8 C HAN T ING IN FR EE R H YT H M

much its rhythm and l en gth might resent this Procrustean

treat ment .

I t is n ot , of course , to be supposed that we can now recover

'

alt ogether the s i mplicity an d flexibi l i t y of those ear l y ti m es ,

when psal m s were chanted only by s m all bo dies of m onks or
singin g m en , an d this daily to the sa m e elastic T o nes , and when
-

there were no such di fficult conditions as t houghtless volunteer

choir boys and whol l y untrained congr egations
-
.

N o doubt we m ust face so m e sacr ifi ce s ; a sacrifice of old

notions , and ol d habits ; a sacri fi ce of so m e litt l e troub l e t o
'

overco m e these , bo t h in ourselves an d ot h er s ; an d a sacri fi ce

of so m e o l d fav o uri t e chant tunes B u t i t by no m eans invo l ves
-
.

the abandon m ent of An glican chants i t is indee d an e ff ort t o

save a l l ( and t hey are m an y) w hich either do n o w c o nfo rm , or
can b e easi l y m ade to conform , to the condition s w hich are
de m anded by a true regard fo r the words of the Psa l m s ; and ,
be it observed any old favourites espe cia ll y doub l e chants can
, , ,

still be free l y used to selections fro m m etrica l versions of the

Psal m s (St er n h old and H opkins, or Tate and B rad y), or to
al m ost any of o ur si mpler hy m ns , with exce l lent e ff ect ; and
this is the t ru e c o nsistent u se of them— metri cal chants to metr ical
psalms .

I t m us t be confessed , indee d, that there is som e reas o n t o

fear that the presen t atte m pt wil l not be popu l ar a t fi rs t with
‘
t he m any ; it appea l s rather to t hos e who are responsib l e for
’

the dignity and tru t hfulness of our Ch u rch s w o rship and

’

whose duty it is t o lead others upward The m any as ye t , o ne

.

reluctant l y ad m its , think too lit t le of the w o rds the y sing t hey
like m usic , an d such m usic as p l eased t hat m errie Monarch , ’

‘
that brisk and airy Prince , Charles I I , who liked m usic in
’
‘

Church t o whi ch h e could beat ti m e (H u llah , fr om Pepys ,

’

quoted b y H e ywood ) Neither p opularity nor faci l i t y i s a true

.

an d h o nest test o f g o od church m usic , an d l east of a ll in con

n ex i on wi t h w o rds so sacred an d so spiri t ua l as t he Psa l m s .

A n d as t o di ffi cu l ty in practice , there is abso l utely n o ne in the

method itse l f, bu t onl y such as m ust al wa ys m eet us fo r a t i m e
whi l e shaking ou rse l ves free from the ideas and habi t s of a
discarded syste m .
 18 CHAN TING I N FR EE R H YT H M

a distinct tune which has so overshad owed t h e i mpor tance of

‘ ’

the recitation o f which i t is rightly but t he i n fl exi on and close

, .

B oth these wro ngs are righted b y one m eans , the free use of
d iaeresis by w hich the t w o fi rs t n o tes are a ll o w ed t o occupy
,

one sy ll able on l y, as a ru l e , whi l e by the sa m e m eans t he

accent o f the fi r st is di ssipated M o reover , t he di fficulty of .

pointing is great l y reduced by the reduc t i o n of the nu m ber of

syllables t o b e p o inte d 1
.

3 . e xpl aine d — I t will b e necessa ry here t o explain

D iaeres is
t he acti o n o f diaeresis , or the assigning of two notes, s l urred to ,

one syllab l e , e g . .

Ser ve t h e Lord In f ear A nd rej oi c e un o t t

hi m Wi h v
r e eren ce .

At fi rst sight i t m igh t be thought that this m ust gi v e additional

w eight and e m phasis t o this s yllable , which is m ore oft en than
n ot a weak o ne ; but the e ff ec t is exact l y the reverse The .

e m phasis o f t he syl l able, even if a strong one , and the accent of

the ( fi rst ) n o te are both reduced A n d the reason is this you .

c a nnot e mphasiz e an unfi n ished , and therefo re un m eaning , w ord

or sy l lab l e ex c ept when i t ends with a l ong o pen v owe l , which

,

is n o t c om m o n in English , and then on l y im perfec tl y ; an d

without e m phasis on t h e syll able you cannot , or a t least wi ll
n ot , get m uch accent on t h e n o te B y e m ph asis I m ean the .

accen t ua t ion o f m eaning , by accen t the accentuation of sound ,

m usical or o ther .

There is nothing new in t he use of diaeresis , or s l urring ; i t

is used m ore or l ess free l y in a l l poin t ed Psal t e s but w hereas
r —

i n those i t i s never used if t w o separate sy ll ab l es can be h ad,

here , on the contrary , two separa t e sy ll ables are never used in
this p l ace if it can be av o ided .

N or a — Th e only neces sary except i ons to the u s e of di aeresis

are the very rare cases in whi ch i t woul d fall on a very weak

1
Th e t erm s
D i aer esi s for the di v isi on o f one syllab l e between two
m ini m s ,an d S ynt h esis fo r the c on verse , i e t he c o u pl in g of two syll . .

abl es un der one m in im , seem to have been fir st applied to poin t in g

f or chant s b y t h e la te R ev H E H av er g al, in a P aper on t h e su b j ec t
. . .

ab out thirty years ag o W ith Synthesis we ha ve n o c oncern ; it is

.

t he caus e, when use d, of the j ing lin g , t rippin g , e ff ect o f dactyls or

anapaest s o f which we ha ve j u s t S po ken .