cgHE RGAN_ISCf'S
It 1s the amhition of THE ETUDE
H
Y:VlNS, THE NURSLING of ec-
clesiology,. cannot be attributed di-
r ectly to St. Ambrose (latter part
of the 4th century) , who perhaps was the
first author to introduce true metri cal sing-
ing into the church service, nor to Martin
Luther from whose poetic genius emanated
the chorale, the finest exa mple of modem
hymn forro extant.
Broadly viewii1g the historical back-
gro und of church music, we assume that the
origin (irrespective of the priestly intona-
tion of the uncouth di rges of the pagan
temples) appean~d .in the ritualistic worship
of the Hebrews, with the us e of the Psalm5
as a basis. \Ve possess 110 defini te know l-
edge conc erning the form s of the sacred
music of the H ebrews, still we conjecture
that it was a forro of chanting, and as Dr.
Hugo Riemann writes in his "History of
Musical Forros," "we can scarcely err in
concluding that perhaps the most authentic
remains of Hebrew music are preser ved in
the Gregori an chant, particularly in the
Halleluj ah melodies." .We can reaelily
understand that these psalm chants of the
Hebrews were carried into the Christi an
Church anel th at they fi nall y merged into
or influenced our present hymnology. N at-
urally, some tang of these past eras in-
heres within the hymns of to-day and in-
fluences our method of rendition. However,
as the original method of rendering the
J ewish psalms is hazed beneath the remote-
ness of the centuries, we dare not eneleav~r
to instruct a congregation as to the correct
manner in which a chant shoulcl be ren-
dered; anel to-day each congregation m-
district is a law unto itself anel renclers
the psalms according to its individual cus-
tam. But we may be assured that the tem-
pie songs of the Hebrews were nonmetrical.
that homophony prevailed, and that their
manner of chanting no doubt was exteneled
unchanged into the Christian Church, as
far as the 5th century.
The Hymn Is Born
IN THE 4TH CENTURY St. J erome dis-
tinguished between psaln1s, hymns anel
canticles. Hymns designated those chants
( solemn psalms and songs) which extolled
the strength and maj esty of God, also, the
j ubilant psalms ( Halleluj ahs of exalta-
tion). The psalms embraceel those chants
which were ethical in character. The canti-
cles according to St. Augustine ( 4th cen-
tury) were lofty songs of praise chanted
n a quick animated manner.
"It was, however," (writes James Fran-
cis Cooke in his "Standard History of
Music") "among the wonclerful Greeks,
who lived before the birth of Christ, that
the foundation of our own kincl of music
were really laid. With them, poetry, art
and culture were looked upon as real neces-
sities, and the union of poetry with music
maele the studv of the art of music one
of great importance." Moderation in everv-
thing was the law of Grecian art. The
rhythm of their poetry and music elis-
playeel a simplicity in arrangement; the
eluration of the musical tones were divieled
into feet containing two, three, four and
five beats consisting of long notes (two
540
GcruDE
to make this department an ''Organist's Etude" completem itself
The Origin of Hymns
GBy EUGENE F. MARKS
beats) a nel shor t ons (one beat); and
from thes e simple notes a combination of
rhythmic progress ion was securecl; namely :
-~J.
Ex.t
j
r f' f'
1E
ure) with a plagal cadential, Iv-I; the
second phrase ends in the regular half-
cadence, I-V: while the thirel phrase, sim-
-
- - - - {rme long a nd tw o ghort ) Fo ur beats measure. ilar to the first phrase, allows a decidcd
- - --(two shm t and one lorig ) ' "
- - - - p(o ne lnng and one i- l)ort) thr ee beats me asurc, modulation to the key of B major, through
- - .- - (one :; hort and one lon g ) '' '' ''
- - -(shor t between tw o loug) fh-e beats me.a sur e. its clominant seventh chore!, F-sharp,
In th ese poetic feet one may easily prog- ,,. J
__:: i ;J A-sharp, C-sharp, E; and the final fourth
nosticate our bar measure and hymn meter. phrase gins the familiar full mixed cadence,
Their music evid ently did not possess our II-I-V-I.
clotted time. The music of this period, also. Following the musica-p!aJia (Gregorian
containecl a lengthening and shortening in 1J J; AI L JQ music) and 11111sica-mc11sura era in the
the duration of the delivery of the foot, flourishing period of counterpoint from the
which equals our .temp o. I t sho ulcl . be no ted that each phrase, 12th to 16th century ( epoch of the N ether-
Up to the middle of th e 13th century the consisting qf t wo m eas ures each, presents lands), songs evolved with the meloelv
music of the church was hom ophonous a similarity in melodie scalc outline with ( ca11tus firmus) sung slowly and sustained
. ( 11111sica - pfa11a) and possessed no measured n srng ( fou r notes ) anel fa lling ( three by one voice, usually the tenor (te1111to, to
'verses (m usica-m e11s11 ra). At this time notes) displayi ng an upward leap from the hold), accompanied with complicated fig.
(about 1250) the "original li vely rhythm thi rd to the four th beat in th e first meas- uration of the other voices. The cantus
of the church so ngs had stiffenecl to a suc- ure of each phrase ( excepting the last fir11111s of thesc compositions (some as an-
cession of notes of equal length, with which one) to the apex (ree nfo rcecl by being the cient as 600 B.C.) final1y became to some
shorter notes we re only occasionally inter- point of change in direction of the m elody extent the foundation of the Protestant
rnixed" (Riemann). A mong the songs of line), also, each phrase proceecls in a fac- hymns. This elaboration of voices ulti-
this period bequeathed to us, and still to be simil e rhythm on minims and crotchets, mately was curbecl uneler a decrec from
found in some of our hymn.als . stands a whi ch places it in the category of 11111sica- the Council of Trent, which insisted that
selecti on from King Thibaut, IV. of Na - mc11s ura . A lso, each phras e agrees with a simpler style of music should be given
varre ( 1254), which fo r its simp licity a11Cl quite a modern acceptance of ha rmoni zed to the church. This edict culminated in a
regul arity deserves soine study, as it dis- cadenccs, thc fi rst phrase of seven notes refinecl and harmonic treatment of poly-
plays a clec idecl trend towa rds hymn meter. ma y be barmonized as enc\in g (2nd meas- phonic music from the musica-plana of
Pape Gregory the Great ( about 590),
under Giovanni Pierluigi known as Pales-
trina (iram his birthplace). From this ad-
,erse mixture of a slow cantus firmus (the
melody) of long notes with a constantly
moving accompaniment of manv anel varied
notes, neccssarily sung by a highly trained
chmr, the melodies were rescued and de-
v_eloped into hymns sung by the congrega-
t10n. These hymns were brought to per-
fection in the chorales of Germany, under
the influence of Martin Luther ( 1483-
1546). The church music up to this time
had been sung in Latin; these chorales
or hymns were in the vernacular of the
people, foundcd upon popular folk songs or
original rhythmical melodies, anel were
sung in unison in a slow revcrential man-
ner ( which atmosphere still is adhered to
in_ the Protestant churches. in Germany),
w1th pauses upon the last word of each
line of the simple regulated poetry. These
holds, facetiously, are saicl to have been
necessary in arder to allow lagging sing-
ers time to catch up in their delinquency
: in tempo, so that ali woulcl be prepared
to attack the next line of poetry simul-
1 taneously. But the pauses were doubtiess
: produced by the natural clesire for poetic
rhythm and have, in a measure, clung to
: the hymns, in spite of the American haste
in rendering hymns, which, to a large ex-
tent, has obliterateel these regular pau~es.
From this Germanic chora! period the
hymn tune had easy sailing into other
countries, notably via Switzerland to Eng-
land and from thence into America; as it
THE ORGAN OF THE SEQUOIAS is, "a species of composition which, be-
This fine instrument is housed in the redwood forest of the famous cause it is easily learned by ear, becomes
Bohemian Club, about ninety miles north of San Francisco, The organ the special property of the people, anel
is concealed among the giant trees, the trunk of one of which may like an heirloom. is hancled from rrenera-
be seen just back of the console, which rests on a stage provided by tion to generatio~." The value of th~ manv
nature. From top to bottom and left to right the eminent organists and cuil~d collections of church-hymns usecl i;1
musicians grouped about the console are Edwin H. Lemare, Benjamin the services of anv denomination is not to
Moore, Dr. Humphrey J. Stewart (seated), Uda Waldrop, and Wallace be underestimatec. As William T. Elf
A. Sabin. Since this photograph was taken in 1936, Messrs. Lemare, \\Tites, "The great hymns teach more
Sabin, and Dr. Stewart have passed away. theology thar: the seminaries!'
THE ETUDE