A ND T R U E AN TI P H O NY 9

The W i t n ess of H i s t or y .

I A n t i ph ony — I t wi l l be expe cted that what has been said

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shoul d be jus t i fi ed by reference t o the theory origi n gr ow th , , ,

and hist ory of the H ist o ry will n ot c arry us far back .

Psal m s had been chanted , as t he chief ele m ent in worship by

Hebrew and by Chris t ian for 1 50 0 years before hist o ry shows
u s a chant B u t it is safe t o assu m e that the ger m o f the chan t
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an d its essence , was a si m ple recita t ion on one m usical note

A

( higher or l ower as the character of the Psa l m dictated ) by two

responding bodies o f singers, reciting the two resp o nsive halves
O f a Psa l m V erse ; but t his in practice wou l d i mm e diat ely de
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v elop into so m ething m ore Le t any two individua l s (or bodies )

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reci te on a note antiphonally, by half verses a fe w verses of a

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Psal m , and they wi l l so o n crave , not on l y so m e relief fr om the

m ono t one but som e very si m p l e i n fl exi on — rise o r fa ll , at the
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en d of each half verse — to express in the fi rs t an expec t a t i o n of

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re ply and i n the second a satisfaction of that expectation by a

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cadence the m on o to nic reci tati on s t i l l re m aining the essential

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part “N o w, when history at l ast does show us chan t s in the

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s o ca l led Greg o rian t o nes , i t reveals to us , in t he si m p l er and

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shorter fo r m s of the 8 t h and other Tones , exac tl y this pri m itive

pa t tern B u t a fu rther natural develop m en t had t aken place i n
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m ost of t he m , and the i n fl ex i on h ad extended back w ard , by

tw o n o tes at l east further over the reci t a t ion : an d we ge t
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nearl y to the pattern , i n length , of our Ang l ican chant I t will .

n ot be necessary to notice the further extension of the m e l ody,

which is found in later ti m es in festal form s of the ancient
chan t .

I I T i m e l essness — The original chant would be t imeless T h e

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pri m itive recitation w o uld have , of course , no accen t uation of

i t s own apart fro m tha t o f the words which wou l d vary w ith
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every verse — n o m easure d beats no bars , no fi xed re l ative

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leng t h of n ot es When the o ne note of responsive i n fl ex i on

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was intro duced at the end o f each ha l f verse , this a lo ne woul d -

have it s accent , which wou l d in the na t ure of t hings fa l l o n the

last s trong syl lable withou t any pre arrange m en t o r pointing ‘ -
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When this n o te devel oped into m ore , sti ll there was n o regula
tion of their ti me no fi xing of their accent N o m arks of ti m e
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 A ND T R U E AN T IP H O NY 19

syll abl e preceded b y two other e qually weak syllabl es e g we ,

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m u s t poin t t hus h on our abl e a dversaries n ot ‘

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adversaries ; an d two or three words pecu li ar in them selves
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o r i n their rel ati on to others v iz Israel ; an d t h e H Oly n ot

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Holy in the Glor i a P atri where it is not a m ere epithet but
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part o f a Proper N am e ; an d S ab aoth i n the T e D eu m the firs t

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a in which represent s n o real vowe l s oun d at all in t he H ebrew

bei n g t heref o re unab l e to bear diaeres i s m u st
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T a h
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( s b o t a n d
be poin t e d Of s aba oth an d n ot S abaoth an d cert ain ly n ot
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s ab ayot h
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as i t is g enerally but inco rrectly an d m ost n u ,

pl ea sing ly pron ou nce d .

N o doubt the u s e o f di aeresis with an y light syllabl e will a t ,

first fail to c om m en d itself to m a n y ; bu t a l ittl e c onsi dera t i o n

an d use will r em o ve all mis g i vin g We m u s t c onsider that .

diaeresis was an d is st ill use d far m ore pr omi scu ou s ly an d to a

g reat er ext en t than t his in the n eu m as o f t he o ld P l ains on g with
an y syllabl e o f t he lon g Lat i n wo r ds a lth oug h t he accen t is f ar ,

weaker than o u r English accent ; an d that t h e m onosyllables

whi ch are far m ore num erous in Eng lish which is a g ramm e ,
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t i c a lly non i n fl ec t ed lang u ag e are far bett er able to bear di aeresis

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It will be evident , a l so , that by thus using fo r these tw o notes

only one syl l ab l e ( the l as t s yl lab l e before the true m ediation or
cadence ), there are l eft s o m any the m ore syl l ab l es or w o rds to
the m onot o ne which is the essential e l e m ent of a chan t , w hi l e
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it re l axes the rigid fetters of bars an d m usical accents up o n the

free rh yth m o f the Psa l m verse There is , m oreover, another -
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very im p o rtant va l ue in diaeresis which wi ll be exp l ained

fu rther on .

