[Magdalen] Hymnals and Perspective.o

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/13/2015 9:51:51 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jguthrie at pipeline.com writes:

"I come  to church for an hour of personal nostalgia on Sundays so 
don’t mess with  the wrong tunes for the music."   >>>>>>
 
Obviously people feel passionate about hymns and hymntunes, and
they are a very important part of the liturgical scene no matter what
the denomination.
 
As I understand it, however, Anglican hymn singing in general and 
especially among the hoi polloi is a relatively late phenomenon.  The 
British upper classes did not like to hear hymns sung by those of
lower social station.  That's one of the reasons there were paid  choirs
or quartets in many churches.  The present canon of TEC that  states
that the church rector is ultimately in charge of the music of a  parish
is a reaction to these sometimes overly powerful quartets.
 
The Methodist Movement was an impetus to hymn singing by the average
worshipper, and, of course, the Germans - both Lutheran and Roman
Catholic - were singing hymns with gusto early on.
 
For a long time Anglicans avoided hymns of Germanic origin, and I
have experienced vestiges of this in my lifetime.  I distinctly  recall
the late Mason Martens complaining about the substitution of hymn
421 in TEC '82 (the "German Gloria") for Eastertide at the local 
procathedral:  "Too Germanic for Anglicans."
 
 
 
David Strang.