2 C HAN TIN G I N FR E E R HYT H M

made to move in fetters, or in a strait waistcoat , or dril l ed ,

‘ ’ ‘ ’

against nature to keep s t ep wi t h the m easured tread of m e t rica l

,

m usic and by prote sts on beha l f of the so l e m n tone and state l y

rh yth m of the Psal m s against the u n di gn i fi ed j ingle of m any
,
‘

Ang l ican chants .

The secret of their failure i s to be found in the point fro m

which al l existing p o in t ed Psa l ters start, viz , that , the chant .

being what it is , t he words o f the Psa l m s m ust be m ade to con

for m to it .
‘
The Ang l ican chan t is a f ac t, they say, an d it is
’‘

a m elody of seven ( or fi v e) bars ; in other words i t is a

'

m etrica l tune l ike a hy m n tune , except as regards the reciting

,

n ote and so m e deny even this ex c eption .

B u t there i s nothing sacred about an Anglican chant If i t .

co m es into col l isi o n with another fact str o nger and m ore u m
a l terable than i t se l f, it m us t either conform thereto, o r m ake
way fo r so m e t hing else and tha t o ther fact is this —that the
Psa l m s and Can t icles are non metri c al they are in what i s called
-

f r ee rh ythm, or rhy t h m ic pr o se , the grandest form of poet i y , bu t

not in m etre . And they and t heir poe t ic form ar e sacred and
una l terab l e , except with a vi o lence which is sacri l ege It is the .

hitherto constant strugg l e betwee n the tyrann y of t h e rigid

m e t rica l chan t , and the free born , but fett ered , Psa l m rhyth m ,
-

t hat has caused , without being genera ll y detected, t he di ssat i s

fac t i o n and m urm uring abou t Ang l ican chan t ing An d t he .

re m edy m ust be found in a di ff eren t concep t i o n fro m t hat c om

m on ly entertained as t o the true nature an d fo rm of the Chant ,
and i t s rela t i o n to t hat of the Psal m this Psa l ter is n ot, there
fo re m ere l y one m ore en deavour to rep o int the Psalm s , i e to
,
. .

i m prove the usual pointing in particu l ar passages ; it is an

at t e m pt t o reconsider the m atter afresh ; to g o back to fi rs t
princip l es, t o h istorical precedents, and to early Eng l ish ex
am p l es
.

It is not necessa ry, of course , to insist upon t he fi rst principle

of al l , — t hat church m usic i s who ll y fo r the g l ory o f God and
the he l p of m an in w o rshipping H i m ; it is en o ugh to begin
with the princip l e e m bodied in our m o tto , Vox ancilla verbi ,
‘ ’

Mus ic the hand m aid , no t the m istress, of t he w ords an d to

re m e m ber tha t , as far as chanting is concerned , the w ords are
not on l y fi xed for us by the Church but consecrated , in their
,

fo rm as well as thei r Spiri t, as pa rt of H oly Writ A n d the .

 4 C HAN TING I N FR EE R HYT H M

These two characteristics are

( 1 ) FRE E R H YT H M that is to say there is n o fi xed meas u red ,

length of lines , no regularity i n the fa ll of the accen t , n o

fee t, no rhym e— an d yet there i s a cer t ain unde fined rh yth m ,

or wel l propor tioned distribution of the i rregul ar accents

-
,

which gives the m the true ring of poetic for m and a dignity ,

far exce ll ing that of any but the bes t exa mples of metrical
verse It is , in sho rt , a free recitation , and pri m ari l y nothing
.

but a recitation , with on l y such i n fl ex i on of voice at certai n

p oints as wi l l give expression to its other characte ristic, V i z
2 ) A N TI P H ONY or R espon si v ene ss Each verse contains in it se l f
( . ,

a verse or versicle in its fi rst half, and a resp o nse in its last
half In order to reali z e this, l et the reader if he is not al ready
.
,

a w are of it recite a l m ost any verse , inserting yea i m m ediate l y

,
‘ ’

after t he dividing c ol on or in s o m e cases even or yea even , ’ ’

, , ,

and if i t does not in t errupt , but ra t her devel o ps the sense , ,

i t obviousl y sho w s tha t there is t h is responsiveness : e g 0 . .

,
‘

co m e let us sing unto the Lord (yea ) let us hear t il y rej o ice in
the s t ren gth of our sa l vati on — xcv I O Lord , h o w gl o ri o us
.
’
. .

’
are Th y works : ( yea) Thy thoughts are very deep An unwise .

m an doth not we ll consider this : ( yea ) and a fool d o th n ot

understan d i t xcii 5 6
.
’ ‘
-
The waves of the sea a re m ighty
.
, .

and rage horribly : ( yea ) but yet the L o rd who d w elleth o n ,

high , is m ightier — xciii 5 ‘

. B ecause they provoked his Spirit
’
. .

( even ) so that he spake unadvised l y with his l ips Neither

‘ ’
— .

destroyed they the heathen : ( even) as the Lord comm anded

the m — cvi 33 3 4 see also v 3 6 It is indeed on l y in few i n
.
’
.
, . .

stances , and in m ost of these because of m is takes in our Prayer

B ook t ranslation or punctuation that it will be found to fai l , .

To the truth of this antiphonal structure we have al so a t hree

fold external witness , viz ( I ) each verse divi ded into r espon .

sive halves b y the co l on or p oi nt (see Titl e page of the B ook

‘ ’
-

of Comm on Prayer) or in Lati n Psalters by a n asterisk ; (2)

,

each chant div ided into more or less m usi cally resp o nsive
h alves b y the double bar l ine ; ( 3) each choir divided into -

1
responsive sides, Decan i and Carlton s
'

1
T hese charac t eris tics o f the Ps al m v erse are n ot , in dee d, c onfine d -

J
to the P salm s o f D a vi d, as we c all them , but are found in cert ain
’

isol ate d Psalm s o r S ong s in the O ld T est am ent , e g , h i s Lam en t over . .

Sa ul an d onathan ( 2 S am i ) ; t he t w o S o n gs o f M o ses ; t he S ongs

.
 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 .
’