In defense of Victorian carols

In my defense of Anglican hymnals against exaggerated claims by @LutheranSatire, I got a little pushback. My previous defense was that these anachronistic “snow” carols are comparatively rare. For example, in the latest U.S. Anglican hymnal, Book of Common Praise 2017, of the 56 Christmas hymns (not counting Advent or Epiphany), two are these “snow” hymns: “In the bleak midwinter” and “Snow lay on the ground.”

The Satirical Accusation

In the original video, “Luther” (i.e. Pastor Hans Fiene) argued with two upper-crust Englishmen (one a vicar with clerical collar) over how they wrote hymns. Their hymn begins

The snow was cold
And the snow was bright
And the snow was all around
Christ was born
On the day that God
Sent snow upon the ground.

to which “Luther” said (in effect) that it really snow in Bethlehem, and snow is not the reason why the first Christmas was such an important event in human history. He chastised them to get past the snow and tell the message of why God sent his son to the earth. The author’s summary of the video is

Instead of focusing on theology, the British love meditating on snow, silence, and livestock in their Christmas hymns. Martin Luther finds this annoying.

How Bad Are The Four Worst Hymns?

As I noted yesterday, there are four 19th century Anglican hymns that mention this cold/snow theme, and all open with this theme — in most cases, the “worst” verse in the sense that it proved “Luther’s” point.

So, according to the “Luther” standard, I went back (using the Hymnary.org lyrics) and tried to find how well the author got around to telling a message about the meaning of Christ’s birth. Here is what I found

Worst	Best
1. In the Bleak Midwinter
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago.	Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
2. The Snow Lay on the Ground
The snow lay on the ground, The stars shone bright, When Christ our Lord was born On Christmas night. Venite adoremus Dominum; Venite adoremus Dominum.	And thus that manger poor Became a throne; For He Whom Mary bore Was God the Son. O come, then, let us join The heavenly host, To praise the Father, Son, And Holy Ghost.
3. See Amid the Winter's Snow
See, amid the winter's snow, born for us on earth below, see the tender Lamb appears, promised from eternal years. Hail! Thou ever-blessed morn! Hail, redemption's happy dawn! Sing through all Jerusalem, "Christ is born in Bethlehem."	Lo, within a manger lies He who built the starry skies; He, who throned in height sublime, sits amid the cherubim! Hail! Thou ever-blessed morn! Hail, redemption's happy dawn! Sing through all Jerusalem, "Christ is born in Bethlehem."
4. ’Twas in the Winter Cold
’Twas in the winter cold, when earth Was desolate and wild, That angels welcomed at His birth The everlasting Child. From realms of ever bright’ning day, And from His throne above He came with humankind to stay, All lowliness and love.	Grant me Thyself, O Savior kind, The Spirit undefiled, That I may be in heart and mind As gentle as a child; That I may tread life’s arduous ways As Thou Thyself hast trod, And in the might of prayer and praise Keep ever close to God.

Of these, I would say #2 and #3 eventually make a theological point that would satisfy the pickiest Luther-ite; by emphasizing a subjective response, #4 never quite gets there although the sentiment is appropriate; and #1 never really gets past the contemplation into explaining the significance of Christ’s birth.

Remember that

1. is the famous English carol sung most years by King’s College Cambridge, and the only one sung regularly at Anglican churches; 
2. is found in recent Anglican hymnals but not in any top 10 or top 25 list of Christmas hymns at Anglican churches;
3. is an English Catholic hymn not found in US Anglican hymnals, but was published in the Lutheran Service Book (2006), the most recent hymnal from Pastor Fiene’s denomination;
4. is so obscure that it’s only been found in five hymnals total since it was published in 1871 and thus is irrelevant to any claims about what Anglican think, sing or say.

Update: To be fair, “In the Bleak Midwinter” is also the one with the greatest cultural impact. Amazon lists a total of 189 digital recordings of this hymn, including more than a dozen by English cathedral or chapel choirs, including King’s College Cambridge (both Holst and Darke). It also has (relatively sober) recordings by the Cambridge Singers, Chanticleer, the King's Singers, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Pop recordings include the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Moody Blues, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor, Julie Andrews, Sarah Brightman, and (of course) Keith and Kristyn Getty. (The total is inflated somewhat by including instrumental recordings without the problematic text, such as the one by The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines).

So, in effect, the criticism by “Luther” boils down to a single poem by Christina Rossetti, one that the editors of The English Hymnal decided in 1906 to pair with a purpose-written Gustav Holst tune for the first new Anglican hymnal of the 20th century. Even stipulating this omission, does this justify the suggestion that Anglican Christmas hymns tend to be “inferior hymns”?

Victorian Christmas Anachronisms

The 19th century brought not on the rise of distinctively English hymns and carols, but also anachronistic characterization of Bethlehem winters. @LutheranSatire has been particularly caustic in its evaluation, with Pastor Hans Fiene (in his alter ego M. Luther) ridiculing two Victorian gentlemen as they compose “Inferior Anglican Christmas Hymns”.

On the one hand, the enthusiasm of Victorian England was admirable, as a single hymnal — Hymns Ancient & Modern — became the first in Britain (AFAIK in the world) so sell over 8 million copies in less than 50 years (Long 1971; Orford 2017). Nowhere was this enthusiasm greater than at Christmas. As the “Victorian Era” website says

What better way to get into the festive spirit then singing a Victorian Christmas carol. During this era, they were very into joyful choruses of Christmas songs and had revived old medieval songs whilst adding their own spin and writing new ones!

These were meant for both the relaxed occasions such as when singing amongst friends and family and the other songs were meant for more religious, respectful occasions.

And some of the 19th century carols, including many of those by J.M. Neale, were translations or reharmonizations of ancient or medieval hymns that were centuries old. If there was snow involved — as in Neale’s “Good King Wenceslas” — it was in Britain and not 31° N of Bethlehem.

Other winter excesses cannot be traced to the Victorians. This includes the “in kaltem winter” (“cold of winter”) in the 16th century carol “Es ist ein Ros” (“Lo, how a rose e'er blooming” to Anglicans) or the 20th century American secular ditties like “Let it Snow!” (1945) or “Frosty the Snowman” (1950).

Nonetheless, by searching through Hymnary and my Anglican hymnals, I found exactly four Anglican hymns that, to a greater or lesser degree, might attract the scorn of Pastor Luther Fiene. (Although one might be hypocritical for a 21st century LCMS pastor to attack).

1. In the Bleak Midwinter

This poem by English poet Christina Rossetti was commissioned by and published by an American magazine in 1872. It is by far her most popular work (Beall 2015). As a hymn, it has been published in at least 70 hymnals. None of these are by the Missouri or Wisconsin synod Lutherans, but it does appear in the latest (2006) and most ecumenical ELCA hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship.

The first stanza is the one that would cool any appreciation by Pr. Fiene:

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

As a hymn, it first appeared in The English Hymnal (1906), with a new tune written for this text: Cranham by Gustav Holst. (Yes, that Gustav Holst.) According to Hymnary.org, it accounts for 63/70 of the hymnals printing of the text; six are Castle by Don Cason and one Adventist hymnal that used Uinta by the hymnal’s editor.

However, not found in any hymnal is the 1909 setting of the hymn by Harold Darke — instead in choral anthem books. However, it is a regular favorite of the King’s College Cambridge annual Lessons & Carols service — according to David Sinden, of the last 23 broadcasts, 11 had Darke and two Holst. It was also once voted the best Christmas carol of all time.

