Chorales. The word “chorale” (“choral” in German) refers to the hymn tunes of Lutheran Protestantism, though in common usage the term includes the words associated with the tunes. The melodies had much to do with the popularity of the songs. They came from various sources. Many of them were original compositions by Luther and others; some were borrowed from the hymn books of the Bohemian Brethren; a considerable number were adaptations of plainsongs used in the Catholic Church; still others were adopted from beloved folksongs. Luther was an eclectic in his choice of music. He used any tune from any source that suited his purpose. Many thousands of chorales came into existence in Germany during his time and the two centuries that followed. The hundreds still in use represent the best in church music today. They are characterized by a plain melody, a strong harmony, and a stately rhythm; all of which adapts them well for effective congregational singing.
The chorales at first did not have the regular rhythms that they later took on. The steady progression of even notes, invariable in Bach’s day, had come only gradually into use. Some of the recent hymnbooks, in the interest of greater variety of rhythm, are returning to the original “rhythmic chorales.”
Though unison singing has been widely practiced and is advocated today by some good authorities in church music, Luther encouraged part singing. In his first Preface to the Geystliches Gesangbücklin, 1525, he wrote:
These songs have been set in four parts, for no other reason than because I wished to provide our young people (who both will and ought to be instructed in music and other sciences) with something whereby they might rid themselves of amorous and carnal songs, and in their stead learn something wholesome, and so apply themselves to what is good with pleasure, as becometh the young.
The period of the German chorales may be said to have begun with Luther, 1483-1546, and ended two centuries later with J. S. Bach, 1685-1750. Bach brought the chorale tunes to their highest perfection, using many of them in his larger choral works. He composed about 30 original chorale melodies, wrote reharmonizations for approximately 400, and composed many chorale preludes for the organ which are in wide use today.
The German hymns and chorale tunes, used constantly in the home and school, as well as in the church, have been of great importance in our Mennonite worship in the past. They constitute the main body of material in all our German collections of hymns. In an effort to preserve and emphasize this rich heritage, there was incorporated into the Hymnary, a special section, Book III, made up exclusively of chorales.
While the German people, under the leadership of Luther, were singing chorales set to original religious poems, a large section of Protestantism, under the influence of John Calvin, confined itself to the singing of Psalms. To the French reformer, now preaching at Geneva, hymns were “man-made,” whereas the psalms were the inspired word of God and the only proper vehicle for the praise of God. Calvin, unlike Luther, was not a musician, and at first permitted only unison singing, unaccompanied. Part singing and instrumental accompaniment seemed to savor of the frivolous and worldly, an opinion which Calvin, however, was soon to modify. For two hundred years the Calvinistic churches on the Continent and in Britain were influenced in their worship song by the strict views of Calvin, limiting themselves to the metrical psalms and scriptural paraphrases. The German people in the meantime produced a rich treasury of original religious lyrics, contributed by some of their best poets.
The use of the psalms in singing, first on the Continent, then in England and Scotland, and later in America, brought forth many metrical versions of the psalter, the principal ones being the following:
a. The Genevan Psalter, begun 1539, published complete in 1562. It was made at the request of John Calvin by Clément Marot, court poet of France, and Theodore Beza, a French scholar. It became the psalm book for the Reformation churches on the continent, and is spoken of as the most famous book of praise the Christian Church ever produced. It was issued in at least one thousand editions and translated into a number of tongues. Some of the original tunes are still in use, e.g., “Old Hundredth.”
b. The Anglo-Genevan Psalter, Geneva, 1556. This was used by John Knox, the Scottish reformer, and his followers who fled the persecutions of “Bloody Mary,” and formed a congregation at Geneva. The book incorporated some of the Sternhold and Hopkins versions which were in use in England, and added others.
c. The Old Version, Sternhold and Hopkins, completed in 1562. Used in England for 134 years. It is entitled, The Whole Booke of Psalmes, but came to be known as the “Old Version.”
d. The Bay Psalm Book, Boston, 1640. This was the first book printed in English-speaking America. It was made to obtain greater literalness to the Hebrew original than was found in the versions then in use. The book reigned supreme among the English churches in New England for over a century. Seventy editions of it were printed in America, the last in 1773. Eighteen editions appeared in England, and twenty-two in Scotland. There were no tunes given it until 1698, then only 13, with the air in the bass.
e. The Scottish Psalter, completed 1650. Special mention is made of this version of the Psalms because it is the source of nearly all the selections of metrical psalms which constitute Book Five of the Hymnary. The number of versions and editions of psalms which appeared on the Continent and in England were numerous and confusing, each claiming its own special merits. Finally, in the interests of better literary diction and greater unity in singing in the Scottish Presbyterian churches, the General Assembly authorized a new version. The result, after many years’ work, was the famous Scottish Psalter of 1650 which remains the standard work in Scotland today.
There is a certain “dignified crudeness” in some of the literary expressions but the psalms have long been learned in this version and have become an important part of the religious training and experience of millions of English speaking people, especially in Scotland.
