AND T R U E AN T I P H O N Y I I

all its for m s m etrical The chant ( inc l uding in this ter m the
.

versicles and resp onses of o ur services, as well as the Psal m

chan t ), is an ancient and pecu l iar c l ass , su i gener is, and cann o t
be ju dged or treated by t he rigid ru l es of m easured m usic ;
a freed o m which i t shares wi t h all true recita t ive (see Gr o ve s ’

D ictionary) and wi t h the ancient ( an d m odern ) unbarred

,

services such as the M issa de A ngeli s an d the Mi ssa R egi a

,
.

Atte m p t s have been m ade to ascertain by ana l ysis the

musical f orm of a chant , but they can only en d in a fai l ure
‘ ’

because they begin w ith a fi cti o n The chant is taken as .

‘
a m e l od y of seven bars ; but this is n o t a fact — except on
’

paper . The fi rst and fourth bars are not bars in any true
sense , b u t un m easurable recitative intervening between t w o ,

i n fl ex i on s , is ol ating t he m and thr o wing the m out of fo r m al ‘ ’

rela t i o n to each o t her an d t o the whole ; while the i n fl ex i on s

the m se l ves sung to ever va rying form s of words , are made
,
-

metrical o nly by fo rcing these wo rd s by extension or c om

pressi o n into one an d ever the sa m e for m by the use of bars .

The l iberation o f the Psal m verse fro m the tyranny o f metri c al

-

chants is the point t o be ai m e d at The b o ndage of m odern .

m usic to strict ti m e and m easure is in nothing so m anifes t as

in this — that, whereas t he m usicians of o ld free l y broke through
the m et r o o f metrical hymns, our m odern m usicians take t he
pr ose parts of our Prayer B o ok the Creeds the & yrie E l eison
, , ,

Sanctus and G l oria in Exce l sis and cut the m up into e qual
, ,

m etrical feet or bars (as they d o also with the Cantic l es ) whe n
set t ing the m to s o ca l led Services
- ‘
It i s n o t necessary to.
’

conde m n t his as inad m issib l e ; fo r in these Services the

‘ ’

m elody is n o t fi xed, as in a chant , but is varied verse by verse

as desired , t o suit the varied rhyth m of the words and , m ore ,

over , the constraint of m easured ti m e being continuous through

out has a certain evenness and consistency of m ove m ent which
tends to s m oothness and dignity tho u gh it often has an eff ect
,

upo n the w ords not unlike that upon h o rses constrained to keep
s t ep to m usic B u t in chants wi t h an unc o nstrained recitation ,
.

and a sudde n change to a barred i n fl ex i on , the continuity is

lost and the m et rica l e ff ect is intensi fied by the contrast
, .

I I I V o cal u nis o n an d h arm o ny B u t , it will be said , Y ou

.
— .
‘

cannot he l p having m easure d tim e with vocal h ar m onies ; you

cannot without it keep the pa rts together Perhaps this is in .
’
12 C HAN T I NG I N FR EE R HYT H M

a m easure true , excep t wi t h high l y trained ch o irs and dai l y

se r vice B u t supposing it to be s o, is w eal harm o ny s o absolu t ely
.

n ecess ary fo r all pa rts of church w o rship as to righ tl y override

,

a due regard fo r t he t ru e fo r m an d rhyth m of the w ords &

Especial l y i s it necessary for chanting & One cann o t wonder
that there i s a n evident l y gro w ing t en den c v towards unisonous
chantin g with orga n harm onies The great au t h o ri t y of
.

D r H o pkins , and o f D r E G M o nk and Sir F A G O u seley,

. . . . . . .

who have pub l ished coll ecti o ns of chan t s expressl y fo r use in

this W ay, an d t h e advocacy o f sever al o t her experienced
organists an d ch o irm asters , a l l point in this direction An d .

it m ay wel l be re m e m be red that chants are the ol des t form

of church m usic z t ha t he y were in possession fo r ages befo re
—
d a a T oHat in c o untries w here t heir
c
’

reign h as been unbroken t hey have m ain t ained their unisonous

si m p l icit y, grandeur, and f reedom ; t hat in E ng l and only, and
after an al m o st t ot a l collapse of chanting and other church
m usic for a genera t ion , i n the seventeen t h century, and during
i t s long period of weak l y convalescence , they sub mitted to be
bro u ght by degrees under the bondage of ( barred) harm o ny .

