This is the end...

I have pressed send on my email with attached assignment and so:


I HAVE TURNED IN MY LAST ASSIGNMENT!!


Except for some last minute problem, which God willing, there will be none:

IT IS FINISHED!!

Thanks be to God! Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia.

Thesis endings

Recently, I used the lecture-recital music for a Theology of Music presentation. Though the main points were different, the conclusion of the thesis was still pertinent. Due to time considerations, the conclusion was left off, just like in the lecture/recital. So, for those who may wonder, here it is.

Conclusions from:
"Music of the English Parish Church, 1800 and 1900:
the Influence of an Oxford Movement Ideal"
Alan B. Whaley

What I have attempted to show in the previous section was a consistent use of forms that are common in earlier music. Referring again to Kenneth Long’s list of features in Tudor music, these examples illustrate how music incorporates polyphonic writing, horizontal melodic and harmonic construction, irregular phrase length with overlapping parts, and music shaped by the text. A sense of a continuous flow, similar to Gregorian chant and its horizontal melodies, permeates this music. This starkly contrasts the music from the late eighteenth century with its simple and vertical construction that often had little consideration for the text.

The move to using earlier musical styles in composition creates a distinctively Anglican style of music that is essentially vocal. As much of the church music in the Tudor period and earlier was itself mainly vocal, it is not unusual that its revival would treat most church music in a choral style. Even organ music incorporates a feeling of choral music by keeping separate melodic lines within the overall texture. Though some block chords exist, most of the organ music contains separate moving voices reflective of the polyphony in Renaissance motets.

In this move to a choral style, informed by earlier practices, are there not certain inherent dangers? The incorporation of polyphony, irregular rhythms and phrases, and the use of modes add complexity and possible musical interest to a piece, but is this added complexity just another way of silencing the congregation? What a professional musician might consider musically and theologically engaging may not be the same to those in the pews. This brings us back to the same concerns that arose during the reforms of the nineteenth century.

One group, the original Ecclesiologists, wanted to re-involve the congregation by the use of chant while the other “broad churchmen” wished to raise the standards of parish music with little concern for the singing of the congregation.[1] As a general reflection, the second camp appears to be the dominant force in Anglican music. This has not negated the initial interest in older styles by the Oxford Movement reformers. What may be realized is that the older styles, while potentially preferable to the old psalm tunes, are difficult for a congregation to sing. The reformers’ promotion of early music and the later “broad” church parties interest in the cathedral style have, in some ways, come together but still left the congregation silent.

If the Tractarians were not able to move the people toward full participation and the “broad” church party was unconcerned, how might we now consider this music in the light of congregational participation? The examples of the late nineteenth century, by their complexity, tend to lean toward choral performance even of the hymn, with its lack of a doubled melody in the organ. Are we then to consider that the only acceptable music is that with simple and quickly appreciated tunes?

Ralph Vaughan Williams approached this same issue in his preface to the 1906 English Hymnal. For him, the selection of music was based not on the needs of the choir, or the quickly appreciated sappy tunes, but on what he felt was a “fine melody.” It is not the harmony that drives the piece but a melody that the congregation can sing with confidence. He did not discount the choir, but felt that the congregation should have an equal status in the worship so that “the eternal war between choir and congregation, each considering the other an unnecessary appendage to the services of the church, is done away with.”[2]

The cooperation between congregation and choir may be the most important aspect in looking toward the church today. If we hold to a balance between the singing of the congregation and the singing of the choir, we should also strive for a balance with the selection of music. No church can survive for the long term on simplistic music lacking in substance; while the use of only the complex style of music renders the people as mere observers to the liturgy, and not full participants. The music should be complex, and it should be congregational. The choir, by its nature, may offer complex anthems but the people should respond with tunes, preferably ones that hold some substance. If we are to be a church of diversity, that same diversity must extend to our music. It can be neither all simple nor all complex. Instead, music must be capable of speaking in different ways to a community as they speak and listen to God.


[1] Nicholas Temperley, "The Anglican Choral Revival," The Musical Times 112, no. 1535 (1971): 73.

[2] Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Preface - The Music," in The English Hymnal with Tunes (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), vii-xi.

Favorite Hymns

I have been sloppy about posting so to fill in the time here is a list of some of my favorite hymns.

Helmsley - Lo, He comes with clouds descending
Engelberg - When in our music God is glorified, We know that Christ is raised and dies no more, etc.
Lauda anima - Praise, my soul, the King of heaven
Westminster Abbey - Christ is made the sure foundation
Caelites plaudant - Christ the fair glory
Hyfrodol - Alleluia! sing to Jesus! - and many more
Love Unknown- My song is love unknown
Herzliebster Jesu - Ah, holy Jesus
Judas Maccabeus - Thine is the glory (This one is not in the Hymnal 1982, too bad)
St. Clement - The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended
Michael - All my hope on God is founded

There appears to be a theme appearing. Feel free to add your own.

Alleluia

It is finished. My thesis has been approved by the committee and I have turned in the final printed copies to Academic Affairs.

Thanks be to God. Alleluia, Alleluia.

