John Merbecke's Music for the Book of the Common Prayer (1549)
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January/February 2000 Volume 19, Number 1 THE BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY 1550 - 2000 of Common The 450th Anniversary of John Merbecke's Music for The Book of the Common Prayer (1549) THE LIVING PAST FOR THE PRESENT AND INTO THE FIT CONTENTS 3. The Editor's Desk: John Merbecke and Common Prayer 4. Recording Merbecke's "Noting" in NYC 5. A page from Merbecke's book of 1550 6. Details of the Merbecke CD 7. Dr. J.I. Packer on the Book of Common Prayer 9. On the Formularies and their Order 10. Too little too late? & Too much too early? 11. Unity in Diversity & Models of Unity 12. Details of the DEAR PRIMATES book 13. The Preface of DEAR PRIMATES 14. Mrs Marilyn Ruzicka on Unity in the Continuum 15. An Open Letter to the Forward in Faith movement 16. How to obtain a classic Prayer Book What is the Prayer Book Society? First of all, what it is not: It is not a historical society — though it does take history seriously. It is not merely a preservation society — though it does seek to preserve what is good. It is not merely a traditionalist society — though it does receive holy tradition gratefully. It is not a reactionary society, existing only by opposing modem trends. It is not a synod or council, organized as a church within the Church. 1. It is composed of faithful Episcopalians who seek to keep alive in the Church the classic Common Prayer Tradition of the Anglican Way, which began within the Church of England in 1549. They wish to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and in a dignified and understandable English. It claims that the Constitution of the Episcopal Church gives to rectors and parishes, as well as individual Episcopalians, the right to use the last genuine Book of Common Prayer in America, the 1928 BCP. It is committed to educating and informing people of the nature and content of the Common Prayer Tradition, and its use for Holy Communion, the Daily Offices, Baptism, Funerals, family prayers and personal devotions. 4. It is involved (in cooperation with sister societies in Canada, Britain and Australia) in maintaining and teaching that Biblical Faith, Order and Morality to which the Common Prayer Tradition, along with the other Anglican Formularies, witness. 5. It seeks to do the above through lectures, seminars, publications, phone conversations, an intemet web site and work in local churches. Its educational outreach is called the Cranmer-Seabury House of Studies. TO MAINTAIN THE ANGLICAN WAY SUPPORT THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY Especially consider giving specific support to the Cranmer-Seabury House of Studies Send your gift to the Philadelphia P.O.Box. 35220 Philadelphia, PA 19128 Call 1-800-727-1928 for details. Editor: The Rev'd Dr Peter Toon MANDATE, Vol. 19. 1. is published six times a year by the Prayer Book Society, a non-profit organization serving the Church. All gifts to the P.B.S. are tax-deductable. Recipients of Mandate are encouraged to send a minimum gift of $28.00. Editorial and all other correspondence: P.O. Box 35220, Philadelphia Pa. 19128. Phone 1-800-PBS-1928. Postmaster: Please send address changes to The Prayer Book Society, P.O. Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA 19128. World-Wide Web address is http://www.episcopalian.org/pbsl928 2 MANDATE: January/February 2000 The Prayer Book Society Reflections from the Editor's Desk The Rev 'd Dr. Peter Toon JOHN MERBECKE (cisos - c. isss) AND THE BOOK OF THE COMMON PRAYER (is49) ost cradle Episcopalians have either sung, or heard sung, which is what Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who apparently had parts of the Holy Communion to the notes composed by little love of polyphony or choral music, wished him to do. The aim MJohn Merbecke, organist in the Royal Chapel at Windsor was to provide music which could be sung by the lay Clerks (and Castle, England. At the back of the Hymnal of 1940 are settings by possibly also by the congregation following the Clerks) and which Merbecke for parts of the Order for Holy Communion. in its simphcity and accessibility promoted the beauty of holiness in the praise of the Holy Trinity. For centuries before the Reformation the Daily Offices and Mass had been sung/chanted in God's Church and this tradition Thus Merbecke's music contrasts with that of other sixteenth continued into the sixteenth century and through the Enghsh Ref century composers (Christopher Tye, Thomas Tallis & Thomas ormation. After the pubhcation of the first Enghsh Book ofthe Com Morley) who were primarily interested in composing music (po mon Prayer \a 1549, there appeared with official approval a further lyphony) for choirs and who prepared the way for the later Angli book containing the notes for chanting some ofthe services. It was can Chant of the late seventeenth century. entitled. The Booke of Common Praier Noted (1550), that is Musi The content of his The Booke of Common Praier Noted (1550) cal Notes for the Common Prayer, and the composer was John provided Noting for Mattins, Evensong, the Quincunque Vult, Holy Merbecke. In this provision of Notes for Common Prayer he Communion and the Burial of the Dead. The music consists of ad achieved a remarkable compromise in the new problem of singing aptations of plainsong from the Latin Rites and tunes composed in an accentual language instead of the quantitative Latin. It is fair to a similar style by Merbecke himself. say that much of the music was an adaptation from earlier plain song but his setting of the Creed, the Gloria in excelsis, the Offer Judith Blezzard has written: "The underlay is syllabic through tory Sentences and the Post-comunion sentences are originals. out and phrase climaxes are typically reserved for important words. He adopted a special form of rhythmic notation, probably with the Regrettably, Merbecke's music for the original English Prayer aim of achieving speech rhythm in music. Further, he used only Book did not have much time to be used and heard in English ca four note shapes, 'strene note" (breve), 'square note" (semibreve), thedrals, colleges and parish churches because of the pubhcation of 'pycke' (minim) and 'close" (breve with pause for cadences). He the revised Prayer Book of 1552. Had he provided a Noted Version also used the 'prycke", a dot lengthening the preceding note by of The Book of Common Prayer of 1552 then the course of English half. Merbecke explained the system in his preface and it is clear church music might have been different. But for three centuries his that he intended the note values to be interpreted exactly, rather Noting was forgotten. It was not until the nineteenth century that than in the freer manner associated with plainsong" (The New Grove his music was revived for use in Anglican worship by Anglo-Catho Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol.12). lics. However, it was adapted for use by choirs and congregations using the 1662 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. In origin it Merbecke had been a traditional catholic and in this part of his had been written for the lay Clerks and the Priest to sing (as the life wrote music for the Latin Mass and also two motets. But he rubrics of the first Prayer Book clearly reveal). was converted to Protestantism and became an ardent student of the Bible. In 1543 he was arrested for heresy (that is for his ad The two scholars whose names are associated with the revival vanced Protestant views on the Mass). Though two others arrested of Merbecke's music for the Common Prayer in the mid-nineteenth with him were put to death, he was set free and his writings de century are William Dyce of King's College, London (The Order of stroyed. Nevertheless, on returning to Windsor, Merbecke perse Daily Service with Plaine Tune, London, 1844) and Dr John Jebb vered with his project for a Concordance to the English Bible and (in his published lectures under the title. Three Lectures on the was able later in a friendly religious environment to publish the Cathedral Service, Leeds, 1845). A later writer on plainsong, Tho fust Concordance (1550), dedicated to Edward VI. mas Hehnore, in his primer entitled Plainsong called Merbecke "the memorable first arranger of Plainsong to our Enghsh Liturgy." In the year 2000 we celebrate the 450th anniversary of the pubhca tion of the first Notes for the first Enghsh Book ofthe Common Prayer. In his Noting for the Enghsh Common Prayer, Merbecke fol The Prayer Book Society is honored to have been able to provide a lowed the principle of "for every syllable a note" in monophonic compact disc of his Noting to commemorate this anniversary. #• settings. Thus he adapted chant and created a functional plainsong. The Prayer Book Society MANDATE: January/February 2000 3 RECORDING MERBECKE'S "NOTING" t would seem on first thought a rela tively easy job to make a record of IMerbecke's music for the services in the Book of Common Prayer. That is, if one thinks of Merbecke as the composer ofthe music which bears his name and which has been sung in many Anghcan and Episco palian churches by church choirs and con gregations over the last century, then pos sibly it would be relatively easy. But if one is seeking to sing the services as Merbecke himself intended them to be sung accord ing to the rubrics of the first English Book ofthe Common Prayer of 1549, then one traly has a difficult task.