Harm ony, then m agnifi cen t discovery as i t was — carrying al l

,

before it and even sweeping away fro m the grea t fi e l d o f secular

music a l l the old M o des but tw o , because they w o uld not
’

readil y sub m it to its de m ands — neverthe l ess fel l back respect

fully befo re the ol d si mple church chant , and , excep t in m odern
E n gl and , left it untouched , because it recognized its clai m to
a freedo m of utterance which v o cal harm o ny coul d not fo ll o w .

The rule , not indeed without exceptions fo r festal settings , d own

to the end of the six t eenth centu r y in England also
have be en unisonous chanting ( Hey w ood) .

A further and very practica l ly conclusive reason against voca l

h ar m ony in chanti n g is that i t is inc o m patible w ith an t iphonal
chanting of any k in d, excep t in those few churches w here the
choir can a l ways m uster a full and equal co mp l e m ent of all
pa rts on b oth sides .

Is it then unreasonable with the whole of the rest of the

—

Prayer B ook open t o harm on y— to ask exe m ption for the Psa l ms,
an d fo r the Can t icles when chan t ed
B u t an objecti o n has been raised which we cannot jus t ly pass
over It is p l eaded wi t h so m e reason that with u n isonous singing,
.
 A ND T R U E AN TIPH O NY 13

if pr o longed through several Psa l m s with a m ixed choir of m en

,

and boys, even with a l i m i ted r an ge o f reciting notes the1

,

strain is too gre at fo r the basses, and wi ll inj ure their voices .

This wo u l d in s om e choirs be a strong plea , but i t m ust be

observed that unison is not f orced upon these low voice s
i n this Psa l ter, but is treated on l y as t he rule fo r the choir
and congregation in genera l The basse s can be pr ovided
.

with copies o f the o rgan edition and sing their part from
,

that ; bu t on l y o n condition that they can and wi ll , as they

easily m ay, adapt t hemse l ves to the free rhyth m , and not
drag back the ch anting into the old rigid m e t rical groove i n
order t o enable the m to keep together without tr ou ble .

It wi l l be seen presently that vocal harm o n y in chanting

is chargeable with a further mischief sti l l ( see p 1 5, note) . .

I f the reader is sti l l u nconsci ou s of the wrong d one t o the

Psal m s by the prevailing m a n ner o f Engl i sh cha nt ing ; if h e
i s still u n wi l ling to face the sacr i fi ce of some p o pu l ar and
m usica l ly beautiful s trains a n d o f vocal harm ony ( in cha nting
on l y ) if he cannot face t h e passing trouble of overcom ing o l d
habi t s ; if he l oves to o we l l the easy m ech anica l guidance of
m easured m usic ; or if, fi n all y, he r ejects anything that is ,
or appears t o be new — h e wi ll probably not pr o ceed t o learn
,

from the fo ll owi n g section s the aids that are o ff ered in this
Psa lt er to a more reasonab l e , inte ll ige nt a n d devout use of the
,

Psal m s in pub l ic worship Only let h i m allow that the fault is

.

n ot in the m e t hod , but in the critic .

PA R T 11 .

App li c at i on of t h e s e P r i n c i p les .

1 . Poin t in g an d A c cen t u a t ion — We have n o w to consider

.

the app l ica t ion of the principles hi t herto adva n ce d to par

t i c u lars ; and , fi rst , t o pointing .

I. P O I NTI N G is the adj ust m ent o f the accented note s of a chant

( which are fi xed as t o their positi o n ) to the accented syllables of
1
Wi th the one exception o f S ir H O akeley s fine chant assigne d to
.
’

t he B enedicite where t he recitati on is v ery short there is n o reciting

, ,

n ote in this Psalter above C .