Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 2, No. 9 (1928-06)

322 The Phonograph Monthly Review June, 1928 - - ■ ■■■ - 3. Hymns. (1) True Hymns (2) Chorales (3) Carols (4) Revival Songs (5) Negro Spirituals 4. Cantata and Oratorio Music 5. Sacred Solos. 6. Organ Music. It must be remembered that Church Music is primarily choral, that is, for a body of singers. Until comparatively recent times, instruments were used principally for purposes of accompani- ment (when there was any), and the solo voice was not featured, but used only incidentally. Most of the really great Church Music of the past was written for chorus unaccompanied, and there is a decided tendency among the best of present day Church composers to return to this style. Un- doubtedly the ideal music for purposes of worship is unaccompanied choral music. That is the rule in the Orthodox Churches of the East, and was the common practice in the churches of the West until the seventeenth century. 1. LITURGICAL OR SERVICE MUSIC. By this term is meant the music to which the fixed text of traditional services (or certain portions of that text) is set. The “free” Churches gen- erally, or Churches which do not follow a set form of service, are not concerned with Liturgical Music, though there is an unmistakable tendency among them towards the order and dignity which liturgical forms lend to worship. In the Roman Catholic Church the portions of the Mass which may be treated chorally are: Kyrie Eleison, Gloria in Excelsis, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus Qui Venit, and Agnus Dei. The same is true of the Anglican Communion Service, though the Benedictus Qui Venit and Agnus Dei do not form a part of the official text. The Lutheran Com- munion Continues to be sung to simple chants. The music of a Requiem Mass in the Roman Catholic Church differs from that of other masses in that the Gloria in Excelsis and Credo are omitted, and Requiem Aeternam (as Introit and Graduale), Dies Irae (as Sequence), Domine Jesu (as Offertorium), Lux Aeterna (as Com- munio), and Libera Me (Absolution) are added. These are all, ideally speaking, the people’s parts in the great drama of the Mass, but at a com- paratively early date, throughout Western Europe, they became the exclusive property of Choirs, for only bodies of trained singers could properly render the elaborate melodies which grew up around them.'One of the objects of the Reformation was the simplification of the seryices and their restoration to the people. This princi- ple has generally been observed in the Lutheran Churches, and to a large extent throughout the Anglican Communion. Plainsong, or Gregorian music, seems to be the ideal language of devotion. It grew up, so to speak, with the Liturgy, but was always subser- vient to it. It is diatonic, unisonous, rhythmical but not metrical, and has a peculiarly impersonal or other-worldly quality, admirably suited to its sacred use. Probably introduced from the East in the fourth century by St. Ambrose of Milan, extended and developed by Pope Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century, Plainsong retained its simple unisonous character until about the twelfth century, when the new art of harmony began to emerge, issuing finally in the grandeur of the sixteenth century Polyphonic school. Though the parts of the Mass enumerated above as assigned to the Choir or people in the course of time became subjected to every degree of musical elaboration, the part taken by the officiants, with its musical setting for use on solemn occasions, has remained practically un- changed fixed, and invariable, from time imme- morial. Mass music of the sixteenth century Polyphonic school is represented on discs by the Kyrie, Sanc- tus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei from a Mass in the Eighth Mode by Orlando Lassus, the great Belgian composer, and by the Credo (with two pages of solo quartet omitted) from Palestrina’s “Missa Papae Marcelli”, an epoch-making work thought to have been written in 1562. The former is sung by the Staats und Domchor of Berlin (Victor 80160) and the latter is a remarkable recording by the Roman Polyphonic Society under the direction of Monsignore Rafaele Casimiri (Brunswick 50128). Thomas Weelkes, a seven- teenth century English Madrigal composer, is represented by a Gloria in Excelsis which appears not to have been exacted from a setting of the entire Anglican Communion Service, but is an isolated composition. It is sung by the West- minster Abbey Special Choir, Sidney H. Nichol- son conducting (H.M.V.—D1083) The great Bach B minor Mass was never in- tended by its creator to be rendered liturgically. So tremendous is it that even if the proper forces could be gathered to perform it in connection with a Service, probably no congregation would be able to stand the strain, unless the overpowering grandeur of the rendition, coupled with the spiritual exaltation it is capable of evoking, might bear them along unmindful of physical weariness. Of this Mass the opening chorus and “Qui Tollis” sections of the Gloria in Excelsis, the “Patrem Omnipotentem” and “Crucifixus” sections of the Credo, and the complete Sanctus with its “Hos- anna” were recorded April 24th, 1926, by the Royal Choral Society, accompanied by the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, conducted by Dr. E. C. Bairstow, organist of York Minister (H.M.V.— D1113, D1114, D1123, and D1127). Shortly be- fore Mozart’s death he received a mysterious commission to write a Requiem Mass. Before its completion he died, but the Requiem was com- pleted, as was afterwards discovered, by his pupil Siissmayer. The Philharmonic Choir of London has recorded from this Mass, the Introit (Requiem Aeternam) and Kyrie, the opening chorus of the Sequence (Dies Irae), the entire Offertorium (Domine Jesu and Hostias), and the Agnus Dei, followed immediately by the Com-