A hymn tune is a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Some tunes consist of only the melody, sung in unison or parallel octaves, with or without accompaniment. In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or In other tunes the melody is accompanied by one or more other voice parts, with four voices being the most common.
From the late sixteenth century in England and Scotland, when most people were not musically literate and learned melodies by rote, it was a common practice to sing a new text to a hymn tune the singers already knew which had a suitable meter and character. A hymn is a type of Song, usually religious specifically written for the purpose of praise adoration or Prayer, and typically addressed to a deity/deities
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Naming
The practice of naming hymn tunes developed to help identify a particular tune. The name was chosen by the compiler of the tune book or hymnal or by the composer. The majority of names tend to be from places or churches, often having some sort of connection with the composer; to a lesser extent personal names are occasionally used. Robert_Stewart used his middle name for the hymn tune PRESCOTT, and named other tunes ST. AUDOËN and ST. WERBURGH after churches in Dublin.
In some instances a particular text and tune have an almost mutually exclusive partnership with each other, such as Reginald Heber's text, "Holy, Holy, Holy!" sung to John Bacchus Dykes's tune NICAEA. Reginald Heber ( April 21, 1783 - April 3, 1826) was a Church of England bishop now remembered chiefly as a hymn-writer John Bacchus Dykes ( 10 March, 1823 Kingston upon Hull &ndash 22 January, 1876 Ticehurst, Sussex) was an English In other instances a text may be used with a variety of tunes, such as "O for a thousand tongues to sing" sung to any of LYNGHAM (Mission Praise), OXFORD NEW (New English Hymnal), ARDEN (also New English Hymnal), LYDIA (Hymns and Psalms), RICHMOND (Hymns and Psalms) or UNIVERSITY (Hymns and Psalms). In yet other instances a tune may partner several texts, such as DIX for "As with gladness, men of old" and "For the beauty of the earth".
By contrast, in Germany and Scandinavia, tune names were not typically used even when a hymn tune was used for more than one text. The custom in such cases was to use part of the first line of the first text with which the tune was associated to refer to the tune. When chorales were introduced in England during the eighteenth century, these tunes were sometimes given English-style tune names.
Names of hymn tunes are sometimes spelled in capital letters, small caps, or italics. Most hymnals provide indexes of hymn tunes by name and meter.
Performance
Typically, as part of worship services in churches and synagogues, hymns are sung by congregations, often accompanied by organ, piano, guitars, or other instruments. The exact details of performance vary depending upon the tune and the text which is used to set. Some hymn tunes are sung in unison, and others are sung in parts. It is common for a congregation to sing the hymn tune in unison while a choir sings in four parts: soprano, alto, tenor, bass. Sometimes, especially on longer texts, more than one style of performance of the same tune may be used, for example, some stanzas will be in unison, some in parts, some with no accompaniment at all. Occasionally, an accompaniment with a different harmony one one stanza, a descant sung by some singers, or a fauxbourdon, where the melody is placed in the tenor voice instead of the soprano is used for greater variety of performance, or to give a different emphasis to a particular stanza. Descant or Discant can refer to several different things in music depending on the period in question etymologically the word means a voice ( cantus) Fauxbourdon (also Fauxbordon, and also commonly two words Faux Bourdon) &ndash French for false bass &ndash is a technique
History
While St. Paul encourages congregational singing (Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 5:19), by the time of the Reformation, it had become common for most music, including liturgical hymns, to be sung in larger churches and monasteries in Latin. Paul the apostle (שאול התרסי Šaʾul HaTarsi, meaning " Saul of Tarsus " Σαούλ Saul and Σαῦλος Saulos and The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group according to their particular traditions Because most lay persons did not read, speak, or understand Latin, the task of singing was assumed by choirs of priests and monks, although they sometimes included lay musicians as well.
As part of his efforts at reform, Martin Luther prepared a version of the Mass in German, so that the congregation might be able to sing the texts. Martin Luther (November 10 1483 February 18 1546 was a German Monk, theologian, university professor Father of Protestantism, and church reformer Mass is a fundamental concept in Physics, roughly corresponding to the Intuitive idea of how much Matter there is in an object Luther also adapted texts and wrote tunes, including the tune for his German translation of Psalm 46, "EIN FESTE BURG". " A Mighty Fortress Is Our God " (German Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott) is the best known of Martin Luther 's Hymns Luther wrote Nicholas Temperley writes in his Hymn Tune Index, that Luther "wished his congregations to take part in the singing, but in general they failed to do so" and writes "It was the Calvinist, or 'Reformed', branches of Protestantism that succeeded in establishing congregation hymn singing in worship. Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the "[1]
From the Reformed tradition in Geneva, congregational singing was promoted in England and Scotland, where Sternhold and Hopkins, and Day published psalters which included tunes for singing the Psalms. Thomas Sternhold (1500 &ndash 1549 was the principal Author of the first English metrical version of the Psalms originally attached to the Prayer-Book A Psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms and which often contains other devotional material
During the decade 1791-1800, more than 8,000 hymn tunes were printed in Great Britain and between 7,000 and 8,000 were printed in the United States; during the decade 1801-1810, about 11,000 hymn tunes were printed in Great Britain, while more than 15,000 were printed in the United States. The total number of hymn tunes published with English-language texts in publications from 1535 up to and including 1820 is recorded as 159,123.
Many early hymnals consisted of texts only. The early Methodist movement provides an example. The co-founders, John Wesley and his brother Charles Wesley, published several text-only collections, culminating in A Collection of Hymns, for the Use of the People Called Methodists, in 1780. John Wesley published tune books separately, culminating in Sacred Harmony, in 1780. A song book is a Book containing Lyrics and notes for Songs Song books may be simple Composition books or spiral-bound Notebooks. In 1786, with the fifth edition of the text-only Collection, Wesley indicated at the head of each hymn the tune to which he intended it to be sung. Among the tunes in Sacred Harmony that are still in use are DERBY, HELMSLEY, and SAVANNAH. As more people became musically literate, it became more common to print the melody, or both melody and harmony in hymnals. It is not standard practice in most traditions to print hymn tunes with texts when publishing a hymnal.
Among twentieth-century developments were the publishing of The English Hymnal in 1906, under the music editorship of Ralph Vaughan Williams, increased inclusion of ethnic hymn tunes, increased use of guitar accompaniments, and increased inclusion of descants in hymnals. The English Hymnal was published in 1906 for the Church of England under the editorship of Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Ralph (reɪf Vaughan Williams OM (12 October 1872 &ndash 26 August 1958 was an English Composer of symphonies, Chamber music Descant or Discant can refer to several different things in music depending on the period in question etymologically the word means a voice ( cantus)
References
- ^ Temperley, Nicholas (1998). The Hymn Tune Index: a Census of English-language hymn tunes in printed sources from 1535 to 1820. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0193111500.
Further reading
- Raymond F. Glover, ed. , The Hymnal 1982 Companion, four volumes, The Church Hymnal Corporation, New York, 1990.
- Franz Hildegrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge, eds. , The Works of John Wesley, volume 7: A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People called Methodists, Oxford University Press, 1983. Includes Appendix J: Wesley's Tunes for the Collection, 1786.
- John Julian, A Dictionary of Hymnology, 2 vols. John Julian 1839 - 1913 (no middle name on birth certificate was a clergyman and the editor of A Dictionary of Hymnology which remains a common reference for those studying A Dictionary of Hymnology Origin and History of Christian Hymns and Hymnwriters of All Ages and Nations Together with Biographical and Critical Notices of Their Authors and , Dover Publications, New York, 1957.
- D. DeWitt Wasson, Hymntune Index and Related Hymn Materials, three volumes, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 1998.
External links
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