Buckle up

While on the way to church yesterday, I was pulling onto the Kennedy Expressway only to be stopped by a collection of State Police performing a seatbelt enforcement zone. I was quickly waved on since I wearing a seatbelt. That comes as no suprise. I am almost incapable of not putting on seatbelt. Even if I were to climb into my truck to wait for somebody and not drive, it is very likely that by habit (which started early with my parents) I would automatically put on my seatbelt.

Well, one of the reasons for the enforcement was revealed in an AP article.

Report: 48 Million refuse to buckle up

The first paragraph made me think:

Seat belt use is reaching record levels, so just who are the holdouts who fail to buckle up? Often they are young men who live in rural areas and drive pickups, the government says.

Young men. live in rural areas. drive pickups. Hey, until I came to Evanston, that was me, except, of course, I wear my seatbelt.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers (including my 0wn, who occaisionally reads this).

Congratulations fellow students

Today was a good day for Seabury students.

Derrick was ordained a Deacon in Southern Ohio. Congrats Derrick.

Christine gave a wonderful lecture-recital today. Congrats Christine.


As for me, I have spent today finding silly typos in my thesis. They seem to keep reappearing no matter how many people proof it. When will it end.

Organ music around 1900

Since my posting has become erratic as of late, I offer an excerpt from my thesis. Enjoy.

4.3 Organ Music

The Ecclesiologists wished to remove or at least reduce the organ from the church because they believed it obscured the beauty of the music:

Church music is almost exclusively vocal. At any rate, the Gregorian chants, the canto-fermo and the responses… clearly are better without instrumental accompaniment. (The Ecclesiologist, September 1843),[1]

The prior example of Stanford’s How Beauteous are Their Feet generally refutes the Ecclesiologists stance, for in the anthem the organ does not obscure but rather reinforces the composition. It becomes one of the voices, equally capable in proclaiming a hymn together with the choir, not only in a position of subservience or dominance but as an equal partner in the music. The organ part not only makes loud statements but, as does the choir, it develops equally tender moments of warmth.

The Ecclesiologist’s opinion regarding the organ may emanate from their concerns with the previous uses of the organ. The improvised voluntaries with their flashy, theatrical tunes probably did little to endear themselves with those who were looking to add greater dignity to the liturgy. The organ voluntary example from earlier in this study itself shows little substance but instead is a simple, albeit pleasant, composition. Hubert Parry made this comment on organ music of his time, which may indicate that organ music, despite the Ecclesiologist’s concerns, had changed little:

“Prettiness and tunes for the organ may take people in for a little, but they cannot stand the test of time; while the average showpieces, such as modern marches and offertories and fantasies, made to display the misdirected abilities of organists at the expense of their noble instrument, are nothing less than ignoble and repulsive.”[2]

[1] The Ecclesiologist, 3 no. 25 (Sept. 1843), 2. quoted in Dale Adelmann, The Contribution of Cambridge Ecclesiologists to the Revival of Anglican Choral Worship 1839-62, Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Aldershot ; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1997), 35.

[2] Charles L. Graves, Hubert Parry, His Life and Works (London: Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1926), 227-8.

Lecture-recital review

The lecture-recital last Monday (5/3) went well. I have received many positive responses from many people for the evening. The choir performed exceptionally and it was a privilege to make music with them. The Stanford anthem "How Beauteous are their feet" was just glorious.

A few pieces have been mentioned repeatedly:

C. Hubert Parry - Choral Fantasia on an Old English Tune "When I survey the wonderous cross."

This is an absolutely wonderful gem of a piece. There is so much emotion and reflection being conveyed. It is too bad it is not played often. For those organists who are interested - it is published by Masters Music Publications in the collection Three Choral Fantasias/Elegy

Charles Stanford - How Beauteous are their feet
A wonderful anthem and my favorite work on the recital. It contains such wonderful use of polyphonic moments, melodic fragments and various compositional techniques which help to enhance the text. Again, this is not performed nearly enough.

Here is the full program of the performance:

MUSIC OF THE ENGLISH PARISH CHURCH, 1800 AND 1900:
THE INCORPORATION OF AN OXFORD MOVEMENT IDEAL

- PROGRAM -

Welcome and Introduction

Music of the parish church around 1800 C.E.

Metrical Psalmody
Psalm 23 from Thirty Psalm Tunes in Four Parts - John Valentine (1730-1791)

Anthem
Teach Me, O Lord - Thomas Attwood (1765-1838)

Organ Music
Voluntary in D Minor - William Herschel (1738-1822)

Twelve Short Pieces and a Full Voluntary - Samuel Wesley (1766-1837)
VIII. Air
IX. Gavotte

The Oxford Movement

Music of the parish church around 1900 C.E.

Organ Music
Chorale Fantasia on an Old English Tune - C. Hubert H. Parry (1848-1919)
"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross"

Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes - Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
II. Rhosymedre

Anthem
How Beauteous are Their Feet - Charles Villiers Stanford
(1852-1924)

Hymns
"Lo he comes , with clouds descending" - Words: Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Helmsley Music: 18th Century English
Harm. by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

"For all the Saints, who from their labours Rest" - Words: William Walsham How (1707-1788)
Engelberg Music: Charles Villiers Stanford

Conclusion and Questions