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Psalter (The); or, Psalms of David; together with appropriate Chants, the Morning and Evening Canticles, etc., arranged to be sung to the Gregorian Notes. 16mo. Boston, 1858, 2864 Book of Common Prayer, with the Psalter, pointed, etc., with Plain Song and Appropriate Chants, in IV parts, by JAMES TURLE, sq. 12mo, cloth, 2s 6d

1867

2890 The Psalter, with the Canticles and Hymns of the Church, pointed for Chanting, and set to Appropriate Chants, by Ouseley and Monk, sm. 4to, cloth, 3s (pub 6s) Novello

155

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IN

this Book are used only these ten musical characters:

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1st. The Stave of Four lines. 2nd. The C clef; 3rd. The F clef;both placed upon any line of the stave. 4th. The Flat; used in this notation only upon B. 5th. The Long; used for very emphatic syllables, and at the middle and end of each verse, as also, in some cases, where two notes of the melody are to be sung as one. 6th. The Breve (or short); used as the common note for ordinary syllables, and for all the sounds of the intonation (beginning), mediation (middle), and cadence (ending) of the Tones. 7th. The Semibreve (or very short); used for the shortest syllables.-[When these occur in the mediation or cadence, the accent and time of the melody must not be materially altered.] These three notes of duration do not indicate a strict relation of two to one, as in other music, but must follow the natural length and accent of the words on the Dominant (or reciting note), and be sung rather slower in the Intonation, Mediation, and Cadence. 8th. The Bar; used at the colon. Double Bar; used at the end of each verse. two or more notes when they are to be sung to one syllable.

M 2168.6

9th. The

10th. The Slur; connecting

N.B. In this edition an accent is placed over the first syllable of the mediation and cadence, wherever the note is the same as the recitation-note. This accent corresponds with that of the Accompanying Harmonies to the Psalter Noted.

PREFACE.

THE united voice of a multitude is almost necessarily discordant, unless it be musically directed.

Many devout Churchmen have for a long time past regretted that a due share in the solemn recitation of the Psalms and other responsive portions of the Liturgy has been practically denied to the Congregation through the neglect, in this country, of the ancient musical direction of the Service of the Reformed Communion of the Catholic Church,

The time seems therefore to have arrived for the publication of some such work as the present, which is intended as a Manual to be used by each member of the congregation, and which will furnish him with all that is required in taking his part musically in the responsive portions of Divine Service.

This Manual is an adaptation to the Liturgy of the Church of the United States of America, of the well-known and popular Manual of the Rev. Thomas Helmore, M.A., which is rapidly coming into use in the various Dioceses of the Church of England.

As to the character and style of the music here furnished, it is hardly necessary to state, that the object sought has not been to obtain that which would please or amuse the curious, but to restore to the use of the Church Catholick those simple and sublime melodies, which are the most fitting accompaniments to our incomparable Liturgy, and which formed the Ritual Music of ancient days. This Ritual Music will, if fairly tried in use, win the approval of all, "where there is no antecedent prejudice, or mistaken view, or superstitious alienation of heart from that which is Catholick in the best sense of the word. Some of its forms may seem, indeed, uncouth to ears trained (perhaps too exclusively) in the affetuoso sweetness of modern melody; but, in the end, they will, it is believed, prove only as the healthy bracing of the open air to those who have been long enervated by the confined atmosphere of over-heated chambers."

"Much of the misunderstanding which unfortunately has existed in this country" well says Mr. Helmore (and his remarks are quite as applicable in the United States), "respecting Plain Song, would probably be removed, could a truly Church view of the subject be taken. This would teach men that in days of old, when religion was esteemed, as it ought to be esteemed, the great business of human life, to which all else is but secondary, and of little moment, the Doctors and Bishops of the Church left no part of the public or private acts of man's duty to God, without full and copious and well-devised directions. What the fulsome elocution of the coldest times of the Church of England handled for popular effect, and oratorical expression, to the final degradation, both of the service it was intended to adorn, and of the true Art of Reading, which here had little or no place, that these holy men of

ii.

GOD, in the old time before us, set, for the glory of GoD, and the edification of the people, to that vast and voluminous plain song, the remotest echoes of which, still occasionally heard faintly from the fretted roofs and antique chantries beneath which their sacred ashes repose, are sufficient to rekindle the flame of expiring love, and to unite in the commnnion of saints the sympathies of all faithful souls."

"Let Plain Song be understood to be the universal Ecclesiastical art of reading, saying, and singing all that elocutionists have directed to be whined or spouted in the times alluded to, and musicians will then perceive that it does not invade, but rather widens, almost indefinitely, the province of their art as applied to the Church Service; and that by thus cultivating the simpler, they will lay the truest foundations for the improvement and extension of the more complex developments of their art in things sacred."

"Whatever objections have been urged against the revived attention to Plain Song in our Church, it is undoubtedly making great progress among the most devoted and learned of her children; it has been, and ever will be, a distinguishing feature of real Catholick worship as opposed to un-Catholick, and consequently un-Christian innovations, whether Roman or Protestant. It is based on principles too deeply rooted in the requirements of our common humanity to be long superseded or despised, when genuine Christianity is felt in the heart, and practised in the life. This simple song satisfies the tastes and musical instincts of devout worshippers in those portions of the Service to which it is most applicable."

"Less than this can scarcely be used continually without injury to their devotion. More may be added as the tribute of affection, in the offerings of those highly blessed with artistic skill, but can scarcely be demanded of all for the fulfilment of their duty."

"What is principally needed in the execution of this style of music is vigour, concentrated power, and massiveness of effect, only to be obtained from large numbers of singers; and it may be safely asserted, that had not our people been so long deprived of music suited for such purposes, there would never have been cause for the complaints now unhappily all but universal-that we have no congregational singing. The modern cathedral music, intended exclusively for choirs, does not aim at producing,-and the ordinary metrical psalmody has notoriously failed in sustaining-any such grand congregational effects; while the adoption in some places of an unecclesiastical, and secularized style, suited to the worst popular taste, and vulgar feeling, cannot too strongly be reprobated, as tending to bring down to the level of mere ordinary musical enjoyment, that portion of our worship on earth, which ought most to unite us to that of heaven."

The Editor of this edition claims no credit for himself, except for a careful adaptation of the Manual of Mr. Helmore to the use of the Church in the United States of America, in accordance with the Standard Prayer Book of that Church.

Christmas, 1855.

EDWARD M. PECKE.

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