The Scottish Psalter first appeared with words only. There were no notes and no suggestions for melodies. The succeeding one hundred years were a time of confusion. The tunes used were few in number, such as the leaders had learned from various sources, and passed on to succeeding generations by rote. The time came when better singing and better tunes were demanded and gradually the psalter appeared with tunes. Early tune versions put the melody invariably in the tenor. The latest edition, printed in 1929, by the Oxford Press, contains the best Psalm tunes which had gradually come into use, many of them arranged with “Faux-bourdon” (wherein the congregation sings one or more verses to the melody while the choir supplies the harmony), and “Descant” (a second melody over that of the tune).
f. The New Version, Tate and Brady, London, 1696. This version gradually supplanted the Old Version of Sternhold and Hopkins, and held its place in the worship of the church for 150 years. It was adopted, in 1789, by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States and bound with the prayer book of that Communion.
The above versions are only a few of the large number of psalters that were published by the Calvinistic churches on the Continent, in Great Britain, and in America. The metrical psalms were designed for the singing church. They were intended to restore song to the people in their worship, serving in this respect a similar purpose to the chorales in Germany.
Some of the psalm books were published without music, some with the melody only, and others in four-part harmony. The statement is frequently made that Calvinistic Protestantism approved only unison singing. The appearance of numerous books, complete with four voice parts, points to the contrary. It is true that Calvin at first encouraged unison singing only, regarding harmony more in the nature of amusement than the worship of God; but upon observing the effectiveness of singing in Germany, he soon changed his views and became more liberal in this respect.
The youthful, courageous Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, an ardent dissenter, pioneered the movement which resulted in a flood of hymns and hymnbooks in the English churches. Watts was not satisfied with the psalm singing of his time, which by now had become formal and lifeless. Parts of the psalter, he pointed out, were obviously not written in the spirit of the Gospel. “By keeping too close to David,” he wrote in one of his Prefaces, “the vail of Moses is thrown over our hearts.” Watts removed that “vail,” Christianizing the psalms and composing during his lifetime more than 600 original hymns, expressing in the language of the time, the thoughts of the worshippers. Through his influence, his age, the 18th century, became the first age of hymn singing in England.
John and Charles Wesley, following Watts, made enormous use of hymn singing in their evangelistic work, giving the movement for congregational singing a powerful impetus. Charles is said to have composed over 6,000 hymns.
From the Wesleys onward through the 19th century, the hymn writers in England became numerous. The restrictive shackles of psalm singing had been broken and the creative urge to worship in new forms resulted in a vast number of original religious lyrics and the publication of hundreds of hymnbooks. The development can be summarized here only in outline form.
The English speaking colonists who settled in America during the 17th century continued the psalm singing traditions of their forebears in England. The practice prevailed in their churches for two hundred years. The first book printed by them was the Bay Psalm Book, in 1640, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It contained no original hymns. The singing of psalms, and later of hymns borrowed from England made up nearly the entire repertory of church music until the middle of the 19th century.
On the other hand, the German speaking colonists, including the Mennonites, had brought with them the hymn books of the Lutheran tradition and continued the use of the German chorales in their worship. The two streams of hymnody, English psalms and German chorales, went their independent courses for two centuries, scarcely influencing each other.
In the meantime there was very little original hymnody produced in America, with the exception of the work of the Wesleys during their brief experiment in Georgia, and the composition of certain hymns and tunes by the German people of Pennsylvania, which have remained, until recently, in manuscript form. Timothy Dwight’s hymn on the church, “I love Thy Kingdom, Lord” (275) is probably the earliest American hymn still in use.
After the middle of the 19th century the number of hymn writers became large and their works came into increasing use, some choice examples finding their way into English hymnbooks. America’s original contribution to Christian hymnody has not been only the Gospel Songs represented by the writings of Fanny Crosby, but the more permanent works of Whittier, George W. Doane, Hosmer, Samuel Longfellow, Washington Gladden, S. F. Smith, and many others. Our musical contributions have been less conspicuous, but the tunes of Mason are coming into their own again and many of them will doubtless survive for a long time, as will also those of Bradbury, Hastings, and others.
The tendency today in American hymnbooks is to unite the best in English and German traditions. The Hymnary illustrates this trend. It makes large use of the English hymns while at the same time preserving a considerable body of the German chorales. In keeping with this trend, the recent hymnbooks of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist and other churches of English origin, incorporate some of the German chorale tunes and in some cases the translations of the words. The hymn books of our time have become the channels through which flow the rich contributions to the stream of Christian hymnody from Christian people of all times and places.
During the latter part of the 19th century there came into use, both in the United States and in England, a type of religious song known as the Gospel Song. Less dignified than the chorales or the English hymns, these songs made a popular appeal and were widely used in prayer meetings and revivals.
The words of the typical Gospel Song are usually simple and easily remembered and concern themselves largely with the individual’s salvation. The personal pronouns “I” and “my” predominate. The tunes are rhythmic and catchy and always have a refrain added. Their harmonies are largely built on the simple tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords. The masses of the people readily learned to sing these tunes and experienced a thrill in singing them which the use of the more stately and solid hymns failed to effect.
The great bulk of these songs were produced in America during the latter half of the 19th century and were found extremely useful in large mass meetings. The evangelistic work of Moody and Sankey during the 1870’s, 1880’s, and 1890’s brought the Gospel Songs into special prominence and the Salvation Army has made them known in nearly every country in the world. Collections of Gospel Songs sold by the millions of copies and every denomination was affected, to a greater or lesser extent, by this type of singing.
Since the standard of music and words in the Gospel Songs is considerably below that which prevails in our best hymnals as well as in secular music and literature taught in the public schools, churches should seriously consider the ultimate effect of their too frequent use. It is a fallacy to assert that the people will respond to nothing better. Gospel Songs have a legitimate place, particularly in special services and revivals, but they leave much to be desired in the total work and worship of the church. Neither the music nor the words possess the strength and dignity entirely adequate for the worshipful praise of the Eternal.
The principal names associated with Gospel Songs are the following:
Authors. Fanny J. Crosby, Philip P. Bliss, Robert Lowry, Katherine Hankey, E. A. Hoffman, and many others. Most of the words, though not all, were written by Americans during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Miss Crosby was by far the most prolific of them all and many of her works are found in all modern hymnals of denominations that use this type of music. In Germany, Ernst Gebhardt became the leader of the gospel song movement, composing words and music, publishing numerous song books, and serving as song leader in great revival meetings.
Music. William B. Bradbury, Robert Lowry, W. H. Doane, Philip Philips, James McGranahan, George C. Stebbins, P. P. Bliss, D. W. Towner, Wm. J. Kirkpatrick, and others.
Song Leaders. P. P. Bliss, Ira Sankey, James McGranahan, George C. Stebbins, Charles Alexander, Homer Rodeheaver.
It should be noted that there is no absolute line of demarcation between hymns and some of the Gospel Songs. Some of the numbers in the Gospel Songs section of the Hymnary might well be classified as hymns, e.g., Nos. 441, 444, 447, 458, 463, 468, 470, 471, 472, and 492. Either words or music meet the generally accepted standards of a hymn.
There have been no outstanding women composers of church tunes but some of our finest lyrics have been contributed by women, as the following list from the Hymnary will show:
Mennonites have made many contributions to society through their religious life and practices, but we have produced no important hymnody of our own. Throughout the four hundred years of our existence as a church, we have been a singing people, in times of persecution as well as in times of peace. Great emphasis has always been laid upon the importance of congregational singing in our worship services. Since the beginning of the 19th century the Mennonites of various branches, in America alone, have published over fifty hymnbooks. But an examination of these hymnbooks shows that we are heavily indebted to others. Instead of producing original hymns and tunes, we have borrowed, with minor exceptions, our entire repertory from other denominations. The wealth of verse and music produced by German and English writers throughout the centuries has been found to serve our needs adequately and well.
The churches in Europe used hymnbooks compiled from Lutheran and Reformed sources. Upon coming to the United States and Canada, they gradually adopted English and American hymns and in some sections of the church, the Gospel Songs came into wide use.
Our German collections of hymns have, until recently, been uniformly on a higher level, both as to music and poetry, than the collections used after the change was made to the English language. During the transition from the German to the English language, many churches, in their choice of their hymnbooks, sacrificed the fine chorales which had been a part of their religious heritage. This was due partly to the revivalistic influences of the times and partly to the fact that there were no good translations available of the German hymns which earlier were in use. The situation is gradually correcting itself. We are re-evaluating our hymnody, sifting the wheat from the chaff, and bringing back into our worship the rich treasure of song which had been used in the past. The Mennonite Hymnary is an effort in this direction.
The story of the hymn books antedating the Hymnary may be briefly summarized by listing the following books:
1565. The first German Mennonite hymn book was published in 1565 or 1566 (date omitted from title), entitled, Ein schön Gesangbüchlein Geistlicher Lieder, zusammengetragen aus dem A. und N. Testament durch fromme Christen und Liebhaber Gottes, welcher hiefür etliche getrucht sei gewesen, aber noch viel dazu gethan, welche nie im Truck aussgangen seindt, in welchen auch ein recht Leben und Fundament dez rechten Christlichen Glaubens gelehrt wirdt. Coloss. 3.
A second edition, 1570-1583, (date not given), adds to the above title the following:
Jetzo von neuem widerum übersehn, an vielen Orten gebessert und mit etlichen newen Liedern vermehret. Coloss. 3.
Of the 133 hymns in the book, 9 had been in use among other churches. Many of the others were by Mennonite authors, among them Johann Schütz, Thomas Ducker, Gerhard Siebenakker von Sittart, and Heinrich Krenen von Breidtbock. Many of the hymns are of a controversial nature and have no literary value; for example, this on infant baptism: