, as French curls on a statue of the Madonna. Great plainness, a wholesome sim- plicity, belong to genuine church music ; all sickly, mawkish expressions are to be avoided, and the light, tripping turns, and artifices, as well as elaborate cadenzas, are solecisms, where sincerity, manly directness, unaffected grace and strength should give the tone." Amongst all abuses, those of the organ are no! the least flagrant. Some people seem to regard this noble instrument only as a magnificent toy, to be filled up with all sorts of fancy stops, upon which to play all sorts of light and familiar airs, to the great hindrance of worship and scandal of the church. Those young men, whose business it is to " show off" organs, or, in the language of an old writer, such as are always playing a "foolish vanitie" ought especially to be avoided. The house of prayer is not to be converted into a " Jim Crow" concert-room, nor a sale warehouse for organ-builders.* Some instances of this sort are sometimes heard at Sunday-evening lectures. At the end of each verse of the hymn, thwack, thwack, go the stops for some seconds, preparatory to the grand display in the interlude, which I have heard * Concerts in churches are entirely out of place. It is proposed in England, that the annual musical festivals be hereafter held in the halls which have been erected for such purposes, and not in the cathedrals. CHURCH MUSIC. 33 played on something equivalent to the picolo, pro- ducing a ridiculous contrast with congregational singing. Light minds are pleased with trifles, and such persons forget the service they are engaged in. The true style of organ music is that which casts noble hints into the soul, not the merely pretty style, which affects no part of the head but the ear, and touches not the heart. A celebrated writer of a century and a half ago, says of certain organists who introduced irreli- gious music into their voluntaries : • These fingering gentlemen should be informed that they ought to suit their airs to the place and business ; and that the musician is obliged to keep to the text as much as the preacher. For want of this, I have found by experience a great deal of mischief; for, when the preacher has often, with great piety and art enough, handled his subject, and I have found in myself, and in the rest of the pew, good thoughts and dispositions, they have been all in a moment dissipated by a jig from the organ-loft." None but the very beau ideal of harmony ought to be heard in the church, and the voluntary for the organ ought to be as carefully and rigidly pre- pared as the sermon. The end of that short office of harmony — the voluntary before the first lesson — is to tranquilize the soul, and to prepare the mind for the admission of those divine truths, 34 HINTS CONCERNING which are shortly to be dispensed. The great office of the closing voluntary is, to lengthen out every act of worship, and to produce more lasting im- pressions in the mind. This demands the animat- ing and dignified effects of counterpoint. The first voluntary should be played in slow and sus- pended progressions upon the soft stops of the choir or swell-organ ; not in the boisterous manner practiced in many Congregational churches, where the organist thunders away upon the pedal and great organs, the which may be construed into an invitation to fight, rather than to worship. In this particular, I have often wondered that our organists do not more frequently avail them- selves of the instruction and example of that clas- sical church-musician, the transcendent organist of Trinity Church, Boston,** who, according to the testimony of competent judges, has no equal. Not on account of his feats as a concerto-player, for that is the laudable business of younger men, and of students ; nevertheless, I guess few would dare enter lists with him on that score, for a given occasion. The Rev. Mr. Jebb says : " There is something in the human touch, which upon a musical instrument becomes the undefinablc index to the * Mr. A. U. Hayter. CHURCH MUSIC. 35 mind and feelings of the performer. It is surprising how- great a difference is perceptible in the performance of the chant between organists of equal skill, but of greater or less devotional feeling. It has been well observed, that the organist who really reads the psalms, and enters into them as he accompanies them, will produce, unconsciously to him- self, an effect which not the most studied performance of the mere musician can command." Such seem to be some of the characteristics of this gentleman's playing. His performance is always characterized by perfect neatness ; indeed, he possesses a temperament so sensitive as to forbid any thing that is not absolutely perfect. Albeit a little extravagant, yet nothing can more aptly describe it than the words of a celebrated historian in relation to another. Sir John Hawkins says of Handel's performance on the organ : " The powers of speech are so limited, that it is almost a vain attempt to describe it otherwise than by its effects. A fine and delicate touch, a volant finger, and a ready delivery of passages the most difficult, are the praise of inferior artists. They were not noticed in Handel, whose excellen- ces were of a far superior kind ; and his amazing command of the instrument, the fulness of his harmony, the grandeur and dignity of his style, the copiousness of his imagination, and the fertility of his invention, were qualities that ab- sorbed every inferior attainment. When he gave a con- certo, his method in general was to introduce it with a voluntary movement on the diapasons, wlsich stole on the ear in a slow and solemn progression ; the harmony close- 36 HINTS CONCERNING wrought, and as full as could possibly be expressed ; the passages concatenated with stupendous art, the whole at the . same time being perfectly intelligible, and carrying the appearance of great simplicity. This kind of prelude was succeeded by the concerto itself, which he executed with a spirit and firmness which no one ever pretended to equal. Such in general was the manner of his performance ; but who shall describe its effects on his enraptured auditory ? Silence, the truest applause, succeeded the instant he ad- dressed himself to the instrument, and that so profound that it checked respiration, and seemed to control the func- tions of nature." Some people affect to undervalue the diapasons, the tones of which are so unaccountable. They are the vox humani, which we always hear with delight, but presently forget the sound, and want to hear it again. On the other hand, we are soon tired with the sounds of reeds and fanciful stops. The diapasons, by their clear and prompt speak- ing, show the imperfections of the player ; hence, some performers resort to a muddy combination of reeds and small whistles, where they can bungle with impunity. The open diapasons in some of our old organs are worth their weight of silver. One of the most charming of these may be found in Cleveland, Ohio. It was made by Goodrich, for the old Park Street Church organ, Boston. When that instru- ment was removed, the pipes were transferred to CHURCH MUSIC. 37 the organ for the Baptist Church in Union street, and upon the sale of that church, the organ was removed to Cleveland. Those pipes ought to be piously guarded and preserved. In England, organs are hardly considered ripe and mellow till they are two or three centuries old ; but with us, they are soon discarded, and are, for the most part, built in a very cheap and frail manner. A church organ should have as few stops as may be consistent with sufficient variety, and a great number tends to defeat this end; because a player must make his shifts quickly, and this can hardly be done when one has to look into a per- fect forest of stops. There are only four or five distinctive, characteristic qualities of tone, and these can all be produced with twenty stops ; all others are only slight variations under new names. An organ with twenty-five stops and three ranks of keys will give all the effects of an instrument of fifty stops, and it is believed that few American organs have wind enough to sustain a greater number of pipes ; especially where two or three couplers are used, in which case the reservoir must be enlarged in the same ratio. This fact, which seems to be entirely overlooked, is not easily accomplished in a crowded instrument, and it is a 4 38 HINTS CONCERNING question whether the couplers are, upon the whole, of any real benefit, excepting, perhaps, the pedal coupler. Firmness and steadiness of tone are rarely obtained. If the following description, which is ascribed to a monk of the tenth century, be correct, the organ was at that time no mean instrument : " Twelve pair of bellows, ranged in stately row Are joined above, and fourteen more below ; These the full force of seventy men require, Who ceaseless toil and plenteously perspire, Each aiding each, till all the winds be prest In the close confines of the incumbent chest, On which four hundred pipes in order rise To bellow forth the blast that chest supplies." It has been noticed that where organs are pro- cured for country churches before they can com- mand a competent player, music is sure to suffer, and nothing can be used but those weak, lullaby tunes, where the Bass dwells upon only two or three notes throughout. If any thing better is attempted, it has to be sung in a slow and heavy manner. Much better music would be insured, if the country choirs would cultivate a quartette of viols. The introduction of the Viola or tenor viol, would be a great improvement. "With viols, well played, the best compositions might be used with good effect. Flutes and clarionets are too brilliant and noisy. CHURCH MUSIC. 39 In a recent book, giving an account of the organs built in England from the reign of Charles the Second to the present time, the author con- tends, that what the old organs have gained in power by various alterations, they have lost in sweetness. He urges the preservation of the old instruments, whose want of power is often the sole reason of their condemnation. A reviewer of this book well observes, that, "regarding the church organ solely in the light of an accompaniment to the choir, we think that an ordinary choir-organ, properly placed, is in every respect sufficient for its purpose. We prefer sweetness, when com- bined with firmness of tone, to any amount of power." There seems to be quite a mania in this country for " gigantic and noisy organs," — those enor- mous music-mills of Holland, as Mr. Jebb calls them, which are more fit for Nebuchadnezzar's festival, than for the sweet and grave accompani- ment of a choir. Many of the modern organs are too loud for the houses which contain them, and are quite inferior for purposes of worship to many of the small, but sweet-toned old organs built by Mr. Appleton. There are not wanting such peo- ple as would exchange that fine-toned instrument in King's Chapel, Boston, for a modern toy. 40 HINTS CONCERNING American builders often fail most in the grand trumpets, which, when compared with that lofty trumpet in the magnificent organ at Trinity Church, sound more like the flip-flap and gingle of a planing-miU.* In regard to the temperament of a church organ, the perfect old English is, no doubt, the best ; because, where but few keys and little modulation are used, the intervals can be nearly as perfect as the voice. In a concert-room, equal temperament is not out of place. In all its departments, a very large majority of the people in this country have no other idea of church music than that of an entertainment. A clergyman, not long ago, requested the organist of his church to favor the congregation with " The Last Rose of Summer," as a voluntary. Such people frequently try to justify themselves, by a very foolish saying, falsely ascribed to a very pious man, viz., that " The devil ought not to have all the good tunes." They then think they have said something ; but methinks the great question * The organs of Germany are said to be the same to-day as they were two hundred years ago, while the English have made great improvements, especially in the action, and have also added that valuable invention — the swell — which the Germans do not know the use of. In accompanying the chant, and otherwise, the swell is invaluable Avhen properly used, and it is not more frequently abused than the thundering pedal Bass. CHURCH MUSIC. 41 as to which are the best tunes still remains to be settled. It seems as if the devil, or some other dis- tinguished personage, must now have all the good tunes, for they are rarely heard in our churches. But who are these empty-headed young men, aye, and old ones, too, who would convert the church into a house of entertainment ? " Have ye not houses to eat and drink in ? " Who are the conceited boobies who dislike old music ? The Bible is pretty old — do they like that ? What do they know about sound ? Do they understand its phenomena, in all its philosophical, physiological, and moral bearings ? Can they point out those progressions in harmony which are best calculated to lead the mind to " the throne of the heavenly grace ? " If these men know any thing, let them stand up, and make out their case ; or else, be it said of them, in the words of Job : " Ye are all physicians of no value. Oh that ye would alto- gether hold your peace ; and it should be your wisdom." Such people cut a very queer figure, when they set up their opinions against the practice of men who have been bred in the church, and who have spent their lives in the study of divine harmony. Do men send for a physician, and then tell him to give them only such sweet medicine as suits their 4* 42 CHURCH MUSIC. disordered tastes ? Neither must they tell the doc- tor of music what their souls need. Such a thing is preposterous, and ought to put the blush upon the most conceited pedagogue in Christendom. Dr. Crotch, on different styles in music, says : " The sublime is founded on principles of vastness and incomprehensibility. The word sublime, originally signi- fies, high, lofty, elevated ; and this style, accordingly, never descends to any thing small, delicate, light, pretty, playful, or comic. The grandest style in music is, there- fore, the sacred style, — that of the church and oratorios ; for it is least inclined to levity, where levity is inadmissi- ble, and where the words convey the most awful and strik- ing images. Infinity, and what is next to it, immensity, are among the most efficient causes of this quality ; and when we hear innumerable voices and instruments sounding the praises of God in solemn and becoming strains, the most sublime image that can fill the mind seldom fails to present itself — that of the heavenly host described in the Holy Scriptures." CHAPTER IV. What then, let us ask, is the true style of devo- tional music? In answering this, we must in- quire into the nature of the service in which it is employed. The worship of God is the heartfelt performance of certain religious rites, as prayer and praise, whereby man seeks to honor God and benefit himself by bringing the heart into an obe- dient frame, to the end of an upright life. Who- ever has a true apprehension of the greatness and holiness of divine worship, can understand how reverent and serious should be the music which accompanies so sublime an act. Holiness to the Lord should be stamped upon every thing con- nected with the church, and the best faculties of the soul should be exercised by all who venture to compose choral music. We are to rejoice soberly and reverently ; not with the boisterous or wanton hilarity and mirth which characterize a political celebration. Worship, then, is a work of the heart and the 44 HINTS CONCERNING understanding, not of the imagination and the senses ; consequently, all works of a purely melo- dic or imaginative character have no business in the church. Arias must be excluded, because they are outward and sensual, while harmony is inter- nal and spiritual, and (in the words of a famous and ancient man,) affects that very part of man which is most divine. An important event indeed in the history of music, was its separation from poetry, which hap- pened about 550 years B. C. In all vocal compo- sitions the music ought to be kept subordinate to the poetry, which, from the greatest antiquity, has always been considered the prime element, and the musical tones as only auxiliary, and for giving life to the text ; otherwise, what an absurdity would it be to talk about vocal and instrumental music, when no real difference would exist. One of the great evils and pernicious errors of modern times is that this distinction is lost sight of; words are now sacrificed to sound ; for which reason, amongst others, no church music, (and very little genuine vocal music of any sort,) has been written during the last century. Altar music, above all other, must be only a vehicle for the words of the service, which are the property of the whole congregation ; consequently. CHURCH MUSIC. 45 it must not be in the weak, melodic style, where words are sacrificed to sound, but in the syllabic, choral or speaking style, which admits of a dis- tinct articulation, and where nearly every syllable has its note. Dr. Burney says, " Our florid song, it can not be dissembled, is not always sufficiently subservient to poetry." Again, how can spiritual worship be aided by music which appeals only to the senses, for they must soon languish where the mind has nothing to do, — then we must know that a large part of the worshippers have no ear for tune or melody ; consequently, they can derive no benefit from it. Harmony, on the contrary, has power to affect every living soul ; even the savage is awe- stricken by the power of grave harmony. The office of divine harmony is to lift up the heart, and to give life to the service, — conse- quently, it must be of a plain, dignified, and orderly sort. We are told that the Fathers cast out of the church all gay and chromatic music, i. e., the canto figurato, and retained only the sober diatonic genus ; and it has been truly said, that a strict adherence to the diatonic scale pre- cludes levity. The chromatic scale belongs to the orchestra, and particularly to instrumental compo- sitions. The church wants but little to do with 46 HINTS CONCERNING semi-tones. Dr. Burney says : " Let all the sharps, and six of the seven single flats, be excommuni- cated from the church, but let them not be cut off from all society elsewhere." Again, he says: — " Perhaps the want of variety in the melody and modulation of the strict diatonic compositions was compensated by accuracy of intonation and perfec- tion of harmony," and, that " what is generally understood by taste, in music, must ever be an abomination in the church." Mr. Hooker says : "In harmony, the very image and character, even, of virtue and vice, is perceiv- ed; the mind delighted with their resemblances, and brought, by having them often iterated, into a love of the things themselves. For which cause there is nothing more contagious and pestilent than some kinds of harmony — than some, nothing more strong and potent unto good." We can all realize the dangerous effects of bad harmony, when we see how this generation has been corrupted, and how some persons choose such whining, sing- song tunes as " Hebron," " Ward," " Ballerma," &c, instead of the simple majesty of " Dundee," "London," "St. Anns," and "Windsor," which not only please the ear but awaken the loftier sentiments. We want, then, at the altar, only the plain syl- CHURCH MUSIC. 47 labic melodies, divided equally among all the parts, (for all are to sing with the understanding and the heart,) the whole wrought into dignified and simple diatonic harmony, elevated by that soul-stirring and ever-living principle of all music — counterpoint — and chastened by the graces of sequence. Now, be it known that, the music of the Refor- mation is such as has been described, and that the Church of England has got it all, and the devil none. During a period of fifty years, about the time of the Reformation, Rome furnished some of the best specimens ever written, and then fell off into sensuality. England has availed herself of all such Italian compositions as could be adapted to her service, as well as the German chorals of the Reformation, and so is become the conservator of nearly all the true devotional music in the world. When the new and simple ritual of the Refor- mation was firmly established under Elizabeth, there arose a demand for simple music, suited to the English tongue. Then appeared Dr. Tye, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, Richard Farrant, Orlando Gibbons and a host of others, down to the time of Boyce ; since which time very little good church music has been written, nor is it 48 HINTS CONCERNING desirable that there should be, since there is an ample supply for all times and occasions. These productions were the promptings of the most sub- lime piety, and so excellent were they that they begat in the people a great love of sacred music, and it became the national music. Handel im- bibed it, and modeled his style upon it, otherwise he might have been a very different Handel. The characteristics of these old compositions are said to be, fine harmony, unaffected simplicity, and unspeakable grandeur. Here is praise tempered with adoration. Such music has had no small influence upon the English character ; and if we retain any thing of that solidity of mind peculiar to the English race, such also must be our music. It is not a little laughable to hear certain musical novices talk about an American style. Such is the music which those accomplished and profound musicians, Dr. Hodges, of New York, and Mr. Hayter, of Boston, have been labor- ing to disseminate in our country, and to such men as these, the nation owes a debt of gratitude. Tn this connection might also be named, those dis- creet church-musicians, the present organists of Grace Church, and of the Church of the Advent, Boston, — whose hearts are fully bent in the right way. These gentlemen have had to contend, not CHURCH MUSIC. 49 only with popular, but clerical ignorance ; for most of the clergy have had the misfortune to be edu- cated in colleges destitute of musical foundations, and have failed to perceive the true purposes of this part of the service. Such persons have some- times objected to the old music, because the parts do not all speak the words exactly together. Now, such people ought to know that the subject is always first given out in a distinct and articulate manner, and then follow such contrapuntal con- trivances as tend to impress it upon the mind, and without which the service would be so monoto- nous as to drive many from the church. It is a truth, that the sober expressions of counterpoint do not harmonize much with sensuality. In the time of Henry the Eighth, a book of cer- emonies was published, in which is the follow- ing passage : " The sober, discreet, and devout singing, music, and playing with organs, used in the church in the service of God, are ordained to move the people to the sweetness of God's word, the which is there sung ; and by that sweet har- mony both to excite them to prayer and devotion, and also to put them in remembrance of the heav- enly triumphant church, where is everlasting joy, continual laud, and praise to God." Sir John Hawkins, in his admiration for the old 5 50 HINTS CONCERNING English composers, says : " Upwards of two hun- dred years have elapsed since the anthem of Dr. Tye, ' I will exalt thee,' was composed ; and near as long since Tallis composed the anthem, ' I call and cry to thee, O Lord,' and it is but a few years since Geminiani was heard to exclaim that the author of it was inspired." Such is the beau ideal of Temple harmony. Stripe, in his Annals of the Reformation, says of the music of Elizabeth's time, that the French ambassador hearing the excellent music in the cathedral church, extolled it to the sky, and brake out into these words : " O God, I think no prince beside in all Europe ever heard the like ; no, not even our holy father the Pope himself." In all forms of the church song the older speci- mens are the best. For instance, in that highest and best form — the chant — the Gregorian stands pre-eminent, notwithstanding some claim equal rank for the early English chants. So is it in met- rical psalmody, and with services and anthems ; the best being coeval with the Reformation. The reason is, that they were written to supply the necessities of the times, and are the productions of pious hearts and of a , pious age. They were prompted by higher and purer motives than repu- tation or profit to the composer. Much of the old CHURCH MUSIC. 51 harmony was composed by doctors of divinity and men of great learning, who devoted their lives to the service of the church ; amongst whom may be mentioned, in addition to those before named — Elway Bevin ; Christopher Gibbons ; Peter Rog- ers; John Hilton; Dr. Rogers; Dr. Child; A. Bryne ; Dr. Blow ; Jeremiah Clark ; Humphrey ; Wise ; Patrick ; Dr. Aldrich ; Weldon ; Dr. Croft ; Creighton ; Dr. Turner ; King ; Dr. Greene ; Bat- tishili ; Travers ; Purcell ; Robert White ; Batten ; Webbe ; Goldwin ; Matthew Lock ; Tompkins ; Shephard ; Nares ; Dean ; Kelway ; Attwood ; Alcock ; R. Cooke ; Dr. Cooke ; Dr. Hayes ; Dr. Crotch ; and many others. Whoever is not fami- liar with these authors ought to be very shy about speaking of church music. Concerning chants, while we are not to be con- fined strictly to the old models, yet it is dangerous to wander far from them. Our modern double chants are quite too florid and melodic, some of them being more like a psalm-tune than a chant. People can not judge of the Gregorian chants by what they see in certain recent publications, where they appear in a secular dress. It is the fashion, in some quarters, to decry the old church modes, together with the Greek and Hebrew music, as barren and monotonous. Such 52 HINTS CONCERNING people seem to think, that because secular and instrumental music have passed the narrow bounds of the ecclesiastical style, they may introduce their new and charming conceits into the church, but not so; the characteristics of divine worship re- main unchanged. Those thoughtless persons, who would introduce gay and meretricious composi- tions, for the sake of pleasing the youth, are not worthy of notice ; for albeit we may make no boasts of piety, yet who so impious as not to pay his devoirs to religion. Church music, then, has one fixed and unaltera- ble purpose, high above the fickleness of all fantas- tic and fashionable embellishment, and can never change, but with the attributes of Jehovah. The principal reason why the ancient music of the Church has fallen into neglect in our coun- try, is, that it was so much caricatured by the Puritans. Even at the present day, some of our best singers inherit the old Puritanic drawl. They seem to think that the word Choral, means slow and heavy ; and are possessed with the idea, that all the tunes which are written in semibreves and minims must be sung in a heavy, drawling man- ner, when in truth the notes have nothing to do with the lime — the words and the construction of the music must govern that. Breves and semi- CHURCH MUSIC. 53 breves are the church's characters — they are plain, and easy to read, and keep the music of the church separate from other music. Crotchets and quavers belong to the theatre. The " Old Hund- red" and " Dundee," therefore, are not dirges, but the most rejoicing anthems in the world, when the words are of such a character. It is a mockery to caricature the words usually set to the " Old Hund- red," by drawling them out in a slow and un- meaning way. The Rev. W. H. Havergal, in the preface to one of his publications, makes the following remarks : " The time and pitch of tunes in older days, were not exactly as they now are. The old singers sang at a greater speed than modern singers. A dozen verses, reduced to six by a double tune, formed a very moderate portion for one occasion. The modern drawl, which makes four single ver- ses quite long enough, was most likely occasioned by the innovations upon the syllabic style. When crotchets, qua- vers, and flourishing turns found admission into parish choirs, a slowness of performance necessarily followed. The introduction of tunes in triple measure, where the accented semibreve or minim is divided into two slurred notes, was also fatal to the continuance of pure psalmody. All such tunes occasion a slow and languid utterance." As to the triple measure, to which Mr. Havergal alludes, it has been found to be in some respects better suited to the English tongue than the com- mon time, inasmuch as our language has fewer 5* 54 HINTS CONCERNING accented syllables than the Latin and some other languages '7 but it can never be sung by a congre- gation nor by any save skillful vocalists, because it requires a degree of sustaining power which crude singers know nothing about. The triple measure is good for occasional use, but the com- mon time is the best, and when the music is written in the subservient and syllabic form, the accent can be varied at pleasure. Dr. Watts says s " It were to be wished, that we might not dwell so long on every note, and produce the same syllables to such tire- some extent, with a constant; uniformity of time; which disguises the music, and puts the congregation quite out of breath ; whereas, if the method of singing were but reform- ed to a greater speed of pronunciation, we might often enjoy the pleasure of a longer psalm, with less expense of time and breath ; and our psalmody would be more agreeable to that of the ancient churches, more intelligible to others,, and more delightful to ourselves." Dr. Miller, on the same subject, says : " Instead of the odious absurdity of giving the same length of sound to every syllable, whether long or short, to every word, be it ever so emphatical, or only an article or expletive ; instead of hearing in our churches unmeaning sound, which scarcely deserves the name of music, we shall be delighted with what constitutes its very essence." Mr. Cope, in his lectures, remarked that, CHURCH MUSIC. 55 " With the death of Dr. Boyce in 1799, closed the school of English Church Music, after an existence of two hundred and fifty years, from 1530 to 1780. This school existed as long as any school in the world, even that of painting. Subsequent musicians had not the conception of writing for the church; they had the glaring fault of strain- ing to produce, by great effects, grand and sublime strains, and we see their utter failure. During the two hundred and fifty years' existence of the school of music, the produc- tions of the old masters always had a solemn and devotional character and never ceased to be the music of the church. As for Mozart, he was so secular that you would not know his music was sacred, if you were not informed of it at the time it was being performed." One of the most lamentable facts to be noted, is the total neglect of the minor mode. It is gener- ally supposed that music in this mode must neces- sarily be whined out in a sad and gloomy manner, merely because our Puritan fathers did so, but the old English composers wrote the most jubilant anthems in this mode, and it is far more chaste and majestic than the major. Just let our "Windsor" be sung right lustily and with the whole heart, as the psalm prescribes, and it will be found that what the poet has said of this old " Dundee " is not extravagant. Let the words be — " Joy to the world, the Lord is come.'5 Music in this style is always your humble ser- vant. The accent may be varied at pleasure, and it may be loud or soft, fast or slow, solemn or gay. CHAPTER V. Having just hinted, in the foregoing pages, at what music is, and what it is not, I have bethought me to cast some reflections at the hindrances in the way of real church music ; amongst which may- be reckoned, first, an inordinate indulgence in that intensely sensual and enervating exotic, the Italian Opera. With the loss of liberty, the Italians lost all ; and, corrupted by their various invaders, plunged into sensuality and the love of pleasure. Thus was the national mind so enervated, that this once great people is well nigh degenerated into a nation of priests, beggars, fiddlers, etc. The recent music of Italy, that " land of great faith and lax morals," is all sense — mere musical dissipation; which fol- lows consequently upon the dissipation of the national mind; for music is a sure intellectual barometer. What are the thoughts of an Italian when compared with those of an Englishman ? Do they often rise above love, music, and maca- roni ? CHURCH MUSIC. 57 " Pythagoras, who paid the greatest attention to the science of music, deemed it the duty of a philosopher to look upon it as an intellectual study, and censured the judg- ing of music by the senses. He required that it should be examined by the rules of harmonic proportion." Modern Italian operas are, as some have inti- mated, pretty much alike ; one composer being but an imitator of another. They all dazzle at first, but soon pall upon the ear. Nevertheless, they often afford a good exhibition of the vocal art, which is the secret of their attraction with musi- cians, and but for which, two or three perform- ances would suffice, like those of a circus company. The influence of light music develops itself in the performances of some of our musical societies. The Handel and Haydn Society was chartered "for the purpose of extending the knowledge and improving the style of performance of church mu- sic" How much has the style of church music been improved by the performance of that blas- phemous, nondescript, and hackneyed composi- tion, Rossini's " Stabat Mater " ? — a part of which is only fit for martial music, whilst other portions only require scenic effects and action, to fit them for the theatre. The music and the words are entirely antagonistic, and nobody but a barbarian can sing the music in its true character, when coupled with words of such awful and tender im- 58 HINTS CONCERNING port, without doing violence to his own feelings. But luckily for most of the young amateurs who take part in the performance, they know nothing about the words; whilst the opera singers, who are dragged in to compete with the theatre, care nothing about them. What a falling off must there be in the intellect of this old society, and how short-sighted its management, when it is thus prostituted from the high purposes for which it was founded, to the performance of such popish and impious rubbish. But, says one, " It pays best;" which saying may not prove to be true, in the long run. But, saying nothing about the damage to the cause of music, wrhat is a little present gain, compared to the ultimate loss of rep- utation, and ruin which must ensue, whenever the intelligent, who give the tone to public opinion, set their faces against such things ? The Handel and Haydn Society, by fostering such trash, not only involve the forfeiture of their charter, but dis- grace the name of Handel. But, says another, " It is fine music ; " so it is, perhaps, for the stage — for battle and murder ; but not for the Saviour bleeding on the cross. It has been asserted, and whether truly or not, the result justifies the belief, that Rossini, being a Jew, composed this music in the most impious strain possible, in order to show his contempt for the Christian religion. CHURCH MUSIC. 59 As a result of such performances, let it be here recorded, that, at a recent dedication of a Baptist church in Boston, Rossini's " Inrlammatus " was per 'formed, and that, too, in Italian. Songs to the Virgin in a Protestant church, and at the dedica- tion ! What say the « Holy Alliance " to this ? "* A clergyman must feel himself but poorly fitted for his office, when his education has been so neglected in the matter of ecclesiastical music as to allow such exhibitions. Indeed, we can hardly enter a church in Boston without hearing some familiar strains from an opera. To one of our younger musical societies, be- longs the honor of having first produced, in this country, that master-piece of all choral works, Han- del's " Israel in Egypt. " This work was most faithfully and carefully prepared, having been patiently rehearsed under Mr. J. G. Webb ; and the result was, beyond question, the most perfect performance ever heard in this city, and an occa- sion not to be forgotten. It was done on the evening of Saturday, March the first, 1851, under the conduct of Mr. Lowell Mason, the orchestral force being similar to that employed by Han- *This was proved to be partly erroneous. The person upon whose authority it was stated, alleges that he could distinguish no English words, and we know that words can hardly be spoken at all in the screaming portions of that music. 60 HINTS CONCERNING del. The organ was handled by a young 'En- glish organist, who played with such precision, spirit, promptness and power, as might have satisfied the immortal composer himself. This composition is by all means the most suitable for choral societies, when they can command a strong, double choir. It only requires a moderate orchestra, and a good organ, well played. If our musical societies were to unite, for a season, in the performance of this great work, what crowds would give audience. Suppose then, that instead of burlesquing respectable operas, or running a sort of scrub-race to see who shall "come out" first with the most imperfect performance, they should thus unite and give us something truly great. Aristotle says : " Every kind of music is good for some purpose or other ; that of the theatre is necessary for the amusement of the mob ; the theatrical transitions, and the tawdry and glaring melodies in use there, are suited to the perversion of their minds, and let them enjoy them." But whatever may be thought of the music of the theatre, surely none can be indifferent to that part of the art which " raises such heavenly con- templations in the mind." Says an old writer : " The passions that are excited by ordinary com- CHURCH MUSIC. 61 positions generally flow from, such silly and absurd occasions, that a man is ashamed to reflect upon them seriously ; but the fear, the love, the sorrow, the indignation, that are awakened in the mind by hymns and anthems, make the heart better, and proceed from such causes as are altogether praise- worthy. Pleasure and duty go hand in hand, and the greater our satisfaction is, the greater is our religion." Young persons are rarely to be trusted in the matter of church music, and, naturally enough, perhaps, fall into the lighter style. Later in life, after the enthusiasm of youth and the thirst for novelty are past, and when the devotional senti- ments come to be developed, they are better qualified to judge of music. They then realize their youthful vanities, and cling to the classics as the only true source of edification and lasting pleasure. There are in almost every church and religious society certain fickle-minded young men, who are afflicted with the Italian opera, who spend their evenings perchance with Donizetti, and who judge of church singers by that which disqualifies them for the office, viz., their proficiency in Italian song, which requires a state of mind and feeling not at all consonant with worship. These young charac- 6 62 HINTS CONCERNING ters are often loud in their complaints about the music at church — "O! it is perfectly horrid.'' Now and then they can draw into their circle some older person, whose ignorance of music is only equalled by his self-conceit, and who may have indulged himself a little in the psalmody of "Billings and Holden." Now, you have only to wound the conceit of such a man to make him your mortal enemy ; for his only wonder is, " that one small head can carry all he knows." Such parties sometimes contrive to keep up a continual buzzing in the congregation. But what need the well-advised church musician and ritualist care for the nestlings of such " church mice ? " for it has been observed that such busy-bodies contribute little or nothing to the support of worship. Such worldlings object to the devout minor mode, which ought by all means to be equal with, if not to prevail over the major, in church. Not long ago, one such person approached the organ- ist of one of our churches, after the singing of the tune which we call " Windsor," and said, " Why will you persist in singing these minor tunes ? " Yes, " Windsor !" that which by common consent of musicians, is the best specimen of metrical psalmody extant. What a commentary on this man's mind and heart ; for if music is an intellec- tual barometer, it is not a less sure devotional CHURCH MUSIC. 63 touch-stone. Such men as these sometimes at- tempt to criticise ecclesiastical music. They think that they must understand the music they hear. but how can they do this without knowing the science ? They may feel it, but not understand it If it is the business of worshippers to seek out the mysteries of harmony, then the church is converted into a music school. Words are the medium for worship, and if these meddlers will attend to their prayer-books, the music, such as the sound church musician uses, will aid them in their devotions. Quintillian, in his remarks on the importance of the study of music, thus defines the kind of music to be studied : " I do not mean," he says, "those effeminate, lascivious quavers that are now intro- duced upon our theatres, and deprive us of the small share of virility that still remains amongst us ; but the music which heroes themselves used. I do not mean the lewd airs practised upon flutes and fiddles, such as a young lady of any reputa- tion would be ashamed of; but that kind which being founded upon rational principles, is of the greatest efficacy in raising or soothing the pas- sions." Modern Italian music has otherwise, indirectly, injured sacred music. A British publication fur- nishes the following extracts, on the rise of the musical pitch : 64 HINTS CONCERNING " A pamphlet was published three or four years since by Mr. Richard Clark, a vetern lay vicar choral of Westmin- ster Abbey, in which he gives some curious illustrations of the rise in the pitch of musical instruments, which has occur- red of late years. Mr. Clark has the good fortune to possess a tuning-fork (A,) which belonged to Handel. He also possesses a bell, supposed to be about five hundred years old, which came from a monastery in Spain, and the note of which corresponds exactly with Handel's fork A ; and he shows that the old bell at Westminster Abbey, which was given to that Abbey in 1430, and recast in 1599, gives D natural exactly in accordance with the pitch of Handel's fork and of the Spanish bell. " On the other hand, he shows that the pitch used at the 'Philharmonic and the Opera, is a tone, or a tone and a half, above what it was in Handel's time ; and the pitch having been so much strained and forced above the natural compass of the voice, to accommodate, show off, and make the instru- ments brilliant, neither treble, contratenor, tenor, nor bass, can sing with effect the pieces allotted, and originally com- posed in that particular key, without, as it were, straining their eyes out of their heads. 'Vocal Music,' continues Mr. Clark, ' never gave more delight or more satisfaction than when the pitch was a whole tone lower than it is at the present time. It is frequently remarked, we shall never have Handel's music sung as it was by Madame Mara. Why ? it may be asked. Because it is fashionable, and it is expected, that singers must attempt fiddle-passages, there- fore have no command over their voices. Such face-strain- ing and screaming certainly surprises, but makes no lasting impression on the ear or the feelings, which was the case in Mara's time.' " Two questions here arise ; which are thus stated and answered by Mr. Clark. CHURCH MUSIC. 65 " ' I have heard it asked, How did the bass voices in the time of Orlando Gibbons sing down to double E, and in the time of Purcell sing up to F and G, and down to double D ? I answer, that the bass in the time of Gibbons very rarely was required to sing above the sixth line C, and therefore, not being forced at the top, could always command double E and D below. " ' In regard to Purcell's composition, a voice had been formed by nature in the person of Mr. Gosling, of Can- terbury, who was, on the 25th of February, 1578, sworn Gentleman Extraordinary of the Chapels Royal, for whom Purcell prepared all his bass songs and anthems. " ' Dr. Boyce, it is understood, composed most of his beau- tiful, but very high anthems, for old Mr. Bellamy, who had a very high bass voice. Mr. R. T. S. Stevens, also compos- ed many of his glees for Mr. Leete's fine deep bass voice. Dr. Calcott composed that beautiful glee, " With sighs, sweet Rose," for Mr. W. Knyvett. Mr. Horsely composed that grand and noble composition, " Cold is Cadwallo's tongue," for that truly great English singer, that orator in music, Mr. Bartleman ; and many other compositions could be adduced in the same way. These composers had already the voices formed, and adapted their compositions beautifully to the compass of those several voices. But these singers could not sing the same compositions a note and a half higher than the key in which the music was originally com- posed for them ; the singers would thereby be much distress- ed, and probably the compositions spoiled.' " May not the foregoing be taken as the solution of Handel's trumpet parts, which make our mod- em trumpeters scowl and scold. 6* CHAPTER VI. Having been misinformed in regard to the words used in connection with improper music at the dedication of the church mentioned in our last chapter, it is a satisfaction to contradict that slight misstatement. The music in itself was quite suf- ficient,— enough indeed to satisfy the blindest devotee to the meretricious schools of modern Italy. The fulsome and indiscriminate adulation heaped upon foreign compositions, musicians, and teachers, during the past five years, is not without an example. About a century and a quarter ago, Farinelli, a handsome and very celebrated Italian singer, captivated half the women in London; and, during the performance of a certain song, one of them gave vent to the following impious ejacu- lation : " One God, one Farinelli ! " This event has been satirized by Hogarth, in his " Rake's Progress." Farinelli is there represented on a sort of throne or altar, upon which are depicted several hearts pierced with arrows. At the foot of this CHURCH MUSIC. 67 altar a female is kneeling and presenting her heart, whilst the above named ejaculation proceeds from her mouth. " Addison says : " We no longer understand the language of our own stage ; insomuch, that I have often been afraid, when I have seen our Italian performers chattering in the vehe- mence of action, that they have been calling us names, and abusing us among themselves ; but I hope, since we do put such an entire confidence in them, they will not talk against us before our faces, though they may do it with the same safety as if it were behind our backs. In the mean time, I can not forbear thinking how naturally an historian who writes two or three hundred years hence, and does not know the taste of his wise forefathers, will make the following reflection ; In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Italian tongue was so well understood in England, that operas were acted on the public stage in that language. "One scarce knows how to be serious in the confutation of an absurdity that shows itself at the first sight. It does not want any great measure of sense to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice ; but what makes it the more aston- ishing, it is not the taste of the rabble, but of persons of the greatest politeness, which has established it. " If the Italians have a genius for music above the En- glish, the English have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, and capable of giving the mind a much nobler entertainment. " Music is certainly a very agreeable entertainment ; but if it would take the entire possession of our ears, if it would make us incapable of hearing sense, if it would ex- clude arts that have a much greater tendency to the refine- 68 HINTS CONCERNING ment of human nature, I must confess I would allow it no better quarter than Plato has done. " Our present notions of music are so very uncertain, that we do not know what it is we like ; only, in general7 we are transported with any thing that is not English : so it be of a foreign growth, let it be Italian, French, or High-Dutch, it is the same thing." If Addison found reason for such remarks in his time, what would he say of the modern Italian opera ? Let us now glance at that hybrid species of music, the masses of Haydn and Mozart "They are, (says Jebb,) the genuine offspring of the opera, though trained by a hand of greater strength than is to be found in the more modern Italian school, (the encour- agement of which, is on many most serious grounds a dis- grace to the English nation,) and deeply versed in the most hidden resources of an exquisite melody. But there is an exaggerated expression of sentiment foreign to our national character, and inconsistent with its manly strength. They are in a style neither ecclesiastical nor English." Mozart had the misfortune to live in a secular age. His reputation and his living depended on his popularity at court, and to be out of favor there, was a fatal disaster. His new and brilliant instrumentation was eagerly seized upon as a fitting adjunct to the gay pageantries of popery. " In the Roman choirs, (continues Jebb,) the secularity of modern times has introduced theatrical singers into a CHURCH MUSIC. 69 gallery, to execute that operatic style of music, which has very much superseded the school of Palestrina and Allegri. Rome has heinously trangressed ancient practice in grave matters, whilst in the particular of sacred music she has sinned against the decorum of public worship more griev- ously than any church upon earth. The services of Pas- sion week at Rome have degenerated into a mere spectacle, which people go to hear and see from exactly the same motives that send them to the opera." Modern masses depend very much upon tawdry instrumental effects, and require the aid of an orchestra. They are peculiarly adapted to the Latin tongue, and are part and parcel of the sen- suality of popery. There are in Boston certain young men and women who go about o' nights singing masses in unknown tongues. If such per- sons think that they are doing any thing for the improvement of church music, they deceive them- selves. On the other hand, if they seek only amusement and vocal exercise, how much more rational to use the fine old English glees and mad- rigals, or the fine old contrapuntal church compo- sitions by the best English masters. Here the words combine with the music in the promotion and refinement of all the generous sentiments and the noble and devout impulses of the heart. Nothing can be more absurd than for an Eng- lishman (or American) to study Italian song, un- 70 HINTS CONCERNING less he be first well instructed in English singing, or unless he intends to forsake his mother tongue altogether. To intone the English language well, is an art requiring careful study and practice, whilst almost any person who can open his mouth may sing Italian. The singing of English re- quires that smart and expert action of the lips and tongue which is necessary for the quick and dis- tinct articulation of the consonants without inter- fering with the vowels, and to which the Italian and German are entirely opposed. We may all call to mind certain cases, amongst our female vocalists especially, where the almost exclusive study of German or Italian song has entirely un- fitted them for the articulation of English. The common remark in such cases is, that " She sings as if her mouth was full of pudding." The great desideratum in Boston, at the present time, is a thorough teacher of English singing, which we have not had since the death of that perfect mas- ter, John Paddon. A writer in Dwight's Journal of Music com- plains of the indistinctness of musical utterance with some of our popular vocalists, "insomuch that one might be led to conjecture that the use of singing was to stifle words." No doubt; but is not this a strange complaint, coming as it does CHURCH MUSIC. 71 from a source which denies the existence of any English school of music? Who can ever forget the greatness of expression, the largeness of style, the wonderful effect, which characterized the sing- ing of those famous exponents of the English school, — Braham, Phillips, and Anna Bishop. What, " no English school, but only singers of English? " What can such an opinion be worth, when it comes from a person who professes his ignorance of English church music — of that which is the very head and front of all music, and in which Handel took great delight; indeed, he was an Englishman in every thing save the accident of birth. Handel, in contrast with Mozart, had not only the advantage of a maturer age and a riper judg- ment, but he had also the good fortune to write for English ears and for the devout English mind. At the age of about forty years he gave up the Italian opera, and turned his attention to the sacred oratorio ; " a pursuit, which was better suited," as he himself used to declare, " to the circumstances of a man advancing in years, than that of adapting music to such vain and trivial poetry as the musi- cal drama is generally made to consist of." " Handel, (says Mr. Hogarth, in his recent Survey of Music,) was the greatest of musicians; and it is not more 72 HINTS CONCERNING probable that the lustre of his name shall be dimmed by age, or impaired by a successful rivalry, than that any such thing shall befall the names of Homer, Milton, or Michael Angelo. Since his day, indeed, music, in some respects, has been progressive. But the music of the church, — the no- blest branch of the art, — has remained unchanged for gen- erations, and will probably remain unchanged for generations to come. Founded on the great principles of harmony, established by the ecclesiastical composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it is constructed of materials over which time has small power ; and the few ornaments which may be applied to it by the varying taste of different ages, can but slightly affect the aspect of its massive and colossal structure. Compared to this, accordingly, all other kinds of music appear to be fleeting and ephemeral. In every country it is the oldest music that is extant ; and in our own, the walls of our cathedrals may still re-echo the sacred strains of Gribbons and Tallis, Purcell and Boyce, after all the profane music that has been produced, from their days to our own, shall have been swept away. It is on this foundation that Handel has built the stupendous choruses of his oratorios. Their duration is independent of the muta- bility of taste or fashion. They make the same impression now as when they were heard for the first time ; and will continue to act on the mind with undiminished power so long as the great principles of human nature shall remain unchanged." " In England, (says another writer,) Dr. Tye had the merit, even before the time of Palestrina, of abandoning, in some of his compositions, the artificial and complicated methods of his day ; and Tallis, Byrd, Gribbons and others, during the Elizabethan age, profiting by his works and those of Palestrina, succeeded in bringing ecclesiastical CHURCH MUSIC. 73 music to a state of grandeur, simplicity and purity, which has never been surpassed. " It is singular that English composers alone, should, down to the present day, have adhered to the exclusive ecclesiastical style ; but to this distinction they are unques- tionably entitled ; and it may well console us for our ad- mitted inferiority in music of a theatrical and miscellaneous nature." " Our music (continues Hogarth) consecrated to religion, retains the grand and solemn harmony of the old masters. It admits none of those light and tripping measures, which, in the words of Pope, — 'Make the soul dance upon a jig to heaven,' or rather, draw it down from those heavenly contempla- tions which religious music ought to inspire, and fill the mind with thoughts of trifling amusements. England is thus entitled to boast that her cathedral music is superior to that of any other country, and that while the music of the church in Italy, and even Germany, has degenerated, ours retains the solemn grandeur of the olden time." " A great people who possess the instinct of great things ! " exclaimed Hector Berlioz, after attending a choral festival at St. Paul's ; " the soul of Shakspeare is in them ! " CHAPTER VII. Notwithstanding church music is the one idea with which we set out, and to which we intend to confine our hints, nevertheless it becomes neces- sary to notice, from time to time, such collateral and kindred subjects as are inseparably connected with it. To the pernicious influences already noticed, as opposed to any just ideas of church music, may be added that of the modern music of the Germans. Following the bent of the mystical German mind, their music, as well as their specu- lative philosophy or theology, have all run together into the mud. During these latter days there have sprung up in Germany certain philosophers, so called, resembling somewhat, it is said, the ancient Greek philosophers, only with this difference, that the ancients professed to be guided by reason, whereas the problems of our moderns outrun all human understanding. This kind of mysticism is called Idealism; Or in theology, Pantheism; and more familiarly, Transcendentalism. The propor- CHURCH MUSIC. 75 tion of each required to make a skeptic or a luna- tic, depends, no doubt, upon the strength of the patient. Quite certain it is, however, that it has cracked the noddles of half a score of little minis- ters in and about Boston and New England. That epicurean idea — socialism — is one of the results ; and then, spiritualism — that fruitful cause of insanity, suicide, and murder. Surely, only evil can follow any attempt to comprehend the spirit, or to discover " deep things out of dark- ness," for such knowledge is " too wonderful " for mortals. We should then " be as gods." " Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind ? Should he reason with un- profitable talk ? " It soon comes to pass, with those who yield themselves to the fascinations of mysticism, or who let the imagination run riot on a sea of speculation, that the understanding is overturned. Those who deal altogether in ideas, or who live in the ideal world, soon lose all relish for the actual and real, and things addressed to the understanding are called dull or "quaint." In literature, nothing short of romanticism has any charms for them ; and, in order to give greater scope and excitement to the imagination, their ideas, (if they have any,) must be expressed with the utmost vagueness, and so obfuscated with 76 HINTS CONCERNING tropes and figures as to render them unintelligible to the reader, if not to themselves. This shows itself in the musical literature of our day. The following extracts, cut from the first papers that come to hand, may be taken as a sample of that kind of transcendental garbage, which at times almost entirely fills the columns of a journal pub- lished in Boston, and which bear a striking resem- blance to certain editorial reveries : " And yet, in spite of all, this harmless play with tone- forms is a fountain head, — and one that can never be dried up, — for our art and for the well-being of humanity in general. From within outward stirs this play, and its attractive charm, in the very process of our life. The breath draws the vital air into the lungs ; the air exhausted of its vitality oppresses, stifles us, and must be discharged to make room for the renovating inspiration. Expiration is deliverance, it is renewal of life's hope ; its energy is a becoming aloud — is voice ; all higher life has voice ; voice is the blossoming of the breath, of the inwardly nourished flame of life.. In the voice the two poles of life, joy and sorrow, are energetically revealed. In the richness of the voice the rich activity of the internal life process announces itself. In the voice my life announces itself in its many- sidedness and fulness, I feel it and others understand it ; and that is a feeling of self, a satisfaction even in the bit- terest shriek of pain. That, too, is consolation ; only hope- lessness and absolute despair are dumb like corporeal death ; for they are spiritual death. And in the same sense, song, or rather ' singing,' — that richest, freest, and most self- determining and limitless play among the sounds of my CHURCH MUSIC. 77 mner life, — may be called the blossoming of the voice. So the tree rears its blossoms to the sunlight, and so shining insects and silken butterflies, belonging to this tree, like detached blossoms flit about those fastened ones, which have for their object to become fruit ; just as the breath of life sends forth the voice, which becomes glorified in song. And this ' from within outward ' is met by the sympathetic sen- sual charm from without inward." This nonsense is by one of the most celebrated modern German theorists, one of whose works has been deemed worthy of publication in this country. Here is another extract from a correspondent, " J. H.," whose articles are a perfect specimen of metaphysical bombast " When all the many-hued coruscations, thrown out by the pyrotechnics of tone and sound, tire the imagination, the inventor falls back into the simplicity of the pale light, which is the soul's natural, unexcited rhythm. " In modern poetry the analogy of pyrotechnics is equally applicable, there being added to the simple rhythm all the exuberance of cultivated and developed thought, surround- ing the mind with the brilliancy of conceptions that have their concrete type in the phenomena of Roman-lights, sky- rockets and parti-colored spheres of dazzling fire. " In conceding to music her own world, we must look for her power in that exposition of feeling, for which there is no other adequate representation in writing, painting, or sculpture. Except by the application of metaphor, to fur- ther description, she possesses no concrete forms, and in the 78 HINTS CONCERNING attempt at a tone-painting of all material scenes, we have to substitute for intellectual thought a mere cardiac sensation , and, in many instances, confound one with the other. " We have said that her world was her own ; hence, too,, her nomenclature springs out of herself. As her whole being is an abstraction, she admits of no description out of herself by an alliance with concrete forms. " All rhythm springs from the same common impulse of our humanity, but the ornaments of tone bring it up before us in a thousand shapes, and each individual mind possesses its idiosyncrasy of tone-emotion." So we are to have the pyrotechnics of music, blue-lights, sky-rockets and all. O marvellous £ what strange hallucination will next seize upon young Germany ? This brings to mind a certain well-known gentleman whose ideas at one time got the mastery over him, and in one of his rev- eries he found himself swinging on a rainbow, and emitting certain scintillations. He was thus caricatured in the newspapers of the day. Since then, however, he has recovered his reason. This gentleman once delivered a lecture in Boston, in which, it was judged, there was not an intelligible sentence, from beginning to end. As an inevitable consequence, mysticism has its corresponding influence upon music, and the greater part of the more recent German composi- tions may be styled the music of insanity. What better example of this can be adduced, than a cer- CHURCH MUSIC. 79 tain symphony by Schumann, once performed by the Musical Fund Society of Boston, and which seemed to be nothing more than an unmeaning aggregation of difficulties. Mr. Chorley, in his " Recollections and Criti- cisms of Modern German Music," recently pub- lished at London, says : " I have again and again visited North and South Ger- many, and there has been no modification of judgment — no re-statement of original impressions. It has been my fortune to undergo very few conversions with regard to music and its masters. It is impossible to know a work thoroughly on a first hearing : but unless it produce from the first a quick desire for better acquaintance — unless the artist at first displays some attribute or accomplishment that attracts — it may be only a damage done to taste, and a loss of time, on subsequent occasions to attempt to find beauty where none suggested itself — or charm in that which failed to charm originally. Such attempts are apt to end in the listener losing his discernment of good from evil, — in his confusing what is mediocre with what is great." The opinions of Mr. Chorley are certainly enti- tled to some weight, since, during a period of twelve years, he has had frequent opportunities of hearing these compositions performed, under the direction of the composers themselves. Herr Wagner's "Fleegende Hollander" was produced complete at Dresden, under the direction of the composer himself, favored with the royal patron- 80 HINTS CONCERNING age ; and in spite of all, failed on its representa- tion. "After a spinning song and chorus, and a wild sea-tune, audaciously broken in rhythm, (says Chorley,) the rest of the work produced on me merely an impression of grim violence and dreary vagueness." Of " Tannhauser," the overture to which has been the subject of so much adulation in a certain quarter, Chorley says : " I have never been so blanked, pained, wearied, insulted even, (the word is not too strong,) by a work of pretension as by this same ' Tannhauser.' It may be asserted that no opera existed before, since cradle-days of opera, so totally barren of rhythmical melody. There is a brilliant violin figure at the close of the overture, more than once used by Cherubini. This, however, is so stifled by the dispropor- tioned weight of the brass instruments, as merely to pro- duce that impression of strain which accompanies zeal with- out result. How different from the brilliancy which Che- rubini and Weber could get by means of one-half the difficulty, when they tried for a like effect ! Throughout the opera, in short, beyond a whimsical distribution of instruments, I recollect nothing either effective or agreeable — but grim noise, or shrill noise, and abundance of what a wit with so happy a disrespect designated " broken crock- ery " effects — things easy enough to be produced by those whose audacity is equal to their eccentricity. The cardinal fault in the new manner of composition (or decomposition) which has produced fruits so little satisfactory, may not solely arise from Herr Wagner's perversity and poverty in special gifts combined. It may be a necessary consequence CHURCH MUSIC. 81 of the times we are living in. Being progressive, we are expected to be universal. History must now be as amusing as romance — romance must be as profound as history. Poetry must run into the loops and knots and ties of didactic prose ; prose must borrow all the garnitures of poetry. We have pictures painted, the subject and scope of which are not to be understood till we have read the book which describes them. We have books written which are not to be endured until they have been informed with a meaning, by aid of " pleasant pictures." So, in music, the symphony, besides being a good symphony, must now express the anguish of the age, or of some age past. There must be story, inner meaning, mystical significance — in- tellectual tendency. To what interpretations of Beethoven's quartettes and sonatas have we not been exposed ! Then the opera must be a great poem, drama, and symphony in one. This extension of desire (not to call it misuse of imagination) may be lamented, but it cannot be helped." Modern German music may excite wonder, but not delight ; its chief characteristic being icy cold- ness. Its beauties, subject, or melody, can only be discovered by the efforts of a highly exalted imagi- nation. This reminds one of the miller's sign, upon which he was to be represented in the act of looking out at the window, but the painter, failing to comply with the order, assured the miller that he was there, only that he had just taken his head in for a moment. Our friend of " Dwight's Jour- nal " boasts about " our Wagnerism," and yet, in a recent number of that paper, a couple of Wag- 82 HINTS CONCERNING ner's melodies were printed as curiosities, so rare are they. But, aside from mystical tendency, and saying nothing about a morbid state of the imagination, and consequently, morbid admiration, — is it not possible for a person to so steep himself to the eyes in German literature, as to become an enthu- siast ; and to be able to see nothing excepting through German spectacles* Our friend of the " Journal " praises every thing, it is true ; and sets out for a citizen of the world ; but it is only when young Germany is the theme that he rhapsodizes. Then we have an abundance of affected phrase- ology about "true, honest German devotion to Art," — " the great humanitary sentiment," — " the tone-chambers of the spirit," — " the inner life of the soul," — " tone-pictures of Nature," — " the yearnings of the spirit," — " our common human- ity," — " tone-pictures of the sentiment of Nature,'' — and so forth to the end of a long chapter ; all of which is imported from Germany, and which is doubtless understood by the readers of the " Journal." Some persons seem to be possessed with the absurd and incomprehensible idea that pretends to an unusual degree of refinement or spirituality, and " mistake certain emotions excited by pictures, poetry or music, with the aid of good CHURCH MUSIC. 88 company, for taste in the arts." Perhaps it is on account of such people that Boston has been some- times called (ironically) the Athens of America. The influence of young Germany upon the music of the church may be reserved for a future occasion. In the mean time, let the crack-brained followers of the progressive school examine that beautiful English anthem, "Where shall wisdom be found," — by Dr. Boyce. CHAPTER VIII. In instrumental and orchestral compositions, or in the music of the imagination, the world has hitherto conceded the palm to Germany ; but now, the cisterns are broken. Progress indeed they may make, but it is a progress down the hill. All the studied subtleties of harmony, — all the strange and startling transitions and modulations, — all the extrinsic, dry, and mechanical effects of crescendo, sfortzando, and the like, are but poor substitutes for the promptings of genius. The fountain is dry. Our thin young German students may prate as much as they will about " high art" but it is only a mechanic art; indeed, every thing must now be prostituted to the barrenness of modern German art; genius is overridden by art. Even Beethoven's sonatas, which so far outrun all other piano music as scarcely to leave any other in sight — even these are now looked upon rather coldly. in some quarters, because they do not suit the newest methods of fingering. It is now said that CHURCH MUSIC. 85 Beethoven did not know how to write for the piano. Is there any thing more painful than to hear some nimble-fingered popinjay of the modern gymnastic school, cut and hack the fine andante movements of Beethoven. They cannot accept and play them as they are, but want to do some- thing in the way of art, and so the most charming and pathetic melodies must be tortured with sud- den and spasmodic accelerandos, and the like. Perhaps this may be done in order to express some fancied anguish in the mind of the composer. Mendelssohn, even, has now become an " old fogy," with some of the most ultra followers of the young German new dispensation — which is de- scribed by a German musical writer, as " the pro- gress into the realm of the most unfettered fancy." On this head, an able writer says : " When I recall how the light of Mendelssohn's presence made a second-rate burgher town the centre of musical interest and attraction to all Germany — nay, to all Europe — it becomes sickening to think, that no sooner was he cold in his grave, than his shallow and fickle townsmen began to question among themselves how far they had been adminis- tering to a real greatness. We English have so long sat under German censure as a people hard, practical, wanting in musical taste, enthusiasm, and reverence — that this sud- den coolness and indifference, nay even depreciation, with which the name and the works of Mendelssohn were treated immediately after his decease, in his own land, and by his 8 86 HINTS CONCERNING own townsmen, must be recorded as facts which should silence the cavillers for ever ! — The forgetfulness into which the very burial-places of Mozart and Gluck were allowed to fall by the Viennese — the appeal of Beethoven, in the last hours of his earthly desolation and pain, to the charitable aid of an English Artists' Society — are not more emphatic as an answer to those who have been accustomed to exalt German reverence — than the immediate attempt made at Leipsic to place upon the pedestal vacated by the melan- choly death of the composer of ' Elijah,' an idol no worthier of exaltation than Schumann. Thus, at least, we English do not prove our admiration and our constancy ! " Nor is the philosophical ease with which old allegiances are shaken off, and the professions of yesterday are falsified by the qualifications of to-day, a sign which bodes well for the future of German music. That feverish impatience of every thing like duty and obligation, that wordy crusade in destruction of established things, without the least whole- some or consistent plan for their reconstruction or replace- ment— which have been so singularly displayed in the recent political movements of Germany, and so lamentably, have seized upon Music, — not indeed to sap its foundations, but to bring Babel- worship into its temples." Instrumental music is surely the proper field for the play of the imagination, and for the gratifica- tion of the senses, but even here it must be re- strained within reasonable limits. Touching the organization of the modern orchestra, a recent and somewhat transcendental German writer is thus translated in " Dwight's Journal," — (always good authority in German matters) : CHURCH MUSIC. 87 " The firjst peculiarity which one remarks in the new orchestration, is the greatly increased variety of instruments, especially of the wind band, thereby necessitating a strength- ening of the mass of stringed instruments. Hence there is opposed to the vocal parts (in Opera and Cantata) a mass of sound, which now forces the voices upward and to extrava- gant accentuation, and now stifles the voices and crowds even the chorus into violent outbursts, leading the composer to employ an unfavorable choice of instruments if he would have a solo penetrate through so much noise. Thus Meyer- beer in a certain mournful love-song in Gr minor, (I think in Robert le Diable,) uses the trumpet for a pathetic cantilena ; the same thing might be pointed out in Auber and others. " The second feature is the unmanning of the trumpet and the French horn (they have even begun upon the trombone) by the introduction of the valve. So soon as one ceases to consult truth, the only characteristic quality that there is left becomes irrecognizable and unendurable. Now in the whole series of tone-personifications there are no characters of a more decided stamp than the heroic trumpet, the dreamy Wald-horn in its natural state. Even the limita- tion and incompleteness of their scale of tones is something peculiar to their character and nature ; Achilles with the eloquence and cunning of Ulysses were no more Achilles. The character of those instruments, their very limitation as to the power of producing all tones of the scale, has con- stantly challenged the appreciative composer to invent characteristic passages, and has quite frequently rewarded his fidelity with the most happy inspirations. " The use of valves and pistons has certainly extended the domain of tones ; but the new tones are partially impure ; the characteristic, pure tone-color is entirely blurred and sophisticated, the power of tone entirely broken. 88 HINTS CONCERNING " The third trait is the introduction of the so-called soft or mellow brass band — the Cornets, Sax-horns, Tubas — as you may please to call them — into the orchestra. " By no means do I declare war here against newly in- vented instruments, or old instruments restored. Never- theless the use of this new family of brass, as now employed, must appear questionable, nay, generally speaking, a perver- sion. For this, together with the introduction of the valve in horns and trumpets, obliterates the characteristic features of the orchestra, so that you hardly recognize them. " The banishment of certain important instruments goes hand in hand with this. Thus the characteristic Basset- horn is crowded out by the more flat and meagre Alto Clarinet ; and so the not very sonorous, but yet often deeply impressive Contrafagotto has had to give way to the bull-voiced Bass Tuba. " Would you note these consequences of the new con- struction of the orchestra in a simpler body, consider the organization of Military Music, so far as it can be learned from the Prussian, Austrian and Russian army. * * * * The cavalry music would present itself far more simple and more poor in tones ; but its very peculiarity would consist in those natural tones and natural harmonies, in which, according to the example of all natural singers and all masters, the simple, native, fresh, downright heroic ever finds its truest utterance ; but that very poverty of tones would drive the composer to a strong marking of the rhythm, to the most peculiar expression of will and courage, of strong impetus and firm resistance, so far as any excitable spirit lives in him. Let any one examine for himself, who feels concerned to know, and sec how much of those require- ments is fulfilled or given up, since the troop of valve instruments has placed itself at the head of all sorts of CHURCH MUSIC. 89 martial music and has trained the harnessed brass band to each opera aria and to all the chromatic sighs of sweetish sentimentality." Is not the foregoing a faint indication of a re- action, which must sooner or later take place, in favor of the charming simplicity of Haydn and others of former days ? The chimerical and roman- tic ideas of young Germany must soon wind themselves up in their own incomprehensibility ; and but for their bearing upon our main subject, would call for no comments. But the extravagances of the instrumental school have seized upon vocal music. Modern vocal compositions are much in the same chromatic strain which pertains to instruments only. This begins to show itself in the works of Spohr. Take for an example, a cantata in B flat, (well known to many singers in Boston,) certain portions of which run into chromatic nonsense. But Spohr is too great a fiddler to write for voices; it seems almost impossible for him to get through a mea- sure without throwing in a few flats and sharps, and thus some of his melodies, so to speak, are all hacked into semi-tones. Take another instance, from one of his heaviest sacred works, — "Praise his awful name," from the " Last Judgment." What is there in the praise of God that demands 8* 90 HINTS CONCERNING chromatic treatment? Compare this with one of Handel's direct, hearty, diatonic choruses of praise.,, where he seems to summon all the powers of the universe to join in it. This is one of the difficul- ties with Mr. Zeuner's music, to which we have before alluded. Take an instance from the greatest of modern composers, — "The fire descends from heaven,'7 (from " Elijah/') Is there not here a painful strain- ing for effect, which amounts to little or nothing ? Does it make any impression that recurs to the mind after the hearing of it ? Will it suffer a com- parison with the "Hailstone Chorus?" I trow not. Nevertheless, as we are told by able analyti- cal critics, Mendelssohn, as well as Handel, owes his greatness to the study of the old ecclesiastical composers — (that " one little isolated group of composers," "your Gibbons and Tallis," as the}7 are contemptuously called by a musical editor in Boston,) who are indeed, the very head and fronts yea, the foundation of all music. Jebb, in his Lectures on the Cathedral Service,. says : " The study of Tallis, as a correct, grave, and religious harmonist, is essential towards any real progress in the knowledge of sacred music. And nothing has tended more to debase the art amongst us, than the neglect of such studies, and the substitution of the showy, but thin and CHURCH MUSIC. 91 imperfect harmonies of modern composers, and the exagger- ated and effeminate melodies, that rather express the morbid sentiment of religious excitement, than the deep-seated energy of a calm but influential devotion of the understand- ing and of the heart." Chorley said, when speaking to Wagner's friends of the symphonic and instrumental turn given to some recent vocal compositions, — " In six years more, if this system be accepted, you will not have an artist left, capable of singing an air by Handel or Mozart." " Well, what matter," was the quiet answer, " there has been enough of singing." Voices are only treated as secondary, and are often smothered by excessive instrumentation. Mendelssohn, great as he is, will not maintain the somewhat extraordinary rank now assigned to him as a vocal composer. Chromatic discord abounds. Music, when wedded to verse, must only accom- pany poetry as an humble and obsequious sat- ellite, not as master. It would be well, if the sentence so justly pronounced upon Timotheus of old, could be suspended over the heads of all mod- ern composers of vocal music. It was alleged against this celebrated musician of antiquity, that in singing a poem at a festival in Sparta, he did not pay sufficient attention to decency and deco- rum; consequently, after the superfluous strings 92 HINTS CONCERNING had been cut from his lyre, leaving only seven thereon, (thus confining him to the diatonic,) he received the following sentence : " Whereas Timotheus the Milesian, coming to our city, has deformed our ancient music, and by the novelty of his melody has given to our music an effeminate and artificial dress, instead of the plain and orderly one in which it has hitherto appeared • rendering melody infamous by compos- ing in the chromatic; and introducing a multiplicity of notes has corrupted the ears of our youth ; it therefore seemeth good to us, the King and Ephori, to banish the said Timotheus from our dominions, that every one behold- ing the wholesome severity of this city, may be deterred from bringing in amongst us any unbecoming customs." Now in the modern opera, where the ravish- ment of the senses is the only object, and where words of a trivial character are used only as a pre- tence and vehicle, this may be well enough ; but in music of a more intellectual character, where the words are of graver import, it becomes an abomination ; and, when carried to the altar, it is a defilement. But it has come to this. Language, that highest medium of expression which addres- ses the understanding, is abased beneath that which appeals only to the senses. This is founded upon the notorious modern German transcenden- tal fallacy, that sounds can express sentiments, thereby making music usurp the province of poetry. CHURCH MUSIC. 93 Hence we have " songs without words ; " and thus, our esteemed but erratic friend of the " Jour- nal," in reviewing one of our chapters, says : — " Words require translation, but melody and har- mony do not." The absurdity of this notion is obvious, since no two persons would give the same interpretation to sounds. Addison says : — " I have often seen our audiences extremely mis- taken as to what has been doing on the stage, and expecting to see the hero knock down his messen- ger, when he has been asking him a question ; or fancying that he quarrels with his friend, when he only bids him good-morrow. For this reason the Italian artists cannot agree with our English mu- sicians in admiring Purcell's compositions, and thinking his tunes so wonderfully adapted to his words ; because both nations do not always ex- press the same passions by the same sounds." Another writer says : " The nature of musical expression, in certain respects, is involved in so much mystery, that it is a great chance whether it ever be completely understood. If the theory of it were to be ascertained, it would probably throw much light on the human constitution in general." If sound conveys sentiments or ideas, so may dancing, just as well. What a field the poetry of motion would be for some of our transcendental 94 HINTS CONCERNING friends. But it is by no means certain that this ancient custom will not be revived. A writer in one of our religious periodicals, who seems to be one of a numerous family of scholas- tic dabblers in church music, not long ago said : — " Dancing, sculpture, music and painting, belong with poetry to the service of God, and it is sacri- lege to use either of them in unhallowed modes." Perhaps we shall next see, in this age of progress, some transcendental minister dancing out his ser- mon on the pulpit cushions, for which perform- ance the music in some churches would be Well adapted. The above named writer begins with saying, that he proposes to look at the subject " on the side of art," — the best definition of which he gives as follows : " Art is the truth embodying itself for the mere sake of embodiment." (Very lucid.) He then goes on, upon the " high-art " principle, with some rambling, disconnected remarks, and finally arrives at one or two common-place conclusions which are in no wise deducible from his proposi- tions. Now this subject has no art-side, exclu- sively, for worship is not an art, and aesthetics is a bad word to use in connection therewith. This idea of making music a medium of worship is not less absurd than that of dancing, as nothing defi- CHURCH MUSIC. 95 nite can be expressed by either, — language being the only definite medium of expression and wor- ship. This "high-art" notion is essentially a heathen one ; that of appeasing and charming the gods with sweet sounds. That ancient and ex- ploded idea of dancing, as practiced in David's time, was continued by the Pagans, and, we are told, that in imitation of them, some of the early Christians did indulge a little ; but St. Augustine told them that it was "better to plough on the Lord's day than to dance." Music may induce levity or gravity, and can only excite certain emo- tions, which may be tender or energetic, solemn or gay. At the altar, we want to bring; the mind into & harmony with the subject and the occasion, and to render language more impressive — not to over- ride and destroy it. Nobody could complain at what is falsely called progress, if it were confined to music of a miscel- laneous and secular character, and to the orchestra, where the caprice and varied taste of the crowd may be consulted ; but it is in sacred music that the mischief is done. Hear what the Boston advo- cate of young Germany says : " All Art, if it teaches anything, teaches the reconcilia- tion of the sacred and the secular, the blending and perfect marriage of the spiritual and the material ; and one may 96 HINTS CONCERNING experience religious emotions during an opera or a symphony sometimes, as well as in a temple ; the Spirit cannot be confined to forms or places ; the church may borrow from the opera, the opera from the church sometimes, to good advantage." On the subject of church music he seems to be all at sea, and praises styles as diverse as the poles. He would have any thing that gives " spiritual excitement, pleasure, joy and strength — some- thing conceived in the spirit of high art." Upon what principle a person holding such latitudina- rian notions can complain of our Yankee psalm- wrights, it is not easy to understand, unless it be that " From spotted skins the leopard does refrain." He seems to wonder at the want of progress in the English church music, and complains that it is " antique," and wanting in the " highest quali- ties of art." He ridicules the idea of an exclusive ecclesiastical style, and says of compositions in that style : " Why has not their potency been felt beyond the limits of the church ? why have they not interested outsiders, as the Romish masses have done ? " The absurdity of such remarks is too obvious for comment. That music, which is written for a specific and unchangeable purpose, and adapted CHURCH MUSIC. 97 to one language, should not be suited to all occa- sions and to different nations, is clear enough. This loose talk about "interesting outsiders," is truly a progressive idea. "Hail Columbia" is interesting to " outsiders " ; would he have it introduced into the church ? The transcendental notion of " allying the earthly with the heavenly, the human with the divine," is founded on a confidence in the sufficiency of the affections, the passions and the imagination, to lead men aright. This, when applied to the music of the church, is only setting up a refined sensualism instead of worship. Of the abuse of the imagination, one writer says : " There are not wanting those, who, assum- ing its infallibility, proceed to build upon its un- proved and, more than likely, untrue suggestions, those philosophic theories and systems, so well designated as the baseless fabrics of a vision." Any one who chooses to give himself up to the mental intoxication w~hich is produced by an over- excited imagination and unbridled play of the fancy, can soar aloft into what is now-a-days called spirituality. Like the witch in " Macbeth," he may say, " I am for the air ; " nevertheless, giving over such airy visions, it may be wiser to clip the 9 98 CHURCH MUSIC. wings of the imagination a little, and rather plume the tail of the judgment. What German speculation has done for religion and worship, it has also done for music. Nature is worshipped by a Sunday stroll in the fields ; or, in a social concert, graced with Lager beer and tobacco-pipes, — Sunday being a sort of carnival day. Ecclesiastical music is but little known amongst the people. Ask why the Germans do not give some attention to sacred music, and very likely the answer will be, that " the Germans don't like the words." Handel never was much known in Germany, as we learn from German writers themselves, who also say, that " England only cherished an enthu- siasm for him on account of his title as national composer, more than upon the merit of his works ! " Church music in Germany is confined to a few old schools and ecclesiastical establishments, and consists of chorals, and a few ancient motets which can be of little use to an Englishman. To make a church musician or a minister of Christ, send a man anywhere but to Germany — send him rather to any region spoken of by Dante. CHAPTER IX. What we Americans want, is a song adapted to our own tongue, and where shall we look for it if not to the land of our forefathers. Have we not the same language, the same religion, the same liturgy, the same literature, the same laws, habits, customs, temperaments ; in short, are we not Eng- lishmen ? Other languages have different require- ments, and vain indeed are nearly all your mongrel adaptations, whether they be from Ludwig Hellwig or any other wig. But the Church of England has been anything but exemplary, at some times, in her music. At the Restoration, she found herself naked in this particular, in consequence of the ravages of the Puritans, who had burnt, torn, mutilated, demol- ished and destroyed every sacred thing within their grasp. Out of the whole edition of one valuable work, only one perfect copy was preserved, together writh two or three single parts which were found in the library at Hereford Cathedral. Other works 100 HINTS CONCERNING shared the same fate, and no doubt many godly compositions were entirely lost ; nevertheless, the greater portion were eventually found and restored. For a time, however, a great scarcity was endured, and resort was taken, in some cases, to foreign music, which had then become very corrupt. To this cause may also be added the demoralized con- dition of society, and the dissipated reign of that dissolute rowdy, Charles the Second. He intro- duced into England the French violin bands, and had his four and twenty fiddlers to play during his dinner hour. Finally, he introduced them into the Chapel Royal, from which great mischief en- sued. So great was the popularity of these novel bands with the nobility, that Purcell and others of the young Chapel musicians, for the sake of popu- larity, introduced fiddling symphonies into some of their anthems, insomuch that they are unsuited to ordinary occasions of worship. Whilst the pure style was adhered to in some parts of the realm ; in others, matters went from bad to worse. At Exeter, the Service sunk lower than at any other cathedral, and the effects of it have been felt in our own country, through Dr. Jackson and others from that parish. In the " Handel and Haydn " collec- tion of music, to which he contributed, although there be many good old compositions, yet they CHURCH MUSIC. 101 are, for the most part, in the wrong key and badly arranged ; in other words, they are spurious copies. The careless and indecent celebration of divine worship in some of the English churches has otherwise damaged the cause of public worship in our own country. Some of our American clergy- men have been abroad, and have returned filled with prejudice against the Service, — when, in truth, the difficulty was only in its bad performance. A New York clergyman was thus induced to write certain letters, which were not much compli- mented abroad, and which he probably would not have written if he had better understood his sub- ject, musically, as well as otherwise. So flagrant were the many abuses in the English Church, and so glaring to all, that a reform was demanded, not only there, but in the dissenting chapels also, and the same has been pressed on with great vigor and determination for twelve or fifteen years. For the improvement of music, numerous societies have been formed ; books, pamphlets and periodicals, penned by the ablest scholars and antiquaries, have been widely circulated ; the old manuscripts and part-books have been sought out from their dusty hiding-places, and have been as promptly printed and distributed ; till at length, the Service is almost, if not quite, restored to its ancient purity, beauty, 9* 102 HINTS CONCERNING simplicity and grandeur. The funds, which had before been absorbed by lazy Deans, are now con- verted to their appointed uses. From the numer- ous publications touching this subject, many ex- tracts could be made like the following : " If the truth must be told, Sir, there can be but two sources of church music, — the ancient church, and the modern theatre. That music which is essentially Romish, and which draws such eighteen-penny audiences on a Sun- day morning at their chapels, is essentially theatrical, — showy solos, flourishing symphonies, and rattling choruses make up the bulk of it. The congregation is a mere au- dience, and cannot join in the performance. The solemn old church music, the Gregorian chants, on the contrary, are coeval with and originally adapted to our own pure ser- vice book, and the people can join in them with devotion. Alas ! what an evil hour it was in which the Church of England gave up this noble music for the compositions of Jones and Jackson 1 " The Rev. J. W. Twist, in a lecture, said : " If church music is ever again to be composed in a stvle at all comparable to the grandeur and majesty of that of the age of Farrant and Gibbons, it can only be when the taste and reverent church feelings of the members of the church are such as to demand that style of composition. When men feel like true churchmen, and realize in some degree the majesty of Him to whom the praises of the church are offered, they will no longer be contented with the light operatic style of music, which, until the late par- tial revival, has superseded the solemn and devotional strains in which our forefathers praised God." CHURCH MUSIC. 103 Another writer says : " The style of music in a place of worship, indicates to a great extent, the tone of religious feeling. If churchmen would only understand, that the most worthy portion of our service is the office of praise — because, unlike preaching and prayer, it will never end — we should not find them neglect singing altogether, or neglect to sing what the church enjoins, and only sing what she merely permits. Metrical psalm-tunes, with their absurd repetitions and divisions of words and lines, are abominations, excepting the ancient tunes, or those made in imitation of them. They consist generally of pieces of play-house airs," and one of the clerks of Trinity College, Cambridge, gives an CHURCH MUSIC. 163 account of the " excellent singing of psalms " in the cathedral of the loyal city of York, in the year 1644, when it was besieged by Cromwell's forces and others ; at which time and place, as he be- lieves, " was heard the most remarkable and excellent singing of psalms known or remembered in these latter ages. " Now, here you take notice, (he says,) that they had then a custom in that church, which I hear not in any other cathedral, which was, that always before the sermon the whole congregation sang a psalm, together with the quire and organ ; and you must know, that there was then a most excellent, large, plump, lusty, full-speaking organ, which cost, as I am credibly informed, a thousand pounds. This organ I say, when the psalm was set before the ser- mon, being let out into all its fullness of stops, together with the quire, began the psalm. But when the vast concording unity of the whole congregational chorus came, as I may say, thundering in, even so as it made the very ground shake under us ; 0 the unutterable ravishing soul's de- light ! " By this occasion there were shut up within that city abundance of people of the best rank and quality, viz., lords, knights, and gentlemen of the countries round about, and if ever such a congregated number could perform such an outward service to the Almighty, with true, inward de- votion and zeal, it was done there and then. Because the enemy were so near and fierce upon them ; who had planted their great guns so mischievously against the church, and with which constantly in prayers time, they would not fail to make their hellish disturbance, by shooting against and 164 HINTS CONCERNING battering the church, insomuch that a cannon bullet has come in at the window and bounded about from pillar to pillar, like some furious fiend or evil spirit, backwards and forwards and all manner of side ways, until its force has been quite spent. " And here is one thing most eminently remarkable, and well worth noting, which was, that in all the whole time of the siege there was not any one person that I could hear of, did in the church receive the least harm by any of their devilish cannon-shot ; and I verily believe there were con- stantly many more than a thousand persons at the service every Sunday during the whole time of that siege." It has been the universal custom of Jews, pa- gans, and Christians, to employ choirs in the service of the temple ; and so far as we know, congregational singing has always been the excep- tion to the general rule. Choirs of singing-men were instituted by St. Ambrose and Chrysostom, at Antioch, about the year 350 ; and owing to the " great confusion and disorder that followed from the singing of the whole people, it was found necessary to establish what the church calls a reg- ular and decent song. At the council of Laodi- cea, held between the years of Christ 360 and 370, a canon was made by which it was ordained that none but the singing-men of the church should presume to sing." At the present day, we hear of no good sing- ing by a promiscuous congregation, neither in CHURCH MUSIC. 165 England nor in our own country. There is an occasional exception to this; — say, for instance, Mr. Havergal's congregation, where the conditions necessary to insure good music are complied with. The reverend pastor is himself a good musician, and the whole congregation have applied them- selves to study and practice. In our own country we have some instances where the choir occupy a prominent position, and together with a powerful and noisy organ, drag the people along after them, but this is not congregational singing, nor good music. There are some persons with us, who seem to have made this subject a hobby, and who entertain extravagant notions of it. They say we can have congregational singing anywhere, and that the imperfections are corrected and swallowed up in a large number of voices ; but this is a fallacy, be- cause a great number of very imperfect sounds can never make a good sound. These persons are led into this error by basing their experiments upon wrong conditions. No human voice, or very few, even amongst the most cultivated singers, can be called absolutely perfect ; and it may be true, that the slight imperfections incident to all good singers, are corrected and concealed by the union of many voices ; but if the experiment be made 166 HINTS CONCERNING with untrained and wholly uncultivated voices, the result will not be so satisfactory. All we can say is, that the lesser number of bad singers may be overcome by the greater number of the good voices. But, in its best estate, congregational singing must be confined to metrical psalmody. When the church cannot command a good choir, then the singing of the congregation is the best, and no doubt this is the case in many of the small par- ishes throughout the country, for they are so divid- ed into small sects as to be unable to do any thing welL Congregational singing is eminently and noto- riously a Puritan institution. The following ex- tracts, from able and reliable writers, give us some information on this head : " Calvin's music was intended to correspond with the general parsimonious spirit of his worship. Sensible that his chief resources were in the rabble of a republic, and availing himself of that natural propensity which prompts even vulgar minds to express their more animated feelings in rhyme and music, he conceived a mode of universal psal- mody fitted to please the populace. France and Germany were instantly infatuated with the love of psalm-singing, which being admirably calculated to kindle and diffuse the flame of fanaticism, was peculiarly serviceable to the pur- poses of faction, and frequently served as the trumpet to rebellion.' ' CHURCH MUSIC. 167 The Calvinists were used to go hooting about the streets at midnight, to the number of four or five thousand. It was about the year 1540 when Calvin con- ceived the plan of exciting the people by means of psalm-singing. The translation of fifty-two of the Psalms into French verse by Marot, was continued and completed by Theodore Beza. Those by Marot were unaccompanied with music, and were entitled the " Holy Song-book." " Being put forth as songs, they were in great request fey all classes, both Catholic and Protestant, and they were adapted to all the popular ballads, jigs, and dance-tunes of the day. The Dauphin, afterwards Henry II., a great hunter, when he went to the chase, was singing, ' Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks.' There is a curious por- trait of Henry's mistress recently published, on which is inscribed this verse. The Queen's favorite was, ' Rebuke me not in thy indignation, ' which she sung to a fashionable jig. Anthony, king of Navarre, sung, l Stand up, 0 Lord, to revenge my quarrel,' to the air of a dance. Singing psalms in verse was then one of the chief ingredients in the happiness of social life. At length, when these psalms were set to music, and were appointed by Calvin to be used at his meetings, then the popular use of them ceased. Marot himself was forced to fly to Geneva. The Papists reviled and hated all metrical psalmody, as heretical, while the Protestants, with senseless admiration, considered all psal- mody that was not metrical, superstitious and Popish. We need scarcely say how bitterly church music has suf- 168 HINTS CONCERNING fered from these prejudices, the dregs of which are current in the vulgar mind to the present day." * Heylyn's account of the course taken with the Marot and Beza of the Church of England, is as follows : " About this time (1552) the Psalms of David did first begin to be composed in English metre by Thomas Stern- hold ; who, translating no more than thirty-seven, left both example and encouragement to John Hopkins to dispatch the rest ; which, notwithstanding being first allowed for private devotion, they were, by little and little, brought into the use of the church ; permitted, rather than allowed to be sung ; afterwards printed and bound up with the Com- mon Prayer-Book, and, at last, added by the stationers at the end of the Bible." Some people seem to lay great stress on the injunction, "Let all the people praise Thee," — as if all were to join audibly in the song. How can this be when many can not distinguish one sound from another ? and, if it were possible, their praise would be limited to metrical tunes. On this sub- ject, Jebb makes the following remarks : " Much has been said of what is called ' congregational chanting,' a phrase which could only have originated in ignorance of the subject, historically as well as musically * Nowhere have these dregs been more current than in New England. Our Puritan fathers were never more terrified than when a church organ appeared on their coast. " If this be toler- CHURCH MUSIC. 169 regarded. If such, a practice were attempted, our musicians need give themselves no further trouble about harmony, which had better be suppressed altogether. Melody too, should be abandoned ; in short, all pretence at choral ser- vice it would be advisable to give up. Nothing is so difficult as to chant well — nothing is more beautiful than the service thus performed — nothing more ludicrous than the attempt of a congregation to scramble through it. " There be many to whom the choral service is the best auxiliary to a tranquil devotion ; who feel that they are really joining in the service, when contributing only in a whisper to the voices of the choir. They believe that the best of every thing ought to be given to God. They give the best they can ; the internal worship of their hearts ; but believing their audible voices would but mar the harmony of God's service, they are content, not indeed to be silent, (to Him they are not silent,) but to be still. " The Psalms can never be properly chanted, except by alternate choirs. If otherwise, the effect must either be heavy when sung in chorus, or meagre when chanted by a choir too thin to admit of division. The essential character of choral psalmody is alternation, and where this can not be commanded, it is much better to read them parochially. Not only is the effect of the simultaneous chorus monoto- nous, but despite is done to the character of the divine poems themselves. "There is a custom of partial adoption in Romish churches, of giving the chanting of the alternate verses to ated, (they said,) next comes Popery ! " This old prejudice shows itself to-day, in the Episcopal church, where the more intelligent are trying to restore the service, and to render it more decent, con- sistent, and beautiful ; but they are met with the cry of Puseyism, Poperv, &c. 15 170 HINTS CONCERNING the choir and the congregation. This has never been the custom in the Church of England. It is opposed to the na- ture of the chant itself. The parallelism of the poetry and of the music requires a strictly antiphonal mode of perform- ance ; a correspondence, not a contrast. The alternation of Verse and Chorus is totally destructive not only of the poetical, but of the moral effect of the psalms : a considera- tion too often overlooked altogether, in the prevalence of abstract theories. " St. Chrysostom, in a homily where he is most urgent upon the people to sing, admits that it is not necessary to do so audibly ; he insists more upon the spirit of prayer, than upon its mechanical exhibition. If edification be the object of divine worship, and music assists that object, then let it be perfect and consistent. The choirs of Israel were not congregational, but well selected bands, set apart for the purpose." There are some persons, who raise the specious and wily argument, that the people are cheated and deprived of their rights, and that it is their solemn duty to sing ; but what gives a very so- phisticated air to such considerations, is the fact, that those whose consciences are so tender on this subject, have congregational tune-books to sell. The arguments that are raised in support of exclu- sive congregational singing may be urged with equal force in favor of congregational preaching. If printed sermons were used, and the people would all read in chorus, not only would there be no listeners to criticise the parson, but there would be no sleepers. CHURCH MUSIC. 171 The metrical psalm is the people's song, and they are always at liberty to join in it, when the poetry allows the use of such music as they can sing, and for this the clergyman is accountable. Congregational singing, although limited, and the exception to the general rule, is nevertheless wor- thy of attention as such. The chant being the chief, the most noble, dignified, expressive, and important song of the church, and with the anthem demanding a choir, — and the choir being the gen- eral rule throughout the world, it is next in order to consider the construction and composition of that body. What Lord Bacon says of all instruments, is especially true of all such voices as are, or ought to be, employed in the church, viz : that the mean and low tones are the best The absolute, high treble voices, then, are of no value in a choir, such acute sounds being, like those of the fife, better suited to dancing and fighting, than for purposes of worship. Such high and brilliant sounds ap- peal to the heels, more than to the head or heart. The employment of the high treble voices of females has very much injured church music by crowding up the pitch in order to render such voices effective ; thereby rendering the music too noisy and brilliant The very tones which are 172 HINTS CONCERNING most wanted are entirely useless in such voices, and if the pitch of our church organs could be re- stored, and much of the old music were also to be written in its original and proper key, this defect would be still more apparent. What can be more absurd than the squeaking of a lot of young girls in church ? Their voices are altogether too thin, immature, and effeminate, to say nothing of their mental and other disabilities. A choir of male voices would be far better. The low treble or contralto voices, therefore, although inferior to the voices of boys, are the only female voices that can be of any value in a church choir. In a musical point of view, such voices may be tolerated, but not if the New Testament or the Bible be taken as a rule of practice. St. Paul expressly forbids it. " Let your women keep si- lence in the churches," is plain language ; never- theless, some of our Puritan churches skirt the gallery with damsels, who frequently appear with denuded heads.* This girl-singing is of pagan * A certain writer, whose interest it is to sustain girl-singing, recently appealed to the sympathy of his readers, and intimated, that we in America were more advanced in civilization, saying that this was a Christian age, thereby intimating that St. Paul was wanting in these particulars. (!) Whether the apostle's injunction may be evaded by placing females behind a curtain, in an obscure part of the church, it is a question. CHURCH MUSIC. 173 origin, and before choirs were instituted in the Christian churches, it was in some cases imitated or tolerated. The virgins sung to the praise of Diana, as appears from the following hymn by- Horace, by which also it appears, that the music of the pagans was antiphonal or responsive. Youths. " Ye gentle virgins, let your lays Diana's virgin fame declare. Virgins. Ye youths, resound Apollo's praise, The god with graceful tresses fair. Both. To great Latona strike the lyre ! Latona, dear to heaven's almighty sire." Historians are unanimous in recording a regular service with solemn music. According to Euse- bius, an ecclesiastical historian, a regular choir and antiphonal chanting were first established in the church at Antioch. Early mention is said to be made of " chanters" and "canons" to officiate daily in the church, which agrees with the practice in the time of Solomon. It is supposed that the apostles chanted the Psalms after the Jewish method, which was, without question, very solemn and majestic. " St. Ignatius, who according to Socrates, had 15* 174 HINTS CONCERNING conversed with the apostles, is supposed by some to have introduced the antiphonal mode of chant- ing." The voices of boys have been found to be the best suited to the purposes of worship. The tones are fuller, more majestic and touching than those of women. Nothing can be more affecting than the hearty singing of a well trained band of youth- ful choristers, and he must be a stony character, who can not be moved by the voices of innocent children, from whom the praise of God comes so fittingly. The habit of praising God is not only a means of education and refinement, but also of advancing the religious feelings and sentiments. The seed is then sown which will some day spring up to good account. St. Basil says, (according to a British writer) : " Whereas the Holy Spirit saw that mankind is unto virtue hardly drawn, and that righteousness is the least accounted of, by reason of the proneness of our affections to that which delighteth, it pleased the wisdom of the same Spirit to borrow from melody that pleasure, which, mingled with heavenly mysteries, causeth the softness of that which toucheth the ear, to convey, as it were by stealth, the treas- ure of good things into man's mind. To this purpose were these harmonious tunes of Psalms devised for us, that they which are either in years but young, or, touching perfection of virtue, as yet not grown to ripeness, might, when they think they sing, learn," CHURCH MUSIC. 175 The Church of England has always employed boys, and her doctrine has been in accordance with Scripture, that " Hired women singers ought never to be suffered in the house of God. They may join, of course, in the music as private indi- viduals ; but to obtrude them into orchestras is at war with the retired modesty befitting Christian women." At the time of the Reformation, the old cathe- dral choirs — some of which were incorporated in the twelfth century — consisted, as they now do, of from twenty to thirty singing men and boys. The following extracts are from a letter, written by the celebrated organist of Westminster Abbey to the organist of the Church of the Advent, Boston : " The Abbey Choir now consists of sixteen boys and twelve men. They are placed thus : eight boys, two Altos, two Tenors, and two Basses on each side of the choir. The voices are equally divided between the ' Decani ' and ' Can- toris' sides of the choir. I much wish to have another Bass on each side. " The services we use here are numerous. I prefer the really ecclesiastical or full ones ; such as Tallis, Farrant, Gibbons, Bogers, Patrick, Child and Croft. Of the mod- ern writers, — Travers, Boyce, Hayes, Dr. Cooke, Robert Cooke and Attwood. " The old services — using the Solfeggio in their prac- tice — are, I think, the best for grounding boys in sight- 176 HINTS CONCERNING singing, so essential for an effective performance. We are in the constant habit of singing and practising all the orato- rios of Handel, madrigals, glees, indeed every style of vocal music, excepting that of the modern Italian. • Let me counsel you to be firm against the admission of females into your church choirs. I need not point out to you the many and obvious reasons against such an innova- tion. " I am really glad to know that our American cousins are beginning to admire and value the cathedral service. The more you encourage this growing taste, the more you will advance amongst your countrymen a knowledge and true appreciation of the musical art." In the cities of Baltimore, Newark, New York, and Troy, boys are employed with complete suc- cess. This must, of course, be attended with some expense, because a competent master must be em- ployed, but this cannot be urged as an objection by any Christian, because, if he grudge a few dol- lars for perfecting praise to the Giver of all things, how can he forsake father and mother for Christ's sake, or sell all that he hath for the poor ? A church musician ought not to be constrained to support himself by teaching young ladies the " Polka." Indeed, enough money is now expend- ed, by some of our churches, in silly quartette singing, to support a majestic and decent choir. In our own city, we have a choir of boys in suc- cessful operation, and, although it is only just in CHURCH MUSIC. 177 embryo, yet enough has been heard to show the superiority of the system.* This system was also partly introduced at St. Paul's, — without funds, and by the voluntary efforts of the late organist of that church. On Christmas Day, 1854, it was even brought to great perfection and grandeur, but Puritan prejudice could not tolerate it. However, this is not strange, for after the effeminate, soft, girlish singing to which we have been accustomed, no doubt the majestic singing of boys seems very grave and solemn. It is not strange, then, that some of our clergymen even, should be guided by their preju- dices rather than their reason, and reject such mu- sic. We read mat "when the chief priests and scribes first heard the children crying in the tem- ple, and saying, i Hosanna to the son of David,' they were sore displeased. And Jesus said unto them, have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise ? " " Observe (says Jebb) with what defiance of expense the English Church has made stringent regulations for securing the most eminent ability for the setting forth God's true * An English writer observes that public worship is more de- cently celebrated at the Church of the Advent, Boston, than at any other church within the United States. The music used there, is, we know, strictly ecclesiastical, and the services of Byrd, Rog- ers, Aldrich and others, are sung by regular choirs. 178 HINTS CONCERNING and lively word, for the celebration, with all skill and solem- nity, of his praise. To the due utterance of the poetry of Scripture, she has brought the most perfect tones of the human voice : to the hymns of holy men and angels she has made the inmost resources of melody and harmony sub- servient, and this with a consistency of design, as perfect as that which framed the liturgy. 11 The want of musical knowledge and taste among our clergymen, and generally, their total ignorance of a true ecclesiastical style, is lamentable; many consider it as a matter beneath gentlemen, and are content to delegate to incompetent men whom they despise, employments which have been exercised by prophets and kings inspired by the Holy Grhost. There is no reason why a clergyman should not be as perfect in church music as amateurs are fre- quently in secular ; and this without hinderance to other duties. Clergymen do not think it beneath them to become accomplished mathematicians, and to go through a training quite as technical as that of music ; and if this can be undertaken, what stronger motives are there for attaining perfection in that which is a sacred study ? " Finally, nothing but musical education can cure the evils and obstacles incident to our subject, and especially in a country like ours, where the church is nowhere established by authority, — where we have nothing but private chapels, — where public worship is left to the caprice of the multitude, and where the preacher, and the musician, have to be, to some extent, just what the people please to make them. If our colleges were musically en- dowed, we might then have some standard, and CHURCH MUSIC. 179 our " committees " and leading men in the church- es might act understanding^, instead of being guided by the taste of their wives or daughters, as some now confess to be. What Harvard University needs, is a second Dr. Crotch, if he can be found, or a man like those talented old English professors, — Dr. Bull and others, some of whose lectures were delivered in the Latin. The thing to be taught, is the funda- mental, ecclesiastical style. We want nothing of " Young Germany," for " Harvard " would cut a queer figure in setting up for teaching polkas and waltzes. That is not the place to train brilliant executants. With the services of a man like Mr. Macfarren, of London, Harvard University would soon annually send forth a band of clergymen, who, instead of maintaining indifference or oppo- sition to the music of the church, could exert that wholesome influence which becomes their office. Who then, out of his abundance, will serve his country and promote his own salvation, by making an endowment for so laudable a purpose. Bishop Taylor, in the preface to one of his works, says : " I shall only crave leave that I may remember Jerusalem, and call to mind the pleas- ures of the Temple, the order of her services, the beauty of her buildings, the sweetness of her songs, 180 CHURCH MUSIC. the decency of her ministrations, the assiduity and economy of her priests and Levites, the daily sac- rifice, and that eternal fire of devotion that went not out by day or by night : these were the pleas- ures of our peace, and there is a remanent felicity in the very memory of those spiritual delights, which we there enjoyed, as antepasts of heaven, and consignations to an immortality of joys."