[Magdalen] Was: Prayers ANSWERED: Now, Chant.

[Jim Guthrie]

 >than plainchant. Anglicans do not need to feel they are deserting 
their heritage when there is plainsong instead of Anglican chant. On 
 >the subject of Anglican chant, I have a recording made when Fr. Andrew 
was Rector with the Saint Thomas Choir chanting the Israel

But keep in mind that what we think of as plainchant or plainsong was 
re-created in the 19th century by John Mason Neale, et al., and efforts 
by Helmore and others to "restore" congregational singing of ancient 
texts and tunes was swept away by the likes of Wesley and Webb. Even the 
Tractarians succumbed.

In short, nearly all congregational singing we know is rooted no earlier 
than the 19th Century adn attempts to recapture the pre-Reformation 
genre is mere affectation.

I suspect that the popularity of Methodists, Baptists and other such in 
the late 18th Century may have been rooted in their earlier adaptation 
of modern-style hymnody over the CofE's Balcony Bands doing dreary 
Metrical Psalms <g>.

Anyone here ever read George Elliot (Scenes from a Clerical Life) about 
Shepperton Church   or Thomas Hardy's (Under the Greenwood Tree) 
description of music in early 19th Century CofE?

I see the Elliot is available on line . . .   well worth a bit of time 
for anyone interested in this subject, I think.

Cheers,
Jim