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

June, 1928 The Phonograph Monthly Review 323 munio (Lux Asterna and Cum Sanctis) which takes one to the end of the score. There is no “Libera Me.” (H.M.V.—D1147-8-9). [Here is an example of bad cataloguing and bad labeling. The arrangement of the score is confusing in the first place, such as the division of the Sequence and Offertorium into several num- bers, but why the “Cum Sanctis” section of the Communio—and spelled “sanctus” when it has nothing to do with the Sanctus—should have a separate label is not understandable.] Though the Mass has always been the principal service of the Christian Church, and at least the rite from which it evolved was instituted by Jesus Himself, very early other services came into being to supply the necessity of the occasion or to express the devotion of the pious. In the latter category must be placed the monastic offices, which during the Middle Ages, became numerous, intricate, and involved. They made large use of Scripture, as well as traditional materials embodying the aspirations of devoted souls. The Breviary was the book which con- tained the text of these services, used for the most part at the various daily hours of prayer in monastic establishments. So complicated had they become at the time of the Reformation that the advice of specialist was required to find out the proper content of the services for certain days. Of course these services were for the pro- fessed religious, and so the rank and file or or- dinary people who attended Mass in their parish Churches were but little concerned with them. The sixteenth century Reformers who placed the emphasis on Scripture reading and preaching, found in the condensation and simplification of the Breviary offices and their transfer to use in parish Churches the opportunity to extend the knowledge of the Scriptures in the vernacular. As a consequence we have in the Church of Eng- land the two offices of Morning and Evening Prayer (or Matins and Evensong), and in the Lutheran Churches the services of Matins and Vespers. These services consisted of Psalms and Scripture lessons, canticles, versicles, responses, and prayer, and it had long been the custom to render them chorally. Though the services were translated and simplified there was no thought of disturbing the choral tradition, so we find English composers from the time of the Reformation de- voting their talents to the creation of beautiful music for the canticles contained in the text of these services. At Morning Prayer they are: Venite, Te Deum or Benedictus or Jubilate; and at Evening Prayer; Magnificat or Cantate Domino, and Nunc Dimittis or Deus Miseratur. Now Venite and Benedictus are generally sung to simple chant settings, while Te Deum, Jubi- late (if used), Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (which have become the almost invariable even- ing canticles) are invested with the splendors, of elaborate anthem settings. Some interesting records have been made of the complete Church of England Service of Morning Prayer (The two Scripture lessons are omitted and the two evening canticles are sung on the reverse side of the fourth record. The choral parts are sung by a choir from St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, under the direction of the Rev. Canon E. H. Fellowes. (H.M.V.—D963-4-5-6). There are some interesting recordings of short sections of the Te Deum and Magnificat set to ancient Plainsong melodies and sung in Latin by the Palestrina Choir, conducted by Nicola A. Montani (Victor 20896-7). So far there has been no electrical recording of English settings of the Te Deum, but several of the best settings of the Evening canticles have been recorded. The Choir of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, under the direction of Canon Fellows, has sung for the Eng- lish Columbia Company, the Magnificat from the Service in D minor by Thomas Attwood Walmis- ley, acknowledged to be one of the finest of all English services (9174) ; the Nunc Dimittis from Dr. T. Tertius Noble’s Service in B minor (4210) ; Sir Charles V. Stanford’s Service in G (the Magnificat on 9174 and the Nunc Dimittis on 4209) ; and the Choir of Rochester Cathedral the same composer’s famous Service in B flat (the Magnificat on 9165 and the Nunc Dimittis on 4202). Last year at the Three Choirs Festival held in Hereford Cathedral, a recording of a Dimittis by Sir Herbert Brewer was made (H. M.V.—D1347). 2. MOTETS AND ANTHEMS. Probably of secular origin, the motet was developed to a high degree of perfection by the sixteenth century composers. It is a setting for several voices of Scripture texts or the words of hymns. Its counterpart in the English anthem, which is al- lowed to be used at certain places in the services, notably as an Offertorium and after the third collect at Evensong. Liberal use of anthems is now made in the modern non-Liturgical Churches. A number of Palestrina’s motets have been recorded: “Adoramus Te” and “Exultate Deo” by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (Brunswick 3248) ; again “Adoramus Te” and “0 Bone Jesu” by the Florentine Choir (Victor 9159) ; “Hodie Christus Natus Est”, coupled with the “Cruci- fixus” of Lotti, sung by the Dayton Westminister Choir (Victor 20410) ; the famous “Improperia” or Good Friday Reproaches, and the “Sicut Cervus”, sung by the Palestrina Choir (Victor 20898) ; “Laudate Dominum” and “Exaltabo Te” are sung by the Roman Polyphonic Society (Bruswick 50125), as are also the “Improperium” (an Offertorium), coupled with Marenzio’s “In- nocentes” (Brunswick 50127), and “Alleluja Tulerunt”, coupled with an “Ave Maria” by Victoria (Brunswick 50126). Of the Elizabethan English composers, Richard Farrant and William Mundy, contemporaries, are represented on discs respectively by “Lord For Thy Tender Mercies’ Sake”, sung by the Choir of and “O Lord the Maker of All Things”, sung by New College Chapel, Oxford (H.M.V.—B2446), the Choir of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor (Eng- lish Columbia 4211). On the same record is