Hymn tune
A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain or chorus.
From the late sixteenth century in England and Scotland, when most people were not musically literate and learned melodies
There are many hymn tunes which might fit a particular hymn: a hymn in
Hymnal editors
Editors bring extensive knowledge of theology, poetry, and music to the process of compiling a new hymnal. They seek texts that are capable of communicating complex theological concepts to lay people, and they strive to partner those texts to tunes which are singable by the non-professional musicians of a congregation.[1]
When editors choose a text for the planned collection, it may already be paired to a
Pairing texts to tunes
Often the author of a text has not composed a setting of that text or otherwise paired the text to a particular tune. It then becomes the editor's challenge to complement that text with a tune for
In The Anatomy of Hymnody, Austin C. Lovelace explores the relevance of the meter to a text.[2]
A meter of few
Editorial skills are evident in the complex credits of some hymns. For the well-loved and great hymn, "All Creatures of Our God and King", the words were written by William H. Draper and first published in 1919, based on a 13th-century text by Francis of Assisi, with further adaptations made in 1987. It is wedded to the tune Lasst uns erfreuen, first printed in the Geistliches Kirchengesangbuch, dated 1623, and is presented with a harmonization by Ralph Vaughan Williams, dated 1906.[3]
Some texts become associated with several tunes. For different reasons, some tunes set numerous texts. Tunes which are very singable and easy for a congregation to pick up, and do not have musical demands which would interfere with understanding and assimilating the ideas of a text, can be used to set two or three texts in a hymnal, when the editors see that as advantageous. Wareham LM, melody William Knapp (1698–1768), alt., harm. Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1875, after James Turle (1802–1882), sets three texts in Hymnal 1982. It has supported more than 20 texts in various hymnals.[4]
Naming
The practice of naming hymn tunes developed to help identify a particular tune. The name was chosen by the compiler of the tune book or hymnal or by the composer. The majority of names have a connection with the composer and many are place names, such as
In some instances a particular text and tune have an almost exclusive partnership with each other, such as
By contrast, in Germany and Scandinavia, tune names were not typically used even when a hymn tune was used for more than one text. The custom in such cases was to use part of the first line of the first text with which the tune was associated as a name for the tune: for example Lasst Uns Erfreuen ("Let us rejoice" / All Creatures of Our God and King), Gelobt Sei Gott ("[May] God be praised" / Good Christian men, rejoice and sing) and Was lebet, was schwebet (O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness). Renaming of tunes occurs from time to time, when a tune is chosen to be printed in a hymnal. When chorales were introduced in England during the eighteenth century, these tunes were sometimes given English-style tune names.
The Ravenscroft Psalter of 1621 was the first English book which specified, by name, which tune should set each text. This followed the procedure used for the first time in the 1616 Scottish Psalter. In this early time of defining text/tune marriages, editors of different psalters were apt to use different names for the same tune. For example, The French Tune, in the Scottish Psalter (1564), was the same tune as Dundee in the Ravenscroft Psalter.[5] Common practice nowadays is for the composer of a tune to name it.
Performance
Typically, worship services in churches and synagogues include hymns which are sung by the congregation, accompanied by organ, or piano, and/or sometimes by guitars or other instruments. Details of performance vary depending on the designated style of the service, or by the hymns themselves. Some hymns specify unison singing, and other hymns are sung in parts (usually soprano, alto, tenor, bass). It is common practice for a congregation to sing all the hymns in unison, but in some traditions part singing is encouraged.
Sometimes, especially on longer texts, variety in the performance is introduced. Varied performance practices may include:
- varied harmonization for a stanza
- descant sung by sopranos, above the melody
- "Fauxbourdon" with the melody sung by tenors, and the harmonies sung by the other parts
- a modulation (music) (usually for the last stanza) into the next higher key
- A last verse harmonisation consisting of an embellished organ harmony, most of the choir singing in unison, and perhaps a descant
Other possibilities for varied performance can be invited through explanation either in the service bulletin or through verbal instruction by the pastor or the minister of music. Combining some or all of these and can add interest to singing while enhancing the sense of the text. For example:
- a stanza sung only by the choir
- a stanza sung only by the congregation
- a stanza sung only by men
- a stanza sung only by women
- a stanza sung only by Cantoris (north side)
- a stanza sung only by Decani (south side)
Some hymn tunes lend themselves to being sung in canon.
