The , Responses, and of the English Church: A By-Way of Liturgical History Author(s): J. M. Duncan Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 61, No. 930 (Aug. 1, 1920), pp. 551-552 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/910321 Accessed: 09-01-2016 04:36 UTC

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This content downloaded from 138.253.100.121 on Sat, 09 Jan 2016 04:36:50 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES-AUGUST I 1920 551

Lord, Cburcbanb Groan flnteic (8.) Cristjt. have mercyupon us: THE PRECES, RESPONSES, AND LITANY [ ] OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH: A BY-WAY OF LITURGICAL HISTORY BY J. M. DUNCAN Ky - ri -e e - le - i - son. Chris - - te e - le - i - son. [ The writerwishes to acknowledgethe help kindlygiven him bythe librarians of the various librariesnamed in this In the English Litany,however, for the sake of article,and also byMr. G. E. P. Arkwright.] simplicity,only the firstof thesetones was used, and It is well knownthat towards the end of thesecond therest thrown aside. quarterof the 16thcentury, as part of the general Again, Cranmer'sarrangement of the latter part Churchreformation then in progress,the use of Latin of the Litany, fromthe end of the Lord's Prayer in public worshipwas being graduallydiscontinued onwards, has involvedthe sacrifice of much traditional and theEnglish language substituted.. In thesummei music. The Amen to the collect after the Lord's of 1544,the countrybeing at the timedisturbed both Prayerwas omitted; the ,'0 O Lord, arise,' by the effectsof a Continentalwar and by domestic became a mere responseto the collect; the psalm- scarcity,it was decided, by way of stimulatingthe verse ' O God, we have heard,'became a versicle,and devotionsof the public, to issue an English Litany its Gloria a versicleand ,while the second for use as a general intercession. The translationrepetition of the antiphondisappeared altogether. and adaptationof thetext from the traditional Latin, The Suffragesbecame mereversicles and responses. and some additionof freshmaterial, were made by Those who wishto see the originalmusical setting of ArchbishopCranmer; and the result, which has thissection may find it inthe Plainsongand Mediaeval undergonebut littlemodification from that day to Music Society'sedition of the Litanyand Suffrages; this,has always been regardedas one of the finestthe originalarrangement of the textis givenhere : productsof Englishliterature. PRIEST. merciful Father . . The music was likewise fromtraditional O God, . . . through adapted JesusChrist our Lord. sources and was publisheda fewweeks later. But ANSWER. Amen. while the text was enriched by the adaptation it underwentand by Cranmer'sadditions, the music THE unfortunatelysuffered at his hands, as will at once . Full. 0 Lord, arise, help us, and be seen when the. eight responses whichoccur in deliver us for thy Name's sake. the firsthalf of the English Litany are set out in, Verse. O God we have heard withour the original Latin and the traditional tones ears, and our fathershave declared reproduced*: untous : The nobleworks that thou didst in their (I.) The opening invocations: days, and in the old time before them. Full. 0 Lord, arise, help us, and Pa - ter de cae - lis De - us mi - se - re - re no-bis. deliverus forthy Name's sake. be to the us and Good Lord deliver us : Verse. Glory Father,and to (2.) Sfare (3.) the Son, and to the Holy Ghost : As it was in the beginning,is now,and ever shall be, world withoutend. Amen. Par - ce no - bis Do - mi . ne. Li be ra nos - mi ne. Full. 0 Lord, arise, help us, and - Do - deliverus forthine honour. We beseechthee and Son God: (4.) (5.) of THE SUFFRAGES CHOIR. Verse. From our enemies defend us, O Christ. Te ro - - mus au - di nos. Full. Graciouslylook upon our afflic- ga tions. (6.) 0 Lamb of God: Verse. Pitifullybehold the sorrowsof our hearts. Full. Mercifullyforgive the sins of thypeople. with Ag-nus De- i qui tol-lis pec-ca- ta mun-di: Verse. Favourably mercy hear our prayers. Full. 0 Son of David, have mercy upon us. mi - se - re - re no - bis. Verse.. Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ. (7.) 0 Christ,hear us: Full. Graciouslyhear us, O Christ; graciouslyhear us, 0 Lord Christ. PRIEST. O Lord, let thymercy be shewed upon US. Chris - te au - di nos. ANSWER. As we do put our trust in thee. PRIEST. Let us pray. We humbly beseech *' Processionalead usum ecclesie Sar4' (= Sarum.) The edition &c. hereused is theRouen edition of a copy of whichis preserved thee, in the Biitish Museum. z555. ANSWER. Amen.

This content downloaded from 138.253.100.121 on Sat, 09 Jan 2016 04:36:50 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 552 THE MUSICAL TIMES-AUGUST I 1920

When in 1549 the firstEnglish Prayer Book was for example, Dr. Chard of Winchester,Dr. Corfe published,the preparationof a correspondingmusical of Salisbury,and Dr. Camidge of York-remem- editionwas entrustedto JohnMerbecke, a lay-clerkbered theunison responseswell; that Dr. Camidge of St. George'sChapel, Windsor,and his 'Boke of remembered having harmonized them for the Common Praier noted' appeared in I550. The York Minster choir about the year I815, and inflexionsof the versicles and responsesat mattins that at Winchesterand Salisbury the harmonized and evensongfollow the old Latin rules,of whichthe versions were still more recent. Probably they object was to make the notesreproduce the rise and were at firstextemporised by the singers, and fall of the naturalvoice. Merbecke has, however,then committedto writingfor uniformity'ssake; made a couple of mistakes which must be noticed. in fact, Dr. Jebb states that in his time the The scansion of the final syllables 'upon us' is Gloucesterchoir still sang the responsesfrom oral trochaic (- u), not iambic (u -), and their inflection tradition. In thisconnection mention must be made shouldtherefore be : of the curious use of Wells Cathedral, a combina- tion of Tallis and the Westminsteruse. It was C. W. from 1842 notonUo arranged by Lavington,organist up-on S.up a. till I895. When the choralservice was revivedthere - on us. on us. in the middleof the 19thcentury, Lavington used to up up- travelto London and attend serviceat Westminster This mistakeoccurs three times, once ia the priest's Abbey to hear how it was done, and on returning part,once in the Lesser Litany,and in the response home wroteout the music as he recollectedhearing 'And mercifully.'The firstof theseis easilycorrected ; it. Anothercuriosity is the inflectedand harmonized thetwo others, being incorporated in Tallis's harmony,General Confession sung at Ely,which was composed can scarcely now be rectified. A similar false by RobertJanes, organist from 1831 to I866. It is inflectionoccurs at the words'within us,' and can be the use of the three London * which in the corrected,but Merbeckewas not the author of the middle of the 19th centurywas published as the mistake. He gives the inflectionright ; the mistake Ferial Responses, and has been almost universally has arisen since his time.* For the Lord's Prayerin adopted throughoutthe country,the various local the Communionservice an adaptation was made of uses now only survivingin a few instances. As the traditionaltone, having regard to the condition might be expected fromthe circumstancesof their insisted upon by the ecclesiastical authoritiesthat origin,the Ferial Responses exhibit few signs of not morethan one note should be assigned to each inspiration,and could withoutmuch difficultybe syllable. But the tones of the Sursum Corda improvedupon.t apparentlyrefused to complywith this condition, But while unison responses continuedto satisfy so thatfor these tworespofises Merbecke was obliged the Elizabethans on week-days, their interestin to contenthimself with monotone, leaving to modern polyphony,then at the height of its enterprise, times the adaptation of the Sursum Corda plain- created a desire for somethingricher to be sung song to the English text. Musicians of the I6th on Sundays and Holy-days. Fragments of a century had only an imperfectunderstanding of harmonizedLitany believed to date from the years ,and the rule assigning one note to each 1547-48 are preservedin the BritishMuseum,f and syllable had some justificationin the inartisticand withina year of Queen Elizabeth'saccession and of ponderousperformances of the more ornate plainsong therestoration of the new Englishservices after their melodieswhich the long-sufferingpublic of the day suppressionin Queen Mary's reign,John Day the no doubt had to endure. Those whose lot obliges printerissued a collectionof English services and them nowadays to listen to dull and elaborate anthemswhich included a harmonizedLitany.? It Church music will be able to sympathise with is to be observed that though Tallis contributed ArchbishopsCranmer and Holgate. But the rule anthemsto this collection, the Litany is not his was a disastrousone forthe ,who aftera work, but is one in a style already old-fashioned, few experimentsseem for the most part to have from which it may be conjectured that Tallis's forsaken Anglican Churchmusic in despair. It is Litany was not yetready when Day went to press. this rule which is responsiblefor the dulness, as But it musthave been writtennot long afterwards. compared with their Latin Church music, of the We have indeed no copy survivingthat is contem- services of Tallis and Byrd, and for the dreary porary,or even nearlyso. But according to Prof. wastes of so manysettings of the 18thcentury. Wooldridge,ilthe somewhat archaic style of the Beforethe ,as upon the Continentat counterpoint-heinstances the descendingfigure in the presentday, the Preces and Responsest appear the counter-tenorat the end of each openinginvoca- to have been sung in simple unison; at least no tion--indicatesthat the musicbelongs to the period pre-Reformationharmonized version of them has come before the polyphonicmethod in England reached down to us. And on week-days,when no great its maturity,and can scarcelyhave been composed numberof singerswas accustomedto be presentin later than I56o. The Preces and Responseswere no the choir, this unison treatmentcontinued until the doubtwritten at the same date. early years of the 19th century. Dr. Jebb,twho (To be continued.) about the year 1840 investigated the matter thoroughlyand made inquiries of old Cathedral * In those days there were only three fully-equipped choirs in London, namely, the choirs of the , St. Paul's, and organistsand singerswhose recollections dated back . As several of the adult singers served simul- sixtyyears before, relates that several of them-- taneously in all three, the use of each would tend to be similar. t As, for example, in J, W. Elliott's 'Choral Service Book' (Seeley, 1892). It dates back at least to the Restoration; see Lowe's Direction described later in the article. * MSS. Royal Appendix, 74-76. The harmonized Litany cited by t In this article the term 'Preces' denotes the versicles and Rockstro in Grove's Dictionary, art. Litany, as printed in 1544, seems be a responses at the beginning of the service, and 'Responses' those to mistake. No such publication took place. which follow the . ? Apparently composed by Robert Stones, Gentleman of the 4 See the prefaces to his book 'The Choral Responses and Chapel Royal in Edward VI.'s time. of the United and Ireland.' 2 vols., 1843-57. 11'Musica Antiquata,' Part 3 ( University Press).

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