A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing

A Practical Discourse on Some Principles of Hymn-Singing is by Robert Bridges and was reprinted from the Journal of Theological Studies, October, 1899. The opening takes what St. Augustin says of the emotion he felt on hearing the music in the Portian basilica at Milan in the year 386 as a good illustration of the relativity of musical expression. A quoted passage recalls what is often told of Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria: that he would have the lector of the psalm intone it with but a slight modulation of voice, so as to be more like one reading than one singing.

The writer says the next class will be made up of our Restoration hymns by Jeremy Clark, Croft and others who added to the succeeding editions of the metrical Psalms. The writer insists on one caution: that grammar is not style, and settings which avoid modernisms are not for that reason a fair presentation of the old manner. The text says that the only sound musical basis is good melody, and that good melodies should therefore be offered to the people.