Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 10 (1928-07)

July, 1928 The Phonograph Monthly Review 357 National Opera Co. (H.M.V.—E397). Sir Hubert Parry has made a stirring setting of Blake’s “Jerusalem” recorded by the Choir of H. M. Chapels Royal (H.M.V.—E451); Sir Charles V. Stanford fares better with “Beati Quorum” by the Choir of New College Chapel, Oxford (H.M.V.—B2447), and “Glorious and Powerful God” by the Choir of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor (English Columbia 9303). Sir Edward Elgar’s “As Torrents in Summer” has been recorded by the Apollo Male Choir (H.M.V. —B2049) ; and a setting of “Hail Gladdening Light” by a composer I take to be Dr. Charles Wood, and sung by the Choir of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor (English Columbia 9303) com- pletes the Victorian list. Of the moderns a few works have found their way to discs, notably Gustav Holst’s splendid “Psalm,” a thrilling treatment of one of the noblest of chorale melo- dies; and sung by the Philharmonic Choir (H.M. V.—D1304). Arnold Bax’s “Mater Ora Filium” has been sung by the Leeds Festival Choir (H.M. V.—D1044-5), and Eric Thiman’s “Sing Alleluia Forth” by the Noncomformist Choir Union (Eng- lish Columbia 9117). The Scandinavian countries are predominantly Lutheran, and are consequently devoted to choral music. Grieg’s “The Son of God Has Set Me Free” has been coupled with Christiansen’s “Deck Thyself My Soul,” probably an arrange- ment of Cruger’s great Chorale, “Schmucke Dich” and sung by the St. Olaf Choir (Victor 79236). It is probably not so many years now since the Western world first became acquainted with the musical treasures of the Russian Church. Be- sides the traditional music, many of the great Russian composers have written for the Church The splendid adaptations of much of this music by Mr. N. Lindsay Norden and Canon Winfred Douglas have become well known to the choirs and singing societies of America, and it is surprising that as yet none of it has reached discs. Of Russian service music a “Hymn of the Cherubim” by Glinka has been recorded by the Russian Sym- phonic Choir (Victor 20358), as have “Lord Have Mercy” by Lvovsky, and a Gloria Patri by Gret- chaninoff (Victor 78890). There are also a Gret- chaninoff Credo (Victor 68970), and some other recordings by this organization. Tchaikowsky’s “We Praise Thee O Lord” has been sung by the Don Cossacks Choir (English Columbia 9186). Of Greek Church music there have been some interesting releases by the Choir of the Athens Cathedral, notably the selection from the Easter Morning Service (Victor 55217).. There is also an earlier record of a Kinonikon and Kyrie (Victor 63511). 3. HYMNS. The singing of hymns, as we know the practice, may be said to be the direct result of the Reformation movement. Properly speaking hymns are the words sung, but usually it is the tune that makes or breaks the hymn. Of course hymns were sung in the Pre-Reforma- tion Church, but their principal place was in the Breviary offices. The Sequence was a special type of hymn which found its way into the Mass, be- tween the Epistle and Gospel, during the ninth century. Practically all other hymns were con- fined to the Breviary. There is a rich profusion of them both in Greek and Latin, to which more or less elaborate melodies became attached. These melodies were homophonic until the tenth century when Hucbald is reputed to have invented the Sacred Organum, a system of crude harmony, illustrated on a record by the Palestrina Choir (Victor 20897). It is said that Guido of Arezzo, in the eleventh century, took the old hymn in honor of St. John Baptist and named the notes of the scale from the first syllables of its lines. It is also given on the above record. Descant was the next stop in the development of harmony. It was the singing of a counter melody by a few voices as an embroidery on the principal melody or Cantus Firmus. A further development was Faux-Bourdon or Falso Bordone, a term some- times used interchangeably with Descant, but now generally understood to be singing in harmony by a few voices, while most of the voices are singing the principal melody in unison. All of these devices are illustrated on this one record mentioned above. They are being extensively revived in our day, and add unparalleled variety and richness to hymn singing as well as service music. Probably the earliest hymn tune that has been recorded is the 8th Mode melody which has been associated with the “Veni Creator Spiritus,” but is known to be several centuries older than this hymn. It is sung by the Palestrina Choir (Victor 20896). The Plainsong hymn-melodies coupled with the harmonic developments noted above contributed to the birth and enormous development of the stately Chorales and Psalter tunes of the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries. Very few of these have been recorded. The celebrated “Von Himmel Hoch,” dating from 1539, and set to Luther’s Christmas hymn, has been coupled with the tenderly beautiful “Es 1st Ein Ros’ Entspru- gen,” a traditional Rhineland melody harmonized by Praetorius. They are sung by the Staats und Domchor of Berlin (Victor 80263). The so-called “Crusaders’ Hymn” should be mentioned here. Some sort of pious tradition has assigned this hymn and its melody to the twelfth century, but the eminent Dr. Julian in his authoritative “Dic- tionary of Hymnology” says that “for these state- ments there does not seem to be the shadow of a foundation.” The words—“Schonster Herr Jesu” —have not been traced further back than a Munster Gesangbuch dated 1677, and the tune, which was used by Liszt in his “St. Elizabeth,” first appeared in a collection of Silesian Folk- songs made by Hoffmann and Richter, and pub- lished by them in 1842. This tune has all the earmarks of the German Chorale, and the flimsy Crusader traditions should not be propagated further unless it can be verified. Without this sentimental and apparently false association, the