History
Origins
The
Hymnals evolved from psalters, in that hymns are songs for the congregation and choir to sing, but go beyond metrical recasting of only psalm texts. In early hymnals, only texts were printed. By the mid 18th century, hymnal editors began marrying particular tunes, by name, to individual texts. A century later, in the 1861 (first) edition of the English
The Reformation
As part of his efforts at reform, after Martin Luther prepared a version of the Mass in Latin, he prepared a version in German, adapting parts of the liturgical texts of the Mass as chorales in the vernacular which could be sung and understood by the congregation. Luther arranged the music for some of these by adapting the music of existing plainsong melodies; he set other texts to newly composed tunes composed by others, or by himself. An example of the latter is the tune he composed for his German paraphrase of Psalm 46, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"). Nicholas Temperley wrote in The Hymn Tune Index that Luther "wished his congregations to take part in the singing, but in general they failed to do so" and "It was the
Luther was a gifted and well-trained musician. He composed and found hymn tunes which were accessible for ordinary people to sing, and "... at the same time he encouraged church choirs to continue the tradition of polyphonic motets within the Lutheran Mass. He used various textures and styles of music in ways which were most appropriate and effective for each."[15] Luther also adapted the music of existing plainsong melodies as hymn tunes. Families enjoyed singing hymns in parts in their homes, for the family's enjoyment and edification, but unison singing was the custom in church.[16]
The Reformed Church and the (French) Genevan Psalter were the result of work by John Calvin (1509–1564). His profound reverence for the biblical text "...caused him to insist that public praise in church should be confined to the language of the Bible, adapted to the minimum extent required for congregational singing. He was "... the architect of the tradition of metrical psalmody."[17]
Calvin heard Lutheran hymn singing while he served Minister of the Reformed Church of Strasbourg (1538–41). In fact, Routley says, "[M]etrical psalmody was really born [in Strasbourg] rather than in Geneva."[18]
Clement Marot (c. 1497–1544) was a French Court poet in Strassbourg, who had begun setting psalms in metrical versions before Calvin met him. Although Marot remained a Catholic, Calvin included Marot's psalm versions in the Psalter. The first Genevan Psalter, 1542, contained six psalms by Calvin and 30 by Marot.[18] The Genevan Psalter of 1562 contained all 150 psalms, and included the works of Calvin's successor, Theodore de Beza (1509–1565).
Calvin did not approve of free religious texts (hymns) for use in church; the Bible was the only source of texts he approved (exclusive psalmody). Calvin endorsed only singing of metrical psalm texts, only in unison, only a cappella, with no harmonization and no accompanying instruments of any kind. Tunes for the metrical psalm versions came from several men, including Louis Bourgeois (c. 1501 – c. 1561), and Claude Goudemil (c. 1525–1572). There were 110 different meters used for the texts in Calvin's Psalter, and 125 different tunes to set them. The music was very difficult; the long tunes were hard for ordinary people to grasp.[19] But later adaptations (and simplifications) of these tunes have added to current day hymn tunes repertoire.
English hymnody
The earliest English
Routley states that metrical psalmody was actually the first English Protestant hymnody.
Progress on the Psalter was interrupted when King Edward died in 1553, and his elder half sister Mary became queen. She tried to reinstate Catholicism as the State religion. Churchmen whose lives were threatened fled to the Continent, some ending up in Geneva, where they encountered the 1551 Genevan Psalter and the congregational singing which it supported. When Elizabeth I ascended the throne after her sister's death in 1558, the exiled churchmen returned to England, bringing them an Anglo-Genevan Psalter containing all the psalms plus a few tunes to set them,[21] along with their desire to add congregational singing to church services. At that point work continued with the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter, adding psalms to it from the Anglo-Genevan Psalter. The Complete Psalter was published in 1562 by John Daye. "It is at this point important to remember that all these versions of the Psalter, up to and including 1562, were published for private use. There was not, by 1562, strictly a 'Church of England' that could authorize the use of it in church."[22]
The question of "authorization" of the Sternhold and Hopkins Psalter for use in church services is discussed at length in John Julian's Dictionary of Hymnology; actually, the psalter was used in church whether it was ever officially authorized or not.[23] "Few books have had so long a career of influence. With the growing Puritanism psalm-singing came to be esteemed the most divine part of God's public service."[24]
Later developments
Books did not print the music with texts in hymnals until the middle 19th century. Tunes were printed separately in tune books. Some of those printed in America in the 19th century (for example, Lowell Mason's, or George Root's) use four staff systems. The tune name, but no composer credit, appears above each tune. The melody of the tune appears in the tenor (fauxbourdon), often with the first stanza words, printed above the tenor staff.[citation needed]
During the decade 1791–1800, more than 8,000 hymn tunes were printed in Great Britain and between 7,000 and 8,000 were printed in the United States; during the decade 1801–1810, about 11,000 hymn tunes were printed in Great Britain, while more than 15,000 were printed in the United States. The total number of hymn tunes published with English-language texts in publications from 1535 up to and including 1820 is recorded as 159,123.[citation needed]
The early
Among twentieth-century developments was the publishing of The
See also
- Common Metre
- Foot (prosody)
- Long Metre
- Metre (hymn)
- Metre (poetry)
- Short Metre
- Sacred Harp
- Shape note
References
Citations
- ^ Eskew & McElrath 1980, p. 17.
- ^ Lovelace 1965.
- ^ The United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House. 1989. Hymn #62.
- ^ Lovelace, Austin C. (2006). 120 More Musical Gifts, Part 4, 5, 6, or 7. Vernon Hills, IL: Darcey Press. p. Index, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Routley 1980, Part 6, "The Beginnings of English Psalmody, 1549–1567".
- ^ Gladden 2007, p. 92.
- ^ Binder & Heskes 1971, p. 256.
- ^ Delitzsch 1871, p. 18.
- ^ Compton's Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. Chicago: F. E. Compton Co. 1968. p. 548.
- ^ Routley 1980, Part 3, "Reformation Hymnody".
- ^ Frost 1962, p. 230.
- ^ Temperley 1998.
- ^ Routley 1981, pp. 21–22.
- ISBN 0-89869-143-5.
- ^ Doran. The Hymnal 1982 Companion. p. 21.
- ^ Routley 1981, pp. 27-.
- ^ Routley 1981, p. 28.
- ^ a b Routley 1981, p. 29.
- ^ Routley 1981, pp. 28–34.
- ^ Routley 1981, p. 35.
- ^ Routley 1981, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Routley 1981, p. 38.
- ISBN 0-8254-2960-9.
- ^ Julian. ""Old Version" paragraph XII". Dictionary of Hymnology. p. 864b.
- ^ Stone, Alfred (1891). The Bristol Tune Book (Third ed.). London, UK, New York, NY: Novello, Ewer & Co.
Sources
- Binder, A.W.; Heskes, I. (1971). Studies in Jewish Music: Collected Writings of A.W. Binder. Bloch Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8197-0272-2.
- Delitzsch, Franz (1871). Biblical commentary on the Psalms, Volume 1. T. & T. Clark.
- Eskew, H.; McElrath, H.T. (1980). Sing with Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology. Broadman Press. ISBN 978-0-8054-6809-0.
- Frost, M. (1962). Historical Companion to Hymns Ancient & Modern. Proprietors [of Hymns ancient & modern]. ISBN 978-0-907547-25-9.
- Gladden, W. (2007). Who Wrote the Bible?. Echo Library. ISBN 978-1-4068-6208-9.
- Glover, Raymond F, ed. (1990). The Hymnal 1982 Companion. four volumes. New York: The Church Hymnal Corporation.
- Julian, John D. (1957). A Dictionary of Hymnology. two volumes. New York: Dover.
- Lovelace, A.C. (1965). The Anatomy of Hymnody. Abingdon Press. ISBN 978-0-941050-02-9.
- Routley, Erik (1980). Christian Hymns, An Introduction to Their Story (Audio book). Princeton, New Jersey: Prestige.
- Routley, Erik (1981). The Music of Christian Hymns. Chicago: GIA.
- ISBN 978-0-19-311150-9.
Further reading
- Hildegrandt, Franz; Beckerlegge, Oliver A., eds., (1983). The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 7: A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People called Methodists, Oxford University Press. Includes Appendix J: Wesley's Tunes for the Collection, 1786.
- Wasson, D. DeWitt (1998). Hymntune Index and Related Hymn Materials, three volumes, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland.