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We
may here fitly bring together what is to be told of that corpus of music which
is to be sung by the priest or antiphonally by priest and people.
These simple
melodies are perhaps the oldest music of any that is still performed, and as
they have undergone little or no change they are doubly interesting:
they were
a thousand years old at least when the oldest of our folk-songs were first
composed.
They were older still if, as we may suppose, they were taken over
from the synagogue services.
Throughout the middle ages these priestly melodies
remained without any fundamental alterations and on the appearance of the 1549
Prayer Book we may suppose that the new English versicles, responses and other
melodies were fitted experimentally to the old Latin tunes.
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It
has been shown [See page 110.] that Merbecke's Book of Common Prayer Noted, 1550, Lowe's A
Short Direction, 1661, and Clifford's Brief Directions, 1664, prove
that an effort was made to preserve the continuity of the music for priest and
people.
[The 1662 preces differed
slightly from those in the two previous books.]
At the
Restoration, even in the royal chapels where many innovations were made in the
music performed by the choir, no hand was laid on the old responses.
No doubt
the same was true of those parish churches throughout the country which had any
sort of musical establishment.
During the following two hundred years the
traditional versicles and responses were not altered in any way, though from
time to time various composers thought fit to write versions of their own in
many cases not founded on the plainsong melody.
Such, for example, was the
nineteenth century compilation called the 'Ely Use' which is still sung in some
churches.
There is obviously much to be said in these days of diocesan choir
festivals and similar co-operative efforts for a standardising of the details
of response settings and the publications of the Church Music Society and the
School of English Church Music might well form a simple model.
Recently the
Sarum plainsong version, much less plain than the usual responses, have been
Englished and are useful where a four-part choir is not available: where a
homogeneous service is sought after they are, of course, not appropriate with
Roman altars, vestments and ceremonies.
The same applies to the Sarum Sursum
corda and proper prefaces for the mass.
The Mutual Salutation (V. The Lord
be with you. R. And with thy spirit.) whether used sporadically throughout the
mass or merely before the Sursum corda is sung usually to the plainsong
versions.
As its use ordinarily denotes the start of a new section of the
service some care should be taken to make a pause before it is sung.
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The
method of singing the responses has varied from a deliberate 'chanting', the
usual plan up to the end of the last century, to a talking speed as commonly
used today.
The old cathedral tradition accompanied the so-called Festal
Responses of Tallis with a fairly full organ and a liberal use of the
preliminary 'door-knocker' pedal note before each response;
modern usage tends
towards the disuse of the organ where speech-rhythm—singing as near slow speech
as possible, with regard paid to word-accent—is practised.
Sung unaccompanied
at a slow speech-speed and in speech-rhythm the responses (and the versicles)
are made to keep their true place in the service, that of introductory matter
to something else.
At matins and evensong, for example, the opening set leads
to the act of praise of Fenite or the psalms;
the second set leads to
the collects.
There is therefore every reason for not singing the last
response before the collects any more slowly than those preceding:
to do
so gives the impression that the last response ends a section of the service.
We should rather press eagerly forward to the climax which is the collect for
the day.
Apart from spoiling the structure of the service—which is really
spoiling the psychological efficacy of it—to drawl out And take not thy holy
Spirit from us suggests rather a pagan slave groaning under the heel of
some cruel god than a hopeful, rejoicing Christian.
Responses are in general
best sincerely 'spoken on a note' rather than 'sung';
they are sometimes given
too much emphasis or sung like an anthem.
The inflexions in the singing of
collects are in general giving way to a plain intoning on a note: some ending
inflexion is, however, possibly desirable to prevent the occasional premature
Amen.
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There
is a growing practice of saying in the natural voice the Creed, Lord's Prayer
and General Confession.
Such a practice, where unanimity of utterance is
rehearsed and achieved, makes for artistic relief from uninterrupted singing
and enables everyone even those shy of singing, to join in these important
acts.
At the start of matins and evensong it helps, too, to make the structure
of the opening clear—penitence followed by praise.
Massed speaking, which can
be achieved with an experienced leader, is in fact as impressive as massed
singing;
but its pace must be well suited to the building.
The sorry and
blasphemous gabble, however, still heard from some thoughtless congregations
(though it is often the direct result of thoughtless and inexperienced
leadership) might well be cured by a course of singing instead of speaking.
The
larger the building the more difficult it is, of course, to achieve good massed
speaking;
for that reason much more speaking on a note is advisable in large
churches and cathedrals, especially when a numerous congregation is present.
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