4 . cce n t ua t i o n o f t h e M e di at i o n an d t h e Ca d ence
The A .

We c om e l ast l y t o the concentrati o n of accent upon the fi nal

note of the m ediati o n an d upon the penu l ti m ate n o te of the
cadence an d especia ll y upon this l atter, which sha l l be fi rst
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considered .

N o o ne who has any experience of both Anglican an d

Grego rian chan t s can fai l t o notice how m uch m o re heavy is
t he accent fa ll ing upon t he last note o f all in the An gl icans .

The reason of thi s is in part the m odern perfect cadence ,

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in pa rt the use of harm ony ; and it has genera ll y been fe lt

t hat this fi na l accen t of the Ang l ican chant , as usually s u ng,
is too hea v y to be allowed t o fa ll on a light fi nal sy ll ab l e ,
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e g salva ti on
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people, as it m ay be w ith Gr egor i an s ; an d
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consequen tl y , pointers of t he Cathedral sch o o l have thought

i t ne c essary to g o back , as stated above , s o m eti m es as far as the
fou r th s yll able fro m the end , t o fi n d one str ong e nough to bear
it a n d the n to crowd together o n the sa m e note th is and all the
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36 C HAN TING IN F REE R HYT H M

and extend the A men to occu py the two last strains — un less ,

of cou rs e the alternative special Gl o ria chant ( single ) is used .

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T h e D oxo l o g ie s t o t h e
e v era l B o o k s — B u t besides this s ,

Christian doxology, whereby we give a Christian sense t o each

Psal m each of the fi v e B ooks into which the H ebre w Psal t er
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is divided, is cl o sed by a ewish doxology which is too o ften

unnoticed , because it is printed and nu m bere d in our Prayer
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book as if it were a pa rt of the last Psal m of each B o ok

( Pss x l i , lxxii , lxxxix , cvi ) I t is here therefo re, prin t ed apar t
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fro m the Psal m and should be sung with the sam e chant , w hether
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o rdinary or special , and with the sa m e acco m pani m ent as the ,

Glori a Patri The c l Psal m is itself the D oxol ogy of the last
t h
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B ook and of the whole Psa l ter .

There is yet one other m inor feature of the

H a ll e l uj ah ’
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original which our Prayer B ook (n ot our B ible ) version has

m issed viz , the occurrence at the beginning or en d or bo t h
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of som e Psal m s, especially in the last B o o k of the word ,

H alleluj ah I t has n ot been thought necessary or advisab l e t o

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reinsert this genera ll y, except in the m argin ; but its o m ission

a t t h e end of the l ast Psal m of a l l is not o nly t he loss of t he
natural ejaculati on of co m pl eted praise , bu t it l eaves the last
verse of the Ps al m a m ere half verse shorn o f its responsive -
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com ple m ent Here , therefo re it has been rest o red t o its proper
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place Th e full Hebrew spe l ling ( ra t her tha n the i m perfect

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Latin rendering A llelu i a, found in the O l d , but not in the

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Re vised B ible Version ) is retained as m ore genuine and m uch ,

m ore true t o t he pronunciation both of the aspirate an d the

op en vowels .

T h e C an t i c les .

T he wi t h t h e E as t er A n t h e m s — As
G o s pe l C an t ic l e s ,
regards their antiph o nal st ruc t ure , unfortunate l y none o f the
t hree Gospe l Can t ic l es, as they stan d i n the Prayer B ook , are
printed quite c o rrectly .

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Th e Benedi ctu s in the original Greek is peculiar l y co m plica t ed
an d obscure in i t s form — so m uch so as to have suggested to
t he learn ed B ishop ebb ( Sacred Li terature ) that i t s par t s
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have su ff ered considerabl e m isplace m ent by earl y copyis t s .

Fo rtunately however, our translators have unco n sciously c o n

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