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lei RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA Sacred Xusie

except, of course, the lessons and the sermon, are delivered with the singing voice-intoned, chanted, or sung in figured harmony. In such a service actual congregational participation is immaterial, and, in fact, the daily service in cathedrals is often carried forward with but few or even no persons present except the clergy and the choir. And in all cases where a choral service is much elaborated the tendency is to minimize the function of the congregation, except. that of passive listening. This approximates rather closely to the practise of the Roman Church.

In the rubrics of the Prayer-Book hymns are but slightly provided for, and organ music is not mentioned. But both have been customary from the

first. As manuals for congregational 3. Hymns sing many metrical psalters have and the been " authorized," beginning with

Imam. that of Sternhold and Hopkins (" the Old Version "; see HYMNOLOGY, IX., § 2) in 1562. There has never been an " authorized " hymnal, however, and, indeed, the use of " hymns " as distinct from " psalms " crept in somewhat gradually in the later eighteenth century, and under more or less protest. But the popularity of hymn-singing has led to a remarkable series of hymnals, of which without doubt Hymns Ancient and Modern, first published in 1861 and since repeatedly augmented or revised, is the most conspicuous. The earliest psalter contained the melodies of some tunes, and in the recent hymnals, at least in the fuller editions, tunes are provided for all the hymns. Associated with the more or less officially sanctioned liturgy of verse has accumulated a large and varied liturgy of congregational tunes, which is a feature of English church music analogous to the still larger treasury of German chorales.

The status of organ music is but vaguely defined in English practise. The appointment to the post of organist and choirmaster rests with the rector or other clerical authority of the particular church or cathedral, and his work is understood to be under clerical direction. Organs are everywhere regarded as essential parts of ecclesiastical apparatus, and their utility is emphasized, not only for accompaniment to choir and congregational singing, but also for independent use before and after services.

What is here said refers especially to the musical usages of the Church of England, which is the national or " established " church not only in Great Britain, but also in all British colonial possessions, including Canada, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc. All these have for the most part derived their habits in public worship directly from the mother country. The same is true in a more remote sense of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, which became an independent church in 1789. For a very extensive section of the Protestant population of the world, therefore, the liturgical usages of the Church of England, including everything that pertains to music, have been either authoritative or exceedingly influential. Inasmuch also, as they constitute the most consistent and definite body of usages among all the churches in English-speaking countries, their further indirect influence has been remarkably wide, affecting espeX.-11

cially the hymnody and music of many non-episcopal communions.

For convenience, the history of the subject can be divided roughly into three main periods: (a) the sixteenth century, with a small part of the early seventeenth, during which musical practises, except in one or two particulars, were still dominated by the traditions of the time before the Reformation; (b) the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, during which, for various reasons, church music was relatively unprogressive and feeble; and (c) the nineteenth century, during which there was gradually established a fresh line of development, resulting in a notable literature, which has great individuality and spiritual power.

Since the English Church emerged at the Reformation without losing its sense of continuity with the medieval Church, it was natural that its new Prayer-Book should be musically treated, in part at 4. The Six- least, in ways consonant with medieval

teenth tradition. Hence arose before 1553 Century. plain-song settings of numerous formu-

las, which have been extensively retained ever since. Hence, also, came a considerable literature of contrapuntal choir music, much of which compared favorably with similar writing in both Italy and Germany, and which has often been exalted by later musicians as embodying a sort of ideal (analogous in some degree with the superiority attributed in the Roman Church to the Palestrina style). Among the composers of this period may be named Christopher Tye, c. 1510-72; Thomas Tallis, c. 1515-85; John Merbecke,1523,85?; Robert Whyte, d. 1574; William Byrd, 1543-1623, and several writers of the madrigal era, like Thomas Morley, 1557-1602 ?; and Orlando Gibbons, 15831625. But,. on the other hand, there were two musical movements of a different sort, due to the influence upon the English Church of the Reformed Church as it had developed under Calvin at Geneva and Strasburg. One of these was the introduction of psalm-singing, the tunes being either borrowed from Calvinistic sources or imitated from their style-opening a line of development in tunes analogous to that of the German chorales, though much inferior to the latter in variety and in intrinsic artistic worth. The other was the tendency for a brief period after 1560 to magnify a plain, '1 syllabic," uncontrapuntal method of setting canticles and other prose texts for choir use, this being a reaction in the direction of liturgical and artistic simplicity. This tendency was short-lived, though its essential principle reappeared later in a finer artistic form.

Throughout the seventeenth century church music aroused only a fluctuating interest. The period of the Civil Wars checked all progress, not so much because the Puritans were averse to music,

as because they were against the 5. Seven- ecclesiastical system to which it beteenth and

Eighteenth l.og.ed. After the Restoration in 1660 Centuries. interest revived to some extent, though

with confused results, owing in part to the heedless imitation by some of French and Italian models. At this point begins to be felt the drift toward solo singing in choir music which grows more