2. The Snow Lay on the Ground

For the first Sunday after Christmas, we sang “The Snow Lay on the Ground” (Hymnal 1940: 41; Hymnal 1982: 110; Book of Common Praise 2017: 81; New English Hymnal: 28). Hymnary.org says it appears in 39 hymnals, and quotes Julian (1907) in summarizing its origins as

This appears to be a West of England traditional carol, and is given as such in R. R. Chope's Carols, 1875, No. 44, where it begins "The snow lay deep upon the ground." In the Crown of Jesus, 1862, No. 146, it begins “The snow lay on the ground" and is marked, with regard to the tune, as "Christmas Carol, sung in Rome by the Pifferari from the Abruzzi Mountains." The text of 1862 is in the Arundel Hymnal, 1902, and many others. 

The 39 hymnals include Episcopalian and Catholic Hymnals, but neither Hymns A&M (1861-1904) or The English Hymnal (1906) nor any Lutheran hymnal. Again, it’s the first verse that would boil Fiene’s blood:

The snow lay on the ground,
The stars shone bright,
When Christ our Lord was born
On Christmas night.
Venite adoremus Dominum;
Venite adoremus Dominum.

3. See Amid the Winter's Snow

Surpisingly popular is “See Amid the Winter’s Snow,” penned in 1858 by Anglo-Catholic (turned Roman Catholic) hymnist Edward Caswall. Among the 140 hymnals listed by Hymnary, it’s found in the Anglican hymnals of Canada and Ireland, the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal, and (natch) numerous Catholic hymnals. (But no Episcopalian or American Anglican hymnals).

Again, the first stanza fits the problematic pattern:

See, amid the winter's snow,
born for us on earth below,
see the tender Lamb appears,
promised from eternal years.
Hail! Thou ever-blessed morn!Hail, redemption's happy dawn!Sing through all Jerusalem,"Christ is born in Bethlehem."

However, it appears that Luther’s influence is limited among the German-American Lutherans, as it is hymn #373 Pastor Fiene’s favorite hymnal — the current (2006) LCMS Lutheran Service Book.

4. ’Twas in the Winter

Here my ignorance is more excusable, as this 1871 text by Irish clergyman Rev. Charles Ingham Black appears in only five hymnals. The most prominent is nearly 150 years ago, from John Stainer’s Christmas Carols New and Old.

I doubt our fussy German-American pastor has heard of this hymn, but if he did, again he’d turn straight to the first verse

’Twas in the winter cold, when earth
Was desolate and wild,
That angels welcomed at His birth
The everlasting Child.
From realms of ever bright’ning day,
And from His throne above
He came with humankind to stay,
All lowliness and love.

Summary

I don’t think four hymns support Pastor Fiene’s claim for a trend for Anglican anachronistic Christmas carols, particularly given there lack of popularity:

• None was published in the dominant Victorian hymnal, Hymns Ancient & Modern, during Victoria’s life — either the 1861 or 1889 editions.
• Only one (#1) was found in The English Hymnal, the Edwardian collection of Victorian hymns published in 1906.
• Only two (#1,#2) were published the American Anglican/Episcopal hymnals of the 20th and 21st centuries. 
• A third hymn (#3)— as bad as the others — was selected by his LCMS colleagues to be published in his preferred hymnal

So to paraphrase an English playwright back: methinks the pastor doth protest too much.

The most influential 19th century Anglican hymnwriter, John Mason Neale, did not write any Christmas carols (other than Wenceslas) that survive to this day; his best-remembered hymns are for Easter and Palm Sunday. However, his most reprinted Advent hymn — a translation of a medieval Latin text written centuries before Herr Doktor Luther was born — contains exactly the sort of timeless truths Pastor Fiene would espouse.

In its current form (from the 1861 edition of Hymns A&M) , “O come, O come, Emmanuel” is the second hymn in my favorite hymnal (#357 in Pastor Fiene’s hymnal)

Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

References

• Beall, Mary Kay, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” The Hymn, 56, 4 (Autumn 2015), 47-49.
• Julian, John, Dictionary of Hymnology,  London: Murray, 1907. URL: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/julian_j/
• Long, Kenneth R., The Music of the English Church (New York: St. Martin’s, 1971), p. 334
• Orford, Barry A., “Music and Hymnody” in Stewart J. Brown, James Pereiro, and Peter Nockles, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Oxford Movement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 376-386.
• Christmas Carols New and Old, by Henry R. Bramley & John Stainer (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., 1871). URL: https://archive.org/details/christmascarolsn00staiiala

Update: See further discussion of these four hymn on Dec. 30

King’s College Cambridge: Lessons & Carols 2019

For the 102nd consecutive Christmas Eve, the choir of King’s College Cambridge sang its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. As every year since 1928 (but one), this service was broadcast worldwide by the BBC; thanks to the Internet, it is also available for replay for the next 30 days.

This year’s Lessons and Carols service was the first led by Daniel Hyde. As an undergraduate, Hyde was an organ scholar at King’s, and then served in a variety of choral posts before becoming Director of Music at King’s in October 2019.

It also marked the first service since the Nov. 22 death of Stephen Cleobury, who suffered a skull fracture when he was knocked over by a bicyclist in March 2018 but died of cancer. Cleobury led last year’s 100th anniversary service, and with 37 years at the helm was the choir’s longest serving leader since Arthur Henry Mann, who launched the modern King’s choir as its music director from 1876 to 1929.

Finally, it is the first King’s service I’ve heard since finishing Timothy Day’s masterful history of King’s: I Saw Eternity the Other Night: King's College Cambridge, and an English Singing Style. Although it makes only passing reference to its signature annual radio broadcast, it provides a well-researched and detailed explanation of the context for how the choir became so influential (even before its first 1926 evensong radio broadcast).

This Year’s Service

In this year’s program, the lessons were as in previous years, except that (as in 2018, 2017 and 1997-2007) the college censored Genesis 3:16 (“Your desire shall be for your husband”) from the opening lesson. At David Sinden’s website, the sung music has been added to his database of all services since 1997 (along with last month’s Advent service at St. John’s Cambridge).

The program included only seven pieces used last year† — including the three obligatory hymns: Once in Royal David’s City, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Hark the Herald Angels. Only four of the pieces had the same arrangement.††  For the first time since 2013, the service drops “In the bleak midwinter,” which in the last four years was to the tune by Harold Darke (acting King’s music director during WWII); in 2008, English choirmasters voted it the best Christmas carol “of all time.”

The service included descants by the three most recent choir directors: Stephen Cleobury, Philip Ledger and David Willcocks, but (unlike last year) only one(?) Cleobury descant rather than three (restoring the better-known Ledger descant for the final hymn); however, it has two other Cleobury arrangements not used in his final Christmas Eve service.

 It also included a newly-commissioned anthem, as it had every year since 1983 when Cleobury instituted the practice. This year, it was an anthem by Philip Moore to the text of “The angel Gabriel.”

