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The Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Hymn Tune Archive

[Or try our new site: Hymnary.org]

The Christian Classics Ethereal Hymnary is a database and indexed archive of public-domain hymn tunes and chants in electronic formats including MIDI files, printable sheet music, and editable electronic musical scores, that have been donated to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It does not include hymn texts or lyrics.

• What is a hymn?
• What is a hymn tune?
• What is this archive for?
• Other Internet Sources

What is a hymn?

A "hymn" is hard to define. Augustine thought three (actually four) elements were necessary: it must be words of praise, to be sung, addressing God. But this doesn't distinguish hymns from carols, gospel music, oratorios, cantatas, or motets. And it doesn't include religious music intended for teaching in the public worship -- but that was a part of the canonical Book of Psalms, as well as all collections of "hymns" ever since.

Perhaps it would be better to list more elements, and recognize that not every hymn contains every element. Hymns are texts that meet most of these criteria:

• Composed
• In the form of (metric or free-form) poetry
• In strophic form (regular verses)
• On a religious topic and with a religious message
• For singing
• In (public or private) Christian worship
• As an act of worship of the performers (rather than the audience)
• Addressed to God as the primary audience
• Expressing the thoughts of the singers: praise, prayers, promises, beliefs, or mutual encouragement.

Hymns are distinguishable from:

• Carols: are primarily used outside of formal worship, and which may have a theme related to nature or the seasons, rather than primarily religious.
• Gospel Songs: may express either a religious or sentimental message, but are primarily addressed to the human audience; and may be first intended for concert performance, and only secondarily used in the context of a worship assembly. Sometimes "gospel" refers more to a musical style than to the words: this may be indicative of the focus of the performers and audience.
• Compositions designed for performance to a human audience as part of formal worship: Anthems (which are through-composed, that is, contain different music for each stanza of the text) are an example; the Psalms (as presented in a regular cycle by a choir) are another. If the text is from the Bible, performance of such compositions may be considered "scripture reading" rather than "singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

Hymns which consist of an arrangement of one section of the Bible may be called "Psalms," "Canticles," or "Scripture Songs."

What is a hymn tune?

From that definition (however fuzzy) of "hymn", one can identify some attributes that make a composition recognizable as a "hymn tune" (again, not all tunes meet all criteria:)

• Composed (rather than extemporaneous)
• Suitable for singing
• In a poetic meter compatible with some "hymn"
• In a musical style generally considered to be suitable for devotional use in public Christian worship
• Intended for, or actually used with, a "hymn"
• Singable by a group
• Usable without (or with minimal) instrumental accompaniment
• At least partially singable by (relatively) untrained and unsophisticated ("folk") performers

Hymn tunes may be distinguished from:

• Carol tunes: which exhibit more stylistic freedom.
• Anthems or motets: designed for singing performers, usually requiring more than "folk music" skill.
• Contemporary Christian, Gospel, or Praise and Worship Music: hardly separable from the instrumental component, are perhaps better described as "instrumental music with an optional vocal accompaniment".

A successful "hymn tune" (from whatever source) exists like a "folk song": It is often learned "by rote" rather than "from the book", and sung "as heard" rather than "as composed and written down." Without a living tradition of "folk singing", it may be hard to distinguish between "hymn tunes" and "folk songs"; but a tune is seldom used simultaneously, in the same culture, as both a folk song and a hymn tune.

Personal and cultural differences make the "suitable style" criterion very subjective: one culture's "hymn tune" may be a "trivial dance tune" to another, and might be hardly recognizable as music in yet another. And the musical sophistication of a culture defines just how much "folk" can accept as singable: as musical techniques fall out of popular use, a "folk song" may become a "hymn tune" and finally a "concert piece." (This collection is by design eclectic and inclusive, representing the music of many different cultures and traditions: including some Anglican chants.)

What is this archive for?

These files are intended (ultimately) to help congregational worship, by providing notation, indexes, and textual and audio introductions. The choice of file formats, arrangements, and settings reflects this; nearly all music is provided in as many of these formats as possible:

• Electronic musical score form, including files from Finale and Noteworthy Composer.
• MIDI (".MID") files, to be imported into most music notation editing programs, or played on computers with sound capability.
• Sheet music, to be viewed and printed. There is an emphasis on portable formats that may be viewed or printed anywhere. Adobe's ".PDF" (Portable Document Format) best satisfied the portability and quality criteria (Acrobat Reader and Ghostview are both free and widely available), but some other formats have been contributed.
• Traditional-four-part harmonizations (except for chants or folk tunes that are traditionally sung in unison. (Some instrumental arrangements or complex vocal arrangements have also been contributed.)
• Some audio files have been contributed. Copyright and disk space issues may limit their number.

Indexing

All hymns are indexed by tune name (sometimes including multiple names for a tune), by author, arranger, or source (including multiple attributions), and by musical meter and incipit (the first few notes of the tune, encoded in two different ways.) I have provided partial numerical indexes to several common hymnals.

Other Contributions

This index is gradually incorporating the music files formerly known to CCEL visitors as "200 MIDI Files" -- although they also included some scores and hymn texts. see the notice posted there.

Other public-domain contributions to this collection are welcomed. I have a list of types of contribution that might add to its usefulness or fill already-recognized shortcomings. Please contact me with questions, suggestions, or contributions.

Other Internet Resources

The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has a variety of material -- primary sources, texts, tunes, translations, history and biography, literary analyses -- in its Hymns and Hymnology category.