by

Dr. Donald Webster  

In few departments of contemporary life do our Lord’s words ‘Unto them that hath shall be given…’ apply with greater force than in choral church music. On the one hand, organisations like the Friends of Cathedral Music and the mounting sales of CDs of cathedral choirs indicated unprecedented interest in the highest branches; the picture at the other end of the spectrum is bleaker than at any time since the beginnings of the Oxford Movement.

In some churches, choirs have been disbanded and organs silenced as a ‘matter of parish policy’. This is often merely a euphemism for a vicar who wishes to dissociate himself from what he deems to be elitism, and to replace it with happy clappy trivia. In such a situation the Church Music Society is powerless to intervene, but it can help where choirs, though depleted, are anxious to maintain a repertory that retains traditional and modern classical idioms. Such choirs have always been a church’s most faithful members, and they have had legitimate pride in their privileged positions as leaders of its praises.

Though they may no longer be able to sing elaborate settings and anthems, they could offer on the congregation’s behalf anthems that are strophic in format and therefore perhaps more intelligible to some listeners than pieces of finely wrought Renaissance polyphony.

Forty or fifty years ago it was commonly said that there were only about two hundred first rate hymns and tunes, and that hymn books were stuffed out with poor material that no-one ever wished to use. Even if we didn’t agree as to what constituted the best, there was remarkable unanimity in what we wished to discard. There were some extremely clean pages in those books ‘provided for the use of visitors - not to be taken away’, even when their bindings were much the worse for wear. Today there are far more first rate hymns and tunes than any one hymn book could contain. That makes the propagation of rubbish all the harder to accept.

At one time one could maintain with some confidence that it is not a case of Pop or Nothing where the here and now is concerned. Sadly, when George Timms in the Preface to the New English Hymnal writes that much of the post-war surge in hymn writing is poor in quality and ephemeral in expression he is cutting the ground from under the feet of those who seek to promote the abundant best in contemporary words and music.

The singing of new hymns as anthems as a means of teaching them to the congregation has long been proved successful, but there are some pieces that could remain within the choir’s exclusive domain. These include settings of fine words that are not normally contained in the hymn book a church normally uses; settings of words that are already provided with a good simpler congregational tune; tunes whose rhythmic and melodic complexity make rote learning difficult; the intimate character of words and music and the lilting rhythms that call for performance only by a small body of singers; tunes whose harmonic strength lies in the interplay of contrapuntal lines, e.g. florid eighteenth harmonisations of chorales; tunes of the broad unison type that lend themselves to varied treatment; settings of metrically irregular words; and tunes which have been given varied treatment by the composer - e.g. Charles Wood’s ‘Cambridge’.

For a long time some organists in high places - by no means all - have adopted a disdainful attitude towards hymnody as though it were something beneath their contempt. As Canon Bryan Green said, ‘The better and more expensive the choir and the more elaborate the settings of the canticles and the anthem, the more certain one is to get nothing but the commonplace of hymns, both tunes and words.’ Broadcast evensongs are seldom distinguished by good hymn singing.

Sadly, this attitude has percolated to those in less exalted positions, and it bears more responsibility for the harm done to traditional church music than any other single factor. Yet Ralph Vaughan Williams said that in editing the English Hymnal he had been forced to examine some of the world’s finest melodies as well as some of the worst. It should be possible even at this late date to enthuse choirs into singing the former. Many make considerable demands on musicianship, and where in other instances the notes are easy, they repay the time spent in securing good tone, clear enunciation, phrasing and expression. The Glasgow Orpheus Choir and its conductor Sir Hugh Roberton acquired a world wide reputation in singing such a repertoire, and in concentrating on the aforementioned niceties. On the other hand, one notices how many of our male singers sing habitually without regard for the melodic properties of their lines, something the rehearsal of the hymn anthem could cure.

There is also the question of how unthinking much hymn singing is. Perhaps if congregations could listen to the singing of others whilst following the words they might pay greater attention to, and appreciate more of, the words of our great hymns. Ellerton’s ‘The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended’ is rightly regarded as a great hymn, but doesn’t most of its popularity derive from its (not very distinguished) tune? Even where a choir lacks a full complement of parts, choral variety from verse to verse in a hymn anthem is still possible. Men’s voices, women’s / boys’ / girls’ voices, solo voice(s) with or without a vocalised background, descants sung or played by instruments, and free organ harmonisations are all possibilities. The alternation of two tunes to reflect the changing sentiments of the verses is also often effective.

During the inter-war period an outcry was often raised against Dearmer’s liberal theology in Songs of Praise, even in including examples by distinguished authors whose own religious beliefs were a somewhat grey area. In our more broad minded times some items that were dismissed sixty years ago could be re-examined along with their fine tunes. Other hymn books with fine choir settings in them include the BBC Hymn Book, the Cambridge Hymnal, Songs of Syon, the New Catholic Hymnal, and New Church Praise. Not all alas are currently in print, but perhaps the transference to the Church Music Society of copyright of certain choice items could be arranged.

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