From the program — and from listening to the descants — the sung music credits are:

• [Hymn] ††Once in royal David’s city: words, C. F. Alexander; melody, H. J. Gauntlett, harmonized A. H. Mann; descant Stephen Cleobury
• On Christmas night all Christians sing: Sussex Carol; arr. R. Vaughan Williams
• This is the truth sent from above: Herefordshire Carol; arr. R. Vaughan Williams & C. Robinson
• Angels from the realms of glory: words, J. Montgomery; music, French trad., arr. R. Jacques
• Ding! dong! merrily on high: words, G.R. Woodward; music, 16th century French, arr. David Willcocks (from 100 Carols for Choirs)
• [Hymn] It came upon the midnight clear: words, Edmund H. Sears; music: Arthur Sullivan (as in New English Hymnal) with descant by John Scott
• Unto you is born this day: words, P. Brooks; music: Walford Davies
• There is no rose of such virtue; words, anon. c. 1420; music, Elizabeth Maconchy
• ††Little Lamb, who made thee: words, William Blake; music: John Tavener
• The angel Gabriel: words, Basque; music, Philip Moore
• ††Seven Joys of Mary: arr. Cleobury
• †Silent Night: words: Joseph Mohr; music: Franz Gruber, arr. Cleobury
• How do you capture the wind on the water: words and music, John Rutter
• [Hymn] †While shepherds watched: words, N. Tate; music from Thomas Este’s Psalter
• Away in a manger: words, anon.; music, W.J. Kirkpatrick, arr. Cleobury
• Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child: Coventry Carol; music: Kenneth Leighton
• Who is there that singeth so, Nowell: words, anon.; music, William Mathias
• [Hymn] ††O come all ye faithful: Adeste fideles, transl. Frederick Oakley; music, J.F. Wade, descant David Willcocks
• [Hymn] †Hark the Herald Angels: words, Charles Wesley “et al“; music, Mendelssohn, descant Philip Ledger

Applicability to Parish Choirs

In the English tradition (even more than in the U.S.), there is a dramatic difference between the cathedral and parish choirs. The KCC service is highly influential, spawning lessons & carols services on five continents. But what application does this program have for ordinary parish churches?

First, although all the non-congregation pieces are listed as “carols”, many don’t really correspond to the medieval (or at least pre-Victorian) English carol genre but instead are choral anthems. The new Moore anthem would be an excellent choice for a small parish — particularly one where the organ and organist can manage the instrumental interludes.

However, many of the other choices are so complex (if not ornate) that they would not work for most choirs (or, for that matter, most audiences). Subjectively, it seems like this year’s by Hyde has moved further in this direction than under Cleobury — and certainly that under King’s unquestioned dominance from 1925-1975 under Boris Ord and David Willcocks. (OTOH, it may not be a fair comparison if we what consider incremental by Willcocks in 1960 or 1970 was highly avant garde at the time).

For the American audience, Sullivan’s tune Noel for For “It came upon the midnight clear” (although in some U.S. hymnals) would not be familiar to Americans raised on the more familiar Carol.

Still, lessons & carols services worldwide have copied the King’s pattern since 1919 of opening “Once in royal David’s city” with a soprano soloist, and many delay congregation singing until verse 3 (as King’s did today). The request by Hyde that men’s voices not sing the first 2/3 of each refrain of “O come, all ye faithful” also seems easy to adopt.

While Cleobury’s “Seven joys” was sung as a choral carol, some of the verses could be sung by the congregation. Similarly, Cleobury’s “Away in a manger” or “Silent night” would work for a small church choir, as would Willcocks’ “Ding dong” from 100 Carols for Choirs. (The latter remains an invaluable Christmas resource for church choirs large and small).

Overall, the annual King’s service remains an inspiration both for church musicians, and also ordinary congregation members who are unable to experience such excellence locally.

Biblical prophesies in Handel's Messiah

Soprano soloist Carolyne DalMonte and conductor Ruben Valenzuela
at La Jolla Symphony performance of Handel’s Messiah, Dec 15, 2019.

Last weekend, I joined a community sing-along for the Christmas portion of Handel’s Messiah, sponsored and accompanied by the La Jolla Symphony in Carlsbad.

Since my youth, much of what I know the prophesies of the coming Messiah came from singing and listening to the Messiah over these decades. After Sunday’s performance, I thought I would look up the Scriptural references to the KJV (Authorized Version) that was in use at the date of the 1742 premier.

The score we used is the 1912 edition edited by T. Tertius Noble (1867-1953), available in the public domain at Archive.org. In looking through the score — and the words posted in 1999 on the Stanford libretto archive, one thing grabbed me. In many cases, the text by Charles Jennens takes a Scripture passage and spans several movements; this may be a trivial insight, but it is not one that I realized either by listening, or by singing the choruses.

Below is my cross-reference of the arias, recitatives and choruses, the latter indicated by †.

Part I

1. Overture

Isaiah 40:1-5:
2. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people
3. Every valley shall be exalted
4. And the glory of the Lord†

5. Haggai 2:6-7: For thus saith the Lord of hosts

Malachi 3:1-3:
The Lord, whom ye seek
6. But who may abide the day of his coming?
7. And he shall purify†

8. Isaiah 7:14;Matthew 1:23: Behold, a virgin shall conceive
9. Isaiah 40:9,60:1: O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion†
10. Isaiah 60:2-3: For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
11. Isaiah 9:2: The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
12. Isaiah 9:6: For unto us a child is born†
13. Pastoral Symphony

Luke 2:8-11:
14. There were shepherds abiding in the field
15. And the angel said unto them

Luke 2:13-14:
16. And suddenly there was with the angel
17. Glory to God†

18. Zechariah 9:9-10: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
19. Isaiah 35:5-6: Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened
20. Isaiah 40:11;Matthew 11:28-29: He shall feed his flock like a shepherd
21. Matthew 11:30: His yoke is easy, and his burden is light†

Part II

22. John 1:29: Behold the lamb of God†

Isaiah 53:3-6:
23. He was despised
24. Surely he hath borne our griefs†
25. And with his stripes we are healed†
26. All we like sheep have gone astray†

Psalm 22:7-8:
27. All they that see Him, laugh Him to scorn
28. He trusted in God that he would deliver him:

29. Psalm 69:20: Thy rebuke hath broken His heart:
30. Lamentations 1:12: Behold, and see if there be any sorrow
31. Isaiah 53:8: He was cut off out of the land of the living
32. Psalm 16:10: But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell
33. Psalm 24:7-10: Life up your heads, O ye gates†

Hebrews 1:5-6:
34. Unto which of the angels said He at any time
35. Let all the angels of God worship Him†

36. Psalm 68:18: Thou art gone up on high
37. Psalm 68:11: The Lord gave the word†
38. Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:15: How beautiful are the feet
39. Romans 10:18; Psalm 19:4: Their sound is gone out into all lands†

Psalm 2:1-4:
40. Why do the nations so furiously rage
41. Let us break their bonds asunder†
42. He that dwelleth in Heav'n

43. Psalm 2:9: Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron
44. Revelation 19:6,11:15,19:16: Hallelujah

Advice from the Musicians of the ACNA

Recently the ACNA announced a new website and new task force for worship music:

The Anglican Church in North America’s Music Task Force has now released music resources to accompany the Psalms for the upcoming seasons of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. It has also released today a Hymns and Spiritual Songs Worship Planner for the Advent season. These resources have been launched on the Task Force’s new website.

The Music Task Force was commissioned out of the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force, the group responsible for the Book of Common Prayer 2019. Now, the attention turns to the musicality of the Anglican tradition.

For a comparatively small denomination with limited resources, the 1.0 version of the website is surprisingly polished and complete. The current site lists 11 pages behind the home page:

1. Home
2. Music Leadership Philosophy
3. Hymns and Spiritual Songs
4. Psalter
5. Service Music
6. Altar Book
7. Choirs
8. Handbells
9. Keyboards
10. Praise Teams and Folk Groups
11. Web Resources
12. Pastor and Church Musician Relationship

Across these pages are more than a dozen “highly recommended articles” — nearly all uploaded with November modification dates — as well as planning resources tied to Advent Year A in the ACNA BCP 2019 lectionary.

Despite the predominance of praise music in the ACNA — particularly in its largest parishes — the site is relatively balanced in the worship wars. For example, #3 lists quotes from Jaroslav Pelikan and Keith/Kristyn Getty. The former states:

Tradition is a good thing.  It is traditionalism that is bad.  Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. 

The worship planner on the same page includes references to hymns from Hymnal 1982 and Book of Common Praise 2017 (listed as the “2019” hymnal) as well as praise songs. For example, Advent 4 (Year A) lists these hymns

Hymns
Title	Tune	Hymnal 1982/REC 2019 Hymnal
Savior of the Nations, Come	Nun komm	#54/#10
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus	Stuttgart	#66/#1
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming	Es ist ein rose	#81/#32
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence	Picardy	#324/#263
Lift Up Your Heads	Truro	#436/#390
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel	Veni Emmanuel	#56/#7
People, Look East	Besancon	Internet/#12
Spiritual Songs/Communion Songs
Title	Tune	Hymnal 1982/REC 2019 Hymnal
Comfort, comfort ye my people (works well with instrumental ensemble)	Psalm 42	#67/#20
All Beautiful the March of Days(works well with instrumental ensemble)	Forest Green	Internet
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence(works well with instrumental ensemble)	Picardy	#324/#263
The King of Glory (Israeli Folk Song)	Betty Pulkingham	Internet
Lift Up Your Heads	Steven Fry	Internet
Emmanuel	Jeff Buchan	Internet
Awake, O Israel (Israeli Folk Song)	Merla Watson	Internet
Exodus XV	Frank Gallio	Internet
Waiting in Silence	Carey Landry	Internet

Task Force and Members

The task force consists of Mark Williams (Parish Musician, Christ Church Anglican, Savannah, Georgia), Rev. Darrell Critch (rector of Church of the Good Samaritan in St. John’s, Newfoundland) and Jeremy Redmond (Music Associate at St. Peter’s Anglican Cathedral in Tallahassee, Florida) While Williams “was chosen to chair the ACNA Music Task Force by Archbishop Robert Duncan” — i.e. more than five years ago — the website suggests the task force is relatively nascent: three is a relatively small task force, and there’s no discussion of the task force processes, meetings, or contact information.

Similarly, the “Musicians of the Anglican Church in North America (MACNA)” seems like the ACNA response to the “Association of Anglican Musicians,” which publishes a journal 10x/year for church musicians in The Episcopal Church. However, there no additional information about the MACNA, or a way for musicians to join this organization.

Advice for Effective Congregational Singing

While much of the material is specific to the ACNA — e.g. the chants and forthcoming altar book are modeled on the BCP 1979 and Hymnal 1982 — some aspects are of more general interest. Several articles offer advice on introducing a new hymn (or “song”) — helpful for any music director who has not thought out the right vs. wrong way to do so.

The interview with Williams makes some good points that would be relevant (in my research) to the music director of any liturgical church

To me then, what is important is that the choice of music has these quality traits: that it is singable by the congregation and was composed with this in mind (it is not a soloistic piece of music). That the melody of the song is well-crafted and that there is a good marriage between the melody and the text.  That the music, as much as possible, is in a key that the congregation can sing (no notes below the A below middle C and no notes above high D or E).  That the music carries some level of high intrinsic value; that it has stood the test of time, however long. And that the choice of music fits the liturgical year or the theme for the day for worship. 

Similarly, “3 Errors of Musical Style that Stifle Community,” an article by Canadian Baptist pastor Tim Challies, should be must reading by leaders on any side of the worship wars. Based on the book The Compelling Community, Challies explains those three errors are

• Music that’s difficult to sing corporately, particularly rhythmic complexity.
• Music with limited emotional breadth. “Much of church music is happy music. But if that is all we ever have, we substantially dilute the Christian experience. And the tone we set in our services will inevitably carry over into relationships.”
• Music that feels like a performance. “Musical accompaniment can help by leading us in song and helping us through sections of songs that are more difficult to sing. Or it can overpower congregational worship and turn us from active worshipers into passive listeners.”

A liturgy committee, membership association and newsletter are what the ACNA (and Continuing Anglicans before them) church musicians left behind in TEC. It is good to see the first step (at a realistic scale) towards knowledge sharing and professionalism among North American Anglicans.

New CD of 2018 KCC Lessons & Carols service

The choir of King’s College Cambridge has released a CD of their complete service (with lessons) from last year’s Christmas Eve service, the 100th anniversary of the first Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King’s.

The CD, entitled (appropriately), “A Festival Of Nine Lessons & Carols: The Centenary Service,” was released on the captive King’s College label. It is available on CD from Amazon US or Amazon UK, as a SACD hybrid disk with both regular and surround sound. The digital download is available only on iTunes. Both include a PDF program booklet, which includes a small-format version of the seat bulletin as well as some general background information.

The download captures the last year’s complete service, as does the CD (with two exceptions†):

1. Once in royal Davids City (Congregation Hymn)
2. The Bidding Prayer, Lords Prayer and Benediction
3. Up! good Christen folk
4. First Lesson
5. Adam lay ybounden
6. Jesus Christ the apple tree
7. Second Lesson
8. In dulci jubilo
9. I Saw Three Ships†
10. Third Lesson
11. Nowell sing we
12. Unto us is born a Son (Congregation Hymn)
13. Fourth Lesson
14. A Spotless Rose
15. The Lamb
16. Fifth Lesson
17. Joys Seven
18. Bogorditse Dyevo
19. Sixth Lesson
20. What sweeter music
21. Stille Nacht
22. Seventh Lesson
23. In the bleak midwinter
24. While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night (Congregation Hymn)†
25. Eighth Lesson
26. O mercy divine
27. Sir Christmas
28. Ninth Lesson
29. O come, all ye faithful (Congregation Hymn)
30. Collect and Blessing
31. Hark! the herald angels sing (Congregation Hymn)
32. In dulci jubilo, BWV 729 (postlude)

† Included on iTunes but not CD; CD owners can use a special code to download the files in either WAV or MP3 format

Singing to angels and arcangels

The Feast of Michaelmas

The feast of St. Michael is celebrated on Sept. 29 by the liturgical Western churches. The celebration of St. Michael dates to 5th century Rome on Sept 30, and on Sept. 29 from the 7th century onward. In England, Michaelmas was once one of the major English quarterly holidays (along with Christmas, Lady Day and Midsummer), and was traditionally celebrated by a feast with a fatted goose.

The Catholic church today remembers the three archangels named in scripture: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. In the Anglican church, the feast is for St. Michael and All Angels. This is also the observance of the Lutheran church, which kept it despite dropping so many other Roman holidays; as an LCMS writer explains:

At the time of the Reformation, the Lutherans revised the celebration of former holidays and saint days in order to give greater prominence to the work of Jesus. St. Michael and All Angels was retained in the Lutheran liturgical calendar because it was seen as a principal feast about Christ. In fact, Philip Melanchthon, a colleague of Dr. Martin Luther, even wrote a hymn about St. Michael and All Angels (LSB 522, “Lord God, To Thee We Give All Praise”).

At first, this might strike us as strange. How is a feast named after an archangel about Jesus? But as with all commemorations within the Lutheran Church, the focus is not on the person but held in grateful thanksgiving to our Lord for using this person (or His holy angels) to give glory to His name and to bring about salvation for His people. The event celebrated on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels is thus important both in regard to our salvation and to the comfort it brings the Christian conscience.

The website Text This Week helpfully lists readings for Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran congregations. All agree on the appointed reading for today: Revelation 12:7-12, telling how St. Michael leads the victorious battle in heaven. (I would probably still be chanting this Epistle today — as I did 25 years ago — if we hadn’t changed churches).

Anglican Hymns

I had trouble finding familiar hymns with texts that fit today. The LiturgyTools website has a list of hymn (most of which I don’t know), but perhaps the most obvious hymn (for “All Angels” if not St. Michael) is a Victorian hymn:

Ye holy angels bright,
who wait at God's right hand,
or through the realms of light
fly at your Lord's command,
assist our song,
for else the theme
too high doth seem
for mortal tongue.

I remember it from childhood because it is the last hymn of the first edition of Hymnal 1940 (600), it is also the last hymn of Book of Common Praise 2017 (#639); it is also found in The English Hymnal (#517); the New English Hymnal (#475) and Hymnal 1982 (#625). The tune is Darwall’s 148th, published by John Darwall in 1770, with a wonderful four part harmony. Hymnary.org says it’s found in 95 hymnals — basically Anglican hymnals worldwide — but not in Catholic or Lutheran ones, and only the earliest (1933) US Methodist hymnal. It has a descant by Sydney Nicholson, published both in Hymnal 1982 and the Oxford Book of Descants.

This hymn is recommended for this day in Hymnal 1940, as is “Ye watchers and the holy ones” (H40: 599, H82: 618; BCP17: 637). While this connection to the feast day seems less direct, this hymn is also found in Catholic, Lutheran, and Methodist hymnals (for those that still use hymnals). The tune is Lasst uns enfreuen, from a 17th century German Catholic hymnal and harmonized by Ralph Vaughan Williams. There is a descant by Christopher Gower in the Oxford Book of Descants, while my own music director (J. Davis Simmons) has written his own magnificent descant.

Hymnal 1940 lists four hymns for the feast day:

120. “Around the throne of God,” written by John M. Neale, and set to the (quite singable) 1873 tune Abends.
121. “Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright,” a 9th century Greek text translated by Neale in Hymns of the Eastern Church, set to Trisagion, a tune composed for this purpose and published in the 1868 edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern.
122. “Angels and ministers, spirits of grace,” by Percy Dearmer in his 1933 Songs of Praise, Enlarged Edition (one of the few hymns from this hymnal that made it into H40). It is set to the Irish tune Slane; two different descants are in the Oxford Book of Descants. 
123. “Christ the fair glory of the holy angels,” the official office hymn for this date — a 9th century Latin text translated by The English Hymnal and updated by H40. It has a choice of two tunes: Christ Sanctorum (a Sarum plainsong) and the 17th century Coelites Plaudant.

The New English Hymnal has only one text — the latter — with Iste Confessor (also a plainsong) and Coelites Plaudant. Book of Common Praise 2017 also retains only this one text, but with the tune Supplication by W.H. Monk (music editor of Hymns A&M).

For once, Hymnal 1982 does not have the widest selection of hymns for saints’ days. For the office hymn, it retains Coelites Plaudant (#282) and adds a second plainsong (#283), Caelitum Joseph (adapted in 1983 by Schola Antiqua). The other text it has is “O ye immortal throng of angels” (#284), a text by Philip Doddridge) set to Croft’s 136th.

Lutheran Hymns

With DuckDuckGo, I also found a Lutheran website with hymn suggestions for this date: the Free Lutheran Chorale-Book. It writes

The most well-known is Paul Eber’s “Lord God, to Thee We All Give Praise” (“Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir“), 1554. It appears in The Lutheran Hymnal, 1941, as No. 254, “Lord God, We All to Thee Give Praise,” and in the Lutheran Service Book, 2006, as No. 522, “Lord God, to Thee We Give All Praise.” Eber’s German hymn is a paraphrase of a Latin composition by Philipp Melanchthon, “Dicimus gratias tibi” (“We give thank to Thee”), 1543. The tune, which in the Lutheran chorale tradition is known as “Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir,” is well known among English speakers as “Old Hundredth” due to its association with the metrical setting of Psalm 100 in the Geneva Psalter. 

Hymnary lists 22 (18th and 19th century) hymnals with the German text, and 18 (Lutheran) hymnals with the English text, including the current LCMS and WELS (but not ELCA) hymnals. However, the text is more generically about angels than specific to St. Michael.

It mentions a second hymn, the 17th century “Aus Lieb läßt Gott den Christenheit,” but that was only published in the U.S. in an 18th century German Lutheran hymnal by C.F.W. Walther.

I pulled out my copy of the 1941 The Lutheran Hymnal, and it offers its own assortment of hymns that overlaps H40:

254. “Lord God, we all to thee give praise,” set to Old Hundredth.
255. “Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright,” set to O Quanta Qualis, a 17th century plainsong tune.
256. “Around the throne of God,” set to Winchester New (a descant is available in the Oxford Book of Descants).
257. “Jesus, brightness of the Father,” a 9th century text translated by Edward Caswall, set to Neander (a descant is available in the Oxford Book of Descants).

The latter two familiar tunes seem a great way to get Anglicans to sing these lesser known Anglican texts.

A hymn worthy of an Apostle

A Bright Contribution to Saints’ Hymns

September 21 is the feast of St. Matthew. In observance of the feast day, today we sang a hymn intended for the occasion: “He sat to watch o’er customs paid” by Rev. William Bright (1824-1901). I didn’t recognize it because it’s not in Hymnal 1916, Hymnal 1940 or Book of Common Praise 2017.

According to Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology (via Hymnary), Bright was an Oxford grad, fellow and later chaired professor (and canon of Christ Church Oxford). Julian concludes: “Canon Bright's hymns merit greater attention than they have received at the hands of compilers.” Indeed, his best known hymn, “And now, O Father, mindful of the love”, appears in only 73 hymnals. By comparison, John Mason Neale has 24 hymns in more than 100 hymnals, although such prodigious output of timeless hymns (e.g., “All glory, laud and honor,” “Good Christian men rejoice” and “O come, O come Emmanuel”) is impossible to match.

“He saw to watch o’er customs paid” appears in 11 hymnals. In Songs of Praise Discussed, it is described thus

Dr. Bright’s hymn, which is one of  the really good saint’s day hymns, combining in lines of classical finish the historical facts with their practical application, was first published in the Supplementary Hymns to Hymns Ancient and Modern (1889).

The first and last of the six verses summarize the premise of the hymn:

He sat to watch o’er customs paid,
A man of scorned and hardening trade,
Alike the symbol and the tool
Of foreign masters’ hated rule.

Who keep thy gifts, O bid them claim
The steward’s, not the owner’s name;
Who yield up all for thy dear sake,
Let them of Matthew’s wealth partake.

Tuning In

Alas, both my favorite Anglican hymnal and the newest Anglican hymnal don’t include this hymn. Hymnal 1940 is lamentably sparse in its coverage of saints’ days, something that Hymnal 1982 certainly improves upon.

While there is a consistent pattern of the text, the choice of tune was highly fragmented. Because it is Long Metre (8.8.8.8), there is an embarrassment of options.

Of the 11 hymnals, 7 are familiar Anglican hymnals. Not surprisingly, the hymn first appeared with the 2nd supplement (1889) to original 1861 Hymns Ancient & Modern (aka “original edition” aka “standard edition”). In these, it is hymn #615 with the tune Gloucester, while the same text and tune are #238 in the “New Edition” (1904). Finally, the Hymns Ancient & Modern Revised  (1950, aka the “Revised edition”) it was #563, to Thomas Turton’s tune Ely.

The English Hymnal (1906) published the hymn (#240) to the tune Alfretòn. The same text and tune are also found in the 1925 Songs of Praise (#237), and the 1986 New English Hymnal (#189).

A third tune was chosen by Hymnal 1982 (#281). Breslau is a 15th century German tune, harmonized by Mendelssohn.

Today, however, we sang none of the above. Instead, our choir director selected Creator Alme Siderum. This Sarum plainsong tune is one of my favorites — and beloved by many — from its use with the hymn “Creator of the Stars of Night.”

No matter what the tune, the text is one that one that deserves to be in any Anglican hymnal.

Collecting Our Thoughts

For mass, the gospel is the calling of Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13), and for mass and daily office the collect from 1549 until 1928 is the same

O ALMIGHTY God, who by thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist; Grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches, and to follow the same thy Son Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

The collect in the 1979 ECUSA prayer book is inexplicably different (even in Rite I)

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of thine apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of thy Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

For this collect, the 2019 ACNA prayer book does not follow the 1979 (as it often does), but more closely follows the historic Anglican liturgy:

Lord Jesus, you called Matthew from collecting taxes to become your apostle and evangelist: Grant us the grace to forsake all covetous desires and inordinate love of riches, that we may follow you as he did and proclaim to the world around us the good news of your salvation; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Dear Lord, we give thanks for Hubert Parry

In doing my research this past year on Anglican parish hymn singing, I made up a list of litmus questions to ask music directors, all of which got at a tension in the American interpretation of English hymn-singing. One was “Hail thee, Festival Day!” — which is both the great Vaughan Williams tune from The English Hymnal and a difficult hymn to sing.

Another was using Repton for Whittier’s text “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.” When it was mentioned this month on our favorite Facebook group, my daughter had never realized that it was missing from the hymnal she grew up on (her dad’s favorite hymnal) but was instead a later addition.

Two years ago I blogged on this combination — one of five tunes used for this text by Anglican hymnals — because the music director at my current church loves Repton. It was only in the past month that I realized how rare — and recent — the pairing is. Hymnary lists the hymn text as appearing in 434 hymnals, with tune names for 134. Of these 134, only 23 list Repton.

Songs of Praise

The first example of this pairing was in Songs of Praise (1925), where it was the first tune of Hymn #481 in both SOP and Songs of Praise, Extended Edition (1933).

SOP had Martin Shaw and Ralph Vaughan Williams as music editor, and Percy Dearmer as text editor. This hymnal is little known among Americans, but it was the key English hymnal between The English Hymnal (1906) and the New English Hymnal (1986). If you look at writing about 20th century British hymnody, the only other seminal hymn book during this period is the 1928 Oxford Book of Carols — with the same three editors.

Vaughan Williams and Dearmer had played the same roles in The English Hymnal, the most influential English hymn book of the 20th century. This is ironic, since (according to Wikipedia quoting a Dearmer biography) SOP was created by the two men (plus Shaw) because TEH was too “high church”. I don’t have direct knowledge of early 20th century COE politics, but clearly TEH was less high church than Hymns Ancient & Modern, which is undeniably among the most high church English-language hymnals of all time.

We could just take the editors at their word. Here is how the newer preface in SOPEE (1933) begins

When Songs of Praise was first published in 1925, the object to make, so far as then possible, a collection of hymns that should be national in character; and a hope was expressed in the Preface that the book might be of use to those who bear the responsibility of our national education.

The preface then elaborates on how the original SOP was adopted in British schools, and how the editors of SOPEE sought to incorporate their feedback in the revision.

Parry’s Tune Repton

This is what the hymnal companion to SOP (Songs of Praise Discussed, 1933) says about the tune

repton, by Sir Hubert Parry, is from his oratorio Judith (1888), where in Scene ii, a dialogue between Meshollemeth and a Child, it is sung by the former to the words beginning ‘Long since in Egypt’s plenteous land’. The tune is typical of the composer in its broad melody, and especially in the elliptical rhythm of the last three lines. In its present form it makes a fine, strong unison tune.

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918) was the English composer who was an Oxford music professor from 1900-1908, succeeding John Stainer.  Unlike the other tunes, the lilting pastoral melody drives to a conclusion. Note that with Repton, the last phrase (“In deeper reverence praise”) is repeated but not with the other tunes (Rest, Nicolaus, Hammersmith).

The Parry-Whittier Combination

As elsewhere in SOP, the new tune for words previously in TEH retained the TEH text — in this case, the same five verses as TEH #383, beginning with

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence, praise.

The original text also continued in later hymnals through the 1980s.

The use of Repton in SOP was ignored by Hymnal 1940 (#435). The Hymnal 1940 Companion (pp. 270-271) says Whittier’s text was written in 1872, first published as a hymn in 1884, and first published in an ECUSA hymnal in Hymnal 1916. The H40C notes the second tune (Rest) was written for this specific text in the Congregational Hymnal (1887).

Cantate Domino, #922

However, the next three American hymnals did include Repton:

• Cantate Domino (#922), the 1979 Anglo-Catholic supplement to Hymnal 1940 (sequentially numbered from H40) that was prepared by the ESCUA diocese of Chicago. It has a simplified version of the SOP harmonization.
• Hymnal 1982 (#653), simplified to unison — with the accompaniment printed only in the organist accompaniment edition.
• Book of Common Praise 2017 (#602), with a slightly more complex version than the 1979 hymnal. This is the only edition not marked “unison”, with the implication the harmonization can be sung — but (as with much of BCP17) not all that singable by a congregation or unrehearsed choir.

The first three staves of the arrangement
in the New English Hymnal.

In the second half of the century, Repton was the preferred tune of most Anglican hymnals:

• Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada
(1971), #249
• Australian Hymn Book with Catholic Supplement (1977), #519 (2nd tune)
• New English Hymnal (1986), #353, with the same harmonization as SOPEE
• Common Praise (2000), #411, with a simplified harmonization

Despite the longstanding respect for Whittier’s text, later hymnals rewrote the text to serve their sociopolitical goals. The aggressive inclusivity in 1995 of The New Century Hymnal by the United Church of Christ bowdlerizes Whittier’s opening phrase as “Dear God, embracing humankind.”

Meanwhile, the 1998 English Common Praise twists it to become “Dear God, compassionate and kind.” The harmonization is the same as the subsequent 2000 edition of Common Praise with the original words.

Conclusions

This is a clear case where the original (arguably most authentic) tune has become obsolete — the revised pairing 40 years later (by Vaughan Williams and/or Shaw) has become the new standard. Sometimes the adoption of a new tune is (arguably) an inferior choice, but — according to the consensus of music directors that I interviewed for my study — this is clearly a better choice.

References

Percy Dearmer, Songs of Praise Discussed, London: Oxford, 1933.

Percy Dearmer, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw, eds., Songs of Praise, London: Oxford, 1925.

Percy Dearmer, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Martin Shaw, eds., Songs of Praise, Enlarged Edition, London: Oxford, 1933.

Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, Cantate Domino: Hymnal Supplement G-2264, Chicago: GIA, 1979.

New English Hymnal, London: Canterbury Press, 1986.

The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd rev. ed., New York: Church Pension Fund, 1951.

Evangelical worship at ACNA Synod

Over the weekend, I spoke to several people who attended the ACNA’s Provincial Synod. (It would be a national synod but the ACNA includes both the US and Canada). From a musical standpoint, the general opinion was that first service was the most blended, the last was almost as blended, and the middle two services were all praise band all the time.

The service took place at Christ Church Cathedral Plano (née Christ Church Plano), the largest ACNA parish, which provided the sanctuary, instruments and musicians.

Liturgy

A major focus of the service (and conference) was celebrating the ACNA’s new 2019 Book of Common Prayer, intended to replace the 1979 Book of Common Prayer that ACNA clergy used originally in The Episcopal Church and in the first years of the ACNA. The first printing of the prayer book was provided to all who registered for the conference.

According to the 24-page worship booklet (which I scanned), the service began with the liturgy task force (led by retired Abp. Bob Duncan) presenting the new prayer book.

The service then continued with the “Renewed Ancient Text,” the ACNA’s modified version of the 1979 Rite II service. This is the most commonly used Eucharist in the ACNA, which should not be a surprise given that most clergy (and parishes) were using it when they left the ACNA.

Music

From the worship booklet, I wrote down the set list of all the music:

• Call to Worship [i.e. prelude]: “Jesus Shall Reign” on piano, setting by Ted Cornell
• Processional: “Come, Christians, Join to Sing,” commissioned for the occasion by CCP: words by CH Bateman (1813-1889), setting by John Wasson [b. 1956]
• Songs of Praise: 
• “Living Hope,” words and music by Phil Wickham and Brian Johnson, © 2017
• “Who You Say I Am,” © 2017 Hillsong Music
• Offertory Anthem: “The Church’s One Foundation,” words by S.J. Stone, tune by S.S. Wesley, setting by Dan Forrest [b. 1978], with verses 1,4 sung by the choir & congregation
• Sanctus [no Benedictus]: © 2005 by Christ Church Plano
• Communion Music:
• Agnus Dei (Requiem): words public domain, music by Mark Hayes [b. 1953]
• “Just as I Am,” [opening verse by Charlotte Elliott, 1789-1871], ©2009, words and music by William Bradbury, Charlotte Elliott, Travis Cottrell, Sue C. Smith and David Moffitt
• “Take My Life and Let it Be” with chorus/bridge by Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio [c. 2003]
• Closing Hymn: “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee,” words by Henry van Dyke (1852-1933), music Ode to Joy by Beethoven, harmonized by Johnnie Carl (1947-2004)
• Postlude: “Toccata” from Symphonie No. 5 in F minor, Op. 42 by Charles-Marie Widor

So overall the music combined modern adaptations of traditional hymns with 21st century praise music, concluding with a single organ postlude.

Peter Toon’s Last Days

Even before I started seminary studies, it was clear that Peter Toon was one of the leading (if not THE leading) liturgical theologians in the Anglican church of the late 20th century. At seminary, I learned that all his many works are available for free download at the New Scriptorium website.

Toon died in 2009. But last month the blogger at Wannabe Anglican reported on a sermon about Toon at Pusey House, Oxford. The guest preacher was Fr. Tony Noble, who administered last rites to Toon. At the time, Noble was the rector of what was then the most Anglo-Catholic parish in the Diocese of San Diego — All Saints San Diego — which was where many of the local A-C priests did their curacy.

Toon was a theologically conservative evangelical, so not an Anglo-Catholic by any means. For him, the 1662 was the pinnacle of the BCP — which is why he was the first to do a modern language version of this, the all-time bestselling prayer book. For Toon and others,  the American (or English) 1928 would be a little too Anglo-Catholic.

Noble begins his story as follows:

I first met Peter Toon about 12 years ago, when I was Rector of All Saints, San Diego. I knew of him as an evangelical scholar, writer & defender of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

It was a Saturday night & my phone rang. The voice said, “Is that Fr Noble?”. I replied, Yes. “I understand that you use Rite 1 with catholic additions.........how close to the Prayer Book are your Services?”, he asked. I said that the 8 am Mass was mostly from the Prayer Book.

Next morning Peter & his wife, Vita, attended the 8 am Mass. he introduced himself & I felt quite honoured that such a notable evangelical had attended my church. They continued to attend faithfully every Sunday. Thus began a pastoral relationship which became a friendship.

In addition to the insight into this influential theologian and his final days, it also touches on the nuances of the differing liturgical preferences with Anglicanism. These nuances of preferences (or beliefs) go beyond the more familiar dimensions, which are usually thought of modern vs. traditional theology, and contemporary vs.  Elizabethan language. In some ways, they were the disputes over the BCP (and liturgy and worship) that were the main tension in the Anglican church for the first 400 years of the BCP, before the tumult of the last 50 years.

Difficult Pentecost-al hymnody

Among the canon of Pentecost, many invite the Holy Ghost to come like “Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire” and “Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove.” Of these my favorite is “Come down, O love divine,” to the Vaughan Williams tune Down Ampney.

We did the latter today for communion and the singing was strong. However, there were also two other hymns from Hymnal 1940 that were much harder.

Hail Thee, Festival Day

Regular readers know this (H40: #107) is my favorite Whitsunday hymn, and not just because it’s my wife’s favorite hymn for the Easter, Ascension and Pentecost season or because it’s Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 2nd greatest hit.

However, consistent with my recent music studies, today I tried to pay attention to how others were reacting to it. A few thoughts:

• Consistent with the rest of the day — and previous visits here and elsewhere — the women were stronger than the men; more of them sang, and they sang more loudly. I’m guessing that among those under 50, more women had formal music training.
• The men were essentially the choir and one former choir member (me) until the clergy and acolytes processed in the building.
• The men’s part is (as always) objectively harder than the women’s part with the triplet rhythm.
• Across the three verses, each verse was stronger than the previous one.

The difficulty people were having was surprising, because a) there were more than 100 people in the building; b) they have been singing this hymn once or twice a year for more than a decade.

From my research at six Episcopal/Anglican parishes in Texas, according to music directors and congregation members, this is one of the hardest hymns in the canon. (St. Patrick’s Breastplate being the other, because it is very long).

Objectively, it is a difficult hymn for any small or medium sized parish to sing without choir support.

Come, thou Holy Spirit, come!

I don’t recall singing this hymn (H40: #109.1; H82: #226) before: It is a 12th century Latin text (translated by Caswall) set to an 11th century plainsong melody:

Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come!
And from Thy celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!
Come, Thou Father of the poor!
Come, Thou Source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine!

Thou, of comforters the best;
Thou, the soul's most welcome Guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessèd Light divine,
Shine within these hearts of Thine,
And our inmost being fill!
Where thou art not, man hath naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour Thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:
Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess Thee, evermore
In Thy sevenfold gifts descend;
Give them virtue's sure reward;
Give them Thy salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.

The Hymnal 1940 Companion says the original text was first printed in 1200, but likely written in the late 12th century and “has always been associated with Whitsuntide.” It reports that the translation is that of Hymns Ancient & Modern, based on Caswall’s 1849 translation, and that its first use by ECUSA was in Hymnal 1892.

It says the tune Golden Sequence “is the traditional melody associated with the Latin text, although probably somewhat older than the text.” According to Hymnary.org, while the text is found in 55 hymnals, the tune is found in only 11 hymnals, including Hymnal 1916, 1940 and 1982 of ECUSA, the 1986 New English Hymnal, and the 3rd and 4th edition of the Worship Roman Catholic hymnal published by GIA.

Our choir sang it antiphonally by half verse, as marked; the Amen is marked “Full choir,” implying that it’s expected to sung only by the choir. I have visited a few congregations that might be able to sing this, but clearly not without some practice. There’s a YouTube video of the piano part, but the other videos (including one commercial recording) seem to be of the other tune, Veni Sancte Spiirtus by Samuel Webbe, a conventional 18th century tune that (to my ears) sounds almost Victorian.

Singing Mendelssohn for Rogation Sunday

Today is the Sunday traditionally called Rogation Sunday, the last Sunday of Easter. The concept was dropped in the 1979 prayer book/Hymnal 1982 — but more on that later.

Hymnal 1940 lists three hymns for Rogation Sunday:

• #101, “O Jesus, crowned with all renown” to the tune Rhinegold arranged by R. Vaughan Williams for The English Hymnal. In Hymnal 1940 it’s the only hymn in the Rogation section; in Hymnal 1982 it’s #202, while in Book of Common Praise 2017 it’s #148 and also in the Rogation section.
• #138, “We plow the fields,” a Thanksgiving/harvest hymn to the tune Claudius; also H82: 291 and BCP17: 204.
• #497, “O God of Bethel, by whose hand,” to Dundee (more often used for “Let saints on earth in concert sing”, #397). It continues in H82: 709 (gender neutered) and BCP17: 147 (the other hymn listed in the Rogation section).

We sang the first two today; the harmony for #138 was particularly fun to sing.

Mendelssohn’s Rogation Hymn

Despite these two hymns, my favorite today was the third one we sang: “We come unto our fathers’ God” (H40: 303; BCP17: 339; dropped from Hymnal 1982). The text by written by T.H. Gill in 1868 based on Psalm 90, and the hymn was also found in Hymnal 1916 (#424), where it is a Thanksgiving hymn.

Quoting from John Julian’s 1907 Dictionary of Hymnology, Hymnary.org says he wrote nearly 200 hymns, but “They are almost exclusively used by Nonconformists,” including Baptist and Congregationalist hymnals.

Both the 1916 and 1940 PECUSA hymnals call the tune To God on High, but BCP17 uses the more accurate name Allein Gott in der Höh.

The Hymnal 1940 Companion (p. 197) explains the origin of the name and arrangement:

In the Deutsch Evangelisch Messe, … “Gloria in excelsis” in Latin was set to its customary Easter plainsong. But for the Geistliche Lieder, 1539, Nicolaus Decius converted both words and tune into a German hymn, “Allein Gott in der Höh”. … The harmonization is that of the second chorus in Mendelssohn’s oratorio St. Paul…

Hymnary, quoting the 1988 Psalter Hymnal Handbook, says the original tune was a 10th century Easter chant.

It might be the biases of my classical music training that I prefer a name-brand musical setting, whether Bach or the Sanctus from Schubert’s Deutsche Messe (H82: S130). However, the reality is that with this training (and singing bass rather than soprano), when I’m sight-reading a hymn, it’s a lot more enjoyable when the arranger follows the voice leading and harmonic progression rules that prevailed from roughly Bach to Brahms.

In this case, other than a couple of octave leaps, Mendelssohn’s voice leading was very natural, and I easily mastered it in the first two verses.

Rogation Sunday

The “Rogation” days are named after rogare, Latin verb “to ask”. The 1912 New Advent Encyclopedia explains:

Days of prayer, and formerly also of fasting, instituted by the Church to appease God's anger at man's transgressions, to ask protection in calamities, and to obtain a good and bountiful harvest, known in England as "Gang Days" and "Cross Week", and in Germany as Bittage, Bittwoche, Kreuzwoche. The Rogation Days were highly esteemed in England and King Alfred's laws considered a theft committed on these days equal to one committed on Sunday or a higher Church Holy Day. Their celebration continued even to the thirteenth year of Elizabeth, 1571, when one of the ministers of the Established Church inveighed against the Rogation processions, or Gang Days, of Cross Week.

Shepherd’s definitive Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary (p. 54) explains its history:

for St. Basil in Cappadocia and St. Chrysostom at Antioch tell us of the custom of singing litanies in public processions, often in rivalry with similar processions sponsored by the Arian heretics. In the Western Church these processional litanies were introduced to take the place of older pagan processions of a supplicatory character, usually made about the fields in springtime for the safety of the crops. They consisted not only of petitions but of miscellaneous anthems, and were known as ‘Rogations.’ During the sixth century the Roman Church instituted such a procession on April 25th to take the place of an old pagan festival, the Robigalia, in honor of the god Robigo who was believed to be a protector of the crops from mildew (see p. 237). Earlier than this, about the year 470, a Gallican bishop, Mamertus of Vienne, had inaugurated processional litanies on the three days preceding Ascension Day, at a time of special terror in the locality because of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. The ‘Rogation Days’ thus instituted (see p. 261) were soon adopted by other churches in Gaul, then by a church council in England in 747, and finally by the Roman Church it- self in the time of Pope Leo III (795-816).

Readings for Rogation Sunday

Later on, Shepherd (p. 176) explains the readings published in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

This Sunday is called Rogation Sunday because of the three Rogation Days which follow it.…But the propers of the day are older than the adoption of the Rogation Days at Rome, and the aptness of them to the Rogation theme is coincidental.

In the historic lectionary, the Epistle (James 1:22-27) and Gospel (John 16:23-33) continue the readings from the 4th Sunday after Easter (James 1:17-21; John 16:5-15). Shepherd notes that these readings for both weeks are found in the Roman and Sarum Missals, although they omit John 16:31-33. These identical readings are found in Cranmer’s original 1549 Book of Common Prayer, as well as the global standard for three centuries, the 1662 BCP.

In the three year lectionary of the 1979 prayer book, neither of these latter readings (for the “Sixth Sunday of Easter”) are retained, nor is the term “Rogation Sunday.” Depending on the year, the 1979 uses readings from 1 Peter, 1 John, Acts or Revelation (multiple alternatives are available) for the epistle, and John 14 or 15 for the gospel. The Revised Common Lectionary retains these readings, as does the 2019 ACNA liturgy. While Book of Common Praise 2017 continues Rogation hymns, Hymnal 1982 (like the 1979 prayer book) has dropped the observance.

The historic 1549/1662/1928 gospel reading includes this famous promise:

And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:23-24)

The earlier passages of John 14 and 15 convey the sense of obedience and union with God, but not the well-known promise “ask, and ye shall receive.” The ACNA liturgy restores the name “Rogation Sunday,” but not the command to ask our heavenly Father.

References

Massey Hamilton Shepherd, Jr., The Oxford American Prayer Book Commentary (London: Oxford University Press, 1950).

Joint Commission, The Hymnal 1940 Companion, 3rd ed. (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1951).